In October of 2009, I traveled to the great state of Colorado, specifically the cities of Denver and Colorado Springs. I had decided to do a big road trip to Colorado and Texas, do some mountain biking in the Springs, make some new friends, and then travel to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to visit some old friends. I arrived in Denver and stayed with my friend Jeremiah and met his then fiancée (now wife) Sarah, as well as friends Andrew and his wife. We had a great time of hanging out, teasing my friend Jeremiah, and playing the game apples to apples. The next evening I traveled to Colorado Springs and stayed with my friend Wes.
There was a terrible and equally unusual fog that fell right before my trip down, so the whole hour drive down was quite arduous. I followed the taillights of the car in front of me and thought to myself several times, ‘Gee, if this car goes off into the ditch, I’ll more than likely unwittingly follow the car into the ditch.’ The heavy fog caused me to flash back to when I was a kid and we took a road trip through the Talamina Drive that runs from Oklahoma into Arkansas. There was a fog that time, too, and there were these white birds known as egrets whose feathers had become too damp to fly with. This caused the birds to tragically encounter the tires of our Jeep Cherokee. My father hit several of these birds. The car in front of us hit a few more than we did. My father was quite jealous the driver ahead of us had a few more tallies. But I digress.
I made it to my friend Wes’ house and stayed with him. The next day I set out for adventure on my mountain bike. I had a blast riding different trails. Eventually, I decided to visit the U.S. Air Force Academy and traverse their scenic trails. At one point, I stopped by the visitor center to take a quick tour and grab some souvenirs for my parents. I was walking around the information center and reading different posters. One of the posters read something to the tune of making your parents and family proud by coming to the academy and making something of yourself that would be quite noteworthy. It was in that moment that I wondered to myself if my parents were proud of me.
And there in lied the problem I was not aware that I had: Comparative worth.
For a few years I had struggled with the idea that I am behind in life as well as that I am not as accomplished as I perceive I should be. If someone had a job that made more money than I do I wondered why I was not making more money, if someone had a home I wondered as to why I had not achieved a home, and if someone seemed more influential or clever than me I wondered why I was not just as much the same. I compared myself to everyone – specifically, people I did not even know – the people I compared myself to were not in my sphere of relationships.
And the problem is that my measuring stick was a blank ruler. There were no tallies to tell me where I should measure up to or how much I had achieved. I did not even know how long my ruler was. The trap I had snared myself in caused me to measure myself up against everyone, so it would make sense that the ruler would need to change to accommodate the person I was comparing myself to. I was comparing myself by impossible standards to immeasurable lengths. And to make everything a little more complicated, I wasn’t even sure whom I was measuring myself to. I did not compare myself to my friends, yet I did compare myself to people I heard about. These people I heard about were strangers that I had never personally met, yet I wondered why I was not as successful as their stories seemed to purport.
To go back to the thought I had at the Air Force Academy of whether or not my parents were proud of me: My parents have always been very supportive of me. They have always loved me and told me they were proud of me. If I told them I was going to barrel myself over Niagara Falls they would vehemently object, then I would wear them down, promise to wear elbow pads and a cup, and that simple assurance would serve to ease their troubled minds.
As far as accomplishment, I am the first person in my family history to graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree, and this extends to my aunts, uncles and cousins. I am the first person in my family to pursue a master’s degree that I will finish up in the next year to year and a half. I have a great job at the major university I work at in Tulsa, OK. I have been entrusted with mentoring students, discipling young men, helping young men grow into mature manhood, and the list could go on.
And for some reason, I did not think I had accomplished anything. And the demon in the midst of this delusion is that I could not see the accomplishments God had wrought in my life because I was comparing myself to everyone else. It is demonic to engage in comparative worth. I felt like I was a failure because I did not own my own business. I felt like a failure because there were not a few more zeros in my net pay every year. I felt like a failure because I did not own a home. Really, the failure that I was really engaging in was not seeing what I had and the lives God was working through me to change and better.
