Wednesday, November 29, 2006
I Love You Too Dad
As of this writing, my youngest son, Riley, is 3 ½ years old. Like his older brother David, Riley is kind, thoughtful of other’s needs, gentle and loving. From time to time, when I tell Riley that I love him, he says, "I love you too dad." But sometimes, without my saying anything, he's looked up from what he's doing and said, "I love you too dad." I smile thinking that he simply has not learned sentence structure yet. Until yesterday. Yesterday is when I noticed that he says "I love you too," when we go for a walk; just Riley and I. He says it when I put my arm around him. When I watch him swing or watch him play in the sandbox, it’s then that Riley, hearing my actions as loud as words, replies to my undivided attention with, "I love you too dad." Isn’t that just the most awesome thing? And isn’t that how we should respond to Jesus as we remember that we have His undivided attention? "I love you too Lord."
Better Than I Ever Dreamed Possible
I am so tremendously blessed by God. Not only has He revealed Himself to me, not only has he given to me salvation through my faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God has given to me, in enormous amounts, the Fruit of abiding in His Holy Spirit. It is sooo good to be a Christian. It is so good to be able to enjoy who I’m becoming, and to know that I am loved by my Creator.
Before I was a Christian, I thought I was a pretty great individual. In reality, I was filled with rage, bitterness, resentments, selfishness, self-centeredness, self-righteousness, unfaithfulness and so on. Now, with no credit going to myself, I am experiencing huge amounts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. Since becoming a Christian, 25 years ago, every year has been better than the year before, and this is in the midst of difficulties. In fact I've probably had far more difficulties in my life since becoming a Christian than before I made that change. Yet God, in His grace and mercy has granted me enough faith to actually live by verses that tell me to "not be anxious about anything," and "don’t worry," and "in all things be thankful," and "rejoice always, I say it again, rejoice." Here's what really makes that wonderful.
I’m sick day in and day out. I've lived with arthritis for 45 of my 55 years and I have huge amounts of pain all day every day. I’m on disability, probably for the rest of my life. And yet I experience God as being so incredibly good. I experience Jesus as being so close that my every pore is infused with His presence. His creation is so awesome. His mercies truly are new every morning.
I am free to enjoy my Lord, my Saviour, my Creator because I know for a fact that I can trust Him. He has never left me nor will He ever leave me. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. I can have more and more of His blessings and more and more of the Fruit of His Spirit. Thank you so much Heavenly Father for helping me to focus just on us.
Before I was a Christian, I thought I was a pretty great individual. In reality, I was filled with rage, bitterness, resentments, selfishness, self-centeredness, self-righteousness, unfaithfulness and so on. Now, with no credit going to myself, I am experiencing huge amounts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. Since becoming a Christian, 25 years ago, every year has been better than the year before, and this is in the midst of difficulties. In fact I've probably had far more difficulties in my life since becoming a Christian than before I made that change. Yet God, in His grace and mercy has granted me enough faith to actually live by verses that tell me to "not be anxious about anything," and "don’t worry," and "in all things be thankful," and "rejoice always, I say it again, rejoice." Here's what really makes that wonderful.
I’m sick day in and day out. I've lived with arthritis for 45 of my 55 years and I have huge amounts of pain all day every day. I’m on disability, probably for the rest of my life. And yet I experience God as being so incredibly good. I experience Jesus as being so close that my every pore is infused with His presence. His creation is so awesome. His mercies truly are new every morning.
I am free to enjoy my Lord, my Saviour, my Creator because I know for a fact that I can trust Him. He has never left me nor will He ever leave me. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. I can have more and more of His blessings and more and more of the Fruit of His Spirit. Thank you so much Heavenly Father for helping me to focus just on us.
Wealth Beyond Imagination
It is so good to be richer than the wealthiest people people in the world. While, at first glance I might not appear wealthier than they are, I must be because I have enough, and they don’t.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Why Jesus and not Buddha?
