on faith and God centered attitudes.

The Story Teen Edition Chapter 16

Two interwoven stories taking place:
Hezekiah and Isaiah

Hezekiah:
Israel again turns to false idols and away from God. As a result, the Israelites are exiled to Assyria. The nation of Judah, however, remains faithful and King Hezekiah leads them in the way of the Lord.

Ch. 16 video

What stands out to you about the story of Hezekiah and the Assyrians?
How does Hezekiah respond to the threats against Jerusalem?

King Hezekiah faced and incredible threat as the Assyrian army stood at his doorstep. Regardless, he remained faithful (not and easy task) and brought the matter directly to God in prayer.

How hard is it for us to have this kind of faith?

2 Kings 19:14-19

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. 17 “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands.18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 19 Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”

How does Hezekiah approach God?

Hezekiah comes humbly before God acknowledging who God is and what He is capable of. He then asks God to deliver His people and make clear "to all the kingdoms of the earth...that you alone, Lord, are God". His prayer is not out of fear nor is it for the sake of self-preservation. Rather he asks that God would reveal and glorify Himself.

What is a time when you have felt opposition?
How should we approach God when we face opposition?
Is it easy to have this attitude?



Isaiah:
Isaiah was a well established prophet of God by the time Hezekiah became King. The Lord spoke through him numerous times (the book of Isaiah...). It's important to note that while Isaiah played a major role in the story of Hezekiah and the Assyrians, his ministry went far beyond that one instance. In fact large portion of Isaiah's prophesies directly foretold the coming of Christ

The Story Pages 228-230
Isaiah says many things about the Savior that is to come. Throw out some descriptions about this Savior that stand out to you.

Take some time and pray in gratitude for God's provision of all that was prophesied.

on traveling.

I'm always tempted to say that everybody should travel at some point. But I'm not entirely sure that's true. I've done a small bit of traveling and reaped the benefits, but I'm not positive its for everyone. One glance at twitter, facebook, or any of the other social media giants, however, and it would seem like everybody and their uncle is out traveling the world, putting pins in maps and collecting stories to tell when they get back. But that doesn't seem to be the case in real life. Which begs an interesting question, why are so few people doing it, if so many have the desire?
There are a plethora of typical response that I would expect to hear, and I could rant for days on how little money you need, how little time it takes, how easy it is to get started, and how "real life" will be here when you get back. But I'll save my breath, as I don't expect to really be changing anybody's minds. Which is fine. Maybe instead of traveling the world, people should simply crawl out of their comfort zones. For me, that meant living in Spain. For others that could mean something completely different. The point here is that comfort and growth are rarely, if ever, experienced together. We should always be growing. Always learning.
I have a friend who has a habit of asking odd questions to people he is just meeting. He will delve very quickly below the surface and ask about a persons dreams, aspirations, and passions. He'll dig around to discover who they are in ways that make may people very uncomfortable. One question that he is particularly fond of is "what is your greatest fear?". I Once asked him the same question and his response fascinated me.

"My greatest fear is that I will one day stop growing"

It was interesting to me, because I believe if we're honest with ourselves, many of us have the opposite fear. We are scared to grow. Change intimidates us. It makes us uncomfortable. It's why I always order the same thing at taco bell and it's why graduating high school and moving out is hard. But as hard as it is, crawling outside of our beloved comfort zones is not only good for you, it's necessary.
When I was in Rome I met an Australian guy named Van who was staying in the same hostel as I was. We ended up spending a decent amount of time hanging out and swapping stories about our travels. We had come from very different backgrounds and from, quite literally, opposite sides of earth. Regardless, we found that there were some aspects to our travels that were strikingly similar. Namely the plane ticket. That first big step. Buying the first plane ticket was one of the most nerve racking things we'd had to do. After that, we were committed. Things never really got easy, but the hardest part of the whole trip was that initial step where we had to actually step outside of the experiences we had been imagining and planning and go live them. We left our comfort zones thousands of miles away and the things that seemed scary and strange simply became the next adventure.
For me in particular, I had numerous instances in which I seemed to be knee deep in it with no idea how to get out. But those are the very same instances that I would point to as being not only the most fun and memorable, but the situations that I learned the most from. I developed confidence to handle whatever life would throw at me. I worked through problems, I learned to rely on myself when I had to and to seek help when I needed it, I discovered how to communicate without a common language, I made friends in all corners of the globe, I found out what my faith looks like when I'm alone, and I collected a hand full of memories that I wouldn't trade for the world.
So yes, traveling holds incredible value as a life experience. But not everybody will have the means or the desire to share these types of experiences. And that's okay. But if it's not traveling, make sure it's something else. Whoever you are, wherever your life is headed, make sure you're uncomfortable with it. Don't be afraid of growth, be afraid of a dormant life. Because a dormant life is a wasted life. If we aren't growing in ourselves, and most importantly growing in our faith and our savior, then what are we really doing with our lives?

