Overreaction

There is something I was thinking about this weekend. As a father, I sometimes have a tendency to overreact to minute things. Don't we all, right? As I thought about that, I began to think, how does God the Father never overreact? As God, He is perfect. A perfect God knows exactly how to respond to every person and every time in every way. I mean, come on, my sin is much worse than spilling something on the carpet, or eating playdough right? God doesn't overreact with me. He knows exactly the right grace to extend, the right amount of mercy to give, and the right discipline action to take. How does He do that? I mean, I know He's God, but how can I do that?

I know, I know, I will never be God or perfect like God, but I wish I could have a tiny bit of His infinite wisdom to know how to react to disobedience. In the meantime, I am glad that God does not overreact to my sin. King David writes, "How happy is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How happy is the man the Lord does not charge with sin, and in whose spirit is no deceit!" - Psalm 32:1-2. I am happy that God is just. I am happy that God is love. I am happy that God is gracious and kind. I am happy that God doesn't overreact to my sin. I am happy that He can help me be the Godly father that I need to be by not overreacting and being wise and loving. Thank you God!

From Sunday 3-29-2009

Sunday Night:
Click here for the essay "Speaking of Tongues, What Does The Bible Teach?" by Dr. Malcolm Yarnell, III, associate professor of systematic theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (my Alma Mater and best school in the world!!).

Sunday Morning:
Impress your friends with this!
- "Pick a number between 1 and 10 and write it down.
- Multiply your number by 9.
- If you have a number with two digits, add the first and second digits together.
- Subtract 5.
- Pick the letter of the alphabet that corresponds to your number (A is 1, B is 2, etc.)
- Think of a country in the world that begins with that letter.
- Take the next letter of the alphabet and think of an animal that begins with that letter.
Of all the countries and animals in the world,I can guess which on es you wrote down. Your answers are Denmark and elephant. Was I right? Pretty amazing isn't it (Swindoll's Ultimate Book of Illustrations and Quotes, 594)?"

Have a great week!

How To Make A Man Extremely Frustrated

There is a cardinal offense out there that I wanted to let everyone know about because I believe it is a little known secret. It is how to frustrate a hungry man. I will provide ten steps that help show the progression and how you can pinpoint what is happening, because guys it can happen so quickly you don't even see it coming:

1) Find a man who is hungry
2) Make sure he is truly hungry
3) Let him go get food at the concession stand so he can pick out what he wants to eat
4) Ask him to hold your drink while you get things situated
5) Man looks down to find drink in one hand and food in the other
6) Man hears his stomach growl
7) Man looks for a place to put the drink down so he can eat the food that he greatly desires
8) Man cannot find such a place
9) Man is now frustrated and drooling from the smell of the food
10) Woman may not even know this has happened

I share this information for two reasons: that women can now know what is happening and; that men will no longer unknowinly fall into this trap. Both are to be blamed for this offense, but now maybe more men will become aware. This is what I try to do - pass on wisdom that will help in life.

Time After Time

But the Lord God of their ancestors sent word against them by the hand of his messengers, sending them time and time again, for He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they kept ridiculing God's messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the Lord's wrath was so stirred up against His people that there was no remedy.- 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 (emphasis mine)

Don't you wish that sometimes you could just see God's expression physically, or know what He is thinking? I envision God giving the human author the words to say here and almost letting out a sigh. I imagine you could see the love in His eyes, but feel the hurt of His own creation rejecting Him - time and time again. Yet, God did not give us just one chance to listen to Him. The character of His compassion in God is full of grace and mercy. God sent His prophets to warn His people time and time again, yet they rejected time and time again. This is what brought the Hebrew people's destruction and slavery in Babylon - rejecting God's law and choosing disobedience. It was not that God just wanted to destroy something like a kid with a magnifying glass burning ants, it is that His compassion was rejected leading Him to then exercise His wrath. In these two verses alone we see the balance of God's compassion and His wrath. He gives us a chance to repent and choose obedience, but if we do not, then His wrath must be exercised.

This begs the question I must ask myself: am I rejecting God's time and time again? Will I listen? I know I don't want God's wrath, that's for sure! It's that easy - avoid wrath by choosing obedience. Simple, yes. Simple to actually do, not so much.