Why Jesus and not Buddha?
Some people say that all religious leaders are the same. They say that all paths lead to the same God. They say that all religions worship the same God and so on. I would like to begin with the thought that ‘All religious leaders are roughly the same’. Let’s compare just two of them - Jesus and Siddhartha Gautama a.k.a. Buddha.
. Jesus - When a person asked Jesus where he lived Jesus answered, "Even foxes have holes, but I the Son of God have no place to live." Jesus was born into poverty and spent his entire life on earth ministering to and serving the impoverished, the downtrodden and those on the fringes of society like prostitutes and criminals (both wealthy and street criminals). He made a point of associating with the kinds of people that the rest of us would rather ignore.
. Buddha was born into a rich family. He spent his youth living in luxury in the palace of his father, the warrior prince Suddhodhana.
. Jesus upheld the family unit, but he gave up many opportunities to marry so that he could more fully devote himself to his ministry of serving others. Jesus emphasised the importance of staying in a marriage and working out one’s issues. In no uncertain terms, Jesus stated, "I hate divorce." Jesus sacrificed his desires for intimacy to better provide for the good of others.
. Buddha - When Gautama was about 20 years old, he married the princess Yasodhara. He later abandoned his wife and infant son to seek personal spiritual enlightenment. His focus was on bringing himself a sense of peace.
. Jesus’ message of peace is totally radical when compared to any other religious leader. For example, he says, "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who persecute you. If you only love those who love you, what good is that? Even the pagans do that much. If someone demands your shirt, give him your coat as well. If someone demands that you carry a load one mile, carry it two."
. Buddha, like all other religious leaders promoted peace, ‘where it makes sense to do so’.
. Jesus - The list of radical differences between what Jesus teaches (Christianity) and all other religions go on and on. One great difference occurs over the issue of choice and how that affects our after death experience. If Jesus is right in what He taught, the choices involved with rejecting or accepting Him will result, at the end of this life, in something either beautiful beyond description or catastrophic beyond imagination. Beyond eternal consequences, Jesus teaches that if we accept him and his message he will provide for us, during this one life on earth, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, value and worth, security and belonging, fulfilment, direction, meaning and purpose.
. Buddha’s followers, for thousands of years have correctly interpreted his life-view to promote a stoic attitude during "an endless cycle of rebirth and suffering." This is because bad karma reproduces much faster than good karma. Only in the west with our arrogant and corrupted self-love, do we believe that we are always progressing to a higher state.
. Jesus teaches that as God, he is worthy of worship, yet most people do not worship him.
. Buddha, being only a man, begged people to not worship him, yet many do.
. Jesus teaches his followers to go into the world to create peace among people.
. Buddha taught that people need to withdraw from the world to find peace in one’s self.-
. Jesus - Details of his life, from the town he would be born in, to the race he would be born into, to the type of ministry he would have, to the type of death he would suffer were described before he was even born. His birth, life and death were intricately documented by those who lived with him during his thirty years on earth.
. Buddha - Almost no authentic information exists about the details of Buddha's life. What we do know is not very flattering.
. Jesus was steeped in the religion of his forefathers from and early age. He was intimately associated with the poor, sick and spiritually needy. He didn’t seek enlightenment, he brought enlightenment. He did not, like a monk, withdraw from the world. Rather, he entered deeply into the world to minister to it. Jesus was a model of emotional, spiritual, social and mental stability.
. Buddha abandoned his family and walked away from the needy people of the world to become a monk. For six years, he sought enlightenment by practising extreme forms of self_denial and self_torture. He lived in filth and many days ate only a grain of rice. At one point he pulled out all the hairs of his beard, one by one. Today his family probably would have had him committed to a psychiatric unit in a desperate attempt to get help for him.
. Jesus teaches that there is nothing that we can DO to earn salvation. Rather, through pure grace he provides freedom and salvation for us by counting us as righteous since we cannot make ourselves righteous. He tells us in Romans 3:22 - "This righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Jesus promised us an assurance of salvation based on faith in what he has done for us.
