The Crash of 2008 (2) :Peace Amidst the Storm

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The Crash of 2008 (2): Peace Amidst the Storm

As the worldwide financial crisis develops, one word keeps recurring: PANIC.

If not stated that strongly, the emotion millions now feel is variously called fear, anxiety, or worry, and it comes with scary questions: What is going to happen to me and my family? How will I have enough money to live on? Where will I live? Is my job safe? Can I get another job? What about retirement? Is all hope gone with the wind?

Without knowing the answer to any of those questions, I do know that we can live without fear. Indeed, we can have peace in the midst of this ferocious storm. How?

Reflect upon the past

How has my foolishness contributed to my current fear? Have I lived beyond my income, acquiring more than I could afford, going into debt, failing to save? Do I dwell in a house that is too big and too expensive? Am I driving a luxury car, wearing designer clothes, and surrounded by costly technical toys? Have I been eating out at too often, or taking vacations I can’t really afford?

Where have I set my hope for happiness and security? On my 401(K) plan? The fortunes of my company? My investments?

Have I neglected my family in the race to make money?

In my self-indulgence, have I been like the millions of others who have failed to remember the poor?

What about God? Where has He been on my list of priorities? Have I been “too busy” to read the Bible, pray, or go to church?

In short: What have I placed at the center of my life? Possessions, power, prestige, and pleasure, or people? Most of all, Have I sought happiness and fulfillment in this transitory world, or in knowing the Maker of the universe?

Rely on God

Now is the time to turn our trust from bankers, stock brokers, CEOs, union bosses, politicians (above all!), and anything that they can promise or provide. Nor can we put confidence in ourselves and our own intelligent choices – look where that has gotten us!

There is one upon whom we can rely, however: God. He has made the universe and everything in it, including us. He cares enough for us to have sent His Son Jesus to live, die, and rise from the dead in order that our folly, faults, and failures may be forgiven, and we can have friendship with God again.

Through Jesus, God the Father has told us to pray for our “daily bread,” has asserted that He knows our needs before we even ask, and has promised to provide for those who trust in Him (see Matthew 6:19-34, for example). We are of more value than the birds and the grass of the field, over whom He looks with watchful eye, and He will surely care for us as well as He cares for these little creatures.

He has ordered us to be content with what we have, and not to be greedy for more, but to believe His promise never to fail us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Many times in the Bible, God has told us not to be afraid, but to trust in His loving care for those who love and believe in Him (See Psalms 23, 34, 37; Philippians 4:6-7; etc.).

Re-order our priorities

But there are conditions to meet if we are going to enjoying peace with God and serenity in the middle of financial turmoil.

Jesus says that we should “See first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these [material] things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). That means to put God first in our lives – to read His Word daily, pray to Him often, worship Him in church, and follow His commands, relying on His strength to do so.

Conversely, we are urged not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust corrupt and where thieves break in and steal, but to lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven, where nothing can touch them. How? By giving to the poor and to the work of the church and by placing our trust not in our own financial assets but in God’s provision.

We must have a “single” eye, focused on God’s Word and His will, not on the things of this world. Even as we work to provide for ourselves and our families, we should do so as unto God, serving Him as our ultimate Boss, seeking to glorify Him and to benefit others, not just to make a living (See Ephesians 4:28; 6:5-9). Since we can’t be loyal to more than one master at a time, Jesus warns us to serve God and not Mammon (the god of wealth and all it represents).

Now is the time to spend more time in Bible reading, meditation, and prayer, not less, as we listen not only to God’s promises to provide for us but also to His commands.

Maybe we need to turn off the TV and spend time with our family members and housemates; give away some of the stuff that fills our storage rooms; eat simply, and at home.

Reach out to others

Remember, you aren’t the only one in this mess! Literally billions of people are being stunned by daily news of default, bankruptcy, market declines, and lost jobs.

This would be a good time to extend a helping hand to those in greater need than we are; to ask our neighbors how they are doing; to pray for the poor, the confused, the desperate.

Rejoice!

