So here's a story...about a man and his habit. (Cheesy, but true story)
So I walk into the music office on our campus (Yes, this story is about me) and gave the usual greeting to Joanna, the music/chaplain's assistant here on campus. She organizes some of the worship teams, and did such a task for this worship with Josh DeBois (Some guy who works in the White House with Faith Based stuff). Anyways, apparently this is a big deal worship thing, and she asks me; "So you ready for this?" I responded with a casual "eh...ya know."
Really?
I am about to not only worship God, but lead His people in worship, and all I have to say about this is "eh?" I'm not even Canadian! God chose me, this terribly unworthy sinner, to not only love, but to lead his people in one of the most holy actions imaginable, and that's all I can say?
So Joanna calls me out on this, and inquires as to my lack of enthusiasm, because I should clearly be excited for this great chance. She points out the fact that every time I even worship, let alone lead, I should be excited. Furthermore, I should be mentally and spiritually preparing for these worship services!
This got me thinking, I've gotten into this terrible habit of worship leading.
Yes, you read that right. I have turned this opportunity from God into a bad habit. I have gotten to a point in my life where I regularly help lead 2-3 worships every week, sometimes more. This is great, and I love it. It's what God's called me to do, I think. The problem becomes that it is now a habit, which means I don't put the effort into it or get as excited about it as I should.
I'm not prayerfully considering each worship.
I'm not preparing mentally or spiritually for each worship.
I'm viewing worship as a thing I do, like a job.
So I've resolved to regain the passion of my worship planning. Regain the excitement and treat each worship time as something special and not a habit. I would encourage other worship leaders to do the same and guard their hearts against this trap that I have fallen into. Together, we need to remember that Christ has created this awesome expression of praise, and chooses some of us to lead it! If you have any ideas on how to keep this from happening to me or others, please do tell!
I would encourage you to love and cherish each opportunity to worship, whether you're leading or not, because it truly is an amazing thing to bear one's self before God and praise Him. I don't' want to sound like your mother, but there are people in Africa who can't worship. It sounds cliche, but seriously, we have an amazing freedom to worship, let's not abuse it.
Hopefully, we can turn that Canadian "eh" into an excited Fonzie "EH!"....but leave the collar down please.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Pre-destiny
I've been wrestling with the idea of predestination, election, and how free will can exist within these doctrines. So far in my research, it's been made relatively clear that predestination is indeed a Biblical idea, but to what extent?
According to Calvin, the doctrine of election/predestination essentially claims that God chooses who to offer grace to and who to offer justice to before the world was even created. In other words, before this whole mess of a universe was created, your ultimate salvation was decided according to "God's pleasure." God just randomly elects people to recieve His grace, while everyone else misses out, and therefore, are damned to hell. I'm picturing a gym class game of soccer in which everyone numbers off for teams. You have no say in which team you're on or who else is on your team. Calvin argues the case of Jacob and Esau, claiming that Jacob was offered grace when Esau wasn't because of God's will. It was nothing they did. So nothing we do can affect our salvation.
Does this make anyone extremely uncomfortable?
Granted, I'm glad my salvation isn't in my hands, but I feel like I should be able to choose to love God if I so desire. Some people believe that I still have the choice to decide God or not, but God affects my desire, which then guides my choice. So while I still have the choice, God programs my desire, and my ultimate salvation. My problem here is that if God affects my desire towards choosing His grace, he's affected my love for Him. Essentially, I am forced to love God, which isn't real. I force my pet dog to 'love' (or at least like) me, but that doesn't make it authentic love.
Again, I'm glad God is taking care of it, but it still sounds fishy.
So then some other people claim that God uses prescient predestination. So he looks into the future and sees which people will call on His name and which ones will curse it. The ones that he sees will love Him, he then predestines to salvation. This seems to make the most sense to me, because of a few Biblical passages. Despite Calvin's outright hatred towards prescient election, I feel that it best explains things.
John 3:16....Yeah, you all know it, but the first part is essential to this doctrine. "For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
God loves the world. Not just some elect few.
Why on earth would God just pass by somebody and let them die. Let them be eternally dammed? Why would he do that if He loves the entire world?
I have absolutely no idea where to stand on this doctrine (assuming I still have the option to choose), but the upside to all of this (if it's legit) is that predestination makes me love God even more. I have been chosen. I have been elected to recieve God's grace. I am one of God's chosen people. It's like being on the good soccer team in gym class.
According to Calvin, the doctrine of election/predestination essentially claims that God chooses who to offer grace to and who to offer justice to before the world was even created. In other words, before this whole mess of a universe was created, your ultimate salvation was decided according to "God's pleasure." God just randomly elects people to recieve His grace, while everyone else misses out, and therefore, are damned to hell. I'm picturing a gym class game of soccer in which everyone numbers off for teams. You have no say in which team you're on or who else is on your team. Calvin argues the case of Jacob and Esau, claiming that Jacob was offered grace when Esau wasn't because of God's will. It was nothing they did. So nothing we do can affect our salvation.
Does this make anyone extremely uncomfortable?
