The Work of God is to Believe

Week after week, the same sermon is preached at church: sin is bad, don't do it. Sin is REALLY bad, stop! Shame on you for even THINKING of sinning! Here are forty things that we think are sin, you should stop doing them.

It makes me so very tired. It doesn't move me. I'm not convinced. I am not buying it. Sure, sin is bad and you shouldn't do it. There are a lot of good things you should do and bad things you shouldn't. But this information--or even the emotions it evokes--are absolutely worthless for producing righteousness. It looks great, but it's just the law, with no power to save or make holy. It has no hold on me--except to kill. And it has little in it to awaken the faith that actually produces righteousness.

I want to hear about our hope! I want to talk about the future return of the King who will bring all things under his government! I want to envision all the justice, beauty, nobility, holiness and peace of that day and feel humbled and challenged by the invitation to have a part in it. It is really real! We will see him and be like him! Those who have this hope will purify themselves.

Those who spend their time looking at their flesh and attempting to deal with the unending results of faithlessness--will they notice when Jesus returns, or will they be too busy "examining themselves" to look up and SEE?

Blessed!

The beatitudes: blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled, blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see the face of God, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted, etc. Here is an awesome set of verses that inspire us to endure when we suffer--WHY we can endure. Are these verses suggesting spiritual masochism, being sad should make you happy? If you aren't being persecuted, you must not be Christian enough? Try to mourn more, God likes that. Hunger and thirst for righteousness MORE--come on, you can do it!

No. I don't think this verse is lifted up primarily to tell us to be as oppressed and depressed as possible. I think it is rather instruction on how to endure such season. Think of it this way:

Let's say I buy something on the internet that I've wanted a long time. I used my paypal account and sent $100 for it. It will arrive in six weeks. Now, I can't do any more shopping because my money is gone. Poor me. I'm living without my $100! Now, we don't think that, that's dumb! We spend our time clicking our heels together because that thing is in the mail! We don't focus on the suffering of being without the $100--we focus on the excitement of waiting for what is certainly coming. "Blessed are those without $100, for your package is coming by UPS."

If you bear the fruit the believer: purity of heart, meekness of spirit, being persecuted in this world, mourning, longing....you can know that "our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." Far outweighs them all? We paid $100 and God is sending 1000 of those things we wanted? A solid gold one? One worth so much more it is absurd to even compare the value of what we don't have with what's coming? Wow, that's awesome. I'm blessed!

Provoking

Well, I have done it again. I took some of the kids and went to church. I really want to sing to God and pray for others and do the stuff you can't do alone. I want more perspectives in my life than just my own. But it causes a whirl wind of strife here.

I like this church because the pastor is mostly just reading scripture with a little commentary--hard to go too far wrong with that. The worship is pleasant--a mix of mostly choruses with a few hymns, staying mostly to lyrics with some depth and away from the chanting/god is my boyfriend tripe that sounds like it was created by a random religious gobbledegook generator. The people are nice, laid back, and have a long history of commitment to each other.

After church, we loaded up into the car, and the kids started in: "Mom, a kid in Sunday School said we read the bible to go to heaven. Why did he say that? I thought only Jesus has been to heaven? You don't get saved by reading the Bible! You have to have faith in Christ!" I explained that while heaven may be a misnomer, what they mean is that the Bible does tell about God's plan to bring us to him, and how in the end heaven and earth will be made one. In my head, I wonder if I am being entirely honest when I say that our hope of resurrection is the same thing as their hope of heaven. Is it?

At home, the drama continues as my husband picks up the slip they were given in Sunday School. It says, "Write down a verse that will improve your relationship with God." He goes on to have a fit about the kids being encouraged to doubt the security of their connection to the Father, and complain about the suggestion that they have the power to affect it. I grind my teeth and ask, "Don't you think believing more deeply in that truth would improve your end of that relationship? Sure, we are connected to God by his action and power not our own, but can't we better enjoy that by deepening our faith?"

We got to go to a potluck with the same church folks in the afternoon. It was pleasant. I hate starting over with yet more acquaintances. I don't need to meet more people, really, do I? I feel like I know everyone in town, and yet I am isolated.

The day ended with my six year old making the pastor's kid cry by telling him he isn't a Christian because he wouldn't share his toys.