. Buddha taught that to achieve nothingness (that’s the best that he could envision), people had to free themselves of all desires and worldly things. He is quoted as saying on his deathbed, "continue to work for salvation." All man-made religions are based on working for salvation. Those who follow their teachings can never be sure if they are doing enough.
. Jesus teaches that he came so that on earth we might have life and have it abundantly. He teaches that when we are in a healed, forgiven relationship with him, everything that we experience has meaning and context and purpose. When this life is over, for those who believe, Jesus promises to bring us to full awareness of ourselves spiritually, to bring us into absolute perfect peace in the presence of our Creator.
. Buddha’s vision of paradise is to one day achieve nothingness, emptiness, non existence. . Jesus allowed himself to be killed for our sins, and rose again from the dead. After His resurrection, Jesus was seen by at least five hundred different people on one occasion. On other occasions, over a period of forty days, he laughed, ate, and talked with his followers. This proved His victory over death.
.The grave of Abraham (Judaism) contains the body of Abraham.
.The grave of Mohamad (Islam) contains the body of Mohamad.
.The grave of Siddhartha Gautama, a.k.a. Buddha (Buddhism) contains his ashes.
.The grave of Jesus (Christianity) is empty. The proofs that Jesus has risen are indisputable to anyone who is honestly searching. The evidence of Jesus’ resurrection demands a decision of acceptance or rejection of the facts. It’s that simple.
. Buddha became ill and died. His ashes lie in a jar.
. Jesus teaches that the condition of your life now is based on the choices you make, including the choice to believe in him or to reject him.
. Buddha taught that the condition of your life now is determined by how someone lived in a life before you. You are rewarded for their good behaviour, and punished for their bad or selfish behaviour.
. Jesus teaches that we can find complete and total freedom in the midst of pain and suffering.
. Buddha taught that individuals can only be completely free from pain and suffering upon achieving nothingness after millions of, not years of living, but after millions of reincarnations and working and working and working towards being a better human being or whatever creature or thing that you are in the next life.
. Jesus teaches that there is an absolute code of right and wrong, based on the nature and character of God. He taught that life is very real and needs to be taken seriously.
. Buddha said that right and wrong are relative to the situation and all that we encounter in life is an illusion. Not to be too sarcastic, I suspect that if someone were to have poured boiling water on Buddha’s hand, or if someone cleaned out the bank account of one of his followers today, a concept of right and wrong would quickly emerge and what was once thought to be an illusion would take on brilliant reality.
Now, there is no doubt that Buddha presented a message with many good points. But as for me, if I’m going to ‘follow’ someone as my spiritual leader, I want someone with the character, integrity and solid history of Jesus.
Some people say that all religious leaders are the same. They say that all paths lead to the same God. They say that all religions worship the same God and so on. I would like to begin with the thought that ‘All religious leaders are roughly the same’. Let’s compare just two of them - Jesus and Siddhartha Gautama a.k.a. Buddha.
. Jesus - When a person asked Jesus where he lived Jesus answered, "Even foxes have holes, but I the Son of God have no place to live." Jesus was born into poverty and spent his entire life on earth ministering to and serving the impoverished, the downtrodden and those on the fringes of society like prostitutes and criminals (both wealthy and street criminals). He made a point of associating with the kinds of people that the rest of us would rather ignore.
. Buddha was born into a rich family. He spent his youth living in luxury in the palace of his father, the warrior prince Suddhodhana.
. Jesus upheld the family unit, but he gave up many opportunities to marry so that he could more fully devote himself to his ministry of serving others. Jesus emphasised the importance of staying in a marriage and working out one’s issues. In no uncertain terms, Jesus stated, "I hate divorce." Jesus sacrificed his desires for intimacy to better provide for the good of others.
