A cloud of witnesses

Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run...."

Who are these witnesses? They are previous generations of believers who have gone before us, having lived out their faith while in their physical bodies and are now cheering us on to run the same race that they ran. They are witnesses of the same truth that we believe in. In the previous chapter, the writer tells us that these saints had not received what they had been promised and that God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. 

In other words they are waiting for us. And when we die, we'll also wait for future believers to complete their course in this world. Not until the last believer has run their race will we together enjoy the perfect eternity that God has planned for us. 

What this means is that we better get good at loving. Because the race we are running now seems to be preparatory phase for eternity with God and with many others. No wonder Jesus said that all the commandments can be summed up to these two: (1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (2) And love your neighbour as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39)

Why bother with the Law?

Christians are saved by grace--meaning we are accepted by God already based on the work of Jesus. It is not like all other religions where we have to abide by certain creeds or do good works in order to be accepted by God. 

So, why should Christians do any good work or obey God's commandments? And why would God create such a salvation plan, is it not too easy for us to abuse his grace? 

I think the answer lies in how seriously we believe in Jesus in the first place. If we truly believe that God squeezed himself into a human body, endured abuse, mockery, and death in the greatest measure in order to save us. Would this not make us love him? And when we love someone, don't we want to do what pleases that person. In the Bible, we are told again and again that our obedience makes God happy. 

In Exodus 19:5-6, God said to the Israelites--after he had delivered them out of slavery in Egypt--that if they obey him fully and keep his covenant with them, then they will be his 'treasured possession' amongst all the nations. And it is the same for Christians as indicated in John 15:10 "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love". Who wouldn't want to be God's treasured possession and remain in his love?

Freedom is complicated

We often associate the notion of freedom with a lack of rule or restriction. It is about doing whatever we want whenever we want. And today we live for freedom; we feel entitled to it.

But is this type of freedom really good for us--or even possible? For example, eating freely without restraint will certainly bring us health problems; spending without limit lead to bankruptcy; living without regard for the rule of law would destroy society. So, contrary to our natural inclination, freedom must happen within certain boundary. 

Perhaps the real issue is finding the course of life that permits the greatest freedom within the constraints--the realities--of our existence. In this regard, Jesus' words on freedom stand out: "If you hold to my teaching, you are truly my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32) He ties our freedom to knowing the truth he teaches.

What is this truth that leads to freedom?

The truth that we are no longer slaves to our selfish nature because of what Jesus did on the cross. The truth about who we are and what we are made for. Without knowing answers to these basic questions in life, we are like fish out of water, trying to live freely on dry ground. A fish needs to know it's a fish and to stay within the bounds of its own environment (i.e., in water) in order to enjoy the freedom that it is made for.

A holy nation

1 Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

Many things come to mind when I think of the label: 'holy nation'. First, Christians are a gathering of all races, crossing boundaries of skin color, language and bloodline. Second, we are not restricted by geography. Christians are everywhere around the globe, no matter where we travel, we experience an immediate familiarity with fellow believers in Jesus. Third, we are not separated by status or wealth. First and third world Christians have equal standing before God and therefore also with each other.  We are admonished and empowered to live out this truth through tangible deeds. A very interesting nation indeed!

What we have in common is our same allegiance to God, who purposed that his holiness should reflect on us. Having been called out of darkness into his light, we are able to be his reflectors of holiness.

A royal priesthood

1 Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

The term royal priesthood is a struggle for me, I have no frame of reference to really understand what it means.

The elements of crown, rule and sovereignty are obviously key parts of the biblical sense of royalty--they are talked about a lot, including being used often in the descriptions of God and Heaven. Yet the concept of royalty remains distant because even the modern example of British monarchy doesn't quite fit due to their lack of true power. And really, most of us aren't even familiar with what it means to be a modern (relatively powerless) king or queen. 

Priesthood implies some aspect of outreach. In the Old Testament, the priests were intermediaries between God and his people. They were the ones who made sacrifices to God on behalf of the mass. Then again, priests also extended divine forgiveness to the people. 

This much I understand: being set apart as a royal priesthood, we serve duo functions. On the one hand, we present God's rule and sovereignty, showing what God is like to the world; on the other hand, we serve as intercessors for the lost. 

A chosen people

1 Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

There is something about being chosen that makes us feel good inside.  I mean, don't people usually make choices based on some excellent quality about which they choose?  It implies something special.  But my understanding of God's selection has little to do with us; it rather has more to do with Him.  The gap between God and humanity is so huge that -- really, all of us are way below-grade.  God chooses completely on the basis of his mercy rather than any substantial benefit we have for him.

In fact, 1 Corinthians 1:26-28 says this, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are."

Being chosen also means God took the initiative.  All believers have stories of how God first entered our lives through circumstances, people or even dreams.  Without God's first move (and further persistent pursuit) we would still be groping blindly in darkness.  