on why Batman should have died.

        In anticipation of the large amount of writing that the upcoming three part blog is going to take, I'm keeping this week's post short, simple, and a little bit ranty.

SPOILER ALERT:
If you haven't seen all three movies in the Dark Night trilogy:

1) What are you doing with your life?

2)Don't read this blog.

Okay so that's fair warning. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about my favorite movie trilogy of all the movie trilogies, and we all know there are plenty of those out there.
The Dark Knight movies stand out for a number of reasons. First and foremost because, let's be honest, everything to do with Batman up until the release of "Batman Begins" was pitiful. There simply was no good Batman movie. Batman Begins changed that, and "The Dark Knight Rises" gave us the epic conclusion we all wanted.......almost.
The story goes like this: Following the disappearance of the Batman, and the death of Gotham's beloved DA, a villain by the name of Bane enters the scene and prepares to bring the city to it's knees as it rips itself apart. He effectively separates the city from the rest of the world and removes any comfort that society, order, and a government body might bring. This new "lord of the flies" society does exactly as Bane planned and begins to tear itself to pieces, all the while under threat of a nuclear bomb.
Inevitably, Batman swoops in to save the day and restore hope to a city that seems to have none. As the story comes to a head Bruce Wayne is forced to make a difficult choice. The nuclear bomb that has been roaming around the city is set to go off and has to dealt with, however the auto-pilot on his ship doesn't work and Wayne has no choice but to pilot the ship himself, and thereby ensure his own doom. It's tragic, ironic, and the perfect conclusion to the epic trilogy.
Except Bruce Wayne lives. Somehow, unbeknownst to anyone else, the auto-pilot had actually been repaired and somewhere along the line Bruce jumped out of the ship and escaped before the bomb exploded. I hate it, and I whole-heartedly believe he should have died. Let me explain.
At the heart of the story we have a group of people who, by their own wrongdoing, are trapped in a world of corruption with no hope of escape and no hope of survival. They are doomed and there is nothing they can do about it. Then, a man who seems to do nothing but selflessly give to these corrupt people, gives them a way out. Even though he fights the evil that suppresses them, gives them a shot at redemption, and ultimately sacrifices himself for their sake. He takes on himself the fate that had been given to those who, if we're being honest, probably deserved it.
Sound familiar? It should. Up until the very end, this story is the gospel. But then we find out that the masked hero really didn't sacrifice himself. He put his ship on auto-pilot and ran away with catwoman. It's an ending that is only made right with the revelation that Robin was in the movie the whole time. An ALMOST perfect trilogy that was tragically ruined by our ridiculous need to have the happiest ending possible.

on doubting.

       This is a big issue for Christians, and as an aspiring youth pastor I find the idea of doubting and dealing with doubts to be a topic of monumental importance. Is it okay to have doubts? What's the difference between doubt and disbelief? Is doubt sinful? Is disbelief?
At first these questions seem simple. I could spit out a half a dozen surface level answers and explanations that would satisfy these questions, at least to some degree. But honestly I think it's far more important to address the assumptions behind the questions. As I've talked about in previous posts, I firmly believe that all questions come from somewhere. They reveal a persons heart and open a door, behind which lie a thousand more questions. For more about my thoughts and opinions on questions check out the blog post I did several weeks back :

