Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Work in a Life

I have been trying to read a lot of books lately because I am trying to teach myself as much as I can while I have a lot of time on my hands so as to best maximize my time. I was convicted tonight though: in all my learning, is it changing my life? With this question in mind, I'm not going to slow down my learning but I do hope that in thinking about it, praying about it, and then, Lording willing, acting upon it, I will start to see my life change and reflect all of my learning. I don't want to be a guy who can tell you a bunch of stuff but then when that stuff is compared to my life, they don't match up. I want people to see my life and then understand my life after they get to know what I know. I have much to learn in life and I have much to change in my life but I know that God is faithful and He will complete the work He has started and all I have to do is my best to do what He commands and I should turn out alright.

I just finish a book about the sovereignty of God and while I have about 40 pages left in the book, I started to think about how this topic would impact my life. The book presents some ideas but then I was trying to think of personal things for me. I came up with a few:
The sovereignty of God impacts how I make decisions. Knowing that God is sovereignly in control of everything mean that I don't have to have all the answers in life. All I have to do is to make the best decision that I can. I can make a decision because I know that God is in control so I don't have to worry about making the wrong decision because God is the one who is making all things work. That doesn't mean there is no such thing as a foolish or stupid decision but that if I am doing my best to seek counsel from God and people more wise than I am and then make a decision, God is going to use that even if it isn't in the way that I thought that He would use it.
The sovereignty of God impacts why I make decisions. Similar to the first but I do think different enough to mention separately. God is sovereign but that doesn't mean that I just do nothing. It means that in everything I do, He is working. Does this encourage me to sin? I hope not. I hope that this encourages me to think of Him in my planning and decisions more. I don't use God's sovereignty as a scapegoat but as a guide. Because God is sovereign and He has laid out His plan for the world in His Word, I know what is going to happen and why it is going to happen and so I can make my plans to further His purpose here on earth. I want to make decisions that promote the glory of God, bless those who are around me, cause me to love Him and others more, and make me into His image.
The sovereignty of God gives me hope. I like to plan and to figure out ever angle that I can and to then do those plans. My plans never tend to have gone according to plan, something always seems to change and then I make new plans. Luckily, I like to plan. I will continue to plan for the rest of my life because I think it is good to have a plan, but in my plan making, I know that God is in control and that I can't try to hold on to my plan. I have no idea what is going to happen tomorrow let alone 2 years from now or 20 years from now, but I am still going to plan for them. I want to do ministry, have a family, and impact that world for Christ. Two of those things, I am very positive will happen because I will not be content in life if I don't do them and I think I have done this up to this point in my life but I want to continue doing them and to do it better and in greater quantity. However, I have died once and I could die tomorrow and never get a family. I would be in heaven, that wouldn't bother me! If left alone, I know I will not be as productive in my life, if I live a long time, as if I had a family because a family, I have heard, makes you grow up and get serious about life. I want that. I don't want to be a kid (I don't think most would call me a kid but still, excel still more). If God blesses me with a family or not though, I don't have to worry about. All I have to do is to spend the time I have as best I can and allow God to work out the rest. This is why I can have hope in life because God is in control and sovereign. He takes care of everything and I don't have to worry about the next day. He is going to provide the things that I need, even if it isn't in the way that I think it should be. He is good. He will provide. I think I can now be excited for life to happen because I just get to ride the roller coaster and have fun along the way doing what I love to do: learning and teaching about the things of God.

