"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." - Colossians 3:14-16 (ESV)
From what we see in the above passage we note that there are three things Paul called the church to: put on love, let the peace of Christ reign, and be thankful. Of course these are not three distinct events, they are, in fact, very closely tied together. How can we love without the peace of Christ unifying us as a body? How can we be thankful if we are not bound to God or to others through love? In fact, the very idea of being one body is the reason we (Christians) ought to love one another.
Think about it like this: love unites. Anger, hatred, fear, distaste, and discomfort all divide. Those things which stand opposed to love do not bring the body of Christ together, they divide us. We cannot be ruled by the peace of Christ because we are too worried about whether the man sitting across from us is dangerous, or we want to get away from the smelly bag lady who sat next to us in the pew. More than that, we are not thankful to God for bringing this brother or sister into our lives, instead we sit in judgment of them, when God shed the blood of Christ to win them.
But, being thankless not only separates us from our relationship with God, it also separates us from those around us, and it separates them from us. When we do not thank those who do good things for us, we insult them. We insult them because we do not acknowledge the time, the care, or the resources they put into doing good for us. We act as though we are deserving of that which we have received, as though somehow we earned some good gift that was given to us.
In my last post I noted that every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Lights. (James 1:17) But, James really begins that thought earlier, and the context around James 1:17 is important. In James 1:16 he says, "Do not be deceived my beloved brothers." My point being that James urges us to think about what he is saying more deeply than just saying, "okay." James really intends for us to understand that every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from God. When one of your co-workers did a favor for you, making sure you wouldn't be too overburdened, that was a gift from God. When one of your friends called you up and asked if you wanted a coffee, just so they could spend time with you, that was from God. Every good gift, every perfect gift, all of them, come from God.
It is so important to grasp this because it relates directly to what Paul says about being thankful. If every good gift comes from God, then when you disregard a favor, or when you belittle the work of someone who sacrificed for you, then you are insulting the kindness of God. Likewise, when you make light of someone trying to do good for you, even if it does not accomplish exactly what you wanted, it is not simply a slight to that person, it is an insult to God, because he is the one who gave you the gift. Such an attitude shows that you have not put on love, you are not living in the peace of Christ, and you are not thankful to God. Such an attitude shows that you have taken for granted the good things you have been given, as though you deserved them, when it is most pertinent to remember that those good things are a gift, and you have not earned any of them at all.
In addition to what being thankless says about your own life, it is also harmful to others. When you disregard the good things people do for you, or try to do for you, it places them in a position of inferiority. Instead of you showing appreciation for their kindness, now they have become mere tools, and if they perform well you give them no praise, for that was all that was expected of a good tool. This is not love for your fellow man. To be thankless is an insult to those who show love and respect for you.
But, there is one more point worth making: being thankless is a little demonstration of hell on earth. What I mean by this is, if James is true, that every good gift is from God, then in hell there will be no good gifts. There will be no friends, because there will be no kindness, because God will not motivate goodness or gentleness among those from whom he separates. So, when we are thankless, we are demonstrating to those who would do good things for us a little taste of hell. We are demonstrating the real sin that lives within every one of us when we do not thank people, or God, for the good things we receive, and, in hell, that sin will be given free reign, because there will be no common grace from God to keep it reigned in.
There is simply no excuse for Christians to forget to be thankful. We, above all people, have received great and wonderful gifts that we do not deserve. We who have trusted in the death of Christ and his resurrection as the payment for our sin, and the means of reconciliation with God, have been given a promise of eternal life with the Lord. Every good gift we receive after that ought to refresh our spirits in memory of that which we have received and make us sing the praises of God, that not only did he redeem us from hell, but he also saw fit to give us more gifts on top of that. Every generous hand, from every person, should invoke in us a deep and abiding thankfulness, for we know that our God is the one who has given this to us. In short, we should have no problem fulfilling this command from the Holy Spirit, through Paul, "And be thankful."
Showing posts with label Father. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Father. Show all posts
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Of Good Fathers
I have learned more about the Christian faith from my father than probably anyone else. My father taught me how to read the Scriptures, taught me the importance of the original languages, and taught me what it means to be a man of faith. While I know that God can use whatever means he wants to in order to teach a man, in my case, much of what I learned came from my father, at least in seed form. Even today, when I have questions or I want to double check my interpretation of a passage I'll call my father and talk with him, because I still want to learn from his wisdom, and I know that he has more experience and has studied Scripture longer than I have been alive. The first command with a promise is to honor your mother and your father that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving to you, and my God has made it easy for me to be able to honor my father.
My father is the one who taught me how to see the themes of Scripture and how to read the bible with a focus on the development of the thematic elements within the text. He taught me to how to realize that God is consistent, and is consistently revealing himself in a progressive manner from Genesis to Revelation. As I developed in reading Scripture and began to see the importance of Christ in both the Old and New Testaments, the inspiration my father gave me helped me to go from simply reading words on a page, to really understanding the depth and value of Scripture. There was a time that I thought learning the bible would be as simple as memorizing words and concepts, but then I began to see the intricacies of God's word, that each part plays into the other in a complex web and pattern, and I realized that I would never glean all that is in Scripture. All of this because my father taught me that what I see in Genesis carries through to what I learn from Revelation.
I would be lying if I said my father taught me Greek or Hebrew. The fact is my father rarely mentioned the Greek alphabet and may have used a handful of Hebrew words in my life. But, my father taught me the value of knowing Greek and Hebrew from the way he turned to those languages when I had a question.