http://whatsaaronthinking.blogspot.com/2014/10/on-being-clueless.html

For now though, I want to talk about where I believe these questions about doubting come from. I'll ease into the whole assuming things business with a simple one: People ask the question "is it okay to have doubts" because they have doubts. I think we can all agree that's a pretty safe bet. But it's also absolutely crucial to this conversation, because it means the person asking isn't interested in a yes or no. They could care less about a simple answer. What they are really after is practicality. In other words, they want to know if doubting is wrong how can we put an end to it? Alternatively, if doubting is not wrong, what do we do with our doubts? It's here that we typically have to stop and define doubt.
We would talk about how there is an important line between doubt and disbelief and that doubt stems from a lack understanding and disbelief stems from a lack of faith. I don't disagree with this. What I disagree with is the idea that there is a clearly defined line, because in my experience that line can be incredibly difficult to find and even more difficult to stay on one side of.
Rather than talk about definitions, lines, and straight foreword answers, I would like to talk about hearts. Specifically, the heart of the doubter. More important than an individuals doubts, or lack thereof, is that person's heart, and how it reflects their knowledge of Christ. In a book I was recently reading, Austin Fischer makes a comment on the starting point of theology that I think also very well sums up the way any Christian should approach the inevitability of doubts. He says this:

"Who is God? How do you know? From the Christian perspective these are the questions of human existence. All other questions asked and answers given ultimately bend back toward these, for in every answer to every question there is the implicit claim 'This is who God is and this is how I know'. And so who is God and how do you know?"

I've recently had the pleasure of watching a few of my best friends grow into some of the most loving and spiritually mature people I've ever met. I couldn't possibly be more proud of the Godly women they have become. They are by no means perfect and the circumstances that have forced this growth upon them have been sudden and tragic to say the least. Nonetheless, they have endured and I have seen Christ shine through their lives and in their stories. The reason, I firmly believe, is that they have answered those two questions in their hearts. Has it made their struggles easy? No. Has doing so wiped away any of their hardships? Most certainly not. Have they experienced doubt in one form or another along the way? More than likely yes.
What it has done, however, is given them a foundation. Amidst the tears, the anger, the confusion, there is always one constant: This is who my God is, and this is how I know. It's not a solution or the answer to all your questions, but instead a starting point.
So to those battling doubts, or guilt over having them, I would say this: Who is God? How do you know? Build your foundation, a starting point onto which you can always fall back when your own understanding fails. Answer that, then go out and struggle through the rest of your questions in search of Him, but always have your heart set on who you know Him to be, and how you know.

For me, my starting point will always be the God on the cross. That is who I know God is.

Hebrews 1:1-3:

"1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."

on wisdom.

Every Thursday night for the last few years I have been helping out with a jr high group study that my church puts on called Switch. As a result, when it's my time to teach I will be spending the majority of my writing efforts focusing on those lessons rather than my usual blog posts. The following teaching ourlines are based on a study of The Story Teen Edition. Here is the first of those outlines that I will be posting. Enjoy!

The Story Teen Edition Chapter 13

What is wisdom? What’s the difference between being wise and being smart?

Where does wisdom come from?

Why do we want to be wise?

How do we become wise?

Wisdom in the context of the life of Solomon:

                After David’s death, Solomon took the throne as King. (The Story Teen Edition pages 176-177) One night, in a dream, God appeared to Solomon and told him to ask for whatever he wanted. Solomon approached God humbly, referring  repeatedly to himself as “your servant”. He admitted to being young and inexperienced. He asked God to give him a “discerning heart” to be able to rightly judge and lead God’s people well.

What is wisdom? Wisdom is a humble, discerning, and understanding heart that is able to distinguish between right and wrong.

                God granted Solomon’s request and, being happy with him for not asking for honor or riches, also granted him those very things, giving him wealth, wisdom, honor, and longevity.

Where does wisdom come from? Wisdom comes from God, the source of our morality and the only discerning force between right and wrong.

                Peace came over God’s people and they prospered under Solomon’s guidance. Because of the peace Israel was now experiencing Solomon was able to focus things other than the protection of their borders. He accomplished much by way of diplomacy and construction. Most notably, the Temple construction was started and completed during  Solomon’s reign. Because of the incredible wisdom God had given to Solomon his people thrived and his ruling over and guiding of them was just and pleasing to God.