I want some stinking common ground! Can we agree that the law will kill us? Can we set our goal as faith in the grace of God? Does anyone have a vision that God will call me to? I want a wheel that I can put my shoulder too, together with my brethren!

But no. Clean the house. Teach the kids. Feed the animals. Pull the weeds. Is community just us and our kids and our acquaintances? I don't want to teach my kids that all the other believers on earth are crazy. I want them to have a chance to feel they are part of something larger.

Scary God

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Doesn't that scare the crap out of you? He says a word, and an entire universe comes into being? No wonder they decided to come up with something less frightening-- like random pointlessness. I am kind of freaked out by a god (a god!) that makes stuff like that. He isn't like the nice Jesus paintings in Sunday School, not very huggable, not very waiting-to-hold-my-hand-ish. Have you ever stood on a mountain and been amazed at the height of it--the massive rock, the endless view. That breath-taking mountain is a tiny pimple on a massive earth. And that earth is the smallest speck in a spinning galaxy, one of countless millions, all made by a Word from the Great One. And he knows my name? I am inclined to ask you not to give Him my number.

Isa 6:5
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

End of the World: Cancelled

Okay, if there is anyone out there in blog land that DOES NOT BELIEVE this is the end of the world, will you post me a comment on why you are so optimistic?

Everybody seems to think that things are bad but that they are going to get a whole lot worse. Greenhouse effect will burn us up if God doesn't crush us with big rocks from heaven, the economy will stop and the gangs will burn the cities to rubble, whatever governments survive the chaos will outlaw anything righteous and make legal all manner of injustice and perversity, etc. Please, people, I'm trying to raise *CHILDREN* here! Throw me a bone! Give me one good reason to not jump in front of a truck! Something meaningful and convincing that will do for the whole tribe of us!

Brokenness

Time was when going to church and engaging with brokenness was awesome. I appreciated that my fellow believers were "real" with their fears, failings and doubts. Getting naked before God seemed like real faith.

Now, I have a squad of children following me, and I want them to think that the Christian faith works. I don't want to lay on my face sobbing in front of them for three hours. I don't want other people to make my kids think that being an adult is as baffling and terrifying as it really is. I want them to believe in the strength of a hero.

This creates a real schism. I still need to lay on my face sobbing. I am still broken and less sure of everything than when I was 20. However, I don't have this luxury: I must state what is true and comforting. I must stand in strength, even if I don't have it in me.

Careful

I didn’t want to sing wrong
So I didn’t sing at all
I didn’t want to dance wrong
So I didn’t dance at all
I didn’t want to respond wrong
So I didn’t respond at all.

When the game was over
They added up all the points;
And though I was careful not to lose any
I found I still had none.

On Homeschool Philosophy

Our homeschool group has a little debate going on about whether we should use state provided homeschool programs. This is a portion of my response to that debate:

I don't believe we will retain the long term right to homeschool our kids. That isn't the direction our culture is moving. Does the age of the Beast sound friendly to homeschooling? I don't think so. We can debate whether we might see that age or not, but it seems clear that before the end, freedom will be pretty squashed. Americans are consistently giving up their personal responsibility (and freedom) in favor of being taken care of. Is using school services just another fruit of this mindset? That's a question I have to put to my own heart.

I don't intend to sound overly pessimistic, but the reality is that our culture is NOT becoming more Christian and Jesus isn't likely to be elected president any time soon. Parts of the homeschool culture have projected a vision of a progressive take over of America/the World by making more moral laws and electing Christian officials. It is good to elect wise and good people to office, and it is good to make godly laws. Wearing clothes from the 1800s and making our own food is fun. But the Bible does not teach that the world will be slowly and subtly transformed in this way. Revelation indicates things will get really repressive before Jesus returns to set up a just and perfect Kingdom. Let's make the best of our times (because they are pretty good times), but have our eyes on THAT age, when Jesus radically revolutionizes the world --makes it a New World.

It's a nice place we have, but it isn't home. I think HSLDA's perspective tips a bit too much toward thinking we can vote a righteous governement into place--that this world is salvageable. By all means, lets preserve freedom as long as we can. But let's not be shocked when we find it a losing battle, nor lose hope: our world needs rescuing, and it will be rescued.

It's all Bad.