So, as his chosen people we have a common reason to declare God's goodness because, amongst other things, we've experienced the goodness of being called out of darkness and the freedom of living without fear of condemnation in his wonderful light.

What is holiness?

The biblical concept of holiness is different than accomplishing a list of do's and don'ts.  Many believers try to adhere to a code of conduct by sheer will-power often placing vigorous external restrictions on themselves.  But that doesn't necessarily make them holy.  In fact, such moral achievement may lead us to a more insidious sin: pride!  Besides we know from experience that mere outward behaviour is inadequate; our internal struggles of greed, lust, anger, resentment etc. give us no peace of mind--we know we fall short internally even if we put up a good front on the outside.  

Specifically, holiness means to be set apart for a special purpose -- pleasing God.  

I Peter 2:9 tells us that believers in Jesus are 'a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people belonging to God'.  Christians are set apart for God's purpose on the basis of our salvation through Jesus. This means that we have 'holy' status with God already because of Jesus; we are not set apart because we make ourselves holy: holiness is given to us.  

He graciously sets us apart and makes us pleasing to Himself.

What is holiness about?

The word holiness sounds ancient and prudish in our culture, it's not a popular word. That's unfortunate because many people now fail to understand what holiness even is. Striving for holiness is more about maintaining relationship with God than about achieving moral purity. 

Proverbs 28:9 says that "If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable." It's like saying don't bother praying, don't bother coming to God if we don't care about holiness. This is devastating to those of us who know and enjoy friendship with God. Imagine our spouse or best friend or parent or any other important person saying to us that our words are detestable, it would be a thousand times worse coming from God. Because He knows us deeper than anyone, loves us more than anyone and has sacrificed for us more than anyone, His rejection is the most devastating of all.  

This is where I come to understand King David's heart when he wrote in Psalm 63:3 '...your love is better than life...'.

Predestined free will?

Christians have been debating for centuries whether predestination or free will decides our destiny. If we believe in predestination only, then why do anything in life? Everything is pre-determined, we might as well just sit back and watch everything unfold before our eyes. On the other hand, if our free will solely determines our life's outcome then that's pretty scary because my track record of choosing right hasn't been stellar--and your's probably hasn't been much better. To wholly believe in predestination pushes us to become extremely passive; to wholly believe in free-will leads us to become control freaks. 

The Bible seems to advocate that the two concepts are not mutually exclusive--that they both have a place.  Perhaps that's why Christians have debated this so much! Life experience confirms both realities. To begin with, our genetic disposition is given to us and we are born into families, countries, and at a time in history that we did not choose. And, in life, we make choices to the best of our knowledge and ability, sometimes we enjoy the fruit of good decisions and other times we find ourselves attributing unfortunate outcomes to 'bad luck' or 'bad timing'. But we know that our decisions and action matter. The fact that our thoughts and actions impact others and ourselves is obvious.  

Exactly how these two concepts hold together may be one of those mysteries that God cannot reveal to us for now.  Our time-bound, linear minds cannot hold the two truths together.    

Why do we want to be perfect?

We can blame the media for only depicting flawless faces and perfect figures for our obsession with beauty. But media and marketing can only entice us by triggering the desire that is already in us to begin with. Not only do we desire perfection in beauty, but also perfect health, homes, cars and products that promise to make our life...perfect. Marketers understand what drives us through our decision making maze - we all want to be perfect looking and live problem-free lives.

Why is this? The Bible tells us that we want perfection because we are made for it. But sin entered our world and since then decay, entropy and disorder have robbed perfection from us in every arena in life.  The good news is that through Jesus God has already accomplished the work that will restore us to the ultimate perfect existence that we were made for. The problem with us is that we want a perfect world without God.  We want the goods but don't want God who is the source of all things good (James 1:17).

Some of us have already discovered that beauty, good health and great products don't completely satisfy the deep longing that drives us to pursue them.  Ultimately, without God the allure of all good things will fade for lack of his sustenance.  There is no perfection without God.

Modern day idolatry

Worshipping carved images of hand-made gods is certainly not something we are prone to do in our society today.  But the essence of idolatry is often embodied in a person or a thing that we pursue.  Basically anything that occupies our attention to the extend that we revolve life around it has become an idol to us.  In this way idolatry is very much alive today.  And God is dead set against anything that has this much power over us.

One form of idolatry that has affected our modern world is this idea of a 'soul mate'.  The feeling of being in love is intoxicating, and it can lead to many false promises in our imagination.  With 'soul mate' idolatry we pin our hope on one person to make us happy and to make us feel complete, not realizing that these deep longings can only be fulfilled by God alone.  We seek from a soul mate what only God can give.