Why do we want to be wise? Wisdom is what guides us in the way of the Lord. Solomon’s prosperous reign was due to his righteous living as a result of the wisdom God gave him. Wisdom is what brings us closer to God and shows us how to live our lives in a way that brings us closer to Him, and is pleasing to Him.

                (The Story page 191) People came from all over to seek out God’s wisdom, and the answers Solomon could give them. They brought with them massive treasures and huge amounts of precious materials to offer the King. It would seem that the wisdom God had given Solomon was invaluable to those who would seek it, and upon finding it, it led many to follow the way of the Lord. Over the course of his life Solomon would go on to write many famous saying that are today collected into the book of Proverbs.

How do we become wise? Wisdom comes from God and is made accessible to us,  particularly through two outlets:

Through God’s guidance directly and through others who may be wiser than us.

How does God guide us?

1)      God provided wisdom to Solomon directly. Do you believe he does the same for us? How?

a.       God’s word is an incredible source of wisdom that we have readily available and that we know to be living, active, and transformational in our lives (Hebrews 4:12-13). How do we access wisdom through God’s word? Read, study, memorize, collaborate with others on the same walk as you.

How does God use others in our lives?

2)      Speaking of collaboration, God also provides wisdom in our lives through other Christians.  How is this evident in the story of Solomon?

a.      Upon recognizing Solomon’s incredible wisdom, people came from far and wide to seek out his understanding. How can we follow this example?

What are some ways you have seen wisdom (your own or others) impact your life?

Take some time and pray for each other and your spiritual growth as it pertains to God and the wisdom he provides.

on scripture memorization.

       This is a topic I have recently become incredibly passionate about, and one that most churched Christians seem to be incredibly un-passionate about, myself included up until recently. The problem is that we see it as boring, laborious, time consuming, obligatory, and all in all just unnecessary.  The fact of the matter is, we just don't tend to see enough worth in it to put in the time and effort. Which is a shame.        This summer I set a goal for myself and the amount of scripture I would memorize. My original goal was to memorize all four chapters of Philippians by the time Sr. High camp rolled around. I failed. Sr. High camp showed up and I had barely completed the first chapter. I started thinking maybe I had overestimated myself, but I set a new goal anyway, this time giving myself a little more room to breathe. My new goal was this: have all four chapters of Philippians memorized in the NIV by the time I left for Spain at the end of the summer. And guess what? I failed. Again.
       That's right, even after I tripled the time I had originally given myself I still hadn't managed to accomplish my goal. Talk about frustration. And with nobody to blame but myself. Now I will admit that working at camp leaves very little free time for me to work on my own things, but I still found myself using the majority of my time on other things. My effort, however, was not wasted in the slightest. Yes, I failed to meet my goals, but I did memorize large portions of Philippians and in the process learned incredible things about Gods word.
       I didn't find myself getting bored memorizing, but rather hanging off of Paul's words as if he were speaking directly about my life. Memorizing is hard, I will admit, but the more I did it the more I didn't see it as work. It consumed my time but it replaced menial, unimportant, and sometimes even spiritually destructive tasks. The more the summer went on and the stress, both physically and spiritually, began to take its toll, the more I found that I not only wanted to be able to recall passages but needed to.
       As far as being obligatory, well I cant argue with that one. Anybody who has spent any significant amount of time reading the Bible can attest to the emphasis put on the need for studying and meditating on scripture. Examples of this are in Psalm 1:1-3, Psalm 119:11, Joshua 1:8, Deuteronomy 11:18, Colossians 3:16, Philippians 4:8 etc. Honestly I could go on for days like this. The point is, as Christians we are commanded to dedicate ourselves to learning and living out Gods word. But we all already know that were supposed to memorize verses, and I'm not here to beat that horse. Its been dead for a while. Instead I want to talk about the results of making the commitment to live out Psalm 119:11. The practical application. The real motivation for setting goals like this.
       The results, as it happens, are astounding. The more I memorized the more I seemed to find purpose in the tasks I completed and the relationships I built. I encountered a unique joy, a powerful comfort, and an unmatched wisdom. Paul's words in Philippians seemed to speak into every aspect of my life to the point where I'm almost certain those who worked with me grew tired of hearing "oh yeah that reminds me of this verse...". Being so constantly plugged into scripture changed the way I thought about myself, about others and about God. I felt the effects of Hebrews 4:12 quite literally as my thoughts and attitudes were picked to pieces and transformed bit by bit. Memorizing scripture literally rewires your brain, and as a result everything about you. Gods word changes everything. It permeates the dark corners of our lives, forcing us to come face to face with Him. It builds a conscious connection between Him and us. As is always the case with God, He is not pushing us to follow rules or check boxes. He is not a legalistic God. He is loving, and He is practical, so we can trust that there are some good reasons to step up to a task like this one. In this case, I believe He desires an intense dedication to scripture because it is our direct line to Him. Through it, and the Holy Spirit, we connect ourselves directly to the heart of God. He is the ultimate source of wisdom in our uncertainty, of joy in hardships, of endurance in our exhaustion, of comfort in our distress, and of guidance in our, well, everything. So why would we ever neglect that connection?