Granted, I'm glad my salvation isn't in my hands, but I feel like I should be able to choose to love God if I so desire. Some people believe that I still have the choice to decide God or not, but God affects my desire, which then guides my choice. So while I still have the choice, God programs my desire, and my ultimate salvation. My problem here is that if God affects my desire towards choosing His grace, he's affected my love for Him. Essentially, I am forced to love God, which isn't real. I force my pet dog to 'love' (or at least like) me, but that doesn't make it authentic love.
Again, I'm glad God is taking care of it, but it still sounds fishy.
So then some other people claim that God uses prescient predestination. So he looks into the future and sees which people will call on His name and which ones will curse it. The ones that he sees will love Him, he then predestines to salvation. This seems to make the most sense to me, because of a few Biblical passages. Despite Calvin's outright hatred towards prescient election, I feel that it best explains things.
John 3:16....Yeah, you all know it, but the first part is essential to this doctrine. "For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
God loves the world. Not just some elect few.
Why on earth would God just pass by somebody and let them die. Let them be eternally dammed? Why would he do that if He loves the entire world?
I have absolutely no idea where to stand on this doctrine (assuming I still have the option to choose), but the upside to all of this (if it's legit) is that predestination makes me love God even more. I have been chosen. I have been elected to recieve God's grace. I am one of God's chosen people. It's like being on the good soccer team in gym class.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Grace, Peace, and Joy
Recently, things have been getting pretty crazy in my little college world. Stress is everywhere. Stress in class, stress with finances, stress from friends. Everyone is feeling stressed and everyone, including myself, seems to lack peace. The pressures of this world are closing in around us, and Satan is interrupting our Peace. He’s stealing our joy.
Or are we handing it over?
Perhaps our peace and our joy lie within our hands. I’m not saying that we can make ourselves happy and content with the world, because we can’t do that. But I am saying that we all have the opportunity to be content. Some of us just don’t realize how to take that opportunity. Some of us might not even realize what it means to be content. To be at peace. To be filled with joy.
The world defines peace as a “freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.” (Dictionary.com) I think that rather than considering peace a lack of disturbance, it should be seen as an existence of practice. Peace is something we practice. It’s an active state, not a passive one. The Bible tells us that there is really only one way to be content, and that is in complete surrender to Jesus. We have to practice surrender.
Colossians 1:16-17 says; “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
We were created for Christ. Our lives are only complete when they are in Him, when they are dedicated to Him, when they are surrendered to Him. The second part of this scripture highlights the fact that Christ ‘holds all things together.’ Christ is what keeps us together and keeps everything going. Surrendering ourselves to His purpose will keep us going. When we surrender ourselves to Christ, we are offered his love. We receive the grace of God. This grace is all we need, and no matter what happens, the world cannot take that away from us. This is where our joy comes from. Despite the stress and pressures of the world, we have all we will ever need because of God’s undeserving yet unconditional love. Who wants to hand that over to Satan?
To be content, we have to recognize this gift, cherish it, and respond to it with our lives. Our peace and contentment comes from a relationship with the Father in which He is our King and the sole source of longing. Once we focus on the cross, the pressures of the world, while still all around us, can’t affect our peace. I’m not saying that we won’t face pressures and stress, because we will, but I am saying that it doesn’t have to disturb us. Take joy, my friends, in the gift of life that God has offered us. Take joy in surrender. Take joy in God’s love. Don’t give your peace, your joy, your unique gift of love over to the world. Rather love the Lord your God.
with ALL your heart,
with ALL your soul,
with ALL your strength.
Or are we handing it over?
Perhaps our peace and our joy lie within our hands. I’m not saying that we can make ourselves happy and content with the world, because we can’t do that. But I am saying that we all have the opportunity to be content. Some of us just don’t realize how to take that opportunity. Some of us might not even realize what it means to be content. To be at peace. To be filled with joy.
The world defines peace as a “freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.” (Dictionary.com) I think that rather than considering peace a lack of disturbance, it should be seen as an existence of practice. Peace is something we practice. It’s an active state, not a passive one. The Bible tells us that there is really only one way to be content, and that is in complete surrender to Jesus. We have to practice surrender.
Colossians 1:16-17 says; “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
We were created for Christ. Our lives are only complete when they are in Him, when they are dedicated to Him, when they are surrendered to Him. The second part of this scripture highlights the fact that Christ ‘holds all things together.’ Christ is what keeps us together and keeps everything going. Surrendering ourselves to His purpose will keep us going. When we surrender ourselves to Christ, we are offered his love. We receive the grace of God. This grace is all we need, and no matter what happens, the world cannot take that away from us. This is where our joy comes from. Despite the stress and pressures of the world, we have all we will ever need because of God’s undeserving yet unconditional love. Who wants to hand that over to Satan?
To be content, we have to recognize this gift, cherish it, and respond to it with our lives. Our peace and contentment comes from a relationship with the Father in which He is our King and the sole source of longing. Once we focus on the cross, the pressures of the world, while still all around us, can’t affect our peace. I’m not saying that we won’t face pressures and stress, because we will, but I am saying that it doesn’t have to disturb us. Take joy, my friends, in the gift of life that God has offered us. Take joy in surrender. Take joy in God’s love. Don’t give your peace, your joy, your unique gift of love over to the world. Rather love the Lord your God.
with ALL your heart,
with ALL your soul,
with ALL your strength.
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