IS OUR FOCUS WRONG?

 

2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

               There are so many things that grab our focus. It is easy for us to get caught up in whatever the current crisis or cause of the day is. I received a tongue-in-cheek Facebook post once that said, “I’m for whatever is the current hot issue.” There are so many things that are clamoring for our attention that we can easily lose focus on what is most important.

               There has been a trend in the church in general to adjust our message to speak to whatever is the current hot topic. In our effort to be relevant, we have placed some important things on the back burner. We still think they are important but we don’t give them much attention. One of those things is Heaven.

               When I was growing up in church, I heard much about heaven. Most people, whether they were a committed believer or not, thought about heaven. People were concerned about what happened to them after they died. They wanted some assurance that death was not the end of their story. Those that were cynical quipped that many believers were so heavenly minded that they were no earthly good. The real truth is that when we forget about heaven, we lose our perspective on earth as well. Most people today think very little about heave, if at all. It is not even on their radar screen. They are so focused on today that they have lost sight of eternity.

               C.S. Lewis has pointed out that a person’s hope in heaven is a great motivator for how they live their daily lives. He made the point that those in history who did the most for this present world were those who thought most of the next.

               In my devotions today, I came across this quote from Lewis that puts things into perspective.

“It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth ‘thrown in’: Aim at Earth and you will get neither.”

               It is clear from scripture that a vivid hope is heaven was the motivation for the heroic efforts of the early Christians. They understood that what a person does with his life here on earth has eternal consequences. They were willing to make great sacrifices for others because they knew that God would reward them in heaven.

               Today, we are caught up in seeking temporary rewards while we pay little attention to eternal ones. We are caught up in focusing on making this a better place to live instead of preparing better people for eternity. It is like redecorating a sinking ship rather than assuring that everyone has a life preserver.

               This is not to say that we are to ignore the issues of our day. Instead, we are to view the issues of today through the lens of eternity. It is always right to seek justice and show mercy, but not as an end in themselves. We are to seek the best for others so that they might see the light of Christ and turn toward him. All of our efforts will come to nothing if they are only for today. It is only as we place our efforts in the context of eternity that they will last. We don’t just want better people living in a better world, we want redeemed people headed for a better eternity.

               If I may refer to C.S. Lewis again, the way we live our lives each day is shaping the person we will be for all of eternity. We are either drawing closer to Christ and becoming more like him or we are drawing further away from Christ. We are either becoming glorious, eternal beings or hideous, demonic ones. Our eternal path is set now, in this life, in this world.

               We need to care for this world, not just to preserve it for future generations, but because it is God’s creation and we have been given the responsibility to steward it wisely. We need to care for other people, not just to make their life better here on earth, but because they were created in God’s image, to be in relationship with Him for all of eternity. Living our best life on earth is God’s will for us. Keeping our eyes focused on heaven is the motivation that keeps us moving in the right direction.

Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

 

A HUMBLE REFLECTION

 

Luke 12:48b (NIV)
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

               My level of anxiety and concern has risen to new levels. Each day, as I look at the current news, my heart sinks farther. As a country and as a society we have lost our moorings and we are drifting into dangerous territory.

               I had the privilege of traveling to Ukraine sixteen times, encouraging the church there and sharing the love of Jesus with the Ukrainian people. The war in Ukraine has been a genuine heart break for me and many others. Recent events have caused me to despair over the course we are taking in regards to Ukraine and its people.

               In my daily devotions, I have been working my way through Jeremiah. Each day, as I read, I can see the parallels between the people of Israel and Judah and our own nation. We are guilty of worshipping false gods, of rejecting God’s moral and ethical law, and of seeking our benefit over the benefit of others. As a church in America, we have become complacent and complicit. It is time for some honest and humble reflection.

               I am not one who casts stones at the church in America. We have had many failures, but we also have many genuinely committed believers who are quietly, faithfully living out their faith. Bashing “the church” is not helpful or constructive. But honestly taking stock of where we are and where we need to go is essential. Our hope is not in a particular political system or party, but in the truth and the power of the Gospel. The church has always been its weakest when it has closely aligned itself with those in political power. It has been its strongest when it has lived out its faith in practical ways, independent of political affiliation.