 Food for thought.

on christians and swear words.

Let's just take a minute and laugh at ourselves:




        Us christians have a lot of laughable habits. But one of the most rediculous tends to be our use of "Christian swear words". Our subtle attempts to fill in the lexical gaps created by our need to avoid swearing. Which raises the question, what's wrong with swearing in the first place? Is it sinful to utilize particular four letter words? If you grew up in the church and spent any significant amount of time in sunday school your instinctive response is probably something along the lines of "well Aaron, it's not the words that are bad, it's the intention of the person using the word".

That's fair. Kind of. But it's also a cop out. What is their intention? Odds are it's not rooted in sin. Maybe. Let me explain.

       I think most of us can agree that words are not inherently evil. There is nothing about an arrangement of letters in any particular order that is, in and of itself, sinful. I mean come on. It's a word. What's so bad about a stinking word? Nothing. It's just a word. Right?
       Well kind of. See the funny thing about language is that it is dictated, shaped, formed, and entirely determined by the people who use it, and culture has come together to (mostly) agree that some words are offensive. I'll post a video at the end of this blog with more on that. Some swear words are bad because they butcher otherwise wholesome ideas in ungodly ways, others due to their use to degrade people and ideas, and others for the same reason "irregardless" is a word and "I could care less" is a perfectly appropriate way to express an inability to possibly care any less: because we as english speaking people simply decided they are.
       So as Christians, how do we react to this knowledge? I know numerous Christians who swear like sailors, and I know numerous Christians who would readily rant for days on the sinful nature of certain vocabulary. Personally I can't agree with either extreme. I'm not particularly fond of swearing, but I also think condemning it based on simple assumptions made about a persons heart is a cheap way of enforcing legalistic behavior. Like on most issues, I find that most people (myself occasionally included) are missing the point. And the point is the gospel.

To those who would defend their right to swear all they want I have this to say:
       I believe stronger vocabulary can have a proper place in certin context. But how are you using your words to advance the gospel? Is your vocabulary drawing peolpe toward Christ and communicating the crucial truth of the gospel, or is it misrepresenting Him to those who watch you live out your faith on the daily? Be honest, and don't let your pride get the best of you.
                                   
To those who would condemn a more colorful vocabulary I have this to say:
       I believe there is a time and a place to call out fellow Christians on their misuse of the english language. But how are you using your words to advance the gospel? Is your condemnation coming from a place a judgment and legalism, or are you genuinly concerned with the way Christ is being represented by your brothers and sisters? Be honest, and don't let your pride get the best of you.                                                    
 
        The answers aren't as clear cut as you might think. I've personally been on all sides of these situations. I have, unfortunately, given negative impressions of what it means to be a Christian by using certain words and phrases, and I've called our friends of mine with unwholesome motives and a heart full of pride.
       But I've also had productive and healthy conversation with friends about legitimate concerns over how their faith is communicated through everyday conversation. And yes, believe it or not, I have used "swear words" in situations where I firmly believe it was not only beneficial but neccessary.
        It's a fine line, and there often isn't a clear cut answer. So here is how I believe we can find our solution:
       As with everything else, we should strive to live in a way that is both for sake of the gospel, and for the glory of our Lord. Let's take our focus off of being right or being offended and put it back on Christ.

And as promised, here is an interesting video for word nerds: