Posts Tagged ‘God Thoughts’
To Infinity and Beyond
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Random thoughts, Remembering, tagged God Thoughts, Random thoughts, Remembering, ultimate issues on June 19, 2013| 8 Comments »
The Why
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Remembering, Why?!, Work of Jesus, tagged God Thoughts, internal strife, Poems, purpose in life, Remembering, ultimate issues, Why?!, work of christ on June 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »
The first poem I wrote this past week is the last one I am posting because I had to reflect on its content abit. It could so easily be seen as insensitive, or premature, but I consider it neither. I think it is just honest in a constructive kind of way. We have questions; we should voice them and find answers rather than silently or violently remaining agnostic about what is real and true. I offer this poem as a balm to many hurting loved ones who are truly asking. The eleven year old girl who died of leukemia and provoked my mind to write it has God’s best as I understand because she accepted God’s solution:
A purpose in life to glorify God
To enjoy His gifts, obey His commands
Accept hardships and the correcting rod
Challenge potential and all life’s demands
What’s the way forward when we’ve lost such life?
Then come tears and doubts and questions abound
Mind and heart struggle with internal strife
About ultimate issues, life profound
How is God good when there is so much bad?
God’s not the author of evil and wrong
Man disobeys, consequences are sad
Overtaking the ‘innocent’ and strong
God provides a way to overcome death
To have peace with Him and eternal rest
Bought by His Son, finished at His last breath
Now and forever have life and God’s best
But a Few of His Benefits
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Remembering, Sustaining, Work of Jesus, tagged God Thoughts, Poems, Remembering, Sustaining, work of christ on June 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »
It has been a good week for poetry. I end on an encouraging note. I owe all that I am, have, and will be to the gracious Lord Who enables me to serve Him. His Benefits are far more than I can tell. I want others to bask in His goodness by submitting to His Son. The benefits are eternal.
Father near, sovereign will
Chosen in Christ, what a thrill
Rest from work, all is done
‘It is finished’ by the Son
Peace with God, free from guilt
All because Christ’s blood was spilt
Strength to live, sin abate
His Spirit does motivate
Stress and strife, like a knife
Spirit purifies my life
Help in trials, answers prayers
God is gracious and He cares
Hardship here, glory there
Joy, comfort beyond compare
Tell good news, with you share
Eternal life here and there
Purpose now, glory then
Live for Him, soon free from sin
All that’s good, all that’s fair
Is found in Christ, jewel so rare
Come again, at the end
In His glory, sky will rend
Forever with Him then
Perfect in Him without sin
Salvation By Trinity
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Work of Jesus, tagged God Thoughts, Poems, salvation history, work of christ on May 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I can not find the source for “thought, bought, wrought” but I can by my simple poem point once again to God’s glorious salvation for all who will receive it by faith.
Salvation is a great gift Thought by the Father above Received by faith in the work Bought by the Son here in love In our hearts promoting change Wrought by the Spirit, the DoveThe word wrought means “to work by hand”. I well imagine the Holy Spirit toughening me up by a sanctifying work over so that I am hard and resilient like wrought iron rather than brittle like cast iron. “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design, your dross to consume and your gold to refine,” says the old hymn. The trials are the fire and the hammer is the kind but firm work of the Holy Spirit to make us into the image of the Son.