When I wanted to know whether Isaiah really meant for us to understand Immanuel as "God with us" my father pulled out a Hebrew concordance (I still love that book) and showed me the word "el" in the Hebrew, told me it was the word Isaiah used there, and then showed me where that concordance listed every single instance of that word in Isaiah. I then went through the whole book of Isaiah, read every verse and section that mentioned God, and realized that Isaiah only ever uses the word "el" to denote divinity. While my father did not teach me Hebrew, he did teach me the value of knowing the language. That's why I spent five semesters in Hebrew and Greek study in seminary, because of my father's influence on me in seeing the value of knowing the languages of Scripture.
More than knowing languages, and more than simply knowing how to read Scripture, my father taught me what it means to have faith in Scripture. I cannot think of a time when my father ever expressed a doubt in the awesome care and love of God to me and my brothers. Even through times of difficulty, my father has always been steady in his care of his family and his belief in Christ. I'm sure my father has had struggles to which I was not a party, just as I have had struggles which no one will ever know about but God himself, but his words and his manner have always been strong despite those difficulties.
I have written this not just to honor my father, though I have sought to do so. I have written this to encourage young men who have not had strong father figures, that they might know what an impact they could have on their sons and daughters if they will be the men they wish their fathers could have been. I have written this to remind each of us of the importance of fathers and father figures, and to remind those in the church that there is a need of fathers in this world. In America today far too many children do not have fathers, and if the men in the church are not willing to be their fathers, Satan certainly has enough of his own lined up who are ready to do the job.
I could cite statistics and new reports about how children who grow up without fathers do worse in school, are more prone to crime, and more likely to get involved in gangs and other violent activities. I could go on and on about how single mothers are forced to leave their children unattended for long periods of time in order to work and bring home food, thus leading to even more strife in the home. I could discuss the poverty that many children without fathers live in. But, the reality is God made us to come from a father and a mother, and he intended for that relationship that led to our creation to also continue on in our upbringing. It is sufficient that this is the plan of God, the horror stories are simply proof of the goodness of God's plan.
Fathers are essential to a healthy home. God has declared himself to be a loving father. How will we learn about God when we do not understand the idea of what it means to be a loving father? Dear Christian men, let us honor our father in heaven, and be fathers to the fatherless in whatever way we can. You men who have sons and daughters, care for them as best you can, and if already you have a child with a woman who is not your wife, then plead with God that you might still be a father to that child, because he will need you. I write this as a man who had a good father, and as a man who has seen the heartbreak of many friends who did not.
My father is the one who taught me how to see the themes of Scripture and how to read the bible with a focus on the development of the thematic elements within the text. He taught me to how to realize that God is consistent, and is consistently revealing himself in a progressive manner from Genesis to Revelation. As I developed in reading Scripture and began to see the importance of Christ in both the Old and New Testaments, the inspiration my father gave me helped me to go from simply reading words on a page, to really understanding the depth and value of Scripture. There was a time that I thought learning the bible would be as simple as memorizing words and concepts, but then I began to see the intricacies of God's word, that each part plays into the other in a complex web and pattern, and I realized that I would never glean all that is in Scripture. All of this because my father taught me that what I see in Genesis carries through to what I learn from Revelation.
I would be lying if I said my father taught me Greek or Hebrew. The fact is my father rarely mentioned the Greek alphabet and may have used a handful of Hebrew words in my life. But, my father taught me the value of knowing Greek and Hebrew from the way he turned to those languages when I had a question.
When I wanted to know whether Isaiah really meant for us to understand Immanuel as "God with us" my father pulled out a Hebrew concordance (I still love that book) and showed me the word "el" in the Hebrew, told me it was the word Isaiah used there, and then showed me where that concordance listed every single instance of that word in Isaiah. I then went through the whole book of Isaiah, read every verse and section that mentioned God, and realized that Isaiah only ever uses the word "el" to denote divinity. While my father did not teach me Hebrew, he did teach me the value of knowing the language. That's why I spent five semesters in Hebrew and Greek study in seminary, because of my father's influence on me in seeing the value of knowing the languages of Scripture.
More than knowing languages, and more than simply knowing how to read Scripture, my father taught me what it means to have faith in Scripture. I cannot think of a time when my father ever expressed a doubt in the awesome care and love of God to me and my brothers. Even through times of difficulty, my father has always been steady in his care of his family and his belief in Christ. I'm sure my father has had struggles to which I was not a party, just as I have had struggles which no one will ever know about but God himself, but his words and his manner have always been strong despite those difficulties.
I have written this not just to honor my father, though I have sought to do so. I have written this to encourage young men who have not had strong father figures, that they might know what an impact they could have on their sons and daughters if they will be the men they wish their fathers could have been. I have written this to remind each of us of the importance of fathers and father figures, and to remind those in the church that there is a need of fathers in this world. In America today far too many children do not have fathers, and if the men in the church are not willing to be their fathers, Satan certainly has enough of his own lined up who are ready to do the job.
I could cite statistics and new reports about how children who grow up without fathers do worse in school, are more prone to crime, and more likely to get involved in gangs and other violent activities. I could go on and on about how single mothers are forced to leave their children unattended for long periods of time in order to work and bring home food, thus leading to even more strife in the home. I could discuss the poverty that many children without fathers live in. But, the reality is God made us to come from a father and a mother, and he intended for that relationship that led to our creation to also continue on in our upbringing. It is sufficient that this is the plan of God, the horror stories are simply proof of the goodness of God's plan.
Fathers are essential to a healthy home. God has declared himself to be a loving father. How will we learn about God when we do not understand the idea of what it means to be a loving father? Dear Christian men, let us honor our father in heaven, and be fathers to the fatherless in whatever way we can. You men who have sons and daughters, care for them as best you can, and if already you have a child with a woman who is not your wife, then plead with God that you might still be a father to that child, because he will need you. I write this as a man who had a good father, and as a man who has seen the heartbreak of many friends who did not.
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