This is a very intriguing Psalm and while I don't have time to explicate it fully, I do have a few thoughts that came to me while reading it. First of all, I've been thinking lately about how we need to be more aware of the working of the Lord in our lives. I'm struck by passages in the Psalms where the author will express his desire to proclaim the works of the Lord in front of the assembly. I think, "I want to do that too!" But too often we don't think about all that God is doing in our daily lives. We don't stop to thank and praise Him for his many blessings. For example, I recently got my first job offer and while my first reaction may be to jump up and down in excitement, I need to be praising God for his goodness to me!! Because it is HIS works that led to me getting this offer and I want everyone around me to see how great God is!
But those are my background thoughts for this Psalm. I haven't gotten very far into the Psalm yet(it is quite long!), but in the beginning the Psalmist talks about how fathers should teach their children the laws of Israel, that they would not forget the works of God, so that they would put their confidence in Him. Now, I read that and chuckled, because I always have this idea that God was always obviously working in ancient Israel, so why would they need to be taught by their parents? But the next part of this Psalm is even more shocking. The generation of Israelites that were led through the desert saw more miracles and more of the goodness of God than almost any generation before or since(save for during Christ's lifetime). Yet they REBELLED against God. They DOUBTED God. They continued to SIN against God. Shocking! They, of all people, should be aware of God's greatness and of his mighty works...and yet still they did not worship God wholeheartedly. They may have seen God's goodness in a clear and evident way, but they did not thank Him or react in an appropriate way. Rather they sinned against His holy Face.
Now I don't have time to comment more, but before I go, let me exhort you to think of the goodness of God in our lives. Think on what God has done for us! And praise Him in the land of the living!! Don't just think to yourselves how nice God is...but tell others what He has done for you!! If we have this attitude of thankfulness and praise, it will be much more difficult for us to slip into blatant sin against our God! And by glorifying God, we bring encouragement to those around us. Let us praise God all day long, from the rising of the sun to its setting!!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Purity - Part I
Well, I have been pestered lately to write some more so I think maybe I shall. You can all thank Dream for this post, because without her, I probably would have forgotten I had this blog! But now to the real meat of this post...
Purity. That word is a wonderful and terrible word at the same time. Wonderful because true purity can lead to such joy and happiness!! Terrible...because most of us feel that true purity is never ever going to possible in this life. And before I go much further in this post, I'm going to clarify this topic by saying that I'm talking about sexual purity here. Obviously there's many kinds of purity and we want to be holy before God in every way. But at this stage in my life(as a single twenty-year-old guy!) sexual purity is something that's at the forefront of my(and indeed many of my peers) mind. So as I refer to purity or being pure throughout this post, take that to mean sexual purity.
But first, why is purity important? I think there are several reasons we can give, but I'll start with the most important. Being pure is being obedient to God. There are numerous verses in both the Old and New Testament that condemn the sexually immoral. Let me quote one briefly that cuts to the heart of the matter:
"But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."
That's such a wonderful passage but at the same time frightening. As children of God, the Spirit is within us! How dare we act immoral and impure with this body that God has bought? Being impure does nothing at all to glorify God - rather, it mocks the covenant of marriage that God has established. We may think that there are no consequences for being impure. You know what? Even if not a single consequence befalls us, we are still disobeying the Most Holy God, the One who saved us from an eternity of separation from Him! And that is reason enough to desire to be holy and pure in the sight of our Father!
Now let me give a second reason, one that does directly deal with sin's consequences. If we submit to our fleshly lusts and sin against God, this act deprives us both of a present joy and a future joy. The present joy being the fact that we could be intimate with God but instead we are choosing to rebel against Him. As we sin, our conscience cries out against us and both we and the Father are grieved at our sin. Should not that motivate us to be holy? And let me exhort you - if your conscience does not cry out or if you are not grieved, please please pray that God would soften your heart! And now you may wonder what future joy I'm referring to. That's simple, by sinning now and being impure before God, we are harming our future relationship with our husband or wife. How horrible!! Just imagine that every time you sin, you are siphoning away some of the joy that could be had with your future husband or wife. We should want to be completely pure and clean when we enter into our marriage covenant, and if you don't desire this, again, I urge to pray that God impresses this onto your heart!
Now, I've mentioned a few reasons that purity is important and I'm aware there is so much more that could be said. And actually, I'd like to talk about this more in the future, but my time to write is drawing to a close and I'd like to write a little more before I close. So more Scriptures and more of my thoughts will be posted in the future.