I also love the last part of this passage: there was no remedy. The people could not escape His wrath. We could not escape God's eternal wrath either unless one thing could take place: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, comes and takes God's wrath for us and takes our place on the cross. Jesus Christ is the remedy. Do you have the remedy? As we lead up to this time of year, meditate on the idea that Jesus is the remedy for God's wrath. Thank Him. Love Him. Obey Him. Trust Him. Here is the chorus to the song "Remedy" by the David Crowder Band:

He is the one
Who has saved us
He is the one
Who embraced us
He is the one who has come
And is coming again
He’s the remedy 

Rational Emotions

I just finished watching a movie again that I saw for the first time in theaters - August Rush. While there are some interesting themes and it is sad at times, I returned to the living room to catch the end and I have a confession - I had an emotional response. Yes, Mr. Director of August Rush, you win. I got the tinglies as I watched the end (don't worry, no spoilers here). But it reminded me what I have been studying this week and will preach on tomorrow - emotional responses.

We must be careful not to base our Christian lives on emotional moments. I am sure we all love the warm fuzzies, and the teary eye stories, but we must remember that God is not all about emotional responses. He is an emotional God and we are emotional people, but our spiritual lives cannot and should not be based on these experiences. God came to save us. At some point the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin and we'll be confronted with God's truth. That truth is not based on an emotional response, but rather on faith. We are not saved because we get a warm fuzzy. We are not saved because the preacher told an emotional illustration and walked the aisle. We are saved because the reality of a real God confronted us with real sin and the salvation provided by a real Savior who really rose from the grave. We are to respond with faith - in our minds, hearts and souls.

Now, are all emotional responses bad? By no means! I'm not going to lie, I've cried in prayer meetings praying for those sick, I've teared up watching someone walk the aisle who was in complete rebellion with God and rejoiced with tears over healings. Those are good, but we cannot base our faith on emotional experiences. If we do, that will begin to judge how we live our lives and if we don't have an emotional response, we may start to fake one. Plus, they will get more and more dramatic. When will it stop? Thoughts...

Everyone's Doing It

If you attended high school, you probably heard the phrase uttered by someone, "come on and try it, everyone's doing it." What was the standard answer to this question? "If everyone was jumping off a bridge, would you do it to?" Of course not! Everyone's doing it is the catch phrase of a generation and country without a moral compass.

Our culture triumphs relativity as its greatest virtue. Nothing could be further from Biblical truth. The Bible is about absolutes: God is absolutely sovereign, absolutely perfect, and His Word is absolutely true - to name just a few. If we want to see thing turn bad quick in our lives, the best way is to turn to relativity - especially moral relativity. Let me illustrate with this story:

At the time of his distress, King Ahaz himself became more unfaithful to the Lord. He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him; he said, "Since the gods of the kings of Aram are helping them, I will sacrifice to them so that they will help me." But they were the downfall of him and of all Israel. - 2 Chronicles 28:22-23

Look at these simple verses. Poor King Ahaz thought that worship was relative. He said, "Well, if this God of Israel thing is not working out, I will go ahead and try the gods of my enemies. Let's see what happens with these gods." How flippant. Worship is not and can never be - relative. God desires His peoples' hearts to be fully and absolutely His. He deserves nothing else. He wants His children to follow the absolutes that He has set up for them in His Word. Why? So we can see the blessing and joy that is promised through absolute obedience. This DOES NOT mean that we become mindless robots following a dictator. We, however, "delight ourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4)." Pretty soon our desires becomes His and we live, move and breath just like He would. Our heart beats with His.

Just like in high school, it was never good to do what "everyone was doing." It never ended good, did it? Why do we see so many heading towards downfall? Maybe it is relativity. Maybe we should seek absolute worship of the absolute King!

Lessons From The First Week

1) Do not try to throw away cardboard boxes on a very windy day. At least make sure you have a good grip so you don't have to go chase them.

2) The further north you live, the colder it gets.

3) It takes a long time to travel 600 miles with a toddler.

4) No radio stations = time for XM.

5) Parents are a BIG help!

6) There is a LOT of room when you go from 1000 sq. ft. to over 2600 sq. ft.!

7) Having a HUGE office is nice!

8) For some reason, we have been conducting a lot of static electricity and it is fun to see our dog's hair attached to the couch. Also, she is like a magnet to Styrofoam from packing.

9) We have found that neighbor cats eat dog food.

10) Transitions are easier when the new place you go to is full of AMAZING people!