               The people of Isreal and Judah, in the days of Jeremiah, went through the outward actions of their religion, but their hearts were not in the right place. They assumed that as long as they kept up the façade of following God they would be blessed. That was not the way God saw it. In one place God made this statement: they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. There are many in our country who are giving lip service to God, but their hearts are far from Him.

               When Solomon was dedicating the Temple in Jerusalem, God made a promise to him.

2 Chronicles 7:11-16 (NIV)
 When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace, the LORD appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

               We no longer worship at the Temple in Jerusalem, but we still worship at God’s Temple, His church. Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV) How we live our daily lives is a reflection of our commitment to God. We honor God’s temple when we live according to his word. We dishonor God’s temple when we give in to the ways of the world. And so, just as God gave Solomon a pathway for renewal for his nation, so God has given us a pathway to renewal for our nation. If we will honestly repent of our own failures and seek Him with sincere hearts, He will heal own land.

               We have been blessed to live in a country that has allowed God’s church to flourish. We have taken this privilege for granted. We have allowed ourselves to but caught up in political squabbles and combatting ideologies. Instead of taking our cues from God’s word, we have listened too much to loud, political voices. Following God’s word will not make us popular or powerful in people’s eyes, but it will make us right in God’s eyes.

               There is a path open to us of grace, compassion, and mercy. It is not the path of compromise with sin nor is it the path of legalistic self-righteousness. It is the path that Jesus walked. He never condoned sin, yet offered grace to the sinner. He called for justice, but also offered mercy. Is it possible for us to find this path again?

               We, as a nation and as a church, have been given much. Because God has entrusted us with much, He also requires much from us. As a nation and as a church we have the responsibility to steward what God has given us for His glory and for the benefit of others. Turning inward and focusing only on our needs and wants is not a part of God’s plan for us.

               Each of us needs to begin by humbling ourselves before God, asking for His forgiveness, and asking for wisdom and discernment to navigate the journey before us. Then we need to pray that God would humble our leaders and give them wisdom and discernment to lead us in the way God would have us to go.

Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV)
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

 

 

IS IT REASONABLE TO BELIEVE IN GOD?

 

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

               As a part of my daily devotions, I have been reading Reasonable Faith by William Craig. In addition to this, I have been leading a class on Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God. Both of these books take an in-depth look at the reasonableness of belief in God.

               While Keller begins with the objections of people that he has encountered in New York City, Craig tackles the philosophical foundations of belief and unbelief. In his chapter, The Absurdity of Life Without God, he carefully examines the current philosophies that lead people away from belief in God. He highlights three significant concepts that define what it is like to live without God.

               The first concept is that of the meaning of life. Current philosophical thinking says that life is basically meaningless. Our universe and consequently humanity, were created by a series of unguided random events. Philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sarte have concluded that because our world is a random accident then life itself is meaningless. If there is not immortality and no God behind our world then our lives have no ultimate meaning. We live our life-span and then disappear. This leads us to relativism which means that there is no right or wrong in the world. None of our actions have any ultimate meaning, therefore there is no real point to life. Taken to its logical conclusion, this can only lead to despair.

               But even Sarte struggled to find meaning in life. He chose to create his own meaning. But this self-made meaning is an illusion, because we are just pretending that a meaningless universe has meaning because I said so. In addition, my meaning is uniquely mine and your meaning is uniquely yours. If our two meanings clash there is not reconciliation. What self-made meaning does is trap us in our own small selfish world.

               Ultimate meaning must come from outside of ourselves to be real. It must conform to some standard that is universal. Believing in immortality and the existence of God fills this gap. If God is the creator of our world and has offered to us life after death, then He has infused meaning into our world.

               The second concept is that of the value of life. If indeed our world is just a collection of random, unguided events, then there is no value in life. Both Camus and Bertrand Russell promote the absurdity of life, yet strive to hold onto the value of love and brotherhood.  Russel admits that he believes that life is absurd and meaningless yet he cannot live with the idea that ethical values are simply a matter of personal choice. Society cannot survive without some shared set of ethical standards. But these standards become arbitrary and ultimately meaningless in a vacuum. They must come from somewhere and be supported by something outside of the system.

