Heart idols. Comfort.

I've heard it said several times that our hearts are idol factory's. Our hearts are naturally prone to wander from the Lord and replace Him with idols. Romans 1 says we have a natural bent to do this- we suppress the Lord in unrighteousness because we think the things we replace Him with will satisfy us more. I've also heard it said that for every idol we make in place of the Lord, there is an underlying "heart idol" manifesting itself.

If you wanted to go down as deep as you could go, a question you'd ask yourself is this one- why do I do the things I do? Many theologians would say there are four reasons why you do the things you do.

A desire for power, comfort, control, and approval.

For whatever reason it may be, my heart idol is conditioned toward comfort. And what ties closely to this is the idea of pleasure. I do what comforts me because it makes me feel good. Or, you could say, I do what gives me pleasure because it comforts me.

Because then, this heart idol exists, I go all other places to give me comfort and pleasure. This heart idol manifests itself in any number of ways. Let's use lust- a common sin struggle for men.

I am most tempted to turn to lust for comfort when I'm down.

Now, it would be a lie to say that turning to lust doesn't offer some amount of pleasure. Truth be told, it does offer pleasure. There is pleasure to be had in sexual things. If I turn to that sin, I turn to it because it's quick and easy and self satisfying.

Lust however, is selfish. It's a distortion of what God intended for good. It's rebellion against Him. These things are evident.

But even if I were to turn to sex in marriage, which is God's healthy and good outlet for desires such as these- If I turned to sex in marriage when I needed to be filled, it would still be an idol.

Is it wrong to desire comfort or pleasure? Not at all.

On the contrary-

The Lord says

"I am He that comforts you." (Isa 51:12)

One of the Holy Spirt's names is The Comforter.

2 Cor. 7:6 says - "God comforts the downcast"

Even more then these references, there are these in the Psalms.

"You give them drink from your river of delights"

"Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere"

"Your steadfast love is better than life"

"There are pleasures at your right hand forevermore"

Clearly, Comfort and pleasure are things that God possesses. They are things found in His character. They are things that God cares about. In fact, these things are so important to God, He asks us this question.

"Why do you... spend your labor for that which does not satisfy?" (Isa 55:2)

The question in effect says, Why in the world are you wasting your time with all of this junk? Why are you spending so much of your time and hard work, looking towards these things which do not satisfy?

Perhaps the entire summation of these great evils could go like this-

Jeremiah 2:13

For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out for themselves broken cisterns that hold no water.

This is the hideous nature of sin- of our heart idols manifesting themselves- God says you've traded my glory for crap. You've traded fullness for nothing.

If only we'd see that God's commands are for our good. Take for example, the command to love your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This explicitly commands us to not love our own comfort more than God. And what's interesting about all of this is, God says "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." (psalm 37:4)

Loving the Lord will bring comfort to your soul. Loving the Lord will bring your pleasure. "He satisfies the longing soul." And God does this through Jesus.

"I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall never hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

Jesus is the end of our search for comfort and pleasure. He gives us rest. He satisfies us with His steadfast love. God's glory shines in His face for us to see. And He has died to make sinners right with God- to give us more than we can ever imagine and all that He gives is in Himself. Eternal life is knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ.

I know what God has in store for me- It is the fullness of Himself. But I'll never be able to imagine what that is like. You'll never be able to imagine what it's like. Taste and see that He is good.

I don't quite understand why I go searching for life outside of Christ. It won't be found outside him. I hate that my search for joy has been outside of him.

Lord, forgive me.

God, I confess that life is found in you.
Lord, forgive me for turning away from you.

A child that's slow to learn and quick to turn away
-Blake.

Help me, Jesus. Please save me, Jesus.

I believe these simple words are at the heart of saving faith.
Help me, Jesus. Please save me, Jesus.
It's the humble recognition that you need help. More than that, you need saving.
It then takes the eye off your helpless self and puts it on the only one who can fill your need.
I'm a wretched sinner. Help me, Jesus. Please save me, Jesus.
I'm weak. Help me, Jesus. Please save me, Jesus.
I believe Lord Jesus. Help my unbelief. Help me, Jesus. Please save me, Jesus.