Yes, I said, Rejoice! There’s something good about times like these. People come together. Old values are revived. The really important things return to their proper place in our hearts. Most of all, God has “room” to work, now that we really need Him. When the Israelites were between Pharaoh’s chariots and the Red Sea, God told them to stand aside and watch Him work a mighty deliverance for them.

In fact, most of the miracles in the Bible took place when people were at their wit’s end, with no resources, nothing to turn to – except God! That’s when He has a chance to demonstrate both His power and His love.

Maybe something good will come out of this awful Crash of 2008.

A work of grace and beauty

Leighton Ford’s The Attentive Life is a work of grace and beauty, well worth multiple slow and attentive readings.

Coming from the mind and heart of a very wise man, this slender volume is redolent with truth and love. It’s the kind of book that probably could only have been written by an older person, but that deserves careful consideration by people of all ages, especially young men!

Seventy-six-year-old Ford, a former world-trotting evangelist, recently a trainer and mentor of younger leaders, has stepped into the role of “artist of the soul and a friend on the journey.” As an artist with words, he surely succeeds, with elegant, even poetic prose laced with pithy nuggets of his own and apt quotations from a wide array of skilled authors. Rarely has a Christian leader with such a well-earned reputation for character and spirituality revealed so much of his own weakness and shortcomings. One thinks of St. Augustine’s Confessions.

As the back cover says, “Distractions and fear and busyness were keeping Leighton Ford from seeing God’s work in an around him. So he began a journey of longing and looking for God. And it started with paying attention.”

Under the rubric of “attention,” Ford includes concepts like listening, alertness, and the contemplative life. Chapter One, “Paying Attention,” would have been, as the saying goes, worth the price of the whole book, for it highlights how critical is attentiveness for finding “the way to clarity of heart,” which is “the path to seeing God.”

The author wants to help us be “clear at the center” (his preferred rendering of “pure in heart”) “and so with true attentiveness ‘to see God in all things, and all things in God.’” Such a quality mirrors the nature of God himself, who is a “Father who watches with careful attention.” After all, God is love, and “love is focused attention.”

By contrast, we learn how deadly distraction and inattention can be, not only in our relations with those around us, but in knowing either ourselves or God. “Perhaps inattentiveness is our greatest sin – not only against [God] but against ourselves.”

How, then, do we overcome inattention? Ford follows the “hours” of the monastic rule to paint a portrait of a life which stops, looks, and listens seven times a day. Each of these “hours” is related to a time of day, a state of mind, and a phase in our journey through life, until death itself approaches.

I am hard pressed to describe either the loveliness of this book or the depth and relevance of its central message as the theme unfolds and develops with a remarkably organic flow. A banquet of gourmet delights, pleasing to the palate, delightful to the eyes, and nourishing to the soul. A diamond with dozens of facets, each reflecting and refracting light in dazzling variety. A tapestry of rich colors of every hue, complex but coherent. A bouquet of flowers. A symphony of ideas and images, with theme and variation, ending in a quiet but deeply moving climax.

But I cannot do justice to the variegated richness of Leighton Ford’s style or the content of this highly-autobiographical guide to the attentive – and finally contented – life. You must read it for yourself. Soon. Repeatedly. Attentively.

God’s Enfolding Love

God’s Enfolding Love

Yesterday as I was lying in the hammock my wife and daughter gave me for my birthday last year, I reflected on a passage from Julian of Norwich which I had just read on the love of God. I realized that I don’t just ponder the love of God very often. Earlier in the day, I had been reminded by Leighton Ford’s The Attentive Life to slow down and reflect on God, his Word, and his ways with us.

So, I thought about God’s love for a few minutes, and something new to me (though probably not to you) came to my mind.

Christians believe that God grants his pardoning love to us, forgiving all our sins by imputing them to Christ and transferring the righteousness of Christ to us (Romans 3:21-26; 5:6-11; etc.).

We also know that God’s love is transforming: As we consider what he has done for us, we are moved to imitate his kindness to others (John 13:34; Ephesians 5:1-12).