The world is controlled by theives. People are really, really messed up. The sun is colder than it should be. The oil is running out. Economic collapse and chaos are inevidible. The democrats are going to win the election. Iran is probably going to bomb us anyway. Then God is going to drop a "mountain of fire" in our ocean. THEN the angels say, "Woe to the earth for what is ABOUT to happen..."

My only comfort is that I have enough fat on my body to ward off starvation for months.

(There. If that doesn't get at least Gib to comment, I don't know what will.)

Wow. Double Digit Inflation.

I just read an article that was so pessimistic as to suggest double digit inflation as soon as 2009. The author went on to explain that oil, wheat, corn, coal, and copper have increased an average of 300% in the last few years while consumer prices have only increased some 3%. Apparently China is not going to support us forever and will be focusing more on supplying its own population, having eliminated tax incentives for exporting. I'm not so good at math, but isn't 100% per year more than "double digit" inflation? How is that our basic commodities could go up 300 fold and we only experience a 3% retail price increase?

Emily Dickinson Goes to Her Class Reunion

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us--don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

Thankful for Mercy

This weekend was my twenty year highschool class reunion. What a wave of emotions and memories!

"Stephen, how are you!" Steve's nickname was "beachball" from fifth grade. He remained overweight and often marginalized throughout school, though less so in highschool. A pretty decent guy, though. "Oh..." he's obviously thinking while he's drinking..."I guess I'm okay. Just okay." He tells me about his life, he drives delivery truck and enjoys the freedom of not being a cubicle. I want to hear more about it, and come to know this person I spent 8 years with and never discovered. But someone else comes by, and Steve's attention turns to them, and I move on.

Brian is talking to Marie. I wonder if Brian is still struggling with drugs and alcohol. He was fairly bright in school and good at drama, but there was some trouble at home and his life got pretty crazy after graduation, I heard. Marie was very bright, but silly and flitty. She is moving on after a recent divorce, trying out a new church when her old friends didn't know how to deal with her divorced state. She asks Brian, "So, what do you do?" He is giving her evasive answers--seems to think his job is too complicated for her to understand. She finally convinces him of her interest and he exclaims, "Why Marie, when did you become so literary!" Marie is annoyed: "I'm not just Moe's little sister! I did learn how to read, you know!" I pass by.

I settled with my plate at a table with Lisa. She's looking very pretty with a hair color I don't remember and a dress that definately isn't 80's. "I don't remember reading your bio on the website, " I begin. She says, "Oh, I didn't want to post my litany of relational failures." She's witty and open about two divorces and being a single mom. I throw out a name of a boy from our french class that we both flirted with and teased. She says, "Oh, I lost my virginity to him! I was 14. That was the beginning of the downhill slide." She seems flippant, yet with pain, and I feel like I've been punched. My daughter is 13.

Kim joins us, and I groan inwardly. Kim is a bankruptcy and divorce lawyer. She is extremely bright--I competed with her constantly in school, and I think I mostly came in second to her first in just about everything. She is energetic to the point of frenetic now, and aware enough of others to ask questions but not to listen to the answers. She is a terrible gossip, and always cutting. She, too is divorced, and is ready to throw wood on the pyre of the ex-husband roast. I get up to find some food. Kim is welcome to win this round--and any other round, I don't want to play that game any more.

Cindy is laughing too loud. She finally got away from the abusive older guy that she dated all through highschool, and married Jon, if you can believe that. She looks beautiful, and is telling the same story of giving birth "naturally!" that she was telling at the 10 year reunion. I avoid her.

Finally, I get a chance to settle down with several classmates who are discussing education. Trixie sat next to me in band. I remember her as down to earth, laid back, with a warm sense of humor. Tonight, she is emphatically recounting the struggles with the school district that she has waged to get her children what they need. She's wearing make-up, which she never used to do, and her hair is no longer soft and free. She is strong and articulate, but she says, "I'm tired."

Time changes us. And we can't go back to the time when we didn't carry so much. And so many of these people have been carrying much too much for far too long.

It isn't all a mosaic of pain, of course--some of my classmates have successful international businesses, happy marriages, or lives of service helping people in meaningful ways. But there are so many that seem to be limping along. And I was like them at 16, I was going down the same road as Lisa or Cindy or any of them. That could have been me with the abusive husband or raising my kids alone or hooking up with guy number 26. But God in his huge mercy decided to reach down and fish me out, even though I misunderstood and didn't "do it right" and still after 22 years I'm trying to grasp his love! I feel like I've had a glimpse of my life then--the twisting pangs to belong, but being awkward in my own skin. And I've had a glimpse of where I was going when God interrupted me, and I'm so thankful. I'm not worthy of what I've received, but I'm so thankful.