So, this thought of wondering if my parents were proud of me coupled with comparing myself to others lingered with me. I traveled from Colorado Springs to Dallas a couple of days later and stayed with my friend John. John and I went out to run some errands and eventually we met up with his now fiancée’s pastor from India. This was a delightful gentleman with a tremendous heart. You can sense his pastoral calling in the way he engages with people and shares his own testimony of how God has blessed his walk of faith. We sat at Panera Bread and this pastor asked to pray for John.
He prayed for John and to my surprise he began to pray for me. And while he is praying he made a few statements. One was that God had called me to teach His word, and I was not to stop doing so. The second mentioned that God was proud of me for who I was and how I have turned out. Obviously, God was trying to bring something to the surface.
I eventually left Dallas and came back to Tulsa. That following weekend I attended a men’s retreat. The night of the retreat a pastor was sharing about the problem of comparative worth. He spoke of how he had finally got the pastoral job he wanted, but then he began pushing himself harder and harder to achieve the nebulous concept of “more.” The problem was, he did not know what more was. This seemed oddly familiar as I did not know what the “more” I needed to accomplish in my own life was. He mentioned that he had become extremely stressed out, lying awake at night in a semi-panic with his mind racing on how he was to accomplish the impossible task of measuring up. He stated that he had become somewhat aloof to his family as he worked more and more. He went on to say that our only responsibility was to love God and make disciples. This was a ground-breaking thought for me. All I had to do was love God.
And that night, I lay awake in my cot in the cabin I was bunking. I lay there apologizing to God for trying to measure up. I apologized for comparing myself and wrapping my worth up in that instead of simply loving God. And then I asked God as to how I could love Him better. I then realized that I was still trying “to do” and “measure up” and in this “measuring up” I was trying to earn God’s love and/or respect instead of just loving God, so I rolled over and went to sleep to escape my circular thinking.
The next morning we arose and fellowshipped and shared some of our thoughts from the night before. I shared how I had realized I had a problem with comparative worth. I had been comparing myself to others. The problem was that I did not know whom I was comparing myself to. Furthermore, I had no idea what the measurement of “success” was. I did not even know what success looked like as I was comparing myself to other people I did not even know, and I had no idea where on the measuring stick I was trying to be.
A gentleman in the room heard what I said about “measuring up” and shared a vision that God had deposited into his heart of a courtroom. In this courtroom he stood on trial. He looked at the jury that was deciding his fate and found the curious and somewhat eery scene of jurors with no faces. He did not know who he was allowing to judge him. But then Jesus came into the courtroom as his lawyer and was able to clear him of the jury’s decision. Jesus put his arm around the man’s shoulders and led him out of the courtroom. The man turned back to look at the jury as he exited. In the vision, he turned back not because he wanted one last look, but because he was more familiar and comfortable with being judged by a faceless jury than he was being forgiven and pardoned of his sin.
And if you are like I was and need to break out of trying to “measure up,” you might find it easier to judge yourself as opposed to letting Jesus set the standard measurement for your life.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
I Am Not Back to My Old Self
I was having dinner with a very dear friend of mine the other evening and we were talking about what has transpired in my life. I began to explain to him that I felt like I was back to my old self. He said, “Well...you’re not back to your old self because your old self sucks. You want to be better than that.” I pondered that for the rest of the night as we continued talking. I realized he was right. I am not back to my old self. My old self would be a set back to all that I have experienced and explored during this last leg of my journey.
I realized earlier this year that I struggled with anxiety and with the nudging of a friend, sought counseling to overcome my tangled thought life of vicious, circular thinking. This brought tremendous freedom. I was able to free my mind and emotions from circular thinking. Circular thinking is when you allow your mind to become overfly focused on one thought and spend a tremendous amount of energy trying to figure out a solution. I think too much and that may be an understatement. I have teased myself a few times that my mind is like a hamster on its running wheel. The downside is that I do not have just one hamster running on a wheel, but a herd of hamsters running, each on his wheel. And these hamsters are not fed conventional hamster food. They are actually sustained by Red Bull energy drinks in their water bottles and crack cocaine in their food dishes. Red Bull had given my hamsters wings and the cocaine had made them fly for days and nights without food and sleep.