. Buddha - When Gautama was about 20 years old, he married the princess Yasodhara. He later abandoned his wife and infant son to seek personal spiritual enlightenment. His focus was on bringing himself a sense of peace.
. Jesus’ message of peace is totally radical when compared to any other religious leader. For example, he says, "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who persecute you. If you only love those who love you, what good is that? Even the pagans do that much. If someone demands your shirt, give him your coat as well. If someone demands that you carry a load one mile, carry it two."
. Buddha, like all other religious leaders promoted peace, ‘where it makes sense to do so’.
. Jesus - The list of radical differences between what Jesus teaches (Christianity) and all other religions go on and on. One great difference occurs over the issue of choice and how that affects our after death experience. If Jesus is right in what He taught, the choices involved with rejecting or accepting Him will result, at the end of this life, in something either beautiful beyond description or catastrophic beyond imagination. Beyond eternal consequences, Jesus teaches that if we accept him and his message he will provide for us, during this one life on earth, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, value and worth, security and belonging, fulfilment, direction, meaning and purpose.
. Buddha’s followers, for thousands of years have correctly interpreted his life-view to promote a stoic attitude during "an endless cycle of rebirth and suffering." This is because bad karma reproduces much faster than good karma. Only in the west with our arrogant and corrupted self-love, do we believe that we are always progressing to a higher state.
. Jesus teaches that as God, he is worthy of worship, yet most people do not worship him.
. Buddha, being only a man, begged people to not worship him, yet many do.
. Jesus teaches his followers to go into the world to create peace among people.
. Buddha taught that people need to withdraw from the world to find peace in one’s self.-
. Jesus - Details of his life, from the town he would be born in, to the race he would be born into, to the type of ministry he would have, to the type of death he would suffer were described before he was even born. His birth, life and death were intricately documented by those who lived with him during his thirty years on earth.
. Buddha - Almost no authentic information exists about the details of Buddha's life. What we do know is not very flattering.
. Jesus was steeped in the religion of his forefathers from and early age. He was intimately associated with the poor, sick and spiritually needy. He didn’t seek enlightenment, he brought enlightenment. He did not, like a monk, withdraw from the world. Rather, he entered deeply into the world to minister to it. Jesus was a model of emotional, spiritual, social and mental stability.
. Buddha abandoned his family and walked away from the needy people of the world to become a monk. For six years, he sought enlightenment by practising extreme forms of self_denial and self_torture. He lived in filth and many days ate only a grain of rice. At one point he pulled out all the hairs of his beard, one by one. Today his family probably would have had him committed to a psychiatric unit in a desperate attempt to get help for him.
. Jesus teaches that there is nothing that we can DO to earn salvation. Rather, through pure grace he provides freedom and salvation for us by counting us as righteous since we cannot make ourselves righteous. He tells us in Romans 3:22 - "This righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Jesus promised us an assurance of salvation based on faith in what he has done for us.
. Buddha taught that to achieve nothingness (that’s the best that he could envision), people had to free themselves of all desires and worldly things. He is quoted as saying on his deathbed, "continue to work for salvation." All man-made religions are based on working for salvation. Those who follow their teachings can never be sure if they are doing enough.
. Jesus teaches that he came so that on earth we might have life and have it abundantly. He teaches that when we are in a healed, forgiven relationship with him, everything that we experience has meaning and context and purpose. When this life is over, for those who believe, Jesus promises to bring us to full awareness of ourselves spiritually, to bring us into absolute perfect peace in the presence of our Creator.
. Buddha’s vision of paradise is to one day achieve nothingness, emptiness, non existence. . Jesus allowed himself to be killed for our sins, and rose again from the dead. After His resurrection, Jesus was seen by at least five hundred different people on one occasion. On other occasions, over a period of forty days, he laughed, ate, and talked with his followers. This proved His victory over death.
.The grave of Abraham (Judaism) contains the body of Abraham.
.The grave of Mohamad (Islam) contains the body of Mohamad.