Joy Today
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Sustaining, tagged God Thoughts, Poems, Sustaining on March 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Not from difficulty or frustration or pressure was my day in danger of preventing joy, but from excessively mundane and unwanted pursuit. One need not be bored nor down when the scope of all eternity, the God of the universe, dwells in the heart by grace through faith. So I asked and He provided:
Lord, please give me joy today The knowledge of Your presence with me Awareness of all that may Be fulfilled by Your Spirit in me Joy in Your salvation free Hilarity giving to the poor The Gospel that they may see Blessing now, in eternity more Joy come in, joy reaching out All God has and will do and nourish He is great I want to shout May His work in our time now flourish God’s peace in my heart to stay No regrets to repent or to act Clinging to Him, always pray Accepting His Word as ruling fact Joy in who I am in Him Happiness in the path He does give Contentment when hard trials ever trim Joy-robbing sin so I live Now may I sing a new song Of the blessing of knowing my Lord On Him and His works be long Raise voice as I praise affordHaiku Hiccup
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Random thoughts, Science, tagged God Thoughts, Poems, Random thoughts, Science on January 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »
After showing her some poetry of mine my English-teacher colleague challenged me to write Haiku. I’ve heard of it and maybe even wrote some in high school, but I don’t remember. It turns out to be a quite difficult short form of poetry that juxtaposes two ideas in three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively. It has some other characteristics but that is sufficient for me since I add one other difficulty of my own. I want my poetry to rhyme and I was told traditional Haiku does not. So I asked, ‘Must it not rhyme?’ or ‘May it not rhyme?’ Evidently traditional Japanese Haiku simply does not but in other Asian countries it frequently does. So with all of this swirling in my head I began:
Said she write haiku I don’t know what to pursue Will truth and rhyme do? Haiku has no rhyme For this form I have no time Want my verse to chime Haiku Nazis come Five, seven, five is the sum Juxtapose in someThen I got a bit more serious and wanted to write more substantial verse:
God’s Son comes in flesh Beauty in flower Controls worlds yet has to rest And in design of tower Died that life flourish Art forms with power What odd design this Transfer sin for holiness God’s death buys us blissAnd to end on a light note, I ‘haiku’d’ (Where’s the Nazis?) science:
Biology, cool! Chemistry, oh my! Growth, reproduce, cells the rule Explosions and baking pie So look alive fool Electron shift is why Physics tells what moves Accelerates, stops and grooves Know it all behoovesA Wild Party
Posted in Beauty, General, God Thoughts, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Beauty, God Thoughts, Outdoors, Photos on January 2, 2013| 1 Comment »
Yeh, it’s my birthday, and many kind people have wished me a happy one for which I am grateful. The best birthday present in a long time? My wife agreed to go on a hike with me to somewhere I’d never been. I assured her it was short and easy, but you’ve got to realize some history here. “How do you know if you haven’t been there?” “Well I don’t really, but it’s on top of the ridge and we’ll be on top of the ridge, and people have said it is easy, and it can’t be too far.” She went without complaining and we enjoyed the time. So I had a party in the wilderness, a wild party, just looking around and enjoying the presence of my wife and a cell phone call from my brother in Ukraine.
“When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur…..Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art!” Consider that the most beautiful scene you have ever seen is part of the tarnished creation- degraded by sin. And the God who made the originally un-degraded creation is far more beautiful than any part of His artwork here. He is unimaginably beautiful in purity, power, and presence. I desire to see His face one day and will because of what Jesus has done for me. I warm up for that day in the dim light of His awe inspiring beauty exhibited in His Creation. If you haven’t been to the Pinnacle off the side of Old NC 105 on the far side of Linville Gorge you should check it out. Enjoy the pictures of one more day He has given me.
Linville Gorge from the Pinnacle
My good wife of 31 years
Shortoff Mountain
Atop the rocks at Black Fork climbing area
Alexander Farm, End of Shortoff, and Lake James
Wood Grain
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Photo, Random thoughts, tagged Beauty, God Thoughts, Random thoughts on January 1, 2013| 1 Comment »
Why do we copy wood grain in plastic? Is it because it is simply but wonderfully beautiful? We can only hope to copy and immulate the creativity and beauty the Creator has put into humble items like the pattern of tree growth. He is awesome.
See if you know any of the woodgrains pictured from a humble dwelling: Exhibits #1-8
America Getting
Posted in Cultural commentary, General, God Thoughts, Work of Jesus, tagged Cultural commentary, God Thoughts, work of christ on December 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Americans are getting both what they want and what they deserve. Unless there is a widespread and deep repentance whereby we acknowledge God and obey His commands the United States will continue to slide toward immorality, infamy, impotence, and instability. The immorality is obvious in all that we vote to support and ignore and participate in that is clearly contrary to the Word of God. Infamy comes in the form of hatred from more and more countries of the world, self-hatred over increased oppression of rights and helpless people, and a growing history of blasphemy toward God. We think we are surely not impotent since we still have a strong military, but small troops of bandits are frustrating our every move worldwide, we can’t solve economic problems, natural catastrophe problems are on the increase threatening our personal security and economic viability, and the world will soon ditch our currency since we are so far in debt we can most likely never pay it off. Our instability shows in the aforementioned problems but really manifests itself in our increased suicide rates and divorce rates, debt, disregard of human life inside and outside the womb, educational lethargy, and lawlessness. It occurs to me that slide may not be the correct term for what is happening. Sliding assumes some small degree of frictional force opposing the direction of motion. We seem instead to be free-falling toward a morally corrupt, hating, powerless, unsustainable existence and loving the trip. There are brakes that can be applied but they are not in “how to”, Herculean efforts or renewed resolve. The only opposing force that could overcome this fall and the sudden stop at the bottom is found in God’s grace gained by agreeing with God we are rebelling against Him and receiving the payment Jesus made for those sins when He died on the cross.