Now the truth that we all must realize is that not everything in life has a solution – at least not one our finite minds can generate. Life should often be spent going with the flow, for if we fight the tide we will wear ourselves out and drown in the watery depths below. And there is freedom in going with the flow, of rolling with the punches. There were things in life I desired to have the power to exercise control over, that I wanted to have mastery over. Yet in the end, the real master was the circular thinking, and I was a puppet to it. Being a puppet caused me to lose my edge, my confidence. It felt as if my eyes generated a blank stare that led down the downward spiral staircase of my soul. And the truth is, none of us are in control. Yes, we choose what we will wear in the morning, the kind of car we will buy and drive, and what kind of cereal we will eat in the morning. But ultimately, there are the bigger issues in life that absolutely dig delineating from our 5 and 10 year plans, our social constructs, our desires…you get the picture.
But in this freedom, I learned a valuable lesson. You can travel too far in life and experience too much to go back to whence you came. I have lost some things and people I held very dear, and at one time thought if such things were lost my world could possibly come to a crashing halt. I was surprised when I found my world still spinning and orbiting. It is amazing to know that life does not stop, especially when you think your whole life could hinge on a handful of desires, people, or occurrences. And that is the blessing in life. Your world does not need hinge on anything. I have often told students I work with that our goal must be to have our lives revolve and orbit around God; that all the things we think are important in life must revolve around God and not God revolving around everything in our lives. The things we think are important in life are like planets that orbit the sun, and the sun is God. Planets orbit suns but suns do not orbit planets. I have a friend in Colorado Springs, CO who puts it another way: he says we should strive to bend our lives around God. I almost like the way he says it better. The reason being is that when he says, “bend our lives around God” I develop a mental picture of me hugging God so deeply and sincerely that somehow I stick and melt all over Him. I’m like a candy coating of sorts.
And in this process of trying to have futile mastery over instances in my life, trying to orbit God instead of God orbiting me, and striving to bend around God instead of God bending around me I have been encouraged to change many things about myself, some good and some bad. I made a lot of changes, some changes I really liked and some changes I resisted because I wanted to continue being me. Sometimes you can change unhealthily, enough so that you don’t recognize yourself. And when you change too much you die on the inside.
Dying on the inside is the most painful of deaths. You may have heard of the “heat death” the universe will experience trillions of years into the future. This is when all the stars in the universe will burn out, light will slow its pace across the universe, and eventually everything that is contained within the universe will die from freezing to death. The universe will literally be a frozen, inescapable graveyard to creation. In my opinion, a man’s ego is a universe unto itself. What is said to him will either make him soar or ground him to inaction. And when a man dies on the inside, it is like a “heat death.” It happens slowly, over a succession of time. It is not all at once, but slowly he retreats to inner caverns of cold with thoughts of self-doubt and abasement as the stars in his eyes burn out and his universe grows cold. I was dying on the inside at one point, and yet I did not utilize a way back.
I have a quiet nature about me and it is not always easy for me to express my goals and desires to others. Often in my mind I comprehend what I am doing but it is difficult for me to articulate that understanding. I tend to work in secret and not openly. I prefer to craft what I am doing before I make it public. It reminds me of the process of losing 140 pounds that I went through. There was a time when I would rise early three or so times a week at around 6am to run a few miles. There are not many people up at that time of day, so to me it seemed as if my process was a secret to the rest of the world. Sure, the rest of the world could not see my sweat or feel my aching muscles – they could see me shedding the weight, but they could not share my process. It is the same way for some of my hopes and dreams. I do not share those things with everyone nor can I always articulate it. And the best way for me to accomplish some of these goals is to be like a crocodile.