               Most people are appalled at the horrors of our world; of man’s inhumanity to man. They cry out for justice and fair play. Yet, they deny any absolute standard that can produce these things. This produces a major conflict in people’s lives. On what basis do they claim that people have value if there is not ultimate standard for morality? If there is no God and no immorality then the evil acts of people like Hitler will go unpunished and all the personal sacrifices that people have made will go unrewarded.

               The Bible teaches us that our value comes from God and not from some arbitrary value system. God has created us in his image to reflect his glory in the world. He has created us to live forever with him. Our value does not waver from culture to culture or philosophy to philosophy. Ultimately God will reward those who have lived according to his standards and he will punish those who have violated them. Evil will be dealt with and good will be rewarded.

               The third concept is that of purpose in life. From an atheistic point of view, the purpose in life is existence. It is to make the most out of life as possible while you can. This means maximizing your pleasure and happiness. But in the end, a person’s life has no ultimate purpose. It does not matter if a person ever existed. Any purpose that a person had dies with them and disappears. This attitude does not lead to love and compassion but to self-interest and self-fulfillment. If life ultimately has no value and no meaning then it has no purpose either. When people come to this conclusion it also leads to despair. It is well documented that a person who lives wholly for themselves actually destroys the happiness they so aggressively seek.

               If God does exist and has a plan for humanity, as the Bible teaches, then life has a transcendent purpose. It frees people to love and sacrifice for others. It fosters connections between people that go far beyond happiness.

               Many who want to deny the existence of God turn to some God-substitute to fill the gap. Francis Crick in his book, The Origin of the Genetic Code, personifies Nature, with a capital “N”. He attributes the qualities normally given to God to Nature instead. This is very common at street level. It is not uncommon to hear people who reject the idea of God refer for Mother Nature as a particular force that has some influence in their life. Carl Sagan has done the same thing with the “Cosmos”. Though these men profess not to believe in God, they smuggle in a God-substitute because they cannot bear to live in a universe in which everything is the chance result of impersonal forces.

               I know I have done an imperfect job of explaining this complex and highly significant debate. But I hope I have caused you to explore this further on your own. The bottom line is that taken to its logical conclusion, living as if God does not exist leads to absurdity. Living with God at the center of your life replaces absurdity with hope, purpose, meaning, and reality.

               Le me suggest a few books for further exploration.

1. The Reason for God by Tim Keller

2. Making Sense of God by Tim Keller

3. Reasonable Faith by William Craig

4. The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel

               Taking God out of the equation of life literally takes away the foundation that humanity has stood upon for 1000’s of years. The question is, are we better off without God in the equation?

Romans 1:18-20 (NIV)
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

 

 

THE POWER OF TOUCH

 

Matthew 8:2-3 (NIV)
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.

               During my devotions today this passage of scripture was referenced. What stood out to me was the fact that Jesus reached out and touched the untouchable. In Jesus’ day, no one would touch a leper. People with leprosy were considered unclean. They had to keep their distance from other people, calling out “unclean” to warn people away. The fact that Jesus disregarded this mandate and actually touched the leper is amazing!

               In many ways, we have lost the positive power of touch in our world. Because of the unfortunate, misuse of touch, we have recoiled from touch (almost) altogether. We shield our children from the touch of non-family members and even some extended family. We are reluctant to extend touch to others unless we already have a strong connection with them. There are good reasons for this. Touch has been abused and used in inappropriate ways to manipulate and take advantage of others. As a consequence, we have become suspicious of all touch. After a certain age, hugging a child is frowned upon. It is not uncommon for people of the same gender to give an appropriate hug, but hugging between genders is less common, and in some cases prohibited. We are afraid that our physical touch with another person may be misinterpreted.

               What we have lost in the process is a sense of appropriate intimacy between people. I don’t mean intimacy is a sexual sense, but in the sense of closeness and caring. Years ago, I came across a short video which depicted an elderly woman sitting alone in a chair. As the camera rotated around her, we hear her unspoken thoughts. “For years no one has touched me in a meaningful way. And no one calls me by name anymore.” I was convicted and challenged by that short video. It reminded me of how important physical touch is to our well-being.

