Looking Through the Wrong Lens

Twenty years before the Babylonians captured Judah and led them into captivity, Habakkuk was a prophet in Judah who was very troubled by the sin all around him. The powerful and wealthy oppressed the poor and powerless, and Habakkuk did not understand why God allowed the wicked to prosper.

When God showed him in a vision how He was going to use the cruel and exceedingly wicked Babylonians to correct unrighteous Judah, he was even more troubled, and could not understand. He saw good people suffering at the hands of the powerful, and questioned why God would allow these things to happen.

We often wonder about the same things ourselves. We see bad things happening to good people, and we wonder if God really cares. But God tells us that His thoughts are not our thoughts, and our ways are not His ways. His very magnitude is almost impossible to grasp, and the fact that He is intimately involved in the life of every person on earth is incomprehensible to our limited minds. We cannot know or understand the panorama of God’s plan.

Writer Poh Fang Chia laid it out most clearly:

                  “In moments when we don’t understand God’s ways, we need to

                  trust His unchanging character. That’s exactly what Habakkuk did.

                  He believed that God is a God of justice, mercy and truth. (PS 89:14)

                  In the process, he learned to look at his circumstances from the

                  framework of God’s character instead of looking at God’s character

                  from the context of his own circumstances. He concluded, ‘The

                  Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of

                  a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.’”(HAB. 3:19).

We may be distressed by life’s seeming injustices, but we can only find contentment through seeing everything through the lens of God’s goodness. Sometimes only hindsight shows us how God used a painful period in a life to accomplish a wonderful thing. I have written about how the months my son spent in prison, sentenced and eventually justified for an embezzlement he did not commit, was used by God to make powerful changes in his very soul.

Believe me, it only takes one such experience to change forever the lens through which we view our lives. I have a peace, truly, which passes all understanding. I may suffer circumstances which I hate, but my faith in God’s love and goodness will never be shaken. I am so grateful for every example of God’s providence, even through pain, in my life. He has truly taught me to be content.

Being content does not mean not caring. It does not mean not feeling the wounds. It just means knowing without the shadow of a doubt that God is there, He is love, and He is using every circumstance for ultimate good. And having this assurance, this heart-treasure, is worth every pain we could ever suffer. 

The Secret of Contentment

"I have found the secret of contentment." If someone held a press conference today and made that statement, they would be mocked and ridiculed to no end. Contentment isn't something we actually believe in in 2015. We might believe in what makes us content right now, but those things are always subject to change. It doesn't really matter if we're talking about material possessions or marriage from a cultural standpoint. The fact remains that contentment is always a moving target, which means we are forever doomed to rest dissatisfied.

Or are we? Paul doesn't seem to think so in Philippians 4. At first glance his answer to the "secret" seems awfully churchy and impractical. But blink and you'll miss a truth that took Paul years to earn. (Take a look at 2 Corinthians 11:22-33 sometime to see what I mean by "earn.")

Simply put, Paul says he has learned how to manage any kind of circumstance by relying on Jesus. See what I mean by seeming too churchy? "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" is the type of verse-phrase you see crocheted into kitschy wall decorations at your local Christian bookstore. It is so often quoted as to be rendered impotent upon impact. And when you really think about it, the claim itself seems almost stupid in practice. What is so special about simply "knowing Jesus" that makes everything else tolerable no matter the circumstance? It's not like there's a human comparison that I can make that's similar to this. I can't say that about my wife, or my mom, or my pastor, though I love them all dearly. Is Paul simply being idealistic here? How can this actually be true in practice?

And this is precisely the point worth making here. We can't come up with a good human comparison because there isn't one. This is something else, something we would never have come up with, something we could have never expected. In spite of all the movies we've seen, relationships we've created and products we've purchased in the hopes of finally being content, only to be let down once again when they fail to secure it for us...Jesus actually satisfies! He actually does what so many other things have promised to do for us. And he accomplishes it in a way that once more seems painfully obvious, but at the same time totally unexpected.

Jesus promises to make us new. Not in heaven, but today. He promises that when we place faith in him as Redeemer, he will actually replace our desires with his own. Over time, we will stop wanting the things we want so badly. Read that sentence again. It's hard to believe, mostly because our desires are so strong. But that's what he promises to do for us. This is what it means when the Bible talks about God giving us a "new heart." We start to want the things the Master wants. Other things lose their luster because we have seen something brighter, higher, and more worthy than what we thought of on our own. And when we have come to see this, the changing of our circumstances becomes increasingly less important. And there we come to it: the secret of contentment. 

