Sign of Jonah

I feel this relationship we have will prove most fruitful if I am transparent. I didn't have much of a plan coming back form India. Ask the guy I went with (Mitch Wiley). I went and God moved. Now I have returned and I expect much of the same but have no idea what it will look like. It seems as if I am in another situation - the same we all often find ourselves in - where I am reliant upon the work of God to bring about purpose to my day and fruit to my labor. 

I read Psalm 114 this morning as I set out to receive whatever God had to say. It reads, "When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became sanctuary and Israel his dominion (v. 1,2)." I have done the same. I left that place and God is still dwelling within me. The passage goes on to describe scenes where nature itself is crumbling before God and it implores the reader to tremble in the presence of the Lord. This was a good Psalm for me this morning to set the tone of this summer whose waters are muddy. Where do it begin? 

I must begin by trembling in the presence of God.

I must not hide from Him or hide from where He is sending me. Who hid in the Bible? Jonah. So I read Jonah. Here's what I learned from the meager forty-eight verse book in the Old Testament:

God calls Jonah up for the task of exhorting the city of Nineveh as we all know. We also know that Jonah runs from this task. But I noticed it says, "Jonah rose to fee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." (Jonah 1:3). Jonah was not running away from Nineveh because he wasn't fond of the food there or because they slap people with fishes (alluding, of course, to the Veggie Tales adaptation). He ran from the presence of God. It explicitly states this multiple times. This means a couple of things. It means that God's presence was resting there. Obviously it means that Jonah decided to forgo an opportunity to labor for God, but a deeper layer of Jonah's heart is exposed when we understand that He ran from God's presence. He fell apart just as the nature did in Psalm 114. 

Contrary to what we would believe about Nineveh, God was working in their hearts. We see that manifested in the conviction that falls on their masses. Jonah set out to flee from God's employment and God redirected him back to Nineveh. Jonah seemed fine with this when he was miraculously preserved in the girth of a fish. The message had gone through that God is the one who brings about salvation. Now, this is a lesson I learned a hard way in India. But in the past couple weeks I've forgotten this. I have even been telling people! I've done nothing but tell God's story to people since I've been back. I needed to look at Jonah's life this morning to feel that truth again. 

"behold, something greater than Jonah is here." (Luke 11:32)

Jesus said this. If Jonah, a man completely unwilling to follow the move of God and sorrowful just after seeing the move of God, can play a crucial role in the revival of Nineveh, how much more will Jesus? How much more will those with the Spirit? We don't have the spirit of Jonah. We have Christ in us! Let us learn lessons from Jonah and see his story for what it is. Let us learn more from being in the presence of God the first time and imitating the obedience of Christ.

Boasting

"Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." 2 Corinthians 10:17

I believe we are living in an age where boasting is a common practice. In this particular era, and in our particular nation, we brag on ourselves quite a bit. I could launch into a sociological/psychological explanation of why this is, but I'm sure you already know.

We are competitive, narcissistic, materialistic and ill-informed concerning our true purpose for living.

This naturally manifested itself in a dangerous notion that superiority is gained through highlighting the areas of life that you are excelling in. We then took it a step further and tore down the towers of achievement that our fellow man erected to establish ourselves as more significant. Being significant wasn't enough, we had to topple over our peers to appear taller. We lust for attention and put genuine emotion and stock in social media prowess and exposure.

This elitist wave didn't merely crash at the feet of the Church, but knocked down the walls and flowed comfortably through. The tricky part about it is that most boasting in the church is glossed over with a false sense of humility and hard to pinpoint. People can go on and on about themselves and list off all of their exploits and then unexpectedly crouch behind God at the end. What does Paul think about this? Better yet, what does God think about this? It seems innocent enough on the surface. It might even be shrugged off and viewed as over-analytical and an issue of semantics. But I think there is something below these waters that we are all unwilling to acknowledge. We like praising ourselves more than we like praising God. And, more importantly, God isn't getting the praise He deserves.

Now, I alluded to a passage earlier about boasting from Paul. 2 Corinthians 10:17 says, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.". I think we can read that and use it as a license to do what I also mentioned above which is "bragging on God" to save face. I think what Paul is really trying to say here is more than just crediting God as every movie star and athlete seems to do after receiving a great honor. Sometimes it's truly sincere. Other times it's an obligatory, cultural gesture that is, ultimately, empty. No, when Paul boasts in the Lord, he is actually doing something that is completely contrary to what we have accepted as normal.

"Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding." 2 Corinthians 10:12

He doesn't even want to be classified as a person who is doing what we seem so fond of. To openly compare yourself to others and to constantly be commending yourself is something that a man without understanding does. Why is that? Because that is a man who has forgotten the context we are all operating under. That context being: God working through man to fulfill His will. And these are Christian men Paul is talking about, by the way. They're ministers no less! And Paul is urging us to not imitate that aspect of life that they seem to partake and even confide in. 

And isn't that true of most everyone who ceaselessly boasts? That, in the end, it is a feeble attempt to find comfort. There is a bit of warmth that accompanies the sight of someone reciprocating the same measure of love for you that you have for yourself. When someone is just as impressed with us as we are, it makes us feel good. You know what makes you feel better? I'll let Paul tell you.

"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Just before saying this, he quoted something Jesus told him through the Spirit,"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" 

If you want to do something counter-cultural, be a person who has a perpetual awareness of this fact. Paul writes about boasting elsewhere. I remember John Piper's teaching on Galatians 6:14 (Boast Only in the Cross) really convicted me and did a lot of me at the age of sixteen. And I do think that people take what Paul writes with a grain of salt whether they like to admit it or not. I think people read the Bible in ways that cater to the life that they already wanted to live. I think Jesus wants to visit us the way he visited Paul and call us up to something better. 

This last semester I was in a very low place. I remember working so hard to achieve something, for God, and was seeing no results. I also remember trying to achieve it completely on my own strength and I remember having a desire to do the very thing I spoke against above. I wanted people to see what I did and praise me for it. God then orchestrated a string of events and circumstances that took me completely out of the equation. He brought me lower than I've ever been before to prove what Jesus said to Paul was true. God's power wasn't going to work through me until I had that realization that I was weak an unable to accomplish anything without Him. When I surrendered everything to Him, He began working out a plan that I was too nearsighted to ever dream up on my own. He did things that no man is capable of doing and His power shone brighter when it stood next to my weakness. So I no choice to boast in Him and declare how great He is. When compared to what He did, nothing I did was worth mentioning. It was then that God taught me this timeless lesson. 

Paul didn't stop writing there. He went on to say this, "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10

The world doesn't think this way. The concept presented here is foreign and unwelcome in the secular world. No one wants to admit weakness or take on the shortcomings Paul listed above. We would rather pretend as if we were without flaw. People pretend that they are invincible and perpetuate legends about themselves to convince others of this as well. In my life, I have seen what Paul describes in his letters as the best way to live: Boasting in God with a pure heart that eliminates self and elevates the Creator. We need to create a wider chasm between us and the world in practicing this discipline and allowing God to change our heart on the matter. They'll know us when they see us if we do. Because we would be the people who admire God more than we do anything else. Especially ourselves. 

Introduction

"What is this?"

Some of you may be wondering what the purpose of this blog is. I just recently returned from India where me and my good friend Mitch Wiley served the Lord. I kept a blog throughout that trip entitled, "From Bangalore,". I had another blog that I started in January of 2010 and kept it until I left for India. I deleted it for security reasons by request of the company I went through. 

And now I'm here. I'm back in the United States and I have new journeys ahead. I have new lessons God wants to teach me. There are experiences He wants me to share. Just because I'm not in another country on a "mission trip" doesn't mean He will cease to teach me. He's always growing us into people more and more like His Son. This blog will help me effectively explain that process to both you and to myself. 

I don't have any credentials that should coerce to you subscribe to anything I say. I know that probably isn't wise of me to say, but I must confess it.  All I have is a Bible, a receptive ear to His voice, and a few formidable years left. I have experiences that God has taken me through both in the context of community and on a completely personal level. I have no seminary training or degrees. I graduated from the Christian Academy of Louisville and study Communications/Philosophy at the University of Kentucky. There are people out there who know more than I could ever hope to know in my lifetime. But there's a chance you'll never meet them. The relationships you'll likely have will the Pipers, Chans, Platts, and Craigs of the world will never become personal. You'll probably never meet them; have dialogue with them. I love those guys and have learned a great deal from them. But not everyone gets to be their friend. What I can offer is my hand in friendship and brotherhood in the family of Jesus Christ. 

God taught me more lessons than I could ever recount in my first twenty-one years of life. He'll teach me until the day I die. I want to learn and grow with my faith family. I want God to speak to me through you and I want to speak His words into your life as well. We're entering a new season. Let's walk through it together and serve Him; "Till Kingdom Come".