But what I saw yesterday is that God embraces us with an enfolding love. AS we trust in Christ, we enter into such a close relationship with him that the Bible says we are in some way in Christ (John 15:5; 17:21; Ephesians 1:3,4,6, etc.).

Now, since Jesus is in the “bosom” of the Father (John 1:18), indeed “in” the Father (John 17:17:21), and since we are spiritually alive in Christ, raised up with him, and in the heavenly places with him (Ephesians 2:5-6), we are also spiritually “in” the Father – that is, we are as close to him as we can be.

Consider this image: God the Father enjoys unbroken intimacy with God the Son through God the Holy Spirit. Those who fully trust in Christ are God’s beloved children also (Ephesians 5:1), and brought into this eternal loving relationship. God has, as it were, brought us into his divine embrace, surrounding us with his infinite love, enfolding us in the everlasting arms.

Stop for a moment, as I did yesterday, and imagine the rest, the comfort, the security, the peace of being thus enfolded in God’s gentle, powerful, and loving embrace.

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EXPELLED: Evolutionary Ignorance

EXPELLED: Evolutionary Ignorance

The other night I saw “EXPELLED,” a documentary by Ben Stein that exposes a serious crisis in American society: The denial of freedom of speech to those who question evolutionism.

“EXPELLED” features interviews with university professors and others who have lost their jobs because they dared to suggest that perhaps Darwinian evolutionary theory does not adequately explain the origin and complexities of life on this planet. Even worse, some of them mentioned the forbidden term “intelligent design” in articles or lectures, thus signing their own career death warrant.

Not one of these people espoused creationism; none of them even suggested that evolutionary theory not be taught in public schools. They only wanted freedom to discuss different points of view.

That, they discovered, will not be allowed by Big Science.

Himself a Jew, Stein was led to consider some curious and rather scary links between belief in Darwinism and the eugenics movement, which led directly to the Holocaust. Though he makes it very clear that holding to Darwinian evolutionism does not automatically lead to killing off undesirables, Stein’s interviews demonstrated the well-known fact that Hitler was a fanatical follower of Darwin, and used Darwinian theory to justify eliminating the insane, deformed, and otherwise “unworthy” people from society. The same was true of Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Zedong, by the way.

Stein also interviewed eminent Darwinists at length. Allowing them to speak for themselves in answer to his questions, he let them show how irrational is their resistance to dialogue and how inaccurate are their characterizations of those who believe in intelligent design.

One common statement is that no reputable scientist could ever question the “fact” of evolution of all life from the simple to complex by random, impersonal processes.

But Stein found a number of people with one or more doctorates in science and/or mathematics who had serious doubts about the scientific basis for evolutionary theory. It seems that real evidence is lacking for the belief (and it is a belief) that all life comes from some original “simple” cell that somehow mutated into the plants and animals populating the globe today.

When pressed really hard, one evolutionist posited the possibility (he had no proof) that it all started with something piggy-backing on crystals. Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, said – sit down and try to be calm –that perhaps life on earth came from a superior race on another planet who had evolved to a higher intelligence and then had “seeded” the Earth with the original life forms. This is science?

As it happens, I ran into the problems with evolutionism a long time ago, so I asked a friend who worked at the prestigious Cold Spring Harbor laboratory. “Of course,” he replied, “all serious scientists know that evolutionary theory lacks sufficient evidence.”

“So,” I queried, “why don’t they tell us the truth?”

“Because the only alternative is creation, and we can’t believe that!”

My curiosity piqued by his admission of the lack of proof for macro-evolution, I have read a number of books and articles over the years. Thus, I was not surprised when I recognized a couple of the people whom Stein interviewed, including William Dembski, who has been called “the Isaac Newton of information science,” and who holds two doctoral degrees, and the eminent German-born Jewish mathematician, David Berlinski.

If you want to follow this up, I recommend the following volumes, written for non-scientists like myself:

Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, by Michael Denton, an evolutionist who is alarmed by recent findings that undercut evolutionary theory.