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, “Thus says the Lord!”

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.

-Louisa Stead

The enemy will try casting in seeds of unbelief

So, technically I'm doing this for my own good, but also for others good as well. There are a couple of folks who say they sit in the reformed camp (but really, it's more of a gnostic camp than anything) who have been sowing seeds of unbelief. In fact, what some of these folks have been saying is heretical. Satan and his messengers are crafty. They are liars and deceivers and they will do anything to deceive God's elect people.

Satan can and will do this to weak christians. He will try to do it (and often does) to strong christians. I'm convinced the tool that he uses most effectively is the bible itself. Don't get too bent out of shape when I say that, because it's true. Does anyone remember how Satan used SCRIPTURE when he tempted Jesus in Matthew 4? Let's not for an instant think he's not doing the same to christians today. Scripture is where God communicates Himself and His purposes to us. It's where we go to learn about the fountain, and drink from it. Because satan knows this, he will do anything he can to try and confuse us with scripture itself. So I'm going to give these people the benefit of the doubt. I do believe it's very likely they are believers. I believe it's also very likely that Satan has distorted their thinking with scripture. This can happen (and I would say it's inevitable that it will happen to all christians at least at some point in their life time).

Recently I've heard it stated by some people, that God created sin. The idea should make anyone gasp, but some people are arguing for this and they are dragging people into their misinterpretation and deception. The argument goes something like this. God created all things. Sin is a thing. God created sin.

Before I even get into the specifics, there is a reason why this argumentation is faulty. There are similar passages that use the words "all things". For example, the famous passage "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" If we take that passage literally to the T, I could distort it if I wanted to, to sound like this. "Jesus says I can do all things through Him. Becoming God is a thing. Jesus says all things are possible through Him. That means I can become GOD."
That's just ludicrous.

Scripture always interprets scripture. Romans 5:12 states that sin entered the world through one man. It doesn't say sin entered the world through God.

Well what about satan? What about the devil and his demons (or angels)? 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6, and Revelation 12 all seem to speak enough about what happened there. But if that still isn't enough, I'd like to introduce one more argument. You see, the reason why I'm writing this is because I am weak. I'm quick to disbelieve how God has revealed Himself. I'm sinful, and if given the opportunity, I will latch on to lies. It's been a temptation to believe this one.
What did Jesus do when Satan used scripture against Him? Jesus used scripture against Satan.

God said in Genesis 1:31 that everything he created is good. This is also mentioned again in 1 Timothy 4:4. Everything God created is good.

The word good in these passages does not necessarily mean morally pure (although it can.) These people will argue (and even rightfully so) that the word good here simply means God approved of his creation. It's like God saying, This is good! I approve! This argument is actually fine.

Habakkuk 1:13 says- Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor.

Sin is described as an unclean thing: a filthy thing in Isaiah 64:6. Foul and polluted are other words. If God's eyes are too pure to approve evil, then certainly they are too pure to create evil! He cannot look on wickedness with favor! And If God created Adam and Eve sinful: If God created Satan sinfully, He could not look upon his creation with approval! He could not look and say "This is beautiful!"

Now some of you may ask, why is there evil now? That's another question for another day.
Until that time, don't believe everything you hear. Stay in the word, and if Satan (or others) try to deceive you, be sure to fight fire with fire. Use scripture to fight the devil when he uses scripture against you.

I'm doing summer staff 09 (colonial pres). This is my second year, and I happen to be a good deal more excited this year. In fact, I remember typing a blog entry around this time last year stating that I wasn't all that excited and I wasn't sure why. Either way, the scale has tipped in the other direction for 09 and I'm "stoked" to serve. I happen to be the college aged summer staffer, which is certainly an exciting new adventure for Colonial and I both. Of course, this is more so an adventure revisted for Colonial. They've had college aged summer staffers in the past. Either way, it's been a while and I could not be more thrilled and the prospect.

There will be more to come on this later.

Why Johnny Can't Preach

David Gordon answers the question by stating "the media have shaped the messengers."
This book was well written, and frankly it shook me up. Gordon's analysis of culture and its affect on preaching/preachers is penetrating, and perceptive. This is a book that I would recommend to anyone who is looking to go to seminary. I would recommend this to someone who is a student of the word as well.

