Reading from Tuesday, October 12

Hey what's up? So my last post was pretty gloomy and I just want to say a quick thanks to everyone who posted the encouraging and thoughtful comments. I'm getting feedback from all ends of the spectrum and I'm really excited about that. I will say that I am in no better place than I was last night, but I have given the situation some serious thought. I also listened to the first part of the new sermon from my church. In it, our pastor, Christian addressed the situation he's been seeing lately as he goes through the story of the Bible. That situation is that people are asking him a lot of questions about it. After the sermon and in his office during the week, he says that he is getting tons and tons of questions about specific things. Here's what he said about that:

"It is a sign of an unfaithful and an untrue depiction of Christian faith when all it does is present simplistic answers in such a way that it shuts down all questions. And on the other hand I think its a sign of a genuineness of a picture that raises more questions."

Yes. I am not a Biblical scholar. I am probably interpreting many of these things incorrectly, but the "unfaith" I felt last night was fairly separated from the text I was reading. I was going through some difficult stuff personally and cried out to God and did not receive an answer. So I tried living my day without God and without my faith. I said "Fine. God, you don't want to be there, then 'poof' - you're gone" This was incredibly difficult. As my night got worse I caught myself probably a dozen times starting to pray - stopping short and reminding myself that I didn't have God anymore. And this was a scary thing.

For so many, it's a knee jerk reaction when we are in a crisis to immediately start praying. Take that away and what do you have? There is nothing to ease your mind about a situation. Many others subscribe to the idea that "if it's in God's plan then it's meant to happen" Take God out of the equation and you no longer have that base of comfort and ease when things become difficult or uncertain. By this morning I was already praying again. I don't know where my prayers go, maybe they're getting to God, or maybe I'm just talking to myself, but I think if I ever divorced myself from my faith like I did last night, I would collapse. I would need to completely rebuild my thought structure and my personality and really who I am. Right now, keeping my faith just for the convenience of it is good enough reason to hold onto that thread.

Reading for October 12
Jeremiah 19:1-21:14
I honestly had no idea how dark and scary Jeremiah is. With verse 29:11, which I mentioned just as I started reading this book, I would have assumed that this would all be hopeful holly. This is the kind of stuff that's repeated over and over in Jeremiah.

¹⁴ I will punish you as your deeds deserve,
       declares the LORD.
       I will kindle a fire in your forests
       that will consume everything around you.' "

So, yes. Israel broke the covenant with God. They didn't follow the rules. So God is now free to do whatever he wants. That's not to say he wanted to bring all this destruction. Well, maybe he did - he's been talking about it for twenty chapters. 

1 Thessalonians 5:4-28
Life training.

⁹For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. ¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.'

This is another one of those sound byte clips that is so great and so encapsulatory (I can make up words) of the Christian faith. There is something here that I want to emphasize - in verse 10, Paul says "whether awake of asleep" - meaning alive or dead - we can live in harmony and unity with Jesus. The Chrsitian community in general has often focused fairly heavily on achieving the after life. How many times have you heard this conversion tactic?

"If Jesus were to come back right now, are you sure you'd get into heaven?"

Heaven is the reward. This life is the journey for that reward. That would be like a basketball coach focusing only on the trophy. Like this:

"Alright boys. Listen up. If we win this game, we get a trophy. The trophy is gold on the top with two little figures of boys in short shorts playing basketball. The rest of the trophy is comprised of plastic and a composite stone known as Trophoy, and it's just magnificent. So when you're on that court I want you to think of those two boys playing basketball, encased in gold. Isn't it beautiful. But don't make any mistakes! Mistakes could cost us that trophy then we'll be stuck with that lame 2nd place trophy. That one doesn't even have figures of boys playing basketball. So if you do make a mistake, make sure you make up for it and score some points so we can win the trophy. OK! Let's win that trophy! Trophy."

So what happens then is you focus so hard on this "trophy" that you forget to enjoy the game. You forget, or simply don't care to, help another injured player. You don't care to break the rules if you don't get caught. Whereas, if you focus on the "awake" portion of your life, and the fact that you can live together with him, while still on earth, is pretty incredible...


Psalm 82:1-8
The psalmist is calling God out in this one. In a nutshell -  "Why are you helping D-bags out while this group of twenty homeless widows continues to suffer. Here's a more elegant way of saying it:

 ² "How long will you ^[a] defend the unjust
       and show partiality to the wicked?
       Selah
 ³ Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
       maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
 ⁴ Rescue the weak and needy;
       deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

 Proverbs 25:9-10
Pretty simple stuff:

 ⁹ If you argue your case with a neighbor,
       do not betray another man's confidence,
 ¹⁰ or he who hears it may shame you
       and you will never lose your bad reputation.