Wow, so I'm almost done with my 1st year here at New Tribes Bible Institute and it's been saweet!! This semester has been incredible as I've taken the following classes: Hermenetutics II (Dispensations), Prophets, Anthropology/Hamartiology (Theology of Man and Sin), Gospels, Basic Theology, Christology, and Acts with classes on Bible Basis for Missions and 1st Corinthians to come. It's been a real busy and sometimes overwhelming semester, but I've continued to learn experientially what it is to submit and rely upon the Lord and trust him with my shortcomings and failures. I've learned over and over again what it is to rest in the Lord. But I'm going to talk about something that's been challenging me and my thinking and may possibly challenge yours.
I've titled this blog "Do We Care?" because I've been challenged with my culture around me and especially my Christian culture. I see in our culture this way of thinking that seems to have a disdain for knowledge and understanding cultivated by laziness. I ask people the questions "What is truth or reality?" or "Where did we, the world and creation come from?", and these are adult people mind you, and these are questions that they say they've never thought of before, IN THEIR LIFE. People will say they believe in science but a vast majority has never taken the time to study into why they believe it and therefore don't know why they believe it. Take atheists, they claim to believe their is no God or deity or anything, yet again the vast majority have never investigated the claims Christianity make, or the validity of the Bible. We, as a culture just don't seem to care about knowledge or knowing what we believe, we just believe because we do. We've been told to pursue this mystical philosophy and reason and have thrown using our brains to the side in exchange for laziness and feelings. And we don't care. Even worse, we don't care that we don't care. This is where it got challenging to me, was when I thought about my faith and my Christian culture. I'll just throw some simple truths out there that I've been thinking through:
Firstly, I think we'd all agree that God's Word is important and that we need and should know it. We were created to be in a relationship and fellowship with God, and to pursue God is to know him in how he has revealed himself in His Word. Yet, I myself am guilty of pushing His Word away, of not wanting to know it, of writing it off as not important and I think it is similar in our Christian culture where the Bible is seen as some big laborious task to read. The Bible should be of supreme value in our lives, yet most often it is not. Yet do we care? Do we care that the Word of God is not held in high esteem? 2nd Peter 3:9 states that God is slow in keeping his promises but he is being patient, not desiring any to perish, but that call come to repentance. We see God's heart for the world, that all would come to know him, we know as see in Romans 1-3 that those that do not know Jesus will spend eternity separated from him in Hell because God's wrath has been revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, and we know that God has given us (the Church and believers) the responsibility to take the gospel to the ends of the earth (Matt. 28:18-20, Lk. 24:46-48, 2nd Cor. 5:18-20). Yet there are at least 2500 unreached people groups all over the world and every day people from these are dying and going to Hell. Do we care? Do we care enough to take the gospel to these people? Or do many of us sit on the gospel and keep it for ourselves? There are many other truths, but one last one is John 15 where Jesus presents us the importance of abiding in The Vine. He stresses the importance of abiding in him because without abiding we can do nothing of eternal value, there is no joy and there is no fruit. Yet many of us, myself included do not rest in the fellowship of God, we care to live our lives the way we want to even though are life isn't our life anymore (1st Cor. 6:20). Yet do we care? Because it looks an awful lot like we enjoy pursing the American Dream, retirement and what we want to do instead of losing ourselves in the purposes and will of God who has bought us with a price. I don't know where you're at with this but it is worth some thought to think where are perspective is and where it needs to be corrected by the Word of God because we need to care and if we don't there are incredible implications and ramifications. Let's think it over and conform our thinking to God's and act like the lights that we ought to be. Take a look at Romans 12:1-2 it challenges me daily.
Prayer Requests:
1. I teach with the prison ministry at school in jail in two weeks on the end of Romans. Pray for the Spirit to speak through me and speak truth.
2. For me to finish strong this semester and seek God daily.
3. I return home on May 20th for the summer looking to serve my church and build relationships there. Prayer would be most appreciated for God to foster those relationships and strengthen the relationship between my home church and I.
4. Pray for more laborers! And for unreached people groups around the world that need the Gospel!