.The grave of Siddhartha Gautama, a.k.a. Buddha (Buddhism) contains his ashes.
.The grave of Jesus (Christianity) is empty. The proofs that Jesus has risen are indisputable to anyone who is honestly searching. The evidence of Jesus’ resurrection demands a decision of acceptance or rejection of the facts. It’s that simple.
. Buddha became ill and died. His ashes lie in a jar.
. Jesus teaches that the condition of your life now is based on the choices you make, including the choice to believe in him or to reject him.
. Buddha taught that the condition of your life now is determined by how someone lived in a life before you. You are rewarded for their good behaviour, and punished for their bad or selfish behaviour.
. Jesus teaches that we can find complete and total freedom in the midst of pain and suffering.
. Buddha taught that individuals can only be completely free from pain and suffering upon achieving nothingness after millions of, not years of living, but after millions of reincarnations and working and working and working towards being a better human being or whatever creature or thing that you are in the next life.
. Jesus teaches that there is an absolute code of right and wrong, based on the nature and character of God. He taught that life is very real and needs to be taken seriously.
. Buddha said that right and wrong are relative to the situation and all that we encounter in life is an illusion. Not to be too sarcastic, I suspect that if someone were to have poured boiling water on Buddha’s hand, or if someone cleaned out the bank account of one of his followers today, a concept of right and wrong would quickly emerge and what was once thought to be an illusion would take on brilliant reality.
Now, there is no doubt that Buddha presented a message with many good points. But as for me, if I’m going to ‘follow’ someone as my spiritual leader, I want someone with the character, integrity and solid history of Jesus.
Forgive? Ya right!
Father forgive them.
I was thinking today about the comment, "Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing." The identifier "Father" is easy to understand. It means our Heavenly Father. "Forgive them," while difficult to do is also easy to understand. We then have the comment, "They don’t know what they are doing?" Jesus said this in response to those who were killing Him. Stephen said this as people were in the process of killing him. Countless martyrs have said this as they were being burned at the stake or otherwise killed for their belief in Jesus.
The questions I have are these:
What is it that people don’t know that they are doing? and
Are there occasions when we should be saying, or at least thinking the same thing, while ‘bad’ things are being done to us?
A clue to the answer for the first question is found when Jesus said to Paul, shortly before Paul’s conversion, "Paul why are you persecuting me?" Persecuting Jesus? Jesus had already been tortured to death by the time Paul heard that voice. Paul was focussed on torturing and killing followers of Jesus. He didn’t care about Jesus the person. So what did Jesus mean that Paul was doing something to Him? Well, Jesus was not and is not dead. He is risen. He is alive! What’s more, Jesus has said emphatically that what we do to others, we are doing to Him. Jesus said that when we do something as ‘small’ as giving a glass of water to a little child, we are being kind to Him. When we withhold kindness from someone we are withholding kindness from Him. When we look down on others, we are looking down on Jesus.
The answer to the first question then, is that very few people are aware of what they are doing to Jesus as they berate a small child, refuse to forgive others, cheat on their spouses, lie to their friends, steal from their employers, view others as though they were nothing more than a sexual object etc..
The answer to the second question would be yes, indeed, on all occasions we need to be forgiving people who harm us. We should do this not only because were commanded to, but because they really don’t know what they are doing or to whom they are doing it when they hurt us.
I was thinking today about the comment, "Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing." The identifier "Father" is easy to understand. It means our Heavenly Father. "Forgive them," while difficult to do is also easy to understand. We then have the comment, "They don’t know what they are doing?" Jesus said this in response to those who were killing Him. Stephen said this as people were in the process of killing him. Countless martyrs have said this as they were being burned at the stake or otherwise killed for their belief in Jesus.
The questions I have are these:
What is it that people don’t know that they are doing? and
Are there occasions when we should be saying, or at least thinking the same thing, while ‘bad’ things are being done to us?
