Have you ever gone to a restaurant and the helpings just weren't enough and you wanted more?
Or how about watching an epsiode of 24 or Lost and it ends with a bang leaving you wanting more?
Perhaps you had a pimple on your cheek that hadn't surfaced yet and despite every technique, you just couldn't pop it, leaving you with the question, "There must be a way to get this thing popped!"
Deep down inside each and every one of us lies a question, "What is truth?" If you talked to any young child and discuss facts with them, you're going to get one question in return, "Why?" Why is the sky blue? Why do frogs jump? Why does it rain? As we get older and develop spiritually and intellectually, we seek truth about God, eternity, creation, sin, and purpose.
The Greeks were seekers of truth (I never found truth when studying the Greeks in school as I repeatedly earned C's D's and the occasional F+). But they loved truth. They loved knowing and learning and philosophying (hey Webster, a new word!). They made idols of all sorts. But they knew they could never know complete truth. In fact, they created an idol that had the saying, "To an unknown God," just to acknowledge the unknown truth that haunted them.
The point is this: They did that to cover their bases just in case everything they did know was false and there was some God or truth out there that was superior!!!!
We do that all the time!!! We live our lives and experience technology and enjoy everything around us and pursuing our own dreams and goals and wills and then we show up to church on Sunday morning as if to say, "Hey God! I'm here giving you some of my time just in case you are real!"
Athens is now in ruins. And everything that is built on earth fades away. So we remain searching as we wonder, "Is there really a God we can know?"
God is always seeking you. You may stray away from Him but He never leaves you. He didn't leave Moses in the wilderness or Jonah in the big fish or Jesus on the cross. And He didn't leave me when I was rebelling in high school. Check out Deuteronomy 31:6 puts it this way: "He [God] is right there with you. He won't let you down; he won't leave you."
God wants to know you and He wants you to know that everything you are, everything you do was created by and for Him. He loves you and can use you for His glory and His kingdom.
Read Acts 17:28! “…that men [all people] would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him, we live and move and have our being.”
Call off the search. Stop wanting something more. There is your truth.
-NW
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
3.9.08 Survive
Last weekend was Dare 2 Share, a youth conference designed to help teenagers know and share their faith. The theme was "Survive," focusing on the return of Christ and what we need to do as Christians to be ready for that return.
As I sat there on Friday night during the drama, watching Christians get imprisoned and murdered for their faith, I couldn't help but know that this is what is going to happen. Being a Christian will not only be unpopular, but it will be it illegal.
In 9th grade, I saw a frame sitting on my language arts teacher's desk. It said, "If being a Christian was illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
Do you attend church? Do you read the Bible? Do you pray? Do you tithe? Do you serve? How do you spend your time? Do you have joy? compassion? self-control? peace? love?
But ultimately, the world will want to know if you are a follower of Christ. And they will just put a paper in front of you with the word, "Jesus" on it. And below will be two check boxes: yes or no. And you will choose.
In 1999, Rachel Scott was put on her knees and was asked this question with a gun to her head at Columbine High School in Colorado. She answered yes. And she lost her life.
Or did she?
Matthew 16:25 says this, "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it." (NLT)
The world can mock you, arrest you, imprison you, judge you, hurt you, even kill you. We saw that happen with Jesus Christ. But like we saw 3 days later with Jesus, God can bring you back to life.
That is what it means to survive.
-NW
As I sat there on Friday night during the drama, watching Christians get imprisoned and murdered for their faith, I couldn't help but know that this is what is going to happen. Being a Christian will not only be unpopular, but it will be it illegal.
In 9th grade, I saw a frame sitting on my language arts teacher's desk. It said, "If being a Christian was illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
Do you attend church? Do you read the Bible? Do you pray? Do you tithe? Do you serve? How do you spend your time? Do you have joy? compassion? self-control? peace? love?
But ultimately, the world will want to know if you are a follower of Christ. And they will just put a paper in front of you with the word, "Jesus" on it. And below will be two check boxes: yes or no. And you will choose.
In 1999, Rachel Scott was put on her knees and was asked this question with a gun to her head at Columbine High School in Colorado. She answered yes. And she lost her life.
Or did she?
Matthew 16:25 says this, "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it." (NLT)
The world can mock you, arrest you, imprison you, judge you, hurt you, even kill you. We saw that happen with Jesus Christ. But like we saw 3 days later with Jesus, God can bring you back to life.
That is what it means to survive.
-NW
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