Letters from Kazakhstan 3

Letters from Kazakhstan 3

What do you believe?  An easy enough question...or a trick question.  We all say we believe in something but do we really believe.  Most Christians say they believe in God but what does that look like?  We as Christians are our worst enemy in the cause of Christianity, we say we believe in the Bible yet live our lives apart from its teachings.  A quote I try to constantly remind myself of simply says:  "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle.  

Being a Christian should give us freedom yet so many times we get entangled in do’s and don’ts and then we wonder why we fail at being good.  I think it is time we get back to the basics and forget the rules we have made as people and start with the simple rules found in the Bible.  I believe if we focused on one rule everything else would fall in place.  It is a rule based on love and where I believe all other rules would be made self evident if we just followed passionately after this rule.  Here goes:  LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH.  If we follow passionately after God and love Him with everything we are then the other stuff would fall in place.

With this simple rule our beliefs would line up with our actions and our problem would be solved.  So how do you begin to love God with every fiber of your being?  Simply put, READ YOUR BIBLE and PRAY.

God Bless,

Pastor C

Letters from Kazakhstan #2

Letters from Kazakhstan 2

While here in Kazakhstan I am finding a lot of time to read, some good fiction along with some really thought provoking Christian authors.  I am currently reading “The Importance of Being Foolish; How to Think Like Jesus” by Brennan Manning.  While I don’t always agree with Manning, his books are always thought provoking none the less.

I was reading the first chapter entitled “The Way We Live” and Manning points out that Christ had a relentless passion for the truth.  Then he directs us to think about our society in which the truth is often hard to find.  This made me think about a line from A Few Good Men, “You want the truth, you can’t handle the truth.”  I believe this is where we have found ourselves.  We say we want the truth but when it, the truth, goes against what we want to do, we choose to ignore it and do what we want to anyway.  We rationalize our behavior in disregard to what we know is Biblically correct.  To steal a little more from Manning’s book;

“Consider the man on his third luncheon martini quoting the Apostle Paul about a little wine being good for the stomach; or the “liberated” Christian’s vehement defense of the nudity in The Last Tango in Paris, the violence in Pulp Fiction, because they are “integral to the plot and tastefully done”; or the upstanding church deacon who overlooks cheating and manipulation in his business dealings because “it’s the only way to be competitive”; or whole churches in which the delirium of guiltlessness is reality, the mastery of biblical exegesis is holiness, the size of the congregation is proof of its authenticity, and on and on.  There is no limit to the defenses we contrive against the inbreak of truth into our lives.”

WOW, I find that harsh but the truth none the less.  The truth is a powerful thing, it can change lives and bring us closer to God but for it to have impact we must be willing to accept it and make changes accordingly.  We can’t cheaply purchase the affections of God with token lip service, He paid too high a price for our salvation for us to make the truth relative.  I believe I can sum it all up with this statement, either we love God and embrace His truth or we don’t love Him at all.  If you fall pick yourself up and embrace the truth once more, we all fall and make mistakes but to live in denial or to constantly justify our actions is playing games with the grace bought with a precious price.

Be encouraged and seek out truth, your life will be better and you might just find more peace.

Grace and Peace

Youth Pastor C

Letters from Kazakhstan

Letters from Kazakhstan

Being in country has overwhelmed me...I have seen the splendor of God’s creation from mountain peaks to the flat lands and have been reminded just how great our God is.  Being isolated from the distractions that normally surround life (internet, phone, TV) have afforded me time to think and reflect.  Not to mention this latest journey.

The last several days I have been thinking about love.  What is it, really what is it we all say things like I love you, I love cheeseburgers, I love my dog.  So what is love, think about it, it is a common word we use but do we really understand what it means?

I think I am finally beginning to understand love or at least that I have been mistaken about love for much of my life.  As I have moved along this journey I have ended up with more questions than answers, especially when it comes to the love of God.

Jesus died on the cross for my sins because He loved me.  I find this amazing because in essence He did not really know me because my sin separated me from Him.  This is a giant paradox because Jesus knows us because He created us but yet sin keeps a distance between us and He still died for me/us.  I don’t know about you but I definitely would find it hard to die for someone else especially when I really don’t know them.

The Bible says greater love has no man than he who would lay His life down.  Do you have this kind of love?  I’m not sure I am there yet.  I would lay my life down for Lauren or Matt or even my closest friend but I am not so sure about that person next door.

Love grows as we grow in our faith and my prayer is that God allows me to grow in His love so I can be better at sharing with others.

Verses for thought:

Matthew 22:37; John 17:23; Luke 15; John  3:14-15; John 15:1314; John 21:15-17

What are your thoughts?  Leave me a comment.