The book itself is divided into 5 chapters. Gordon says the preaching today is particularly bad and writes three chapters to describe why it's bad and one chapter that summarizes and offers suggestions to cure the problem. Gordon says Johnny can't preach, because Johnny can't read literature, Johnny can't write, and Johnny has forgotten the purpose of the pulpit. Gordon suggests that seminary students, preachers and the like read poetry and ancient literature, write hand written letters and prayers, and remember to keep Christ and the message of the cross central in preaching. Developing these sensibilities, Gordon says, will only help Johnny's preaching.

But more than anything, I think I found one of Gordon's last paragraphs most interesting.
"Before (or during, or after) seminary, the ministerial candidate can and should make efforts to cultivate the sensibilities requisite to preaching well. Perhaps the most straightforward way to do this is to follow the late James Montgomery Boice's example. When Boice left Stony Brook, Frank Gaebelein directed him to harvard university to pursue a degree in English literature. It is no surprise, therefore, that one of the late twentieth century's most natural an dcompetent expository preachers was Jim Boice. His pre-divinity training cultivated careful attentiveness to texts; he was a close, careful reader of texts long before he began his study of Greek, Hebrew, homiletics, or systematic theology."

Now this quote may not seem like anything too exciting, but as soon as I give you a little background information, it might. When God saved me over two years ago, I knew that everything would be different and everything in my life must change. I wanted to go into ministry, and had this idea that's where I'd end up. Since then, I've been told by several people that one of my spiritual gifts is teaching. As soon as I was saved, I changed my degree from business to english. I didn't necessarily know why at the time, only except, I had this idea that I might as well learn how to speak properly if I'm going into a ministry where communication is central. Ever since that time I've approached my major with this attitude: "The only reason I'm in school is to get my bachelor's degree so that I might go to seminary." God's providential workings are profoundly mysterious. I'm not positive I'll be going to seminary. I'm not positive what God's plans are for me. But from all I've been told, and what I have placed on my heart, it seems seminary is highly probable. It seems to me that my english major isn't worthless after all. It seems to me that God is behind it.

Time will tell.

So... a tat?

(Click the images to get the full picture)

So, one thing led to another the other evening. This is my tattoo idea. I think it's hilarious.
The tattoo would be on my right side most likely, around the ribs I imagine. Here's the idea.

The idea isn't entirely mine, so I cannot take credit for it's greatness. Billy and Day are the center of most of the inspiration. But sometimes you just need to make an idea your own.

Something like this would be put on my right side

Now, that right there alone looks pretty funny and pretty serious at the same time. If that was all I did, it'd still be down right hilarious. The check marks are an excellent touch.

These five Solas of the reformation would actually be put on something like this.
My skin color would actually probably be the color of the parchment. There would only be a darker outline to let people know that is indeed parchment.
Now here is where the tattoo gets that much more fun.

Martin Luther would be peeking over the the top of the parchment, Giving a thumbs up. He'd have exaggerated cartoony features. His left hand would probably be holding the top of the parchment and his right would be giving a thumbs up.
Here is what He looks like.

And here is kind of an idea of what kind of cartoony thumbs up I'm going for.
I think it'd be a good idea to have Luther's head be a bit bigger than his body. Just an idea. Finally to cap off the piece, two other famous fellows would be underneath the parchment kind of standing back to back, also giving a thumbs up.

John Calvin!

John Calvin would look like John Calvin. He'd be skinny, old, and scrawny. He'd be decked in full robes and unlike Luther, His whole figure would be revealed under the parchment rather than just half of it sticking out like luther would be.

The next fellow is none other than Charles Spurgeon!
Spurgeon would be full of life, and well round... it'd be a nice contrast to calvin.

I think it's also very appropriate to note that each figure (luther, calvin, and spurgeon) would have a very satisfying smirk of sorts on their faces. Spurgeon and calvin would be back to back giving a thumbs up as well.

For some reason, this idea reminds me of those mentos commercials where they hold out the mentos with that big smile on their face at the end of the commercial. Check it out-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwDKCaXF0is&feature=related

That is my idea. Grand right?