               Jesus was not afraid to extend physical touch to hurting people. I’m sure that not all the people Jesus touched were physically ill. As a case in point, we read in Mark 10:13-16 that Jesus invited children into his presence, took them into his arms, and blessed them. Jesus understood and modeled the power of touch. His touch brought both physical and emotional healing into people’s lives.

               As followers of Christ, we can extend that same healing power to those around us. It has been medically proven that patients who experience physical touch from their doctor and nurses heal much more quickly. We have all experienced the healing power of touch when we have gone through some crisis in our lives. Often an arm around a shoulder is far more comforting than any number of nice words.

               Appropriate touch invites another person into our lives. It opens the door for a connection that most people are longing for. It expresses love and caring in a way that words do not. We are often at a loss for what to say in a time of crisis, but a hand on the shoulder or an embrace can speak for us.        

               Too often we separate our spiritual well-being from the physical world around us. Our faith becomes intellectual but not practical. The Bible challenges us to put feet to our faith. We are instructed to reach out and touch others in a variety of ways. It may mean sharing our resources with them or just spending time with them. We cannot genuinely care for one another at a distance. To care means to get close; to literally touch one another’s lives. If we always keep people at arm’s length, we will always be lonely and disconnected from them.

Galatians 6:2 (NIV)
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

 

SEEKING FREEDOM

 

John 8:31-32 (NIV)
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

               Freedom is something that is highly valued by most people. We pride ourselves that we live in the land of the free, although some people don’t feel free. Freedom is something that many people are striving for; a lifelong goal that often seems to be just out of reach. One of the problems with this pursuit of freedom is that we do not all agree on what freedom is and how it can be attained.

               In a superficial way, many people define freedom as the ability to do whatever I want to do. I want to be free to decide what is right and wrong for me. I want to be free to go where I want to go and do what I want to do without restraints. This works for a while until it crashes into an unavoidable barrier.

               Recently there have been several incidents of people who felt that they were free to deface and destroy things in national parks. There was a famous balanced rock that some people felt they were free to push over, even though it had stayed there balanced for hundreds of years. In their efforts to express their freedom they have denied others the freedom to experience something amazing. Several of these freedom seekers have found that their freedom has been taken away because of their actions. There are limits to exercising our freedom.

               The area that we most commonly hear people talk about freedom is morality. People want to be free to define their own morality without having to conform to some outside standard. This has led to the idea that a person is free to engage in sex with anyone that they choose, without ongoing obligations. For the moment this feels like a freeing experience, but in the long run it actually curtails a person’s true freedom. Instead of drawing individuals closer together it objectifies the other person and isolates the freedom seeker. True sexual fulfillment is found not in a sexual free-for-all, but in a long-term, committed relationship.

               To genuinely love another person, we have to give up our independence. Instead of only seeking what makes me happy, I intentionally focus on making the other person happy. A genuine love relationship between a man and a woman is always an exclusive arrangement. I give up my freedom to date others in order to commit myself totally to my spouse. Instead of being confining, this actually becomes liberating and exhilarating. By fully investing in the other person, I become more the person I really want to be.

               Living a totally independent, free life, without obligations to others is actually a kind of slavery. It is slavery to my selfish wants and desires, which become harder and harder to fulfill. C.S. Lewis put it well.

“Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries: avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in the casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation.”

               Many people reject Christianity because they believe that it will rob them of their freedom. They begin to list all of the things they will have to give up as an excuse for not believing. Yet, what Jesus offers us is true freedom, not spiritual bondage.

               Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34-36 (NIV)

               For anything to be truly free, it must live within the boundaries of what it was created for. A fish is truly free only if it is in water. Taken outside of the restraints of the water the fish dies. We were created in the image of God to live in relationship with God and to express his glory. Sin is the rejection of this original design. Sin is the desire to live for my glory and in the way I want to live. But, just like the fish taken out of water, living outside of God’s design does not bring freedom, but death. To be genuinely free, I must live within the boundaries that God has designed.

