Eyes Up

After I came to know Christ and chose to follow Him in college I learned something about myself. As I was reading the New Testament book of Colossians a few days ago the lesson seemed to deepen and grow. I noticed that when I was talking between classes that as I passed people on my way I would almost always look at the ground rather than keep my eyes up.

One day as I was walking while I noticed this also began to wonder why I looked down and to realized that it didn’t make any sense to look at the ground as I passed by people. It didn’t make much sense because whatever the reason why I had been changed drastically and the old reason didn’t make sense any more in light of who I was. Si I began to remind myself of who I was as I walked to class and kept my eyes up I would say, “I am a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17).” Or Reminding myself I was a child of God, the King, and I didn’t have to look down for anyone (I John 3:1). Or reminding myself that I was seated with Christ on the right hand of the throne of God (Colossians 3:1). Over time, practice on my part, and God’s grace and growth, I began to see change in how I walked on campus. I kept my eyes up. Of course any really good lesson learned is rarely a one and done. Good and deep lessons take some continual learning. At the start of this post I said that a lesson started to deepen and grow. I will post more about that later this week.

How you seen God grow you as you learned who you were in Christ?

Our Corrupted Will

The fact that our will is corrupted might be the easiest of the three parts of the heart, intellect, emotion and will to see. How many of us have said, “I will never do that again.” And then did the same thing again. I am sure that is everyone.

It is easy to see as well when we compare what we know, our intellect, to what we do, our will. For example I know it is good not to over eat, or eat to many sweets but that extra scoop of ice cream is to too good to pass up. Or I know that working out is good for my heart, lowers my blood pressure, cholesterol, anxiety and help me to sleep better at night yet, I choose to have a coffee or take a nap instead.

It is not just in our diet and exercise that we see a corruption of the will, we see it deeply in our faith as well. I have heard it said, that as Christians our knowledge far outweighs our obedience. Yet often we with the answer to problems that we are facing in life we just need to know the right answer, rather than stopping long enough to realize we know the right answer we just don’t want to do the right action we know deep down to do. Taking time to rest and refresh has been an example of something I Knew was good yet didn’t choose to do. God clearly led us by example in the Bible when he rested on the seventh day, and made sure we would hear by commanding us to observe the Sabbath in the Old Testament. Yet we as New Testament believers in Christ tend to choose not to do what we know would be good for us to do.

How have you see the fact that our will is corrupted?

Birthday Thoughts

I have received a precious gift 10 days before my birthday on April 3rd in Audrey Grace. As birthdays can tend to do I have been reflective today on the recent history and partially on my 34 years of existence. As I have reflected I have been so thankful.

Recently I have been so thankful to God and Family. Even though our Family officially started when Adrienne and I got married there is a sense in that our Family has just begun. This life that God has brought into the world he also created and loves (Psalm 139), and we are experiencing his love by the blessing of the life that God has entrusted to us. Thank You Lord for Audrey, and giving her to us at just the right time. In the process of establishing our family, I am very thankful for the families that Adrienne and I came from. The help of Audrey’s Grandparents have given us a great start, by sharing their experiences, helping us in the hospital, and transitioning home. They have given of themselves abundantly and our lives are blessed as a result.

Over the Past 34 years there have been several important and defining moments but as life goes and we see with greater clarity we can distill them down with more precision. Three events or relationships stand out above the others. First giving my life to Jesus Christ in my dorm room at college. My relationship with Christ, has defined my life more than any other single event or relationship. Because Jesus, I am forgiven, loved and empowered to be more than I am, more than I ever thought I could be. Thank you Jesus for giving your life that we could be in relationship forever.  Second would be the day they I married Adrienne Coogan. Her influence in my life has been greater than I could have imagined. She has helped me be a better man. Thank You Adrienne. Now there is Audrey. Audrey’s birth and entrance into the world, adds the role and title of Father to my life. I know Audrey’s birth and our relationship will change me more than I know now. I am embracing the change that is to come and Thankful to all those who have played a role in my 34 years.

Beginning Fatherhood

The first week of being a Dad has flown by. It is still hard to find words to describe the experience. So far two thoughts have stood out to me.

