Trees

Have you ever thought about why trees point upwards? What are they pointing to? God? If so, why would they point up? Does God dwell in the sky, and not down here? When Solomon asked King Hiram of Tyre for help in building God’s temple, he included this before his request: “But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?” (2 Chronicles 2:6 ESV)

So I suppose the trees can’t be pointing “at” God physically. If God is omnipresent, that means his presence is not limited to the sky or “heaven”. Maybe there’s something the sky can teach us about God, and that’s what they’re pointing to.

What can we see when we look at the sky? I see unlimited space - a representation of the vastness and greatness of God. I also see a reminder of how small (literally) we are. I see our utter helplessness in the face of the universe, and our absolute dependence on our loving God, the “Father of lights” (Jas 1:17), who knows each star by name and sent His son to die for us rebels even though we don't deserve it.

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The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.

Their measuring line goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

- Psalm 19:1-6 ESV

Who is He?

When we consider the meaning of Christmas, we jump (as we should) to Jesus’ birth. Shortly after considering His birth, images from childhood Christmas plays and church nativity scenes fill our minds. We think of wise men, shepherds, sheep, stars, and a manger, and hopefully these images warm our hearts.

But sometimes we stop there. We stop at the images. We know what happens in the story, and similar to childhood memories of Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings, we categorize Christmas as a tale that inspires us, but still something that remains separated from reality. We’re focused on the What, but it doesn’t affect us because we forget about the Who.

Who is this baby Jesus? Let’s look at part of the story:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem…After coming to the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother

Matthew 2:1,11

What did they do when they saw this child? Did they give it baby talk? Did they hold him? Let’s look:

and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him.

They worshiped Him! A helpless, probably crying, tiny baby child caused these men to fall on the ground in awe and praise. Who is this baby Jesus?

He is not only a moral teacher. He is not only a prophet. He is Immanuel. God with us. Let us remember this Who. God did not wait for us to come to Him, but freely came to us to rescue us from our sin, failures, rebellion, folly, shame, and hell. Let us join the wise men and fall to the ground and worship Him.

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Common Comments

Have you ever found yourself asking questions like, “Where did the time go?”  Or, “How time flies!”  Some of the most undeniable and common things like Time surprise us.   Listen to how C.S. Lewis says it:

Notice how we are perpetually surprised at Time. ('How time flies! Fancy John being grown-up and married! I can hardly believe it!') In heaven's name, why? Unless, indeed, there is something about us that is not temporal.

Yes indeed, Mr. Lewis.  There’s something in us that is not temporal:

[God] has also set eternity in the hearts of men

Ecclesiastes 3:11

We were born here, but we don’t belong here.  We belong in eternity, and our common comments of surprise express our longing to return home. 

Suffering and Evil

I listened to this sermon by Dr. Tim Keller on suffering and evil recently, and it's one of the best treatments of the subject I've heard. The philosophical arguments on this topic have been going back and forth for years, but we so often miss the fact that the question is more than just an intellectual exercise. I'd encourage anyone who has wrestled with this issue to check it out.

You can find this sermon by Dr. Keller as well as others here.

You, Happier

I was watching a Best Buy commercial today and was struck by their slogan: “You, Happier”. They seem to be suggesting that if you happen to be depressed, lonely, dissatisfied, or even just a little bit unhappy, the solution is to come and buy some new electronic component. Surely this can give someone a little happiness for a little while – but everyone runs into the same problem I had when I would get a new NES game as a kid: after a week, it’s just not as much fun. Then, inevitably, we have to run to the next thing in order to get that temporary rush of happiness, and the cycle repeats indefinitely.

If we’re uncomfortable, scared, alone, or depressed, it’s so easy to turn on some sort of media or do some sort of activity in order to distract ourselves from our real problems. Then, when the novelty has worn off, we have to find the next thing to distract us and numb us to reality – this distraction could even be found in the form of interaction, romantic or otherwise, with others.