Darwin’s Black Box, by Michael Behe, who maintains that Darwin simply could not know how “irreducibly complex” even the simplest cell is, making natural selection over long periods of time virtually impossible.

Darwin on Trial, by Phillip Johnson, a professor of law at Berkeley, who used the normal rules of evidence to evaluate the claims of evolutionary theory and found them almost without basis.

Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? by Jonathan Wells (who also has two doctoral degrees), which examines the most commonly cited instances of development from one species to another and shows that they are all either fraudulent or lacking any foundation in fact.

I haven’t finished William Dembski’s Intelligent Design yet, but it looks pretty good.

Note: Not one of these people argues for young earth creationism.

But you might want to look at Faith, Form, and Time, by Harvard Ph.D. Kurt Patrick Wise. A student of one of the most eminent Darwinists of the 20^th century, Stephen Gould, Wise actually thinks that the Genesis account of a six-day creation makes better sense scientifically than does the evolutionary model.

One caveat about “EXPELLED”: Stein is pretty angry about the suppression of evidence and the silencing of people who dare to challenge the status quo, so this documentary, though very well done, comes across as pretty stark and black and white. But then that’s how the dogmatic evolutionists portray the conflict between evolutionism and intelligent design, so maybe Stein is simply telling it as it is.

Is this experience from God?

My friend also had another question, which I shall seek to answer:

(2). Many of my Christian friends told me that they were touched by Holy Spirit.  How do we know the power touches someone is from the Holy Spirit and not from other beings, such as angels or the staff of God?

Another good question! Many Christians do claim that they have been affected “touched,” “filled,” “baptized,” etc.) by the Holy Spirit, but how do we know whether our experience is from God’s Spirit and not some other source?

A famous theologian named Jonathan Edwards once wrote a whole book on this subject, called Religious Affections (emotions, experiences). He pointed out that much of what seems to be from God may not actually be. After all, the Bible says that Satan and his demons (evil spirits) can work miracles, so a supernatural healing or other miracle is not necessary a work of God.

Furthermore, speaking with other tongues, which is commonly used as a sign of the work of the Holy Spirit, can come from another source also – either our own voice production or the work of some other spirit.

Strong emotions, too, don’t necessarily come from God. You can be really “happy” or excited, but that could simply result from your reaction to something you are thinking or some stimulus in your environment. I once had some sort of mystical experience of “peace” and “unity with the whole world” during and after listening to Beethoven’s 7^th Symphony!

If you are in a crowd, and they all go crazy over something, you can be overcome with powerful feelings that derive from the influence of the mood of the people around you. Both Hitler and Mao Zedong had that influence on large gatherings of devoted followers, and something like that seems to happen to many young people at rock concerts.

You can have a strong impression that something is true or right, but it may be very false and very wrong. These “clear” “messages” may seem to come from God, but they could be the work of the devil, who knows very well how to deceive us.

People in religious meetings are sometimes overcome by joy, or ecstasy, or dread. None of these is necessarily a product of the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts. Likewise, falling down as if dead – sometimes called “being slain in the Spirit” – can happen to people for all sorts of reasons, and is not necessarily a work of the Holy Spirit of God.

Okay, so how can we know whether an experience comes from God? There are several ways of evaluating religious experiences:

Does it make me love God more – his holiness, justice, mercy, truth, and all his other excellencies?

Does it make me trust God more? Does this experience lead me to believe more in what the Bible says, to rely on his promises, especially the spiritual promises in the New Testament, even if everything else around me seems to deny the Scriptures?

Does it make we way to obey God more? Does it cause me to think that all his commands (meaning primarily those in the New Testament, not all the food laws in the Old Testament) are good and right and true, and that I must seek to follow his revealed will, no matter what the cost?

Does it make we want to hope more in God and in the grace that will come to me when Christ returns?

Does it make me hate sin, and falsehood, and everything that is wrong?

Does it make me love God’s people – other Christians – and want to be with them and serve them and work with them to advance God’s kingdom?

Does it make me more aware of my own sins and need for God’s mercy, and does it cause me to rejoice more in the sheer grace of God that has reached down to someone as unworthy as I am?