No wonder God portraits himself as husband to Israel in the Old Testament.  And it is in this context that we understand what it means when God says that He is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5).

How do I know I'm not working FOR my salvation?

One thing about Christianity that took me a long time to grapple with is this: I am saved by grace not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9), and yet, I need to prove my faith through my works (James 2:18).  So what does this really look like?

On the outside, it's not easy to tell if someone is doing good work in order to earn their salvation or if they are answering God's call as a result of being saved. As a natural do-er, I felt no need to even decipher the inner motivation for a long time. It felt good to be useful and helpful, and being looked upon positively was pretty cool too.  That is, until I burned out.  And then I got annoyed by others who didn't seem to be working as hard as I was.  Somewhere along the line I had become a legalistic dork who forgot about grace.  I was treating salvation as if it were earned by works rather than given by God.

So, I learnt the difference between a works motivation and a grace motivation the hard way.  Whenever we feel stress and anxiety about the work we do, then start to judge others (remember the story about Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42), it is a sure sign that we are working to perform, to earn brownie points from God, from others or from ourselves.  Just as the Israelites during their time as slaves to Egypt in the Old Testament, we work to survive and think we must work to be saved.  

But God did not save us to make us slaves again.  No point returning to Egypt.  He teaches us to work out of faith and obedience to His calling.  We learn to do things motivated by love and gratefulness to him.  We also learn to rest on His divine power that undergirds us whenever he tells us to do anything.  So we feel more free to take risk knowing that success is not dependent on our performance but rather on God's pleasure to deliver.

Sin and identity formation

In most religions, sin is usually defined as an action that breaks a moral law. Simple enough. But in Christianity, Jesus made it much more problematic, saying that even the thought of breaking a moral law is sin (Matthew 5:21-48). Who can withstand this level of scrutiny?!

Jesus wants to get at sin much sooner and deeper in our inner being than we might first realize.  The desire to sin and the conception of sin both happen inside of us (James 1:14-15).  When we think of why we sin, it usually stems from a core belief (however subtle it may be) that says 'I am not enough'.  For example, we might think that we are not worthy unless we are successful or desirable or powerful or popular etc.  And because self-esteem is at stake, we strive to be successful or desirable or whatever at all cost including hurting people that get in the way of our objective.  In order words, we sin or hurt others to get something that fulfills our need for positive self-identity.  

The beauty of Jesus and his salvation lies in this -- that by believing in him, we are made children of God (John 1:12).  It is as though we have been born again, allowing us to rest in this new identity and cease our strivings to be whatever the old self tells us.  The antidote to sin then is in letting our sonship in God sink deeper than the lies that we'd believed in in the old life.  The old identity must be replaced by a better one to lose its power over us in the new life.  What better identity can we have than being sons and daughters of God?  

When I hear the praises start

Song By the late Keith Green
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1GjhqalbYQ&feature=related

Is religion bad for intellectual development?

Oh...it sure can be. Since faith is such a crucial part of Christianity, there is a tendency to tackle difficult questions with more "faith" than thinking.  In order words, when we encounter things that we don't understand, instead of encouraging intellectual curiosity, we stop our thinking process short by saying that this just takes more faith to believe. Sometimes if the questioning persists, then the questioner is labelled a doubter, someone who is faithless.

My own experience is that the desire for an answer is not driven by the lack of faith. Rather it is the very opposite. "I have no doubt that God has an answer and that it will be a good one; I want to know what God thinks!" That is not a bad thing, is it?  In a friendship, we want to know what the other person thinks about this and that; it is just natural curiosity.  And through Jesus, God has befriended us.   

Some will quote Isaiah 55:8-9 to say that God's ways are higher than ours, and his thoughts are higher than ours. That is true, but it doesn't mean we can't access his thoughts. James 1:5 states "If anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously without finding fault, and it will be given to him."  The apostle Paul puts it even more poignantly in 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 by saying that the Spirit of God who dwells in us searches all things, even the deep things of God...we have the mind of Christ!

A heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone

Life circumstances naturally harden our hearts.  As we experience disappointments in life, which invariably result from dealing with other people, over time we can't help but build walls for self-preservation.  The result is that our hearts become callous and hard.

But God said he wants to give us a new heart, a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).  I take this to mean a soft heart.  One of the implications of having a soft heart is that we begin to feel more and more for others. Romans 12:15 says we are to 'rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn'.

As God becomes a living reality in us, He also becomes our anchor and source of security, freeing us from the need of self-preservation.  Knowing that He is our ultimate protector enables us to reach out to others without any fears.  

Why doesn't God just show up?

Typically we hear one of two answers to the above question: (1) God is so holy and we are so sinful that we would die instantly if he showed up.  (2) God did show up--2000 years ago when he became the man, Jesus, and it is unbelief that keeps us from seeing His divinity.  