Follow the Money

Once upon a time, our currency was backed with gold. You could take a $20 gold piece to the bank and trade it for paper money valued $20, or vice versa. Then in 1933, our president sent out an order that Americans were to turn in all their gold and be paid for it in paper money. An ounce of gold would no longer be $20, but would move with the market. However, other governments could still trade in their dollars for gold, and did. America became very prosperous, and imported many foreign items, and paid for them in dollars. The foreign governments took advantage of the ability to trade these dollars for American gold, until the 1970s when our government began to fear that American gold reserves would be depleted and told them they could not trade dollars for gold. Which was a good thing because America imports much more than they export.

So why did other countries continue to use dollars when the value of them fluctuated against the value of gold? In short, other countries had to have dollars because all oil on the planet is bought and sold in U.S. dollars. Only a fraction of U.S. dollars in print are physically in the U.S. right now. Many billions of dollars are abroad, participating in foreign trade.

But the U.S. financial position is weakening. The oil trade will ultimately move away from using dollars exclusively. And when those dollars come home to roost, guess what that will do to prices in the U.S.? Have you ever seen pictures of post WWI Germany with the people carrying wheelbarrows of cash to go buy bread? Or wallpapering their bathroom with money because it was cheaper than wallpaper?

Inflation

Inflation comes from an excess of money. Imagine an island with five people living on it. They have 100 gold pieces. If one person kills a wild boar, a share of the boar is one gold piece. If someone helps you build your hut, you pay them one gold piece per day. But then, someone discovers gold on the island. Suddenly, there is 1000 gold pieces on the island, not just 100. That same piece of boar's meat is now going to be 1/100 of the new money supply, or 11 gold pieces. Of course, if the weather is terrible, you might be willing to pay a greater portion of available funds for shelter, and if you just filled up on fruit you might be unwilling to pay for meat. But all things being equal, you will pay a certain portion of what you have for your needs, and if the people have more money they will spend more money and prices will go up.

But we aren't on an island, and we don't keep discovering more gold. Our money comes from the government controlled banking system. This central banking system loans money to banks at a set interest rate. The banks mark up that interest rate so they can make a profit, and make loans to businesses and individuals who, in turn, buy things with it or invest it. If the central bank lowers interest rates, money seems cheap to borrow and people respond by taking out loans and putting money to work in our economy. However, this increases the amount of money in circulation and drives up prices.

Question: why would our government take actions like, say, sending free money to everyone, when it will drive up prices? Answer: because America is wretchedly in debt. If we took everything everyone on the planet produced for two years, we might be able to just pay off what we owe. Do you think the whole planet would mind donating their productivity? No? Well, then, let's make our money as worthless as possible. Inflation means that we can pay back our debts with dollars that are worth less than the dollars we borrowed.

Let's say I borrow $1000 to buy a cow and that cows cost $1000. Then, let's print more money so that the value of the cow is now $1500 (the value of cows being one billionth of the total money supply). I can now sell that cow and give you back your $1000 and pay you back--with 3% interest--and you still won't have enough to buy a cow any more. Inflating your currency is a way of getting out of returning borrowed value. Stealing, in a word.

What Difference Does it Make?

A friend recently expressed that she felt that studying the nature of the Kingdom of God and researching the apostolic faith was pointless and that it lead to division. After all, we all believe Jesus died for our sins and are trusting him to save us, right?

That is fundamentally true. Baptists, Catholics, Pentecostals, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Lutherans, and many stripes of religious people will affirm that Jesus died for their sins. However, I think most within those sects will loudly protest at being lumped together. JW's don't believe Jesus was God! Catholics pray to Mary! Baptists don't embrace speaking in tongues! Pentecostals say tongues are necessary for salvation! So, apparently we do agree that a line of orthodoxy exists beyond just trusting Jesus for salvation. But can we know what is true? Is there any point to reading the Bible to find out what it really teaches when so many have done so and came to wildly different conclusions?