Does it cause me to focus my attention on Jesus Christ, the Son of God and only Savior? Or does it turn my eyes towards something or someone else? All that comes from the Spirit of God will bring honor and glory to the Son of God, as revealed in the Bible.

Is this experience in any way contrary to the will of God as revealed in the Bible? Does it make me want to read the Bible more and meditate on the Scriptures? Or does it distract me and cause me to yearn after other emotional experiences?

These are some of the tests we can use to ascertain whether what we have experienced has come from the Holy Spirit or from some other source.

“Let me tell you about my boy (girl)”: The Way God Looks at His Children

“Let me tell you about my boy (girl)”: The Way God Looks at His Children

Yesterday, I ate lunch with a friend. At the outset, he told me that he wanted to discuss with me some important career decisions facing him. I relished the opportunity to be helpful and was honored that he would want to ask my opinion. In other words, I was ready to “do business” with him right away.

But he was not eager to start with the main item on his agenda. He had something else he wanted to share with me first.

Today he and his wife are driving up to New York to take their oldest boy to visit a prominent university, from which, as it happens, my friend himself had received his Ph.D. years ago. The boy has already been accepted at this school, along with three other outstanding colleges. With a perfect SAT verbal score and a 4.0 GPA in a very good high school, the kid is obviously very smart.

He’s also a leader: Vice President of the student body as a freshman and now President. His outstanding qualities were recognized when he was given the responsibility to administer a large community grant for benefiting young people. He helps with the youth program in his church, too.

Most of all, he’s humble. When asked publicly to account for his success in academics while participating fully in extra-curricular activities, he said, “God gives me strength and wisdom.”

At first, I was impatient with my friend’s long monologue about his son. After all, hadn’t I been invited to give some valuable advice?

As I reflected on this man’s evident delight in his boy, however, it struck me that perhaps God is like that.

Can we imagine Him up in heaven, calling to one of hHs angels and saying, “Let me tell you about My boy (or girl). Sure, he makes mistakes, but all in all, he’s a pretty neat kid. I like the way he’s growing, performing well, and trusting Me more.”

After all, isn’t that what the LORD did when He virtually bragged about Job to the heavenly court? (The divine attention led to some difficulties for Job, of course, but that’s another story.)

So, I tried to think of God, my heavenly Father, beckoning to Michael the archangel, pointing “down” to me, and saying, “Let me tell you about Wright. I like what I’m doing in him, don’t you?”

Do you dare to put your name in there? Try it. I think that you’ll enjoy the awareness of your heavenly Father’s favor, which He extends to – no, lavishes upon – all who, by faith, are “in Christ Jesus,” his beloved Son.

What Does God Like?

What Does God Like?

To answer the question, “What is God like,” maybe we should begin with another, ‘What does God like?” After all, you can tell a lot about someone if you knows what he likes, what gives him pleasure and delight and enjoyment.

Although I said not all these blogs would be about books, I want to share my response to one I have finally just finished, John Piper’s The Pleasures of God. In his inimitable style of warmth and passion, Piper tells us what God likes, what gives him pleasure.

Our Lord takes pleasure in his Son, Jesus; in all he does; in his creation; in his own fame and glory; in choosing to save many people from eternal perdition; in wounding his Son for our salvation; in doing good to all who hope in him; in our prayers and obedience; and in “concealing himself form the wise and revealing himself to infants” (that is, those who are meek and lowly).

Piper repeats his trademark motto: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him,” and applies this truth to us: “And so may the end of all our meditation, all our hope, all our prayer, all our obedience, be this great discovery: that our satisfaction in God will be infinite when, by his gift and in his kingdom, it becomes the pleasure of God in God.”

Piper believes that God wants us to be happy­ – fully, supremely, infinitely happy. And nothing will bring to us this happiness other than God himself, as we delight in him. On this Lord’s Day, I hope we can all stop for a moment and ponder how much God has done for us – even sending his only Son to die – so that all the wealth of his love would fill our hearts now and forever.