Book Review: "The Sovereignty of God"

So I will start off this review with this: if you have not read this book and are saved, get off your butt and read it! "The Sovereignty of God" by A.W.Pink is a book that could almost definitely change your life. Honestly, it does take a while to go through, it took a whole day longer than I had expect for me to get through it but I must encourage you to persevere through it because it is golden. If nothing else, it will challenge everything you know about how life works. At best, it will give you are great respect for God, change how you make decisions, and give you hope for this life. Pink does a very good job of using scripture in his book so he argues his points well but then he also goes after the obvious objections to his points and disproves them so that you can see they he is actually dealing with most all the major problems. He says that this is a little book that barely touches the subject, which is technically true, but it is also a great resource to read because he actually covers quite a lot for such a small book.
There is one thing that really stood out to me that I'm not sure if I agree with/understood his viewpoint and that was on why sin is in the world. I will have to do more research on that but that was the only major flag that I currently remember about the book. The rest I thought was basically good. He gives good arguments and I'm going to take what he said and compare it to scripture as I read through my bible but I think in generally he is fairly sound though may be slightly off on some of his stuff. I can't remember specifics but I do remember questioning a few things he said but again, I still think he hit the nail on the head with this book and I think you so go and read it this week. It really is very good.

Monday, May 2, 2011

How to Spend a Life

In the eyes of most, and I would agree with them, I am a young man. Most would say that I need to be taught more and need to go to school and spend thousands of dollars on a degree and then I will be an adult and ready for the world. i would agree that this is a good path and that most would need to follow it. College has a good place in our society and most people aren't grown up by the time they get out of high school and they need time to grow and they have more to learn and college is a good place to that all this. I'm not saying that I have arrive and that college has no place in my life and I don't need to learn more. I have much to learn, I love to learn, and I will spend the majority of my life learning. No, my problem is not that I'm grown, my problem is that I have the gospel and it compels me to do more.
I could go to college, affect those who are around me for Christ, spend thousands of dollars, learn a lot and get a degree. I could also stay here, get a job, affect those around me, learn a lot, save money, and get no degree but meet a bunch of people and network and live out my life so that people know me by my actions and life and not by a name and title. I see two paths I could take, the first being harder at the beginning and easier at the end while the second being easier at the beginning and harder at the end. What am I to do?
I have had a unique life, one that I know of no one who has had a similar one and not done big things. This is not to say that I am marked for greatness but I do think that I'm marked for something. I don't think it will be easy, for the kind of person I am, if it could be easy, I would make it hard, but that doesn't mean that I should try to make it easier. At the end of my life, I want to say that I have worn myself out for Christ. I want to be a beaten and battered pot by the end. I don't know what this is going to look like for my life but I do know that it won't be normal. This is not to say that normal is bad or easy, I think normal is just as hard, but it will be different. I know that God has some plan for me and I am excited for that. A dear brother told me yesterday that he doesn't know why but for some reason, I needed to get ready, for what ever is to come. So I shall.
A quote that has been on my mind for 3 years is this: "I frequently hear persons in old age, say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as i can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age." Jonathan Edwards.
I think college would be a good use of my time but not the best use of my time. I think that getting a job and saving money would be a good use of my time but not the best use. I think that doing ministry right now would be a good use of my time but not the best use. The best use that I see for my time is to do all 3. I think this will be difficult and very wearing on me but I only have 1 broken body to use up and so I will use it as much as I can until God decides that it is enough.

An objection comes to my mind at this point about all that I have written. What about Ecclesiastes? Isn't there a time for everything? a time for school, work, and ministry? Yes, there is a time for everything, a few hours here and there each day for each. Life is so short. We only have a few years here on earth and if we spend our time the way that the world tells us to and not how we are compelled to through scripture, then we are not spending our time as the best we can. We will all be held accountable for how we use our time, are you using it the best way that you know how for your life? Each life is going to be very different from the next, we are all not the same which is the great thing about God and His creation, He doesn't make cookie-cutter things, we are all unique. I am not trying saying that one life spent one way is better than another. What I am trying to say is that we must all think as to how we can best use the little time that we have. I am fairly sure that I have less time than most people my age and so I want to make the most of the time that I have left. Do remember though, we each only have so much time and we don't know how much that time is. Spend each day as best you can for that is all that you can do in life is your best. Try to take every thought captive. Try to maximize each hour and minute. Don't waste meetings and times of fellowship. Live your life as if you only had a few days left because you might only have a few days left. Trust me, I know this from experience, the end comes up on you quick.