A clue to the answer for the first question is found when Jesus said to Paul, shortly before Paul’s conversion, "Paul why are you persecuting me?" Persecuting Jesus? Jesus had already been tortured to death by the time Paul heard that voice. Paul was focussed on torturing and killing followers of Jesus. He didn’t care about Jesus the person. So what did Jesus mean that Paul was doing something to Him? Well, Jesus was not and is not dead. He is risen. He is alive! What’s more, Jesus has said emphatically that what we do to others, we are doing to Him. Jesus said that when we do something as ‘small’ as giving a glass of water to a little child, we are being kind to Him. When we withhold kindness from someone we are withholding kindness from Him. When we look down on others, we are looking down on Jesus.
The answer to the first question then, is that very few people are aware of what they are doing to Jesus as they berate a small child, refuse to forgive others, cheat on their spouses, lie to their friends, steal from their employers, view others as though they were nothing more than a sexual object etc..
The answer to the second question would be yes, indeed, on all occasions we need to be forgiving people who harm us. We should do this not only because were commanded to, but because they really don’t know what they are doing or to whom they are doing it when they hurt us.
Monday, November 27, 2006
You're Missing The Show
Our DNA, our cells, our bodies, our earth, our solar system, the surrounding cosmos, presents to us a show of stupendous quality, meaning and awe inspiring spirituality. In the meantime, most of the audience spends it’s time scouring the bottom of the popcorn box searching for a kernel with just the right amount of butter on it.
Oh NO! I Killed Him!
"They will look on Me whom they have pierced." Those are the words of Jesus, describing His second coming. I find it interesting first of all that Jesus took ‘home’ with Him something memorable from His trip to earth. And second, it’s significant that what He took home with Him are the wounds inflicted upon Him during His death on the cross. From a human standpoint, being tortured to death is something He hasn’t forgotten. When He comes back, Jesus says that He’s going to remind us of the terrible price that He paid.
Can you imagine the difference there will be in the reaction between those who have followed Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and those who have rejected and cursed Jesus throughout their lives.
Picture it. Jesus says He is going to return in such a manner that the whole world will see Him in an instant. It will be like He is coming back for each person on an individual basis. Imagine Him coming back for you so that you may answer for the life you’ve lived during your time on earth. He’s returning with His wounds on display. No words will be needed.
To His followers His wounds will say, Here is what I did for you, because I loved you more than I love myself. To those who hate Him or deny His divinity / existence His wounds will say, Here is what you did to Me. Here is what you did to the most Holy God, the Creator of Heaven and earth. Here is what you did to the One who loved you with perfect love.
For everyone, it will drive us to our knees in a confession that Jesus truly is the Lord of Lords and the King of kings. For disciples / followers of Jesus, the sight of His wounds will bring overwhelming humility and joy, gladness and relief, amazement and gratefulness and praise. For those who have rejected Jesus and taught others to despise and blaspheme Him, there will be terror and grief, overwhelming terror and grief.
Can you imagine the difference there will be in the reaction between those who have followed Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and those who have rejected and cursed Jesus throughout their lives.
Picture it. Jesus says He is going to return in such a manner that the whole world will see Him in an instant. It will be like He is coming back for each person on an individual basis. Imagine Him coming back for you so that you may answer for the life you’ve lived during your time on earth. He’s returning with His wounds on display. No words will be needed.
To His followers His wounds will say, Here is what I did for you, because I loved you more than I love myself. To those who hate Him or deny His divinity / existence His wounds will say, Here is what you did to Me. Here is what you did to the most Holy God, the Creator of Heaven and earth. Here is what you did to the One who loved you with perfect love.
For everyone, it will drive us to our knees in a confession that Jesus truly is the Lord of Lords and the King of kings. For disciples / followers of Jesus, the sight of His wounds will bring overwhelming humility and joy, gladness and relief, amazement and gratefulness and praise. For those who have rejected Jesus and taught others to despise and blaspheme Him, there will be terror and grief, overwhelming terror and grief.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)