I would not call myself a content person. I am easily swayed by many of the things I've mentioned above. I get caught up in my own story, simply because I'm a sinful person and that's what sinful people do. But the Master is beckoning us with an offer that has the potential to rearrange our lives for the better, and in this case, the promise is not too good to be true. We can be new. As Augustine so eloquently said, we were made for God alone, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.

Theology of Suffering

I recently preached two messages about suffering that I wanted to share with LFAC folks. Though we suffer in daily things and in crisis moments and seasons, these messages focus on the reality of suffering for the Gospel as described in 1 Peter.  Part one is entitled "The Theology of Suffering: How God Wills It and How We Identify with It" (9/13/15) and part two is named "The Theology of Suffering: How God Restores and Reshapes our Identity"(9/20/15)

-Thor

Faith and Politics

It’s politics season, my favorite time of year!  Although it only comes around every four years, the Presidential elections, and more importantly, the build-up to them, are like Christmas to me.  It’s a magical season full of debates, issues, personalities, TV ads (the fruitcake of this analogy), and memes all over social media.  In fact, I’ve been drawn back into using Facebook, after about 8 months away from it, just for the opportunity to comment on people’s political posts.  Did I mention that I love politics?

My first exposure to politics was as a child, growing up in a conservative “walled garden” of home, church, and school, where Reagan and Bush had a monopoly and Jerry Falwell was the spokesperson.  Faith and politics were indistinguishable.  I assumed that if you were a Christian, you were a conservative, and if you were a Satanist, you were a liberal.  There was not middle ground, no overlap, no Venn diagram scenario where one could occupy both roles.  Then I went to college.

This isn’t your typical “I grew up churchy, and a secular University turned be liberal” story.  In fact, I graduated college (a good Christian college) as conservative as ever.  But a love for politics was planted, with the Bush v. Gore election, and subsequent legal battle.  By this time, I was an uber-conservative registered Libertarian, and I had started to see my faith and my politics as separate entities, where one could be independent of the other.

As both my faith and my politics have grown over the years since then, one question still nags.  Which informs which?  Does my faith inform and influence my politics? Or do my politics inform my faith?  

It sounds like an easy question.  Obviously, our faith (some might say our religion) should inform the political stance that we take on a given issue.  But the rub is that too often we let our politics inform our faith.  If a candidate claims to be a champion of “Christian values,” we want to support him.  But what about his or her foreign policy?  Does God care more about oil-rich countries than poor developing ones?  What about his social or economic plans, are those Christian?  Would Jesus have been an advocate of gun rights and lower taxes?  

I’m not saying these issues are cut and dry, by any means.  I’m saying that there are often political issues that become faith issues.  I have actually had my faith questioned because I am not a fiscal conservative.  Too often, our political views become our “Christian values,” and that’s a dangerous place to be, because it’s easy to justify.  

As my relationship with Jesus grew, I came to realize that many of my political opinions stood in stark contrast to my faith.  Views that I thought were informed by my faith were actually quite the opposite.  I found that I had shoehorned my faith into a narrow political space, then judged other people who had other opinions.  Learning to untangle the web of politics and faith is a daunting task, but one worth undertaking.  

I love politics.  I love Jesus.  I strive to keep my faith first, and let it inform my politics, not the other way around.  Sometimes this puts me at odds with the “religious right” and sometimes not, but my politics are not determined by what are labeled “Christian values,” but by the One that those values are supposed to represent.

How Exhorting One Another Keeps Us from Growing A Hard and Unbelieving Heart

God has appointed other believers as one of the primary means of our perseverance. In this presentation, John Piper explains how sin wages war against our souls, and how God equips us with weapons for the battle. We will see that this fight is not one we should fight alone. Click here to see Piper's presentation.

Sincerely,

Diego Cuartas

Do You Fall Away From Salvation if You Fall Away From God?

This is a very important question. Perhaps you know someone who at some point or another evidenced a personal walk with God or the fruits of the Christian life in some way and then they fell away from God. Or perhaps that person is you. Either way, I want to encourage you to follow a short series (of two parts) from John Piper. Basing his presentation on Hebrews 3:12-14, he presents his biblical discoveries concerning this key passage. Part 2, coming later, will establish the necessity for believers to exhort one another in the faith. Click here to see this 7 minute presentation.

Sincerely,

Diego Cuartas

Messy Conversations in Venice

We were in Venice.

