It's almost been a month since my last post and with my first four weeks of college under my belt you'd think I've have a lot to say but really I feel like I could just rant about whatever for the longest time and that's not really what I wanted this blog for.
One thing I do want to talk about in the midst of all my stupid issues and just life being life is a book called Radical by David Platt. I'm partway through the second chapter and it's already one of the most exciting books I've read in a long while. I'm a literal guy and when I'm for something I'll die for it. So when this book encourages the passion for Christ in me I hardly can contain myself on the bus from A&M to Blinn. Christ is alive and He's a real guy. Now I know Him personally but sometimes I forgot that Jesus is more than a static savior. He is the most opinionated, most influential and most personal person you could ever meet. He has His way and it's the right one. I know all this sounds like Christian jargon and may bounce off the walls of learned minds like it did mine but hear this. Jesus is life. He was there in the beginning and He's here and now. Jesus is everything.
I was at Breakaway on Tuesday night and the worship leader simply said in one of those emotional instrumental song transitions to "think of all Jesus has done for you." I almost laughed. Everything He's done? I cried. For someone to think of all that Jesus has done for them is to die. To consider all the moments Christ guided me and all the times He was showing me Truth? That leaves me totally shaken. All the moment in Africa, at camp, at home, here and wherever coming to mind where I was aware of Jesus at work in my life. Blew me away.
Lately I've been thinking about God and who He says He is. When we sing about God we often stay in the safe zone of songs we can lift our hands too and smile at. Things that are true, of course, and perfect parts of God's character but it's like (in crude terms) describing an elephant and spending ten minutes on the trunk and never even mentioning the ears. God is loving, he is merciful and we are saved by His grace but in this I feel like we can loose a part of Who we worship. I've been reading through the minor prophets lately and I've loved it. One of my personal favorite moments is when God refers to Himself as "...a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their rib cage, And there I will devour them like a lion." (Hosea 13:8) Yup. Today I read Habakkuk 3 and I highly recommend it.
Now I'm not saying we need to stop singing about how Jesus loves us but I feel like people forget that He's a forced to be reckoned with and that one day He will be returning with a holy army and a flipping sword coming from his mouth to judge the world, killing thousands of people. Maybe a little reverence? I remember reading so many Psalms to myself and just sort of skipping over the last few verses talking about the destruction of the wicked. Are we opposed to justice? Love wins, to be sure, but that's because Love freaking destroys what's not in Love. Do we read the Bible the way we like it to be? Do we accept just what we like about Jesus? Can I be accused of trying to create a Jesus "Michael" Christ? Yes, I think so. I don't think we need to be singing songs in church that go a bit more like: "Praise God, who commanded the death of nations, ever man, woman and child." But we do need to remember that He means business and isn't messing around.
Bringing it back to that book, he asks two questions about reading the Bible. "Was I going to believe Jesus?" and "Was I going to obey Jesus?" Jesus says crazy stuff. Are we going to listen?
All this goes to say a few things. I feel motivated to share Christ's truth so much right now and I feel like Blinn College is a perfect place to start. It's so small and the people there are so lost and apathetic and they're surrounded by a community of people seeking God. Lets do something! Jesus is alive in me and He will not be silent.
One thing I do want to talk about in the midst of all my stupid issues and just life being life is a book called Radical by David Platt. I'm partway through the second chapter and it's already one of the most exciting books I've read in a long while. I'm a literal guy and when I'm for something I'll die for it. So when this book encourages the passion for Christ in me I hardly can contain myself on the bus from A&M to Blinn. Christ is alive and He's a real guy. Now I know Him personally but sometimes I forgot that Jesus is more than a static savior. He is the most opinionated, most influential and most personal person you could ever meet. He has His way and it's the right one. I know all this sounds like Christian jargon and may bounce off the walls of learned minds like it did mine but hear this. Jesus is life. He was there in the beginning and He's here and now. Jesus is everything.
I was at Breakaway on Tuesday night and the worship leader simply said in one of those emotional instrumental song transitions to "think of all Jesus has done for you." I almost laughed. Everything He's done? I cried. For someone to think of all that Jesus has done for them is to die. To consider all the moments Christ guided me and all the times He was showing me Truth? That leaves me totally shaken. All the moment in Africa, at camp, at home, here and wherever coming to mind where I was aware of Jesus at work in my life. Blew me away.
Lately I've been thinking about God and who He says He is. When we sing about God we often stay in the safe zone of songs we can lift our hands too and smile at. Things that are true, of course, and perfect parts of God's character but it's like (in crude terms) describing an elephant and spending ten minutes on the trunk and never even mentioning the ears. God is loving, he is merciful and we are saved by His grace but in this I feel like we can loose a part of Who we worship. I've been reading through the minor prophets lately and I've loved it. One of my personal favorite moments is when God refers to Himself as "...a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their rib cage, And there I will devour them like a lion." (Hosea 13:8) Yup. Today I read Habakkuk 3 and I highly recommend it.
Now I'm not saying we need to stop singing about how Jesus loves us but I feel like people forget that He's a forced to be reckoned with and that one day He will be returning with a holy army and a flipping sword coming from his mouth to judge the world, killing thousands of people. Maybe a little reverence? I remember reading so many Psalms to myself and just sort of skipping over the last few verses talking about the destruction of the wicked. Are we opposed to justice? Love wins, to be sure, but that's because Love freaking destroys what's not in Love. Do we read the Bible the way we like it to be? Do we accept just what we like about Jesus? Can I be accused of trying to create a Jesus "Michael" Christ? Yes, I think so. I don't think we need to be singing songs in church that go a bit more like: "Praise God, who commanded the death of nations, ever man, woman and child." But we do need to remember that He means business and isn't messing around.
Bringing it back to that book, he asks two questions about reading the Bible. "Was I going to believe Jesus?" and "Was I going to obey Jesus?" Jesus says crazy stuff. Are we going to listen?
All this goes to say a few things. I feel motivated to share Christ's truth so much right now and I feel like Blinn College is a perfect place to start. It's so small and the people there are so lost and apathetic and they're surrounded by a community of people seeking God. Lets do something! Jesus is alive in me and He will not be silent.