               Boundaries, rather than taking away our freedom, allow us to exercise our freedom in positive ways. A couple of years ago we took a trip to Norway to visit our exchange student. One day, she took us to a place called Pulpit Rock. It is this amazing, sheer cliff that rises 1,982 feet above the fjord. At the top is a flat top that measures approximately 82 feet square. It takes over 2 hours to climb to the top. On the way up and on the summit, there are no safety fences or barriers. Although many people went right to the edge of the cliff to look down, the absence of safety fences prohibited me from doing the same. If there had been safety fences. I would have felt free to go to the edge, but not without them.

               Many people feel no fear at living life on the edge, but they forget the danger that the edge represents. Living within the spiritual boundaries that God has created allows me to freely experience life without the fear of falling off the edge. I can even explore the boundaries at times because God has provided a safety net for me. If I choose to disregard the boundaries there is not safety net to catch me when I fall. It is a long way down from the top.

               When I place my faith in Jesus, I am free to fully engage with others. I can risk getting involved and even attached. I can explore life with confidence and direction, not aimlessly. Freedom without boundaries is not really freedom, it is anarchy. It sounds great to insist that I am free to do my own thing, until we realize the consequences of giving that same freedom to everyone else. Soon, our selfish freedom will collide with other people’s selfish freedom and result in some pretty unpleasant results. A river that flows within its boundaries is beautiful and beneficial. When it overflows its boundaries, it becomes destructive. The same is true of our individual freedom.

Galatians 5:13 (NIV)
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

GOD, DO YOU SEE ME?

 

Psalms 13:1 (NIV)
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

               This past Sunday, as I was listening to a sermon on drawing near to God, a simple question entered my mind. God, do you see me? The question is not, God, do you see the world, or humanity in general? The question is, God, do you see ME, as an individual. This is the question that King David often struggled with as he penned the Psalms. It is the question that many of us struggle with personally.

               On one of my trips to Ukraine, during a bus tour of Kiev, our guide broke character to share her personal struggle. “Everything is for the masses! But there is nothing for me.” It is possible for us to struggle spiritually in the same way. God, from our perspective, everything is for the Church, but is there anything for me? Am I just a cog in a spiritual machine, or do I matter to you? The answer to that question is resoundingly positive. Even when we don’t feel it, God has His eyes on each one of use individually.

               Jesus, addressing the issue of worry and concern on our part, tells us that God is intimately aware of who we are and of our needs.  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31 (NIV) Not only does God see us in the circumstances of our life, He cares about our well-being. Again, Jesus gives us assurance of God’s personal interaction with us.

Matthew 6:28-33 (NIV)
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

               So, what keeps us from seeing God’s activity in our lives? Why do we sometimes feel like God has abandoned us? There is not an easy answer to these questions, but there are some clues for us to explore.

               One reason why we feel like God doesn’t see us is that we have taken our eyes off of God. We allow the circumstances of life to cloud our vision. We set our sights on our own passions and desires, and when they are unfulfilled, we tend to blame God for not caring. We feel most abandoned by God when He doesn’t fulfill our agenda.

               Another reason we may feel abandoned by God is that we have bought into the idea that God is distant, out there somewhere, but not close to us. I have often heard people say things like, I hope God shows up. Or, what if God showed up today. But the reality is that God doesn’t need to show up. He is already present. The truth is that we need to show up. We need to open our eyes and see that God is not distant, but that He is an ever-present help in our time of need. As Paul says, in his letter to the Philippians, Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Philippians 4:4-5 (NIV) The reality is not that God has distanced Himself from us, but that we have drawn away from God. James calls us to reverse our direction and intentionally come into the presence of God. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8 (NIV)

               We just came through the Christmas season. There is a familiar children’s Christmas song that says that Santa Claus sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake. If you think about that, it is kind of creepy. But there is a far more profound person who indeed sees you in every circumstance of life, God.

Psalms 139:1-4 (NIV)
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

               Rather than being creepy, David sees God’s watchfulness as comforting and reassuring. We should as well. God is not unaware of what we are going through. He is not a disinterested bystander. God really does care. So, the answer to the question, “God, do you see me,” is a resounding YES.