Is this really a way we should be satisfied to live? Simply running from our problems and trying to pretend they aren’t there is to live in denial. We should face ourselves and realize something really is wrong, realize our attempts to satisfy our dissatisfaction repeatedly fail, and ask why. If we’re honest, we’ll realize the solution is not something we ourselves or even others are capable of delivering.

Let’s consider the words of Christ:

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock." Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
- John 4:10-14, ESV

Virgin Births

Skeptics like Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher ridicule Christians for embracing the miraculous. One of their favorite punching bags is Jesus’ virgin birth. A virgin giving birth to a son is ridiculous, right? Isn’t that assertion alone enough to discredit all of Christianity?

Some Christian types will crumble to this argument and deny Jesus’ virgin birth happened -- or at least call it unessential. They will say we’ve learned a few things in the last 2,000 years. We’ve progressed beyond needing fairy tale stories about miracles. Let’s take the essentials from the Bible and move beyond the primitive stories that litter it. We might be able to stick to small miracles like a little healing here and a little coincidence there, but a virgin birth? That’s just over the top.

Both groups presuppose that virgin births are impossible. Therefore, when they see it in Luke, they immediately conclude that Luke is a liar, a fake, or taking desperate measures to continue a myth. My advice to both groups is to look at the story again. If they would look, they would find they share that presupposition with an unlikely person: Jesus’ mother. Notice what she says after Gabriel announces to her that she will conceive and bear a son:

And Mary said the the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’

Luke 1:34

One important thing to note here is that Mary’s not asking ”How will this be” in the sense that she doesn’t believe she will bear a son. She’s asking it in such a way that says, “Ok, I believe you that I will bear a son. But I need details here! What will be the events that happen for me to bear this son? After all, I’ve never been with a man!”

Mary, just like Dawkins, just like Maher, just like the “progressive” Christian types, just like you, and just like me, knows that babies don’t just appear in wombs. Up until this point, she would have called a virgin birth impossible. But after the angel tells Mary how she will give birth as a virgin, he tells her:

For nothing will be impossible with God

Luke 1:37

She then responds:

Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word

Luke 1:38

Now we see that Mary believes in virgin births, but it’s only after the angel tells her that it’s possible. The impossible became possible to Mary only after the she learned the impossible is possible. For all the world knew, virgin births were impossible. They only became possible when God intervened. Mary presupposed that virgin births were impossible, but after she found out that nothing is impossible with God, she took His word for it. Skeptics presuppose that virgin births are impossible, so when they hear that nothing is impossible with God, they say that God is impossible. But could it be possible that virgin births are impossible, except when God intervenes? Could it be possible that God reserved the virgin birth -- something so miraculous, so over the top, and so (dare I say) ridiculous -- for a once-in-a-universe opportunity? Mary thinks so. Christians think so. What do you think?

Evangelism and Love

I have always had a nagging concern that the love Christians show to those who haven’t met Christ is in some way disingenuous, that our “love” exists solely for the purpose of conversion. I’m sure many of us (including myself) have fallen prey to seeking trophy converts for whatever reason – maybe it’s to look good in front of our Christian peers, or to legalistically attempt to satisfy God…or maybe for no other reason than to arrogantly paint another kill for Christ on our fuselage.

Lately, however, I’ve learned that our love for those who don’t believe doesn’t have to be disingenuous. When we know Christ as our Supreme Treasure, we will know that the greatest thing that can happen to any human being is to know Him. It follows that being used by the Holy Spirit to introduce someone to Him can be an act rooted in deep, genuine love. It is important that our motivation not be to love others in order to convert them, but to seek to convert them because we love them. Are we viewing people as a means to more spiritual brownie points, or as they truly are: fellow image-bearers of God who desperately need Him, just as we do?

Jesus, grant us the grace to have your heart for the people you created in your image, for our cities, our neighborhoods, our friends, our families.

Please welcome Eric to the blog!

A friend from Seattle and I have been scheming the last week about blogging together, and after some thought we decided to bring him on to this blog as a contributer. Please welcome Eric Shoubridge!