My covenant with God

There has been something on my heart lately. It has been "what are my responsibilities toward God." I mean, if God is a great, awesome, good, loving, kind, just, etc., etc. as we believe He is, then surely I can't just "accept His salvation" and then I can just do whatever I want with my life...that's goofy. Be honest. IF what the Bible says is true, then surely we can't be a bunch of ungrateful children and never have any responsibilities after accepting God's gift of salvation.

Anyway, that's what has been bouncing around in my head. However, having that general thought is nowhere near the same as having any sort of articulation of those responsibilities.

The other thought I've had is that God takes covenants seriously. This has actually been on my mind since last February when I heard a good friend of mine preach in the New Testament and he talked about the Gibeonites and the fact that God expected a covenant to be upheld....that was never supposed to happen and that happened under false pretenses. I thought, "Wow. If God expects that kind of covenant to be upheld, then how much the covenant I've made with wife or covenants we've made with God??"

Which all led me to here and now. I have a covenant. I believe I have enough Scripture to support this and I think I could make a an argument that these should hold true for all Christians, but I want you to look for yourself. Look at the verses I link in and tell me if you think they fit or if something is off. I'm not perfect and I don't claim that is any kind of perfect summation of what my Christian life should look like. I would say, however, that if I can uphold this covenant then I think that there are 100 things about my character that I would see begin to work themselves out in a more godly fashion!


God,

Today I make a covenant with you and before these witnesses. I will make Your glory and Your honor the goal of my life. So that whatever I say, whatever I do, and whatever I think is for your glory (Matthew 22:37 and I Corinthians 10:31).

I will daily seek to: 1) Make myself a living sacrifice to you that is holy and acceptable in your sight. Who is not being conformed to the world, but is being transformed into the image of Christ (Romans 12:1-2). 2) Seek to love you more as you have loved me first (I John 4:19, Romans 5:8). As in all relationships, to love someone more means to know them more: I will seek to daily spend time with you (in prayer and/or in the Spritures that you have chosen to reveal to us) (John 14:15, 23).

I will remember, as you do, that I am made of dust (Psalm 103:14) and it is not in me that any of this will be done. This covenant is made through the blood of Christ knowing that it is only through Christ's blood that I can freely come to you to make this covenant. I know that I will not be a perfect person, but my covenant is to always seek after and pursue these goals and, when I do fall, to get back up (I John 1:9) and continue to seek you.

I make this covenant knowing that you, as a God who takes covenants seriously, do not take this lightly and that you will not lightly let me abandon it. In fact, I ask you to meek me to this covenant knowing that in myself I am weak. May my weakness show the perfection of Christ's strength (2 Corinthians 12:9) by allowing me to keep this covenant!

Nate Maxwell - January 20, 2016


To God be the glory!

 

Via Dolorosa - Painful Way

I have been trying to learn German for the last few months. One thing I do is I listen to German music even though I don't understand much of it at all.With some help I was shown how to search to get Christian German music. So, I was listening today and I suddenly heard the tune that was Via Dolarosa...and I was reminded how powerful the music itself is. I mean, I couldn't remember any of the words (other than via Dolorosa) and yet it was moving to hear the music!!

Well, it got me curious about the song. A song that is very moving for the music alone, but also for the words. So, I found a few things. First, this is the name of the street is actually supposed to be where Christ walked on his way to be crucified. However, it is also Latin. It's basic meaning is just "Painful Way" but Way of Grief, Way of Sorrows, and Way of suffering all came up as well.

See, I was under the impression that it was just something like "the way" and not anything this specific. Now the whole meaning has changed. So, here are the words to the song:

Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day the soldiers tried to clear the narrow street. But the crowd pressed in to see a man condemned to die on Calvary. He was bleeding from a beating, there were stripes upon his back, and he wore a crown of thorns upon His head and He bore with every step the scorn of those who cried out for His death.

Down the Via Dolorosa, called the way of suffering, like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King. But He chose to walk that road out of His love For you and me.

Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

(If someone knows the Spanish translation here, I'd love for you to post it!)

Por la Via Dolorosa, triste dia en Jerusalem, Los saldados le abrian paso a Jesus.
Mas la gente se acercaba, Para ver al que llevaba aquella cruz.

Por la Via Dolorosa, que es la via Del dolor, Como oveja vino Cristo, Rey, Señor.
Y fue El quien quiso ir por su amor, Por ti y Por mi, Por la Via Dolorosa al Calvario y a morir.

The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men made its way to the heart of Jerusalem.

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering, like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King. But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me.

Down the Via Dolorosa. All the way to Calvary.

I don't know why, but this song really hit me this time. Christ, eternal God who had veiled His deity, came to Earth so that He could place my sin on His shoulders. My sin from my childhood, my sin from last night, my sin from tonight, and the sin I will ever commit. I am one of the reasons Christ went to the Christ. 

The great news is that you are too!!! :-) What a blessing and what a glorious thought!!