               As you read the Bible, you will discover that we are not alone in wondering about God’s care. But what you will discover is that in every situation God is very present and very much actively involved.

Psalms 46:1-3 (NIV)
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah

LIVING IN A BOX OF OUR OWN MAKING

 

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

               In the main, we like putting things in boxes. We like things in our lives to be neatly tied together with a bow. Most of us struggle with ambiguity and open-endedness. A friend of mine made that clear with the following quip.

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who need closure.

               When things are left hanging, something inside of us screams for closure. What happened? What’s the answer? What happened next? We like things neat and tidy.

               It is natural for us to satisfy our need for closure by putting things in neat boxes. We often do this by putting labels on things. He’s a Republican. She’s a Democrat. He’s narrow minded. She’s bigoted. Putting labels on things categorizes them for us. It puts things in little boxes that we can handle.

               I have been reading G.K. Chesterton’s book “Orthodoxy”. In it, he makes that point that the trend of materialism today is to put everything into neat little boxes. By denying the supernatural, we confine life to the narrow box of determinism. Determinism eliminates mystery by having to explain everything in naturalistic terms. There is a logical explanation for everything that we see and experience. Our emotions are the product of the neurological impulses in our brain caused by specific chemical reactions. Life itself is the product of the evolutionary process. There is nothing at work outside of the natural world in which we live.

               The materialistic view of the world places everything into neat, explainable boxes. There is a certain sense of comfort and security in this. If we can explain something, then, in a sense, we can understand it and control it. In a sense, it becomes “safe.” The problem with the materialistic approach is that it places us in a very small box of our own making. It eliminates mystery and the transcendent.

               Yet, there is something within us that cries out for the transcendent. When materialism is taken to its logical conclusion, it become a straightjacket. We find ourselves confined in a very small box of our own making. Instead of our world expanding, it collapses in on itself. Suddenly, we find it hard to breathe within that box. We clamor for the air of mystery and wonder; of the unexplainable and the transcendent. So, we create fantasy worlds and dabble in a spirituality of our own making. If there is no God, then we will create our own god to fill the void, whether that be art, music, science, politics, or even ourselves.

               As Chesterton points out, materialism eliminates free will. Everything is determined by a set of parameters that are outside of our control. But faith in God actually frees us from the boundaries of this confining box. It opens the door to mystery and wonder. It acknowledges that there are things we cannot know, understand, or control. It also allows us to really think outside of the box. Today, thinking outside of the box only results in another box. But spiritual thinking outside of the box actually opens up an expanding universe without boundaries. Materialism seeks to narrow and confine our world. Faith in God seeks to expand and explode our world.

               The common thinking of our world today is that we exist because of random, causeless events. Because of this, our lives have no ultimate meaning or purpose. We may be able to create some temporary sense of meaning and purpose, but in the end, even those will evaporate with time. The Bible gives us a very different picture. It tells us that we were intentionally created in the image of God with meaning and purpose. The meaning and purpose of our lives transcends the time we have on this earth. As Jesus has said, we have the chance to store up treasures for all of eternity. How we live our lives matters, not just to us, but to God. Therefore, everything we do becomes a conscious choice to either invest in eternity or squander our resources on temporary pleasures.

               Years ago, there was a movie called “The Truman Show.” It was the story of a man who, from birth, was raised in an artificial world. He lived in a totally predetermined world where everything was unchanging, until one day he rebelled and found the door to the outside world. Materialism wants to trap us in “The Truman Show.” Faith in God shows us the door to a much wider and more meaningful world.

               There is a significant difference between facts and truth. Facts tell us what is, but they cannot explain why things are. They create the walls of the boxes that we live within. But truth transcends the facts; it goes beyond the sterile walls of a deterministic world. Truth sets us free to engage with mysteries that will lead us deeper and deeper into God’s unconfined reality.

               Many secular people claim that religion takes away our freedom and confines us. In reality, true faith in God does the exact opposite. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, he explodes the walls of our little, self-made boxes and invites us into the expanse of his amazing reality.

John 8:31-32 (NIV)
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

John 14:6 (NIV)
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.