And it was enchanting.

Completely enchanting. And magical.

We were off on 'Our One Last Adventure Before We Start Having Kids'...and we chose Europe as our destination.

So there we were, in magical Venice, wandering the moonlit streets together at night.

Let me say it again: it was enchanting. 

Well. Enchating to me, I should say.

Because when I looked over at my partner on this romantic stroll, he didn't look so enchanted. At least not by the moon and the narrow passageways and the water and the dreamy gondolas drifting by and the cozy little two-person restaurant tables.

The look on my husband Caleb's face was more in awe. In awe of the balance that the gondoliers were displaying by both paddling and standing...at the same time. 

We weren't holding hands. We weren't gazing into each other's eyes. We weren't slow dancing in the middle of the Pizzaza San Marco. Nope. I was standing there, feeling alone in the middle of this ultra-romantic setting, while my husband stood next to me, completely unaware of what I was feeling, while muttering under his breath, "How does he DO that?? I see that he keeps his feet there...and there...and I see that he only paddles on one side...it's like a forward-paddle and then a swirl motion with the paddle. How does he make the boat turn so easily?? I wonder if I could get a gondolier to give me a lesson...maybe I should ask one of them..." and so on and so forth. His eyes were certainly not on me. They were analyzing the wonders of the paddling gondolier-man.

And I was offended.

"How can you be so engrossed in those stupid gondoliers when this is our chance to be in love in Venice together?" I thought. 

And just when his attention to the gondolier began to fade, his eyes shifted to the violinist in the middle of the Square. And the analyzing and the muttering began afresh. "He moves his fingers so QUICKLY," I started hearing, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw his two hands come up and start imitating the violinist's movements.

At that point, I started to feel angry.

It's no fun at all to be angry about something and have to talk about it. Especially when you're on vacation and you're supposed to be having a wonderful time together. But I wasn't having a wonderful time anymore. I was angry, and disappointed, and even scared that we were falling out of love, because who can walk through the tiny streets of Venice and not look at each other? (Talk about jumping to a HUGE and irrational conclusion.)

So even though it was hard, right in the middle of our European vacation, I told Caleb about my fears and my feelings. It wasn't easy. It felt terrible. I felt like I was ruining our vacation by bringing it up. All my ideals of a romantic and perfect adventure were even farther away. I had to spell out how the combination of the moon and Venice and the canals felt so special and romantic for me, and admitting it made me feel silly and embarrassed. It felt like he should just know what I was feeling, what I was thinking, and how romance works. It felt so contrived to put words to what I would have wanted Caleb to do. 

Like I said, It wasn't an easy conversation. It was messy. I was crying and getting angry. Caleb was confused and maybe even a little bit hurt when I mimicked his air-violin-playing. I think I even yelled in frustration at one point.

But in the end, we came to such a good place. An intimate place. A place of knowing each other better.

I found out that just being together, just being side-by-side watching the gondoliers and the violinist together, felt special, and even romantic, for Caleb. Just having me by his side was enough for him. He felt like we were together and sharing the specialness of the place, very much in love. He didn't feel the least bit concerned for us, or our love, or our romance.

But he learned that romance is completely different for me. I need face-to-face, hand-in-hand, talking-together interactions for me to feel like we're together and sharing the specialness of the place, very much in love.

That day, we learned a little bit more about each other: what's significant for each of us and how we interact with romance. And years later in our relationship, I am SO THANKFUL for putting the time and energy and COURAGE into that talk. It has guided and helped us so many times since then. But if I had been unwilling to be vulnerable, unwilling to bare myself and my messy emotions, I probably would have harbored resentment (and not even a right conclusion) for a long time. I would have concluded that my husband is this non-romantic analyzing caveman who doesn't really even care about me at all, and that we're no longer in love anymore. Talk about a devastating conclusion!

But, instead, we grew in our intimacy and love through that difficult conversation.

Based on that conversation and many others like it, messy conversations and arguments where it feels like we'll never make it through, we end up coming out on the other side knowing and loving each other more. I have some suggestions for anyone else embarking on similar experiences in discussions.

1. Husbands, if I could tell you anything, I'd tell you to listen. Listen to what your wife says, listen to the emotions behind it, listen to what she's not saying, listen to the fear behind her anger, listen to what she feels like she's losing. You'll probably want to defend yourself as soon as she starts talking, because she'll probably be angry, and in her anger, she might be messy and say messy things. But what she really needs is you just to stop defending yourself and why you did what you did, and just listen. She doesn't need you to argue. She needs you to love her by listening. 
2. Husbands, one way you can do this is to try to draw out more of what she has 'inside' of her. So if she says one thing, ask her questions about that. Try to understand the depth of what she's saying. Try to hear more. Try to listen to what she feels under what she's saying. And when you think you understand what she's feeling deep inside, try to repeat it back to her: "What I hear you saying is that you feel _____ because _____." If she feels really listened to, really understood, you've already won half the battle. You're already like 3/4 of the way to greater intimacy and a good resolution.
3. Wives, watch out for ideals! Like me, you might feel like talking about your messy emotions ruins the specialness of whatever you're doing, like a vacation or an anniversary or a date, but you saying how you really feel inside will most likely lead to a good place and not a bad place if you are both willing to keep talking it out. 
4. And wives, try to remember that your conclusion about why your husband is doing what he's doing and your conclusion about the way that he is, is probably wrong. Yes, wrong. He's probably got more going on in his mind, and it's probably a lot harder and scarier to be the leader than you can imagine. He's probably got reasons for why he's doing what he's doing. He's not a jerk-monster through and through. He's a human with feelings...just like you. So give him the benefit of the doubt and ASK QUESTIONS about what he's doing instead of accusing him of your worst conclusions. Leave room in your mind for extra information that you don't know yet. Slow down and ask questions like, "What are you thinking when you ____?" and "What are you valuing when you do ____?"

Love needs intimacy to grow. And intimacy is all about knowing each other in the raw, real, nitty-gritty places of your emotions. We tend to think that love will grow as we pretend that everything is alright and we're always happy all the time, like if we just pretend something is true, it will be. But marriage doesn't work that way. Some of the best places in marriage can only be reached through the hard road of getting messy feelings out on the table. 

Seasons Change: A Letter

Dear brothers and sisters,

I wanted to write this blog as a letter to encourage you. In my coming and going I have enjoyed the cool evenings this past week as they seem to remind me that change is ahead. Fall will be coming soon. Although fall is my favorite season and a welcome change, with its coming are bigger changes and transitions that are not so thrilling to me. In fact, I hate transition. I don’t always mind change itself, but I loathe the getting there.

For example, my husband and I are expecting our second baby the first week of November. Whereas, I couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome another child into our family, the getting there, aka this pregnancy, has been very challenging. My body has seemed to boycott any kind of stability every step of the way, making hospital visits more common place this time around than I care for. I know that the end result of a healthy baby will be worth all of the suffering now, but this time of waiting and processing is really difficult. As I have experienced and continue to experience the tumults of transition in my own life, I have thought about all of you, and I wanted to tell you that YOU are seen.

I know that so many of you are going through major changes as well. Mother of school aged children, you are seen. Whether it be your first time or fifth time sending your precious cargo off for another school year while reminding yourself that God is with them even when you aren’t, your transition is important and God sees. Student getting ready to return to school, perhaps nervous/excited about the new possibilities this year, God is with you and He sees. New parents whose child still may not be sleeping through the night, the transition to sleepless nights is tough, but there is grace for you and God sees. To the grieving adjusting to life without a loved one, transition to life minus one may feel raw and unnatural but God is at hand. He knows and He sees. Whether it is transitions at work, in family, stage of life or service to the Lord as you walk on mission with Him, your sacrifices, emotions and thoughts both joyful and difficult are important.

God is at hand. I’m glad that He doesn’t just wait for us to “make it to the other side” but that He really is closer than an arms length away. In Lamentations 3:22-23, I am reminded in times of uncertainty or change that, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail. They are new EVERY morning; great is your faithfulness.” I also love that He says in Malachi 3:6 about Himself that, “I the Lord DO NOT change...” In every season of my soul, He remains the same. These past weeks I have been encouraged again by this simple truth. Our God is a steady anchor when everything else is shifting. May you be encouraged knowing that you are seen by your sister who is impacted by your lives and faithfulness, and you are seen by a God who is close and filled with compassion for you. May God’s peace guard your hearts and minds as you continue to walk with Him.

Blessings,

Sophia

The True Value of Worship, Part 3

In the Old Testament, the first line of warriors that led out in the battle were the musicians and singers. This picture illustrates the huge priority of learning to be a worshiper of God, in whatever circumstance you find yourself- wonderful or desperately hard. 

This video clip is one of my favorite worship leaders, Darlene Zschech, teaching about this very topic. Be blessed friends!

Lois