Faithlessness

I am currently in the midst of the Life Journal and it has me reading through 1 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, and Matthew with the occasional Psalm sprinkled in. As I have been reading through the Bible one thing jumps out to me very regularly: God provides.

I often struggle to trust God fully and completely. This is frustrating, because there are so many times in my life that I reflect on, and clearly see God moving, by providing courage, strength, patients and guidance to grow me and lead me through the murky waters. As my junior year comes to a close and my senior year draws nearer and nearer, I am faced with the realization that sooner rather than later, I will have to become a real functioning member of society. This is scary because for the past 21 years, my life had been rather cyclical. Sure there were times of change, I would have to go from Elementary school, to Middle School, to High School, to College, but my future was rather certain: I would be in school the following year. Very little decision-making required and the one time I had to make a decision, where to attend college, I ended up transferring the following semester back to my comfort zone. But now there is no comfort zone, no familiarity, no set plan. I perceive that I am essentially at the mercy of the world. And that is where trust in God comes in. I am not at the “mercy of the world”. I am at the mercy of God. I would say my apprehension at the future, can be summed up in two fears: first, where will money come from? I have debt, I hope to have a wife and kids at some point, I want to do missions, I want to support missions, I want to adopt! All of these things cost money. But I need to take on more debt still if I plan to go to Seminary, and Youth Pastors don't exactly make the front cover of Forbes.

Cliché I know, but Jeremiah 29:11 is often quoted at times like these. Heck for High School graduation I got a key chain that had the verse stamped on the back. But I find Matthew 6:25-34 more settling. In it Jesus is essentially discussing how we need to trust in God to provide. And what’s even better is that it follows Matthew 6:19-24:

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

   ²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

   ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (NIV)

And precedes Matthew 7:7-12:

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

   ⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.  (NIV)

Jesus is saying 1) Keep your heart on the Kingdom, 2) Don’t worry about stuff, I’ll make sure you have what you need and 3) Ask, I want to bless you so that you can bless others. If we keep the kingdom foremost in our hearts, then the rest of the stuff is insignificant compared to it. But that is easier said than done. I still struggle and I still fret over it. Which leads me to my second fear: I will mess up God’s will and completely miss what he wants me to do.

How prideful is that? I know it doesn’t seem it on the surface, but the fact that I believe that I could mess up God’s plan is giving me a lot more credit than I deserve. It seems to be the natural reaction to being called though: Abraham thought he was too old, Moses thought he couldn’t speak well enough, the Hebrews didn’t believe they could defeat the people living in the promise land, Saul believed he was unable to be king because he was the weakest of the weakest family in the weakest clan, the Bible is littered with people believing that they might “mess up God’s plan”. But they don’t.

1 Chronicles is a very painful book to get through, and I often wonder why in the world God wanted it in the Bible, until I come across sections that really strike me. 1 Chronicles 5:22 comes at the end of a list the relatives of the Gadites.

“and many others fell slain, because the battle was God’s…” (NIV)

I missed it the first time through 1 Chronicles but God pointed this one out to me this time. There was nothing about “the Israelites fought bravely and won” or even “the Israelites tried their hardest”. It was God’s battle and he won. I don’t know where the saying “God helps those who help themselves” came from but I can’t get on board with that. Matthew 7 doesn’t say, “Try really hard and then when you’ve done all you can go ahead and pray for God’s help”, The things that we need to do are rather simple: knock, seek, and ask. It’s not a hard concept yet why do I struggle so much with it?

I am reminded of the story of Gideon in Judges 6. Gideon is called by God to lead Israel out of the oppressive rule of the Midianites. An Angel of the Lord appears to him and explains what he wants Gideon to do. Gideon questions him then and asks for proof. God gives him the proof and Gideon continues on until it is time for the actual battle. Again Gideon asks for proof, which God again delivers but it’s not enough. He asks a third time for proof from God and once again God delivers. Finally, Gideon is ready to go to war, but God makes him get rid of almost his entire army. I imagine Gideon was thinking, “hang on, I’m not even sure I can do this with the Army you gave me, now you’re taking all but 300 of my men away and you expect me to go through with this?”

But God does. He uses our ineptitude, our weaknesses and our screw-ups because that’s the only way that God’s power will be fully realized. It’s only when we have to rely on God that his glory will be spread. Gideon’s small army defeats the Midianites, Moses is able to successfully communicate to the Hebrew people, Abraham is able to conceive and Saul becomes the first king of Israel. God is not interested in using the powerful and proud, he wants the weak and the humble, the ones who will give all the glory to God because they know there is no way they could have possibly pulled this off on their own. In Matthew 19 a rich man comes to Jesus and asks Jesus what he needs to do to get eternal life; and Jesus tells him to sell all of his possessions and follow him. David Platt discusses this passage in his book Radical and points out that the common reaction today would have been to make him pray a prayer and have him Baptized so that he could start using all of his wealth and power for God’s kingdom. But God doesn’t need our wealth and power he needs those who want his wealth and power. 1 Samuel 16:7 says:

 ⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  (NIV)

As I struggle with my faith, I am also reminded of a verse in Mark 6:5-6. Jesus is in Nazareth and has just been rejected by his own countrymen. It says:

“He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them and he was amazed at their lack of faith” (NIV)

I wonder how often we limit God with our lack of faith. How often we don’t heed the call of the Holy Spirit because it seems like the task would be hard, or uncomfortable, or we can’t possibly succeed. How often do we miss out on the chance to see God move, because we rest too much on our own talents, abilities and power. I continue to pray that God will remind me of his faithfulness and that I will heed the Holy Spirits call. I don't know what will be next, but what I do know is God is already there, and as scary as the future is, I'm excited to see what God has in store.

