You Have Potential!

This past weekend, I had the privilege to attend the Ripple Effect conference in the sprawling metropolis of Vermilion, Alberta. It was time well spent, as I learned a great deal on a variety of subjects. I am still trying to process and make sense of all that I learned, and will share my thoughts with you as I go.

In one of the opening sessions, Pastor Shawn shared a verse which I am sure I have read many times, yet he pointed out something that I had never noticed before. The verse is John 16:7-8, and reads: "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment." (emphasis added). When I heard this, I was immediately puzzled as to how it could ever be better for the disciples for Jesus to leave them. I mean, Jesus is God in the flesh, and did showed countless acts of love and kindness during His time on earth. I cannot imagine a more effective ministry than that of Jesus.

After tossing these ideas around in my head, I began to take a look at the rest of the verse, concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit, and suddenly the verse began to make a lot more sense. Jesus, while being God, could only be in one place at a time due to His also being fully human, and therefore could only proclaim His message of love and hope in one place at a time. I am not trying to place limitations on Jesus, because I know He is fully God, this is simply my understanding of His dual nature. Anyways, with the Holy Spirit dwelling in the hearts of believers, the gospel could quickly spread throughout the entire world. In this way Jesus would be able to continue His ministry through the lives of believers everywhere. This appears to be a very beneficial result of Jesus returning to heaven.

I looked into this idea further and found John 14:12-14, which says, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." Jesus also says in Mark 16:17-18: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

To me, all of these verse hint at a great potential within each of us as Christians, due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus said that it would be best for Him to leave us, then He must have seen in us potential of unimaginable proportions, especially when He says that through Him, believers will perform miracles even greater than the ones He performed here on earth. It makes me wonder if we are living up to our full potential in Christ, or if we are simply acting too much in our own strength in our attempts to further the kingdom. However, it also fills me with a great sense of hope, since Jesus working through us is able to accomplish all of these things if we let Him, and that is so much easier than doing it on our own. To borrow a line from Switchfoot, we were meant to live for so much more.

The Gift/Curse Of Free Will

Today as I write this blog it is with a sense of sadness. Without going into too many details, I have a friend who used to have such a hunger for God, but now has been lured by the pleasures that the world has to offer. From all appearances, this person has completely forsaken their faith, going as far as to blatantly insult Christianity and our Saviour Jesus Christ. This pains me deeply, as I cannot understand how after experiencing a relationship with Jesus, how anyone could ever desire anything else. I know we all have a sinful nature within us, and we will routinely give in to these desires, but this struggle with recurring sins is not what I am talking about. What I am talking about is the complete rejection of the Christian faith.

I feel so helpless, as I so desperately want this person's relationship with Christ to be restored, yet I know that we all have our own free will. I feel like Jim Carrey's character on Bruce Almighty, when he wanted to make his girlfriend return to him, but was helpless to do anything because as God, he could not hinder a person's free will. It must pain God deeply when we act on our own free will and fall into sin. The whole idea of God giving us free will is one that is puzzling me at the moment. The only explanation that I can think of is that God desires to be loved by His creation, and that this is only possible if we are allowed to act on our own free will. Love is not something that can be forced on a person, it is something that they must consciously choose to give. A forced love is not love at all, because it does not come from the heart. Maybe that is why we as humans were given free will. I guess that all I can do is pray that God will intercede in this person's life, as only He can, and reveal that He offers so much more than the world will ever be able to give. I can also continue to show this person love, as I let the love of God flow through me. Yet I still feel weak and helpless, but I am reminded that God says that in our weakness, He is strong, and that is a comforting fact.

As I Look At The Stars

"If the soul could have known God without the world, the world would never have been created." - Meister Eckhart

Tonight I took my dog for a walk down to the marina, and there was totally taken aback by the wonder of creation. Getting away from the noise and lights of the city as I ventured to the end of the dock, I gazed in awe as the largest, most golden moon rose slowly over the horizon into the night sky. Its golden orange radiance was reflected across the still waters of the lake. Gazing out across the lake, it appeared that I was looking into a deep void, as the dark waters appeared to merge with the night sky. The only light came from the moon, and the countless stars that were visible on this clear night. I sat there at the end of the dock gazing into the sky, filled with a great sense of wonder and awe of God's creation. I tried to rationalize this feeling in my head, but there were no words to describe how I felt. For what seemed like the first time, I took notice of the wonder and beauty of creation, and thought that the night sky alone is proof enough that there is a God. All human forms of art pale in comparison to the majesty and splendor of creation.

I think that as we go through our lives, we often become so caught up in our daily lives that we fail to stand in wonder and awe of God and who He is. We may even become so absorbed in church related activities that we lose focus of the real reason for our faith. I believe that it is essential that a person take some time out of their busy lives to simply marvel in the glory of God. In his book Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller writes:
"Too much of our time is spent trying to chart God on a grid, and too little is spent allowing our hearts to feel awe. By reducing Christian spirituality to formula, we deprive our hearts of wonder."

The psalmist seemed to understand better than anyone the wonder of creation. He did not attempt to understand it, he was simply content to live in constant awe and wonder. He writes:

1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because

of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and

the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man

that you care for him?

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you

put everything under his feet:
7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that

swim the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

(Psalm 8, NIV)

These were some of the thought running through my mind as I sat there, but they were cut short by the whining of my dog, who had had enough sitting around and was anxious to head back home. Although brief, this experience is one that I am not likely to forget anytime soon.

A Whole New World

The title has nothing to do with the song from Alladin, but with some of my experiences since graduating from high school. Working in a pump shop for the past couple of months, I have gotten to know some guys who I normally would have very little to do with, as we have extremely different lifestyles. I'll just give you a couple examples of the types of guys I work with. They're your typical oilfield workers, potty-mouthed and heavy smokers. One guy is currently under house arrest, while another is on probation. Another guy cannot even remember the number of times that he has been arrested. They have been charged with everything from driving under the influence to stealing cars. When we have to take the urine sample drug test in the upcoming months, I will probably be one of the few people in the shop who passes. Definitely not the kinds of people that I have grown up with, being from a Christian family and all.

However, around the shop, they all seem like nice enough guys if you ignore the foul language. I was surprised that I found myself not judging them for their choices, or looking down on them because I have never made the same mistakes. Instead, I see them as people who are lost in life, and are looking for something to fill the emptiness that they feel inside. They would never admit this, but I know that deep down it is true for all of them.

Through these experiences, I am reminded of the character of Jesus. These were precisely the types of people that He came to minister to. He even said that it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick (Matthew 9:12). He did not condemn them for their actions, but instead loved them as they were, offering them the key to eternal life. John 3:17 says, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him." It is this example that I try to follow at work. I do not try to hide my faith, nor do I shove it down their throats. Instead, I try not to judge them for the choices that they make, but instead let Christ's love shine through me. I am not saying that I never fail in my efforts, because I do, on many an occasion. However, I try to keep in mind that Christ working through me may be the only Jesus that they will ever see or know, and that is not a responsibility to be taken lightly.