I believe there is. I believe that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and that the coherent message of the Bible is perceivable and effective. Truth will set us free, and is the basis of our love and fellowship and hope. To close our eyes to the unfolding revelation of truth is a terrible waste. We can know what we are hoping for, and we can see it in the Bible and enjoy our heritage. The process of discovery can be a quest we engage in together, if we have the humility to listen to each other and the perseverence to work at discovering what the Word really says, even if it runs counter to our traditions. I am not talking about trying to get every tiny point right, I am talking about understanding the very basic things like who God is, why Jesus came, and what following Christ is all about. If we have a solid biblical core, the little things will tend to fall into place. If our core understanding of God is off, there will likewise be a cascade of error and pain. The Bible may have some little translation errors or pieces that aren't perfect, but the core message is intact and lights up throughout. We can know why Jesus came. We can know the way of righteousness.

PreTrib Rapture

I just finished listening to John MacArthur's latest sermon, describing the dreadful events of the book of Revelation. He holds out the hope that the wrath poured on the earth is for unrepentent sinners and that believers will not suffer it--they will be removed first. And I can't argue that it is biblical to say that "God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, but I wonder how he reconciles the teachings of Christ with a pre-trib rapture. Look at the scripture, for example:

Matt 13:24-30"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
28 "'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
29 "'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'" (from New International Version)

Are the servants told to pull the wheat out first? No. First weeds get burned, then wheat comes into his barn. If the saints get sucked out of the world before the burning starts, wouldn't he have told them to bring in the wheat and then destroy the weeds?

Three Days in the Grave

Question of the day: what happened to Jesus when he died?

Did he go to hell, as certain creeds affirm based on 1 Peter 3:18-20: 18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built." The scriptural evidence for Jesus visiting the place of the damned is very weak and counts on fairly bizarre reading of the passages. The verse in Peter appears to mean that the spirit of Christ bore witness to the disobedient people at the time of Noah.

Did he go to "paradise", as one could conclude from his remark to the theif dying next to him, in Luke 23:43, Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." If he was in heaven (i.e. where God lives), why does he tell Mary in John 20:17 "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father." Perhaps it would be more accurate to render the quote, "I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise," moving the word 'today' from modifying when they would be in paradise to when Jesus was talking.

Did he cease to "be", disappear like a cloud?
Ps 6:55 No one remembers you when he is dead.Who praises you from the grave?
Job 7:8-98 The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more. 9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to the grave does not return.

Ps 104:29-30
9 When you hide your face, they are terrified;
when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.

Can you create something that already exists?

Job 34:14-15
14 If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, 15 all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust.

Mark 15:33-37
33 At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" ….37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

Did God withdraw his breath from Jesus so that he returned to the dust? Was the nature of the death of Christ like our death or unlike it?

Restoring the Image

An apple cast
shattered the mirror
We reflect now
Your image in fragments

We fumble with bloody fingers
helpless to restore
And straining to see
Taking the pieces for the whole

Restore your image, Lord
We want to see you clearly
Make us the reflection once again
Make new the looking glass once shattered

Through a glass darkly
We long for the day
When the Perfect One comes
and the imperfect will pass away

You are greater than
our fractured lens can see
You are more magnificent
Than our dim light illumes

Restore your image, Lord
We want to see you clearly
Make us the reflection once again
Make new the looking glass once shattered.

Nothing Will be Impossible

I went to church today. There's a close knit body of believers that gathers in a local movie theater, and I thought some air conditioning and quiet meditative time with other believers would be refreshing. And I am refreshed! The speaker used lots of scripture in his talk, and you know what? The Bible is stuffed full of hope in the coming Kingdom of God!

The sermon was from Matthew 17, the section on the demoniac that the disciples couldn't heal. Jesus tells them that if their faith is small as a mustard seed they will tell a mountain to move and it will. Unfortunately, the preacher chose to dwell exclusively on 17:21, which isn't in all manuscripts, and probably wasn't part of the original. He used it to springboard his content on prayer. His point was, "Prayer is hard because God is distant, but it is important for you to do it anyway." He said that he didn't understand a lot of the things that Jesus said, and I think that is because he doesn't really understand the Kingdom of God. That's something I want to understand better, because I think it lights up the words of Christ.