But, I'd like to say a little more on practical matters. You may think I've been remarkably clean in my post thus far("He hasn't said ANYTHING about sexual stuff yet?? And this is supposed to be about purity??") but that's for a reason. I don't think I need to write in a very detailed fashion to get my point across. But you may be wondering - what actually composes impurity? Is it only the actual act of sexual intercourse? I think we can all agree that obviously that act outside of marriage is a sin. But I urge you to ponder the fact that there is so much more...and I'd like to ask you to listen to your conscience. If your conscience pricks you, you know what? You should probably listen to it. Anything that causes you to fantasize or think about impure things...that's a sin. And I'm saying that unreservedly. Anything that could cause someone else to sin in that area? You better watch out, lest you cause someone else to stumble.
I must close this post, but I may return later for revisions and maybe another post in the future. I'd like to know what you think. Thanks all for reading and let me know of any additions you think may be helpful!!
Purity. That word is a wonderful and terrible word at the same time. Wonderful because true purity can lead to such joy and happiness!! Terrible...because most of us feel that true purity is never ever going to possible in this life. And before I go much further in this post, I'm going to clarify this topic by saying that I'm talking about sexual purity here. Obviously there's many kinds of purity and we want to be holy before God in every way. But at this stage in my life(as a single twenty-year-old guy!) sexual purity is something that's at the forefront of my(and indeed many of my peers) mind. So as I refer to purity or being pure throughout this post, take that to mean sexual purity.
But first, why is purity important? I think there are several reasons we can give, but I'll start with the most important. Being pure is being obedient to God. There are numerous verses in both the Old and New Testament that condemn the sexually immoral. Let me quote one briefly that cuts to the heart of the matter:
"But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."
That's such a wonderful passage but at the same time frightening. As children of God, the Spirit is within us! How dare we act immoral and impure with this body that God has bought? Being impure does nothing at all to glorify God - rather, it mocks the covenant of marriage that God has established. We may think that there are no consequences for being impure. You know what? Even if not a single consequence befalls us, we are still disobeying the Most Holy God, the One who saved us from an eternity of separation from Him! And that is reason enough to desire to be holy and pure in the sight of our Father!
Now let me give a second reason, one that does directly deal with sin's consequences. If we submit to our fleshly lusts and sin against God, this act deprives us both of a present joy and a future joy. The present joy being the fact that we could be intimate with God but instead we are choosing to rebel against Him. As we sin, our conscience cries out against us and both we and the Father are grieved at our sin. Should not that motivate us to be holy? And let me exhort you - if your conscience does not cry out or if you are not grieved, please please pray that God would soften your heart! And now you may wonder what future joy I'm referring to. That's simple, by sinning now and being impure before God, we are harming our future relationship with our husband or wife. How horrible!! Just imagine that every time you sin, you are siphoning away some of the joy that could be had with your future husband or wife. We should want to be completely pure and clean when we enter into our marriage covenant, and if you don't desire this, again, I urge to pray that God impresses this onto your heart!
Now, I've mentioned a few reasons that purity is important and I'm aware there is so much more that could be said. And actually, I'd like to talk about this more in the future, but my time to write is drawing to a close and I'd like to write a little more before I close. So more Scriptures and more of my thoughts will be posted in the future.
But, I'd like to say a little more on practical matters. You may think I've been remarkably clean in my post thus far("He hasn't said ANYTHING about sexual stuff yet?? And this is supposed to be about purity??") but that's for a reason. I don't think I need to write in a very detailed fashion to get my point across. But you may be wondering - what actually composes impurity? Is it only the actual act of sexual intercourse? I think we can all agree that obviously that act outside of marriage is a sin. But I urge you to ponder the fact that there is so much more...and I'd like to ask you to listen to your conscience. If your conscience pricks you, you know what? You should probably listen to it. Anything that causes you to fantasize or think about impure things...that's a sin. And I'm saying that unreservedly. Anything that could cause someone else to sin in that area? You better watch out, lest you cause someone else to stumble.
I must close this post, but I may return later for revisions and maybe another post in the future. I'd like to know what you think. Thanks all for reading and let me know of any additions you think may be helpful!!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Future: Unknown to me, Known to God
Initially I was going to title this post "Frustration" but then I realized how I always hate seeing blog posts titled with such a depressing title("Get a life, kid!") so I renamed it. But I have been feeling rather frustrated lately and it's from such a familiar cause. But I figured if I wrote some of my thoughts down(i.e., vent) I would feel a little better and maybe my mind would feel better organized.
It's a rather common "teen" malady and it annoys me that despite being in the Word and prayer, I can't always focus my mind on the things above. ..instead, I think about the future, and specifically, my relationship with a significant other. I wish that so much I could just concentrate on the here and now and enjoy the friendships I have with others, which for the most part, I do. But when I'm alone and my thoughts wander(bad James!) I start wondering what plans God has for me. Which special girl is there in my future? And I wish that God would take away these thoughts until it's the proper time.
