Do you have a compartment for God?

Can we have a beneficial moral discussion without having an objective source of morality?

The Quiet, Gradual Drift of Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual warfare does not necessarily involve lots of noise, overt carnage, tremendous drama, or heads spinning around in Exorcist-like fashion. If a person gradually drifts away from God in peaceful, quiet apathy thinking, [with a big yawn] “none of this stuff about God really matters” …the Evil One is perfectly content with the end result.

Where Is God In Our Troubled And Chaotic World?

Sometimes the world appears to be so troubled and chaotic it may seem like God has turned His back and is no longer there.

God has created human beings with free will and there will be people who will exercise free will in ways that are terrible, foolish, dangerous, tragic, inhumane and, yes, evil. If God were to intervene and stop a person from exercising his/her free will, then it would no longer be free will.

But God has not turned His back.

Our understanding is limited. I realize remarks like this can sound like trite cop outs when tragedies occur but it is true. We only see in a partial way. I do not write this to excuse or minimize the atrocious things which happen in our world. They anger me and they break my heart.

I only mean to suggest that as we try to analyze and think about the events in our world—as we try to make sense of what surely seems to be senseless—we are doing so with limitations in our knowledge and understanding.

When I am frustrated by the pain, turmoil and hate in our world and I think, “Where are you, God?” it helps me—at least a little bit—to remember God understands what it means to be the recipient of pain, turmoil and hate in a very personal way. He is not a deity who stands removed from the difficult realities of life. He is, the Bible reminds us, a God with wounds.

Life can definitely be perplexing and perhaps we will not always be able to see it, but He does care.

Growing In Our Ability To Love

It is possible to grow in love. In other words, we can grow in our ability to give and receive love. We can grow in our ability to express love honestly, graciously and practically.

Because God is love, growing in love would mean an increasing manifestation of the truth of God in our lives.

Surprised To Meet God

I like reading or hearing stories about people who are not religious—people who were not looking for a spiritual experience—but they have an encounter with God. Believe it or not, God is capable of surprising people in this way. Sometimes He shows up in our lives when we never expected such a meeting.

He is not concerned with the religious trappings many people value. He’s more concerned that we recognize Him honestly in love, humility and repentance acknowledging the truth of who He is.

It’s cool to hear of people coming to God and finding that unexpectedly, it is actually more of a relief than they realized.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

God Is Available To Regular People

Some people want to make their job seem more complicated to others because they assume it will make them come off as valuable and necessary.

Believe it or not, this happens in the world of church work, as well. There are ministers and other church workers who want to make Christianity seem complicated because they believe it makes them appear to be more important and more essential to the spiritual journey of others.

It is true that theology is a deep and significant area of study. God and the truths of God have been examined, analyzed, thought-about and written-about in ways that are intellectually profound and deeply challenging. In fact, I am impressed and thankful for the rich intellectual heritage of the Christian faith.

However, based on the Bible—and particularly on the life of Jesus—I do not believe God’s intention is to make knowing Him and walking with Him so intellectually difficult that only extremely brilliant and learned people will be able do so.

Don’t be intimidated by people who want to be gatekeepers and control your access to God. God is available to regular people like you and me.

I’m glad He is available to regular people, aren’t you?

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  Matthew 19:14

Taking God Seriously

Spending time in solitude and prayer is an act of taking seriously the idea that God is real, that He is available to us, and that He is capable of being with us in a meaningful, personal way.

God Is Not Out To Get You

I had an informal discussion with a couple of people recently and in response to their concerns about spiritual matters I felt compelled to say something I have said many times. Even though I have said this many times, however, it seems necessary to repeat this truth again and again because there is a persistent misunderstanding with which many people seem to wrestle. The truth is: God is not out to get people.

Some people have gotten the impression that because God is a being of perfect justice this truth about His nature, in some way, indicates He actually wants to deliver punishment. The idea comes across like this: “God is watching our every move just hoping we mess up. He can’t wait for us to make a mistake and fall into sin. He loves it when this happens because then He can happily swoop in to deliver the severe justice no-good hooligans like us so richly deserve!”

[ Did you notice I used the word “hooligans” instead of “punks?” I’m expanding my vocabulary. ]

It is true He is a God of justice, however, He is also a patient God who is loving, merciful and gracious. We have assurance from His word that His desire is no one would perish.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3:9

God is not out to get us. He loves us. He wants us to enter into life with Him.

This is the most often quoted Bible verse because the truth it proclaims is so important and so vital: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

So, I’ve said it before but I will say it again: He is not out to get you.

Finding The Real God

“God cannot be rejected without putting something else in his place. The history of philosophy is largely a history of setting up God surrogates.”

Nancy Pearcey

Everyone has a god of some type, even those people who consider themselves to be totally without religion. Some people who object to the idea of God have—in their minds—established themselves as God in their lives. But since the reality is we are not God, looking to ourselves as God will end in disappointment.

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

Why Did Matthew McConaughey Bring Up God?

Many people who believe in God will say they can look back at the events of life and see what they

recognize to be the hand of God guiding certain events and experiences.  God’s involvement appears to be unmistakable.  If we are ready and willing to “see,” He is there to be found.  I thought about this last night when I heard Matthew McConaughey making his acceptance speech for the Best Actor Oscar.

This is the first portion of his speech:  “First off, I want to thank God, because that’s who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or of any other human hand.”

At the very least, that was an interesting thing to say in a room filled with Hollywood power players.  His gratitude to God was not greeted with thunderous applause.  (I’m guessing you’re not too surprised?)

Like many people I know McConaughey, obviously, sees God’s activity in his life.  He had the rare opportunity, however, to testify to that reality while 43 million people happened to be watching.