I loved Audrey Grace Butz before I saw her. Seeing her and getting to know her has allowed my love for her to grow. But it doesn’t change the fact that I loved her before I had seen her. Still at this point she really hasn’t done anything for me or earned love. I just give it. I don’t give it reluctantly. I can’t help but give it. I tell her how much I love her everyday and she cant even understand my words, but I am compelled to tell her because I love her so much.

The opportunity to bring Audrey into the world and to love and care for her has brought Adrienne and I closer together. I feel more connected to Adrienne not just because we were able to bring life into the world but because we have a shared purpose to love Audrey. We love each other more as we look to love another.

It is easy to see connections with my current experience and my faith in Jesus. Jesus loved me before I loved him, Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” I also see that my heart draws closer to people that share the same purpose as I do. My mission is to help people experience satisfaction in Christ. As I do that with people I grow close to them as well.

Just my thoughts.

Our Corrupted Intellect

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;”

Personally my intellect seems more reliable to me than my emotions. Yet it is clear that I cannot lean on my own understanding. Even my intellect can be swayed by persuasive arguments, and I have been wrong more that I like to admit.

Two other verses come to mind as I think about intellect. Ephesians 4:14 “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” And also II Corinthians 10:5 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”

Of course we can and must use our intellect. It is not all bad, we can use our intellect for good, and it should be used that way. But we can not trust solely our intellect. We must give our intellect to Christ and allow Him to use it for His good. Only He can be trusted fully and can make full use of the intellect He created and gave to us.

The following words are from the hymn “Take my Life and Let it Be”

Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.

My Corrupted Heart

The heart is a misunderstood concept in Bible and in life. The New Bible Dictionary describes the definition of the Greek and Hebrew word for heart in the Bible as, Intellect Emotion and Will. (For a more through definition click here)

Of course when we think about the word heart what we think about most often is our emotions. So we tend to think more negatively about our emotions at times than other aspects of our self, such as intellect and will. The truth is that it is not only or emotions that are off, or corrupted, it is our intellect and will as well. Jeremiah 17:9 says this about our heart.

“The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?”

I don’t think the Bible is saying that our intellect, emotion and will are completely bad. I think there is good and bad in every persons heart. I do think our hearts are corrupted by sin throughout. Thankfully God cares deeply about redeeming our corrupted hearts, intellect, emotion and will. Ezekiel 26:36 says this, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

I know that my intellect, emotion and will all need to be made new. I am so thankful that there was one who had a pure heart, Jesus. I am thankful that he offers His heart to you and to me. We all can be made new from the inside out in every aspect of ourselves by the gift of God through Jesus Christ His perfect Son.

Emotional Tension 2

As we are looking at our emotions during our current series, I thought I would post a few ideas about Dan Allender’s book, “Cry of the Soul.” This is from Chapter 3 Relationships: The Context of the Cry.

Relational Movement	Fight Response	Flight Response
Attack (against)	Anger	Fear
Abandonment (away)	Jealousy	Despair
Love (towards)	Contempt	Shame

Attack
Anger – Is God Just? Will God let the wicked win? (FIGHT)
Fear – Will God protect me? (Flight)

Abandonment
Jealousy – Is God good? Will God satisfy my hunger? Will God leave me empty and bless others? (FIGHT)
Despair – Is God good? Or will God leave me in this isolation? (flight)

Love
Contempt – Is God good? Does God love me? Will God turn away from me in disgust? (FIGHT)
Shame – Does God love me or will he hate me when he sees who I really am? (Flight)

It seems to me and to Dan in his book, that the key questions about God are; Is God good? And Is God powerful? I know this truth intellectually, but knowing something intellectually is never enough. I must know this in a deeper way maybe a relational way. It seems that is how God spoke to David about these two big questions. This morning I read this in Psalm 62,

“Once God has spoken;
twice I have heard this:
that power belongs to God,
and that to you , O Lord, belongs
steadfast love.”
How have you come to know that God is both powerful and good?
How do you still need to learn that God is both powerful and good?