Until next time, God bless.

Heaven, Hell and Salvation as discussed by Steve Lutz

Here is a recap of a lecture given by Steve Lutz of Calvary Campus Connection at Elements. I had a request for discussing the ramifications that I discussed last post. Here it is! I wrote this recap, but I am adding some of my own thoughts as well. Hell is a tricky subject to address because of the seriousness of the outcome. So I am allowing someone much smarter than me to explain.

            Steve discussed Matthew 25:31-46, which is essentially an apocalyptic section of scripture in which Jesus describes his role in the final judgment. Unfortunately, we have over used popular references to Heaven and Hell, causing us to think lightly of the subject and to have incorrect ideas of what Heaven and Hell are really like. Countless cartoons, movies, television shows and other pop culture references have eroded the seriousness of hell. The overuse in pop culture, as well as the evangelical practice to focus almost completely on God’s love and not on his just nature further causes us to not guard against sin. We view God as a big grandpa in heaven who thinks, “Oh that’s alright, they’re just having a good time” I believe Steve called it “winking at sin”. The Bible discusses times when God was "grieved" by sin. 1 Samuel 15:10-11

Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: "I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions."...

            Steve went on to discuss other inaccurate beliefs of the end time. Some people view an eternity in hell as a bit unfair. That everyone should get into heaven. He discussed the book Love Wins by Rob Bell and criticized Rob Bell for his theory that Jesus died for all people regardless of whether they recognize he saved them. This led into a discussion of why judgment day is so important. Firstly, Acts 17:30-31 calls for everyone to repent for there will be a time of judgment. Secondly, Revelations 6:15-17 talks about the extent that God’s wrath will be and that men and Kings would rather be crushed under a mountain of rock than face God’s wrath. Finally, Hebrews 10:28-31, the writer discusses the wrath God will have on those who have rejected Jesus. The message of these three scriptures is that if there is no judgment day, if everyone is allowed into heaven, then evil is never punished, God is not just and Jesus felt the wrath of all of our sins for no reason. Steve used the illustration of a lifeguard jumping in to save us from a shallow fountain.  But God is just, evil is repaid and Jesus died for our salvation.

Romans 3:21-26 discusses being justified by Christ. Paul uses the term “justified” as in a legal sense. Steve used an illustration of standing in a courtroom before God, who has every wrong move we ever made and it’s a long list. And we are guilty of every single last one of them (no forensic evidence needed, direct access to our thoughts and motivations means CSI doesn’t need to be called in for this one) but Jesus stands up before God and declares that sin already paid for. Crazy right?

To hammer home the point we discussed working definitions for Heaven and Hell. First Hell:

·      It is Biblical, Jesus himself talks about it on multiple occasions

·      A real, spiritual, eternal destination (Matt. 25:41-46)

·      It’s forever. (Jude 13; Rev. 20:10)

·      It’s the JUST penalty for sin. (Rev. 20:11-15)

·      It is unspeakably awful. (Luke 16:23)

·      A place of destruction (2 Thess. 1:7-9; 2 Pet. 3:7; 1 Thes. 5:3)

·      Fire and darkness (Matt. 5:22; 18:9; Jude 7, 13)

·      Weeping & gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30)

Then Heaven:

·      Heaven is the place where God dwells (Psalm 33:13-14; Matt 6:9)

·      Where God’s people will be with him (John 17:5, 24; 1 Thes. 4:16-17)

·      A place of rest (John 14:2); a city (Heb. 11:10); a country (Heb. 11:16)

·      It is the place where God’s reign and rule are FULLY and FINALLY known and experienced. (Matthew 6)

·      It is where everyone and everything that remains is reconciled to God (Colossians 1)

·      There is NO evil, pain, tears, suffering, sickness or death there (Revelation 21)

·      It will be HERE, on this earth. The City of God descends to earth! New Jerusalem, new heavens, new earth (Rev. 21) 

·      It is unspeakably beautiful, wonderful. It is described as a place of joy, of LIGHT, of feasting, and of worship. (Revelation 4, 5, 19, 21)

·      It is forever! (Rev. 22:5) 

So now that we have a working definition for both Heaven and Hell how do we get to heaven? Belief in Jesus. There is no other way. If you are in doubt, check out John 14:6 and Acts 4:11-12. They don’t leave much (any) wiggle room. Actions without faith, good intentions with out faith, and just being a “good person” without faith will not be enough to satisfy God’s wrath. (Refer back to Romans 3:23 for why those things without faith will not be enough) There is no “second chance”, there is no biblical proof for Purgatory, there is simply heaven and hell. C.S. Lewis discusses this when he talks about people being on eternal trajectory either away from God or towards God. He also goes on to say that ultimately, people in hell have chosen that place and are not banging on the gates of heaven trying to escape. Here is a quote from C.S. Lewis’ work The Great Divorce,

"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened. "

If we truly believe in Jesus than we will desire to follow his will. The only way to do that is to ask for the Holy Spirit.