To God be the glory!!

God: Am I in your Book of Remembrance?

The Sunday School class I've been leading has been going through a small group book by Warren W Wiersbe. The book we have been going through is called Be Amazed and it works through Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Malachi. We are finally about to finish Malachi.

Context: Malachi is a really interesting book. Several (6 or so) times Malachi makes a statement from God, then gives Israel's response (usually a "but, how have we done that?"), and then gives God's response to that. It's kind of funny at times. One example is the end of chapter two where it says, "You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, 'How have we wearied Him?' By saying, 'Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.' or by asking, 'Where is the God of justice?'"

So, things like that and 6 or 7 times in the book. Indictment from God, innocent sounding questions/arguments from Israel, response from God to the argument.

Then Malachi 3:13-15 happens! Here God accuses Israel of having hard words against God. They, of course, ask how that has been happening and God explains that they have been saying that it is pointless to serve God. They take it even further to say that evil doers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they get away with it. .......really? I thought this was written 2500 years ago. This sounds a little too close to home doesn't it??

Anyway, the book of remembrance comes next. In verses 16-18 there is this sudden shift. We've been seeing these annoying, God-less people who don't even seem to realize how offensive they are. Then we see, "Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another." It then says that God saw and heard them and a book of remembrance was written with the names of those who feared the Lord.

Side note: a book of remembrance is like in Esther when the king couldn't sleep and he had the book read to him that reminded him of the time Mordecai saved his life by revealing an assassination plot. So, a book of remembrance is remembering important deeds of people who have not been rewarded for those deeds so they can be rewarded later on.

Anyway, let's end with the challenge of verse 18. God has been saying how there will be a time when He will save those who have been written in the book and that they will be a treasured possession of His. "Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him."

I'm not trying to claim these O.T. verses for myself necessarily. However, I am challenged by this thought. If this was then and I was who I am now, would I be written down in God's book of remembrance? If this was the future and God was visibly showing who were His, would I be a sharp and distinct difference when compared to those who do not serve God?? Would you?

Let there be a difference! May we serve God in such a way that the world sees us and they see someone who is serving God with all our heart, mind, and soul.


To God be the glory!

God: Do I fear you like I should?

The fear of the Lord. Wow. What a topic!

I have heard all ends of this. I have heard that it means you should literally be shaking with fear when you pray to God. I have heard that it means simply that we have an awe and respect for God but that we shouldn't fear since we are told to go "boldly" before His throne. ...ok....so which is it?

I'm not planning to fully answer that question...it's a HUGE question and many people much smarter than I have not come to a consensus. However I have a few thoughts for you today.

1. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge/wisdom. Proverbs 1:7 says knowledge and Proverbs 9:10 says wisdom. So, we can at least know that, according to the Bible, true knowledge and true wisdom are only gained when we begin with this "fear of the Lord" thing. Ironically, Proverbs 2 says that when we seek after and pursue true wisdom...then we will finally understand the fear of the Lord. I know that seems kind of circular, but it also makes a kind of sense when you think about it. Pursing and working towards wisdom that is from God leads to an understand of the fear of the Lord....which is the actual beginning of wisdom! :o)

2. I stole this next part from here: "The Hebrew verb yare can mean "to fear, to respect, to reverence" and the Hebrew noun yirah usually refers to the fear of God and is viewed as a positive quality. This fear acknowledges God's good intentions...This fear is produced by god's Word and makes a person receptive to wisdom and knowledge." - OK. So this shows a respect/reverence side to "fear of the Lord."

3. A God-fearing person (that is, a person who fears God) will be a more trust-worthy individual. A person who is more likely to keep their word or protect those who need protecting. That is to say, they are living with a reality of God that is as close to accurate as they can and that spurs them to right living. This could be respect as well as a little actual fear. It depends on your heart.

4. God is outside of time and space...and not confined by matter...which means there is no time or place that He isn't always aware of. So, He knows what you are going to do tomorrow and the next day, not because He has seen (past tense) it, but because He is all the time aware of all things that will ever happen in time.... *Mind-blown* That should be an encouragement (no one can kill you before God allows it and no one can stop you from dying once it is your time, etc.) and it should terrify you when you have sin in your heart...see #5 below.

5. Here is where I think that "fear" is the right word. For a person who is a Christian and who follows Jesus Christ and God the Father, he/she ought to be afraid when they intentionally go against what they know that God would have for them. Now, I could go kind of deep with this (prompting of the Spirit, etc.) but I won't. I just will say that if you know God wants you to do something or you know that God wants you to NOT do something, and you deliberately go against that, then you should be afraid.

Now, I do not mean a crippling fear. I mean the kind of fear that recognizes who God is and drives you back to obedience to Him and His truth. You shouldn't run from God because of the fear of the Lord. No, you run TO God because you know there is grace and forgiveness in the Father. However, that fear also keeps it real that we have a responsibility to live a certain way before God. If we aren't, then we need to, in fear, assess ourselves to see what we need to fix.