Answer (1) implies that God cannot control his power; which has been proven wrong.  The Old Testament records that both Moses and Jacob survived their encounters with God.  Answer (2) is certainly true, but that doesn't satisfy most of us who live so long after Jesus' time on earth.  

And we're often seeking something a bit more precise beneath that question anyway, namely "if God exists, why doesn't he show himself with power and might to prove that he is real?"  

Here are two possible reasons that seem to make sense to me.  

First, God apparently desires to forge relationships with us. That was his original plan in the Garden of Eden. But after Adam's fall, people began to hide from God out of shame (Genesis 3:10).  And if He were to appear with power today we too would likely hide out of fear.  Shame and fear are not exactly positive building blocks for the relationships God is creating.  

Second, God has an agenda to transform humanity.  This work has to take place in our hearts.  Ezekiel 36:26 tells us that He wants to remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.  Appearing with power doesn't necessarily further God's clear transformational agenda.

What God did do was far more effective for His purposes than just showing up.  By sending His Son Jesus to the cross in an act of love, He removed the barrier of fear and shame between us.  Then Jesus sent His Spirit into the heart of each believer for the transforming work He purposed.  Jesus' work, though less spectacular in one sense, was much more effective for God's purposes--and ironically, far more costly to God--than if he had just shown up with a massive display of power. 

Sorry is just a word

When my nephews were just four and five years old, they would love each other to pieces one moment and then fight like cats and dogs the next. The older one habitually played tricks on his brother for fun, and the younger one, who was less adept at such trickery retaliated with action. One day I had to be their peace-maker, and asked the older boy to apologize for his mischief.  But before he even had a chance to respond, my youngest nephew, with tears in his eyes, protested to me and said "But sorry is just a word!"

Words can definitely become empty and meaningless if they are not followed by some change or other tangible action. We are so prone to say things we don't mean. We even train our children to say an automatic 'sorry' before first dealing with their hearts.  Gone are the days of verbal contracts, precisely because words without paper trail cannot be trusted. The apostle James concludes that no one can be found faultless in what he says, we all fail at being true to our word at some level. (James 3:2)

But Jesus isn't like that.  He lived out what he preached and thus qualified to call himself 'the Truth' (John 14:6).  His word and his deed were then and still are, one and the same.  And on this basis, we can put our trust in His words and live by them. 

Having Hebrew Heritage

Christianity was birthed from a Jewish womb.  Jesus himself was fully Jewish, not only by birth but also by practice. He said in Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them".  This is crucial for Christians, who rely upon Jesus' complete fulfillment of the Law in order to inherit the covenantal promises--of blessing in our earthly lives and eternal life with God--which God himself gave to Abraham in Genesis 15.  In a sense, a Christian gains access, through Jesus, to a Hebrew heritage.  And without this Hebrew root, there would be no Christianity.  

In this light--the connection between Old and New Testaments, Jews and Jesus, I find myself needing to retract something I wrote in a previous blog when I deemed Judaism a graceless religion.  Judaism springs from the Old Testament, where God made promises on account of his mercy: Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David etc...were all saved by mercy and not by their works.  In fact, the concept of mercy and grace in Christianity originates from God's interaction with his people in the Old Testament.

By the same token, since Jesus was the only one who perfectly fulfilled the Law - without Jesus, there would be no fulfillment of God's Old Testament promise.  As the apostle Peter puts it, the prophets of old were looking forward to the arrival of Christ and his fulfillment of their prophecy (1 Peter 1:10).

Christians do well to delve into the Old Testament and read the Bible as a whole in order to understand the context from which Jesus and the apostles established our faith and to grow us in it.  

Facing trials as pure joy, why?

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4)

Anyone who has been through deep waters in life knows the challenge of this verse. But as incomprehensible as it sounds, there are good reasons to consider facing life's trails as joy.  From studying the book of Job, I can see three reasons.  

First, trials in life indicate the depth of our relationship with God.  See how God describes Job in Chapter 1, verse 8 - 'Have you considered my servant Job?  There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.'  Job was not only known to God, but was also held in high esteem by God himself.  It was because the Lord took pride in Job that Satan focused on him (Job 2:3).  All believers in Jesus delight God when we abide by and obey His Son.  Therefore, as we walk with Jesus we ready ourselves for Satan's attack.

Second, God watches over the tried unceasingly.  Satan had to seek permission from God to attack Job (Job 1:12).  No matter how dire and dreadful our trials may seem to us, we can be sure that God remains sovereign and is in control of all situations.  Circumstances will never get out of hand for those who trust in Him.  

Third, the trial will end and God will exonerate his beloved.  In Job's example, we see that God blessed him in the end more than in the first part of his life.  And James tells us too that we will become more mature and complete and not lacking anything.  This is a great promise in time of trial.