"For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." 1 Corinthians 2:11

Two last things: First, true Christians recognize that we deserve hell and that redemption is only possible through the amazing grace that God so graciously pours out on us. This should humble you because essentially we are no better than the nonbeliever the only difference is that we have the hope of Christ inside us. This leads to the second point: there is an urgency with which we need to spread the gospel. If we truly believe this, then to not spread the Gospel and give people the chance to be redeemed, we are condemning those people and risking our own salvation.

Until next time, God Bless.

Jesus Camp High

In the past two years, I have found that God has been teaching me a lot about the Holy Spirit, how important He is, and how much I need Him. I used to work with kids in HSM (High School Ministries for those who don’t know) and I loved talking to the youth and watching them grow in their faith and being a tool God could use for his glory. I loved it when students would come to me after experiencing God in a truly spiritual experience (Usually at a Christian summer camp) and wanted to change their ways and begin to walk with Christ. “That’s fantastic!” I would exclaim and I would praise God for his Holy Spirit and the conviction they felt. But I noticed that many of these kids would start strong and then fade away gradually, reverting to their pre-spiritual experience state and begin falling back into the practices that the Holy Spirit had convicted them of just months ago. They would say, “I need to change my ways, I need to follow Christ, I need to stop drinking, stop smoking, stop sleeping with my girlfriend” and I truly believe they would mean it at the time but then would regress.

I am not innocent of this, I of course sin daily unfortunately, and try really hard to hit the mark but "all fall short of the glory of God" and I am no exception by any means. I would find myself doing things that I had tried so hard to overcome and had succeeded in for a while, but then would stray again after I grew tired. One of my students referred to this as the Jesus Camp High. The students (and I) would catch a dose of the Holy Spirit, feel His conviction, but then would try to change the outward before allowing Him to change the heart. The flesh grows weak and when WE try to obtain change through our own acts and initiative, we will fail. Galatians 3:3 says,

“Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by Human efforts?” (NIV)

Our imperfections and sin causes the Holy Spirit to leak out of us. Rather than asking for the Holy Spirit DAILY, we experience Him once and then try to change on our own. We must constantly ask for the Holy Spirit to replenish us. Only God can change our hearts and make true change permanent. But be careful! Francis Chan wrote in his book Forgotten God (Which I encourage everyone to read)

“The Holy Spirit will lead us the way of the cross, and that is not a comfortable or safe place to be” 

and he is right! A lot of my growth this year came from painful, embarrassing experiences where I was convicted of my sin in very public ways. C.S. Lewis illustrated this in his book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader when Eustace is turned into a Dragon and to become a boy again, Aslan has to peal away the flesh of the Dragon and expose the boy inside. Eustace tries to do it on his own but the skin remains and it’s only when Aslan does it that the dragon skin is finally pealed away. Pealing away the flesh? I didn’t sign up for that... How about a nice, safe pain-free transformation? But the risk of not allowing God to refurnish our heart is too great to ignore. We discussed Hell and salvation on Monday at my college ministry, and the ramifications of not following Christ and being obedient. I think we can ALL agree the ramifications are incredible. Luckily for us, all we have to do is ask. Matthew 7:11 says, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask?"  So I want to encourage you, don’t be foolish. Ask for the Holy Spirit daily (and sometimes hourly) to fill you. Allow him to move in you and to create a palace fit for a King.

Until next time God bless.

Me? Blogging? Weird....

So I have never blogged before. This is weird I must admit but I feel that I have things to say and people can take them as they will. You should probably know a little about me before you hear what I have to say.

My name is Mark Holsing, I am currently (as of April 2011) a Junior at Penn State University, majoring in Economics and minoring in Religious Studies. I grew up in State College, Pennsylvania and have not yet left (unless you count the three months that I went to Lycoming College in Williamsport before transferring back to Penn State, but generally I don't count that). I became a Christian when I was 16, though I would say that I only started pursuing a real relationship with God the past two years. In that time, I have had some highs and lows in my walk, but God has been good and I find myself in the midst of a huge spiritual growth spurt and I am excited to see what God has in store for me. I am using this space as a place to share what God is doing in my life, struggles I am going through and just generally discussing what is going on in my life. This in itself is a rather large step because I consider myself a rather private person in general but the more I grow in my faith, the more I find that God's work in other peoples lives are encouraging to me and that I hope that by telling God Stories in my own life, God's glory will be spread and he will use me to encourage others.

That's all for now I suppose. Perhaps I will post again soon? Until then God bless!