Because at least for now, I feel that I need to be concentrating on my education and walk with the Lord(not in that order) instead of building a special relationship, so why does God not answer my prayers and take away these desires? The hard part about being in such a good church and in such a good college group is that there are so many "righteous foxes", so many Christian young women of godliness and virtue. I guess it is a good sign that I am drawn to them but I do so wish I could just treat them all as sisters instead of wondering if one of them is God's gift to me(Prov. 19:14).
I will continue to trust in God and in His will for the future, but I will also continue to pray that he will give me the strength to be wholly focused on His plans for me.
I think writing this helped a little...at least, my head feels more clear.
It's a rather common "teen" malady and it annoys me that despite being in the Word and prayer, I can't always focus my mind on the things above. ..instead, I think about the future, and specifically, my relationship with a significant other. I wish that so much I could just concentrate on the here and now and enjoy the friendships I have with others, which for the most part, I do. But when I'm alone and my thoughts wander(bad James!) I start wondering what plans God has for me. Which special girl is there in my future? And I wish that God would take away these thoughts until it's the proper time.
Because at least for now, I feel that I need to be concentrating on my education and walk with the Lord(not in that order) instead of building a special relationship, so why does God not answer my prayers and take away these desires? The hard part about being in such a good church and in such a good college group is that there are so many "righteous foxes", so many Christian young women of godliness and virtue. I guess it is a good sign that I am drawn to them but I do so wish I could just treat them all as sisters instead of wondering if one of them is God's gift to me(Prov. 19:14).
I will continue to trust in God and in His will for the future, but I will also continue to pray that he will give me the strength to be wholly focused on His plans for me.
I think writing this helped a little...at least, my head feels more clear.
Friday, May 25, 2007
God-Purpose
Let me preface this post by apologizing for not updating in so long, to whomever has been reading this. I just read Dream's comment on my last post and realized how long it's been since I've last written here! And now since I've figured out how to get comment-notification emails, I'll actually notice when someone comments here.
Anyway, I was thinking of a subject for this post and I thought of the process of discovering God's will for a person's life. But instead of entitling it simply "God's Will", I decided to title it God-Purpose, because truly a child of God should wish all his purposes to be God's.
And if you think about that last statement for a moment, if we as believers could simply know what God's purposes are, it would be so much easier to match our actions to His great plan. Unfortunately, we don't hear some voice in our head every time we make a decision saying, "Yeah, do it - it's the Lord's will" or "Don't do it! You'll mess up God's plan!" And right now, you all are probably saying, "Ok, James, you're not offering any solution here - I realize the problem!"
So how should we make our decisions? Do we flip open the Bible and hope it opens to a relevant passage? Do we just go along with the flow, knowing that God will work everything out for good? I've been partly influenced by my father because whenever I would want to go out with my friends, whether it be to a movie or to a party, he would ask, "What's the purpose?" I hated that question because MY purpose was to have fun, to enjoy being with friends. But that sure didn't sound very godly.
Getting into Scripture here(because that's where we truly find our answers), I did a simple concordance search and found Romans 12:1-2:
'Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed by this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.'
Hm, interesting passage, isn't it? The phrase that struck me was "do not be conformed by this world". Because that's what we have a problem with as we seek out God's will. Our minds and flesh is of this world, imprinted by the curse, driven to sin against our Almighty God. Yet He saved us and although we are not enchained by sin any longer, our flesh still wages war against us(1 Peter 2:11). Did you see the phrase after the one I just quoted? "But be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The more we become like Christ, the more our minds and hearts are sanctified, the closer our purposes will be to God.
Yet there are some very big decisions in life, such as getting a job or finding a church or getting married. How will we know what God wants us to do in these decisions? Now, I want to do further study upon these areas, but what I have decided from my brief readings is that as we grow closer to God and as we truly wish for God's purposes to rule our lives, we will make the right decisions. Make the effort and take the time to pray fervently to our Father. Take the time to grow closer to His Living Word. And fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And truly, God will lead us in the paths we should go(Psalm 25:4-5).
I feel like there is so much more to be said, but at this point I'm rather tired and will put the rest of this off until later. But thanks for taking the time to read this; all comments are appreciated!
Anyway, I was thinking of a subject for this post and I thought of the process of discovering God's will for a person's life. But instead of entitling it simply "God's Will", I decided to title it God-Purpose, because truly a child of God should wish all his purposes to be God's.
And if you think about that last statement for a moment, if we as believers could simply know what God's purposes are, it would be so much easier to match our actions to His great plan. Unfortunately, we don't hear some voice in our head every time we make a decision saying, "Yeah, do it - it's the Lord's will" or "Don't do it! You'll mess up God's plan!" And right now, you all are probably saying, "Ok, James, you're not offering any solution here - I realize the problem!"
So how should we make our decisions? Do we flip open the Bible and hope it opens to a relevant passage? Do we just go along with the flow, knowing that God will work everything out for good? I've been partly influenced by my father because whenever I would want to go out with my friends, whether it be to a movie or to a party, he would ask, "What's the purpose?" I hated that question because MY purpose was to have fun, to enjoy being with friends. But that sure didn't sound very godly.