One simple example. read Galatians 5. The whole chapter would be good, but if you need shorter, just read verses 16-26. There are two lists here. One is the fruit/works of the flesh in verses 19-21 and then the Fruit/works of the Spirit are in 22-23.

All I will say is this. If you call yourself a Christian, and you know who God is and yet this list isn't matching right. That is, you are more often than not showing the works of the flesh and rarely showing the fruit of the Spirit, then a healthy fear of the Lord is something you may need. Because if you know who God is and you fear Him, then you will make these things a priority in your life!

So, I ask myself and I encourage you to ask yourself too. Do I fear God enough? Do we as a Christian culture fear God enough? If the answer for you, as it is for me, is "no" then what do we do? I for one plan to pray and meditate on some verses (like Galatians 5) that will help me to foster that healthy fear that more closely brings me in line with who God wants me to be.

To God be the glory!!!

God: I don't understand you!!

I've been listening to A. W. Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy. It has been really good...but really hard too. One of the things he has been focusing on is the fact that God is infinite. By being infinite, by its very definition, we can't really know everything about God.

Sure, we have things about God that we know because it has been revealed to us in the Bible. So, God is love. God is holy. God is just.

And as big as those things really are, they don't even come close to explaining everything about God. One thing he said is that God is both everywhere and no where at the same time....because being somewhere is a matter of time and space and God is outside both of those things. *brain exploded*

Wow. Outside of time and space? That's incredible.

...and again, this doesn't come close to helping us to fully understand who God is.

So what? I mean, God is an uncreated being. We are created beings. So, that is the thing that has been created expecting to fully understand the one who created it....which is ludicrous.

BUT I WANT TO!!!! ....I know, I'm a toddler throwing a tantrum.

But, it's more than that. I mean, yes, we are created being so we shouldn't fully understand the god who created us. We are also children who have been adopted by a heavenly father. We, as part of the church, are the bride of Christ. We love Him because he first love us. Right??

So, is it wrong to want to know more about this person/being??

I don't think it's wrong to want to know more. However, as I've been struggling with this today and typing tonight I've come to a realization. There is know way that I actually know everything about God that has been revealed. Would you agree for yourself?

One example: God is love. OK, that's great. Now I know that as a loving father, love sometimes means discipline, pain, or doing something that my child doesn't understand because I know it is what is best for them...whether they want it or not.

Another: God is just. OK, so, true justice is making sure that laws are upheld and is not just letting anyone get away with anything they want, right?

My point is that these are NOT the only things about God being love or justice. There must be more aspects about God's love hidden just in those two things and there are so many more things about who/what God is that have been revealed to us.

I may wish there were certain things about God that I could understand better, but there are simply things we are never going to understand (election, salvation, why me?, why not him/her?, what about that, what about this). However, there are enough things that we could understand that we have not taken enough time to try to yet that we can't really complain! :o)


May we go back to being in awe of nature...and then remember that nothing is created that is better than its creator! :o) think about that the next time you study ants, the stars, DNA, gravity, or seasons!


To God be the glory!!

New Year's doesn't feel new anymore!!

I woke up yesterday and it was a new year. 2016 instead of 2015. Yet....

I was still exhausted as though I'd stayed up until 1 in the morning and I'm not 18 anymore.

My back still aches because I abused it too much when I was in my teen years.

I still can't do 30 push ups in a row.

My daughters are only 1 day older.

My wife is the same age she was yesterday.

I'm a whole day older than I was yesterday!

My church is still preparing for a great year of seeing God work through hard times.

I still wish I didn't have a temper problem at times.

I am still trying to learn German and feeling like I'm at the base of the mountain trying to get up....but the mountain path is an escalator that only goes down!

I still don't consistently read in my Bible like I want to.

So, what's so new about this year?? What make it special to hit a new year???

I still have a wife and two daughters.

I still have vehicles that work.

I still have a church family that I call my "family" and who I love very much.

I have been learning about the presence of God and I feel at times grateful and at times overwhelmed....and the best times I feel both grateful and overwhelmed!

I still have a job that God chooses to use to provide for the needs of my family.

My sore back is still not debilitating so I can function with my families.


So, its another year! I guess I realized this morning that:

I can choose to realize how little things are changing and be disappointed, or I can look at how little things are changing and be grateful.

I can see what I'm still not doing right and be frustrated, or I can see what I'm still not doing right and steel myself to continue the fight to allow God to work in me to make me more than I am naturally in myself!

I can see hardship coming and determine to fight it or I can see hardship and be excited to see what God is going to do.

I realize that hardship that I can't currently see is coming and be depressed, or I can continue to lean on God so that when those times do come I'll already be spiritually, mentally, emotionally, etc. prepared to faces those hardships.

Happy New Year everyone. God is good and, thankfully, His goodness has nothing to do with our faith in Him, our attitude to our circumstances, or even the outcomes that we will face this year.



To God be the glory!!