I am really encouraged by the text:
Matt 17:14-20
14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."
17 "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
20 He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can [shall] say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.(from New International Version)

His disciples came to him, confused and frustrated (and maybe embarassed) by their lack of effective ministry. And Jesus basically tells them not to worry. They have baby faith, but when it is full grown it will have the power to do anything. The words "little faith" are rendered in some translations as "unbelief," but that is not accurate. The greek word there appears only this passage, no where else. It is from the words that mean "puny" and "faith." The next sentence he says that if they have faith like a seed of mustard (a puny but powerful thing), they will ultimately have effectiveness. Isn't that encouraging? Even if our faith today is small and confused and babyish, one day we will be full grown participatants in the administration of Christ's love, justice and restoration.

1 Cor 13:8-128 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (from New International Version)

This section on being a child is sometimes used to exhort us to come to maturity. However, it seems to me that we will not be what we are becoming until Christ returns:

1 John 3:2-32 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

Does your faith seem childishly puny? Mine does. But this is great encouragment! Jesus didn't expect us to have mighty, full grown power--we just have the teaser. We are *children* of God. What we will be has not yet been made known. But we will be like Jesus in his resurrected form when he comes back!

Let us not begin to think (or continue thinking) that this is what we'll be when we are mature. We will not have real maturity until Christ returns--until then, we are just children--dearly loved and accepted, but having not come into our inheritence yet. Our appropriate response is joyful expectation and humility.

Stone and Shadow

Our Christian hope is more like this stone that it is the shadow. Very often, we feel our hope in Christ is more wishful thinking or "spiritual reality than something we could stand on. I know people don't say outright that it is just intangible reality--a shadow, but it comes out that way. They look at scriptures like "Ask whatever you want in my name and it will be given you," and they take it for now, and then they have to bend it and soften it to make it true. They put conditions on it--you didn't ask right, you didn't believe right. But taken at face value, that is a pretty card blanche guarantee. What if Jesus was being serious? He does appear to be offereing something solid like a stone, not shifty like a shadow. A day will come when we will have whatever we ask for. And our requests will truly be righteous.

Here's a scripture that is also taken figuratively or spiritually:
Isa 40:3131 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. NKJV

"Waiting" as I have understood it means to meditate and sit still before the Lord. However, we can rip off the Christian face, and just "wait on the Lord" the way everyone else waits. That is, patiently observe the passing of time. If we wait, we will "mount up with wings like eagles," literally:

1 Thess 4:16-1816 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

We rob ourselves of a real hope when we take just the shadow of reality that we have right now to be the full substance. Yes, we have the Holy Spirit and the promise that Jesus will be with us always. However, that tenuous and subjective reality is temporary. If we wait for the end of this age of faith, we will have the substance of these outrageous promises. We will mount up on wings like eagles. We will have a physical body that will rise up in the air, that air will rush past our physical ears and "with our eyes we will see God". Right now, if we are honest, we do grow tired and we do faint and our bodies get worn out and we fall. However, this will not always be so:

1 Cor 15:51-5351 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

And how will we be changed? We will no longer be subject to the weakness of the body, it's mortal nature:

1 Cor 15:53-5453 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

I've heard so many sermons on our victory in Christ and walking in it. But how hollow these scriptures are when we take them for now. These are promises of His Kingdom--when King Jesus takes his rightful place to rule the world, with the saints he redeemed, transformed and resurrected. Yes, we can rejoice that our sins are taken care of. But the implications of that--that we will now have Life--that remains to be seen. We make a terrible mistake to believe we have anything but the scarcest taste of the promise today.

I encourage you to read the scriptures with me and find the nuggets of hope in the resurrection. Our hope is yet to come, and it isn't figurative or immaterial or subjective. It is overwhelmingly powerful, tangible, and starkly real. It was enough to give the apostles boldness. And they were guys that were bumping along living the life of subjective faith that we live with too. Paul wanted to go to Asia, but the spirit prevented him. Why did he want to go there if he was supposed to be lead by the spirit? Peter was going around acting like a jew when the jews were around and compromising the gospel to placate men. The apostles didn't have the fullness of the kingdom. They suffered confusion, conflict, frustration. They didn't get whatever they asked for. Instead of running and not growing weary, they got persecuted and killed. But they weren't bothered because they knew that the Kingdom would come, and all the promises would be made good, as evidenced by the resurrection of Christ. When they saw Christ raised, it was the outline of the shadow of the full deal: a redeemed earth with physically raised saints. Let's not settle for less.