Image Bearers
Posted in Creation Articles, General, God's Word, Work of Jesus, tagged Creation Articles, God Thoughts, God's Word, gospel project, salvation history, work of christ on December 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Our “Gospel Project” lesson today was about God’s nature revealed in the Creation story and in the results. I produced a table that summarizes the differences in how God’s nature is revealed in the two different (but not contradictory) stories of Creation in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis.
| God’s Nature | Clarification | God’s Name | Exhibitied in Creation | Response in us
toward God |
|
|
Above |
Transcendent |
Separate |
Elohim “Stong One” |
“In the beginning God” | Have to
must have -allegiance -worship -accountability |
| Powerful
|
Able to effect | He spoke into existence
ex nihilio (“out of nothing”) |
|||
| Authoritative | Rules
|
||||
|
Beside |
Personal | Identity, relational | Yahweh
“Pre-existent One” |
Speaking | Want to,
gladly -desire -seek -trust |
The lesson speaks of four ways that man is made in the image of God based on Genesis 1 and 2. I think there is clearly from the text a fifth way:
“27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the [a]sky and over every living thing that [b]moves on the earth.””
We relate- God gave us as male and female to have relationship and commanded multiplication so there would be many people to interact. In fact, all God ordained institutions (family, church, government) reflect the interaction within the Triune Godhead.
We rule- Both the words rule and subdue occur. This is a stewardship that should neither result in abuse of the creation nor worship of it, but care for our benefit. All authority we have is delegated from God and should be carefully dispatched as such.
We work- 1″5 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” Work that is purposeful, creative, orders chaos, and work with God’s plan was ordained before the Fall and is a good gift. The type of work we dislike is the punishment on man because of sin and is toil (literally “pain” 3:17) that causes sweat (3:18).
We reproduce- It says “multiply and fill the earth”. When we procreate God provides the spirit so He is still active in creating and allows us to be involved in the process. God is always involved in the process of giving life.
We rest- “3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” God was not tired but He was satisfied with the result of His completed work. Christ has completed the work of salvation in us so that we need to rest in Him, faith rest: “10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”
I hope that you will consider how to bear the image of God in you in such a way as to point to Him rather than to yourself. It glorifies Him and satisfies you because you are at peace with Him.
God’s Word and Community
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Work of Jesus, tagged God Thoughts, gospel project, work of christ on November 25, 2012| 1 Comment »
On page 126 of the “Gospel Project” lesson 13 for Fall 2012 Christian George discusses the connection between the centrality of God’s Word and Christian Community, that is, “Scripture is the basis of true community”. Words are good but for my mind understanding and memory are better had by diagrams. So here is this week’s unravelling of interrelationships: (the arrows should be read as “leads to”)
God’s Word and Christian Community
More complete knowledge of God
Posted in General, God Thoughts, tagged God Thoughts, gospel project on November 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Christian George (“Gospel Project”, Fall 2012, p.109) says, “Theology must lead to worship. And worship is not an end in itself either. Worship must lead to mission. Let’s dig deeper into this concept. What if Christians leave out theology? Then we have worship without an objective and mission without a message. What if Christians leave out mission? Then we have theology without obedience and worship without growth. And what if Christians leave out worship? Then we have theology without devotion and mission without ammunition.”
In lines 1-4 I have mapped out my understanding of what he says in this quote. Line one is the simple outline. Lines 2-4 are the negative results of leaving out one of the disciplines: theology, then mission, then worship. Line 5 is my attempt at putting all of these ideas back into the original outline (line 1). The arrows in line 5 should read “provide ________ to”.
What is Death?
Posted in General, God Thoughts, tagged God Thoughts, salvation history on October 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »
While considering this morbid study it occurred to me that one’s view of life overshadows one’s view of death. Our society has three major views of life I think. I have diagrammed them in the following figure. I add to the view of a Christian’s life that of the God of the Bible.
II Corinthians 5:1-8
“1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven,3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”
We are neither annihlated nor absorbed into the universal conscientiousness. Instead our spirit is clothed in an immortal body at death. At death we are separated from our body to be united with that imperishable body and with our Lord, worshiping in His presence.