Getting into Scripture here(because that's where we truly find our answers), I did a simple concordance search and found Romans 12:1-2:
'Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed by this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.'
Hm, interesting passage, isn't it? The phrase that struck me was "do not be conformed by this world". Because that's what we have a problem with as we seek out God's will. Our minds and flesh is of this world, imprinted by the curse, driven to sin against our Almighty God. Yet He saved us and although we are not enchained by sin any longer, our flesh still wages war against us(1 Peter 2:11). Did you see the phrase after the one I just quoted? "But be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The more we become like Christ, the more our minds and hearts are sanctified, the closer our purposes will be to God.
Yet there are some very big decisions in life, such as getting a job or finding a church or getting married. How will we know what God wants us to do in these decisions? Now, I want to do further study upon these areas, but what I have decided from my brief readings is that as we grow closer to God and as we truly wish for God's purposes to rule our lives, we will make the right decisions. Make the effort and take the time to pray fervently to our Father. Take the time to grow closer to His Living Word. And fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And truly, God will lead us in the paths we should go(Psalm 25:4-5).
I feel like there is so much more to be said, but at this point I'm rather tired and will put the rest of this off until later. But thanks for taking the time to read this; all comments are appreciated!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Amazing Love
Yes, what a clique title. Amazing love, what does that really mean? Well, today in church we were singing "The Wonderful Cross" - Michael W. Smith version. I actually like the hymn version better, but this song touched me so powerfully today. Now I'm not a strong proponent of emotionally driven worship, but as I was singing the lyrics, I started thinking about them. Here are the first two verses:
Think about it - the King of the Universe, the Prince of Peace, the Son of God, the One who sits at the right hand of God Himself, giving Himself as a sacrifice for us. We who are despicable sinners...who spit in His face and gave ourselves to our lusts and sinful desires. He bled for us. For us! This is something that we speak about all the time, but it hit me so hard today, just the utter realization of the magnitude of Christ's gift to us. I felt so unworthy, I just wanted to kneel down before Him. I felt that I shouldn't even be standing before Him.
Now this was in part an emotional response, but I think something we should consider more often in our daily lives is the price God paid for us to be able to live unchained to sin. It humbled me, and I know that was a good thing. Instead of thinking of ourselves and the works we do every day, think of what Christ did for us on that wonderful cross. Think about it seriously, and any pride you have will be swept away. Of course, our flesh is still active, so our pride will return. But if we keep a constant attitude of worship and thanksgiving, God will bless. At least, I know He blessed me today.
"When i survey the wondrous cross
On which the prince of
glory died
My richest gain i count but loss
And pour
contempt on all my pride
See from his head his hands
his feet
Sorrow and love for me poured down
Did
e'er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so
rich a crown"
Think about it - the King of the Universe, the Prince of Peace, the Son of God, the One who sits at the right hand of God Himself, giving Himself as a sacrifice for us. We who are despicable sinners...who spit in His face and gave ourselves to our lusts and sinful desires. He bled for us. For us! This is something that we speak about all the time, but it hit me so hard today, just the utter realization of the magnitude of Christ's gift to us. I felt so unworthy, I just wanted to kneel down before Him. I felt that I shouldn't even be standing before Him.
Now this was in part an emotional response, but I think something we should consider more often in our daily lives is the price God paid for us to be able to live unchained to sin. It humbled me, and I know that was a good thing. Instead of thinking of ourselves and the works we do every day, think of what Christ did for us on that wonderful cross. Think about it seriously, and any pride you have will be swept away. Of course, our flesh is still active, so our pride will return. But if we keep a constant attitude of worship and thanksgiving, God will bless. At least, I know He blessed me today.
Introduction
Well, I've used Livejournal for a long time, and I still will. But I wanted to have a separate blog for more significant posts, rather than just posting facts about my life. And by significant, I mean mostly theological/philosophical discussion. This is my first post here, so maybe I should give a brief biography of myself.
My name is James Hogan and I am a second year engineering student at the University of Florida. I grew up in a Christian home and now attend an Evangelical-Free church here in Gainesville, Creekside. I like to read(mostly anything, fiction or nonfiction) and love to play football and watch awesome movies. Most of all, I love to worship and glorify God with all my deeds, day by day. To whoever may read this, I hope this blog may be a blessing to you.
My name is James Hogan and I am a second year engineering student at the University of Florida. I grew up in a Christian home and now attend an Evangelical-Free church here in Gainesville, Creekside. I like to read(mostly anything, fiction or nonfiction) and love to play football and watch awesome movies. Most of all, I love to worship and glorify God with all my deeds, day by day. To whoever may read this, I hope this blog may be a blessing to you.
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