Isaiah 59:2
“But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
Being dead in spirit toward God in our unsaved condition does not mean our spirit does not exist but that it is separate from God and cannot respond to Him. Because of His holiness He will not respond to us.
Death is separation from body or God, not an end to existence. Eternal death is forever being separated from God and His benefits in the lake of fire. Eternal life is forever thriving in His presence with all the glorious benefits His excellencies bring. The diagram of the Christian’s progress is one of increasing life on into eternity. I look so forward to life after death, eternal bliss after momentary separation from one body into an immortal one.
Two Trajectories
Posted in General, God Thoughts, tagged God Thoughts, work of christ on August 19, 2012| 2 Comments »
They meet at the cross where Jesus became sin so that we might be the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). God’s grace is the only way to change from the fatal nose dive to an eternity in heaven. The diagram is meant to be a logical progression rather than a strictly chronological one since elements of God’s salvation happened in eternity past and in past, present, or future space-time. A friend pointed out to me that the first three items on the upper curve are attributed to the Father, the next 5 items to the Son, and the last 4 items to the Spirit. Of course all three persons of the Godhead were involved in all parts but there is the lead person.
Pray So Little
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Strength, Sustaining, Why?!, tagged god answers prayer, God Thoughts, Strength, Sustaining, Why?! on June 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »
“It is not amazing that God answers prayer; it is amazing we pray so little.”
‘How can you say it’s not amazing that God answers prayer?’ Don’t misunderstand the statement because I do believe it is amazing how He answers prayer. For in pulling off an answer to prayer God must at least redirect the course of God ordained natural forces or the intentions of wills predisposed to wrong. At most He must suspend the rules He has laid down for nature so that they begin running immediately in a new course or give tangible manifestation to spiritual reality. In any circumstance you can name where prayer is answered the supernatural impinges on the natural to bring about God’s purpose with full consideration and at least partial affirmation and completion of the request. All together how prayer is answered demonstrates God’s great power and unending knowledge. How that happens is amazing and wonderful. But that He would answer prayer is not. Answered prayer matches well His character of kindness, mercy, grace, personal involvement in His creation, and goodness.
But why do we pray so little? Our skeptical, mocking society has largely silenced our praise to God for answered prayer. For one thing they nay say any testimony that challenges their naturalistic presuppositions. ‘That can’t happen; you can’t prove the supernatural.’ Of course you can’t if the only evidence you allow is natural or has a natural explanation. So we Christians back off from saying the truth under the pressure of skeptical mockery. Merely natural explanations, however, fall short on too many accounts at explaining all that we observe. But our praise to God for answered prayer is silenced for a far more serious reason. Despite the abundant Scriptural evidence to God’s willingness, ability, and examples of answered prayer; the abundant historical evidence (George Mueller very notably); God’s good sustaining grace in our own lives, we pray far too little. We must not believe He will answer. He has many times for me in witnessing opportunities, financial needs, serious health issues, relational difficulties, bewilderment and discouragement, weather, direction, help for missionaries and witnessing friends. Why do I pray so little? “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures…” (James 4:2-3) Perhaps a better question is… What is preventing me now? A big and glorious God answers big and God-glorifying prayers! Lord, work in my life so that I pray more and more intensely!
Tree Firmly Planted
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, tagged God Thoughts, Poems on June 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Psalm 1 compares the righteous one to a tree firmly planted, well watered, fruitful, in no danger of withering. I see it as one whose branches reach upward in praise and roots downward into truth. Click on Tree Firmly Planted to see how I visualized it.
Our Demise
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Remembering, Strength, Sustaining, tagged God Thoughts, Poems, Remembering, Strength, Sustaining on May 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »
We don’t know how, when, or why
The timing of our demise
Whether slow and painful, cry
Sudden horrible surprise
Or to loved ones good-bye say
See a vision from above
Then in peace just drift away
To glory fly as a dove
But, oh, our pain is so slight
Compared to burning below
That will give the hardened fright
Pray for souls that they not go
To avoid death’s awful sting
Look to Jesus’ sacrifice
Daily to His promise cling
Thankful for the purchase price
By His sacrifice we win
Heaven for which praise we give
Away from trials and pain and sin
In His presence there to live
Analogy
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Random thoughts, tagged God Thoughts, Random thoughts on March 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »
As a Bible reader and a high school science teacher I cherish good analogies because they clarify otherwise obscure concepts. I thought of two short analogies in the past few days as I mused upon ideas concerning marriage and motivation.
Concerning marriage, I believe Satan would like nothing better than to destroy the picture of Christ and His Bride, the Church. As I thought of this attempt to hide this picture designed by God I thought of light pollution:
Even as the glare of city lights obscures the beauty of stars and moon, so the glitzy show of sexual perversion and marital unfaithfulness attempts to block the God glorifying purity of a man and a wife faithfully and lovingly representing Christ and His Church by their marriage.
As my pastor taught in Romans 1 last evening he marveled over the obligation of Paul in verse 14 becoming the eagerness to share the gospel in verse 15. He showed how we too should be eager in our obligations, not counting them as burdens. He went on to say, “Duty by itself without delight will not sustain us.” Then what is the use of duty, I thought, and what is its relationship to delight? Following is my conclusion by way of analogy:
The flywheel of duty will not continue to spin for long unless powered by the engine of delight. However, when the engine of delight misses the flywheel of duty keeps the engine of delight spinning for several revolutions until it is restarted, its spark and fuel being sought from its source, the empowering work of the Holy Spirit.
A Song of Salvation History
Posted in General, God Thoughts, Poem, Remembering, tagged God Thoughts, historicity, Poems, Remembering, salvation history, second coming of christ, work of christ on January 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »
There are so many good hymns. As with most things we have a tendency to rush over them as if to extract the sweetness without savoring the deeper substance. So as time allows on occasion I try to assimilate a little more of the spiritual nutrients from these poems that we sing. In poetry I like completeness of thought with conciseness of language. Of course that is a challenge. The hymn “One Day” seems to be just such a hymn, surveying the incarnation, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and second coming of Christ. Emphasizing this idea of these events happening on a certain ‘one day’ each produces a unity of the verses and points to the historicity of the works of Christ. In each of the verses Christ and His work are exalted and personalized to the person singing the song. These are all wonderful elements, but I’m rarely quite satisfied, so I thought that it covers from Christ’s incarnation at Bethlehem to the beginning of eternity, shouldn’t it include eternity past forward to Bethlehem? I sat down and wrote two more verse to “complete” the thought of salvation history conveyed in the song. I was unable to bring in the element of personalizing the work of Christ to the singer and I’m confident that my poetry is not so good as the author, J. Wilbur Chapman, but I enjoyed the effort and contemplation anyway, and so may you.
One day the Godhead took counsel in heaven One day the Christ was appointed to die Jesus submitted in full to His Father While He still sat on His throne up on high One day Christ Jesus created first Adam One day He walked in the garden with him Then Adam sinned and all mankind was fallen As second Adam He would rescue themOne day when Heaven was filled with His praises,
One day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin,
Dwelt among men, my example is He!
Refrain
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He’s coming—O glorious day!
One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain,
One day they nailed Him to die on the tree;
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected:
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He!
Refrain
One day they left Him alone in the garden,
One day He rested, from suffering free;
Angels came down o’er His tomb to keep vigil;
Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He!
Refrain
One day the grave could conceal Him no longer,
One day the stone rolled away from the door;
Then He arose, over death He had conquered;
Now is ascended, my Lord evermore!
Refrain
One day the trumpet will sound for His coming,
One day the skies with His glories will shine;
Wonderful day, my belovèd ones bringing;
Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine!
Refrain
I noticed something after I wrote the first two verses. The refrain repeats and reviews the five themes of incarnation, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and the second coming of Christ presented one at a time in each of the five verses. I guess the hymn was wonderfully complete and filled out after all. Oh well, I reviewed all the more God’s wonderful grace in the process.
CreatorWorship 
Nothing Truly Random
Posted in Creation Articles, General, God Thoughts, Poem, Science, tagged Creation Articles, Cultural commentary, God Thoughts, Poems, Science on June 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »
My previous poem, “It Is a Moral Issue”, is in our society largely, I believe, the result of believing that chance, time, matter, and energy (CTME) are the cause of all that we observe. If CTME is our god we have no purpose and no responsibility. But the universe screams a different message:
Nothing random in the way the world works
Order and sequence the rule of the day
For observers consistency has perks
Cause and effect reveal the rules at play
What is the source of this order we see?
Of design in the cosmos’s scenery
Even random disorder follows laws
And beauty is objective and enthralls
Design points to an Architect with skill
Information an Intellect reveals
Beauty an Artist with canvas to fill
Order a Mathematician Who wills
Read Full Post »