If you ever watch a crocodile that is floating through the water you will notice that it is mostly their head that is barely above water with most of the body concealed below the ripples. It moves slowly and its eyes look around at potential prey. Then, when you are least expecting it the crocodile strikes. You thought it was slow and lazy before, but in actuality it was deadly the whole time.
I am reminded of one of my mis-adventures in Ghana, Africa. I had walked out on a concrete platform to take my picture with a stone crocodile. I was riding the statue like a rodeo cowboy as the photos snapped, arm extended as if I was riding a bucking bronco. I was laughing as I stood up and walking back down the platform when I looked down and saw two crocodiles swimming towards me. They were moving quite quickly as they had chosen a target to hone in on, and that target was me! I am that crocodile. You know I’m in the pond, but you may not take my presence seriously. I am simply floating in the water as I wait and watch and ponder. But as soon as I hone in and find something on which to wrap my steely teeth...I would say look out...but it would be too late by then. I will stick to my strengths of quiet ponder and subtle movement. It will seem as if an overnight success flashed before your eyes when in actuality it took many years to happen.
I am reminded of the story of a quarterback who was interviewed by a reporter. She asked the athlete what it was like to be an overnight success. He responded, “If being an overnight success means ten years of slugging it out in the trenches while going unnoticed, then yeah, it feels great.” This QB’s words are true, at least to me, especially since we do not think of an “overnight” success with the athlete’s definition. This is true to me because I do not mind working quietly and honing my abilities. There will be a day when my abilities will come to a greater light (and maybe not, and that is fine as well, as it is not really about me), but until the day I am touted as an overnight success (even though it took many years), I will work quietly and obscurely.
There will be an overnight success to the Kingdom of God, even though it has taken millennia thus far to advance as far as we have. Isaiah 11:6 offers a futuristic look at the impending utopia we will experience in a fully realized Kingdom of God. The animals that once preyed on other animals will now be docile and satiated by other means as opposed to the previous desire for bloodlust. I, like many people, look forward to the day the wolf will lie down with the lamb, but until that one day comes, I prefer to be the wolf.
I am not back, and definitely I am not my old self. I am not back to where I started, as I have chosen to move forward beyond that point and mindset. If we believe it is God’s will for us to go “from glory to glory” (II Cor 3:18) and continue to move away from our original nature, that means that my old self sucks. Maybe I had a good run despite sucking, but I sucked nonetheless. This will remain true till the day of my departure to the next life. There is a fire in my eyes and a sensing in my gut that I am not who I used to be or once was. I am not solely the crocodile in the pond that moves slowly through the water, nor am I fully the dominating wolf of the overnight success that is yet to come. But I am the oncoming storm. Watch the clouds billow from a far off distance in the sky. See the lightning scream to the ground and ignite the earth with fire. Hear the roaring and crashing waves of thunder sojourn in emanation. I have no intention of being back to my old self, especially with an oncoming storm brewing.
(C) Aaron Brown, 2010
I realized earlier this year that I struggled with anxiety and with the nudging of a friend, sought counseling to overcome my tangled thought life of vicious, circular thinking. This brought tremendous freedom. I was able to free my mind and emotions from circular thinking. Circular thinking is when you allow your mind to become overfly focused on one thought and spend a tremendous amount of energy trying to figure out a solution. I think too much and that may be an understatement. I have teased myself a few times that my mind is like a hamster on its running wheel. The downside is that I do not have just one hamster running on a wheel, but a herd of hamsters running, each on his wheel. And these hamsters are not fed conventional hamster food. They are actually sustained by Red Bull energy drinks in their water bottles and crack cocaine in their food dishes. Red Bull had given my hamsters wings and the cocaine had made them fly for days and nights without food and sleep.
Now the truth that we all must realize is that not everything in life has a solution – at least not one our finite minds can generate. Life should often be spent going with the flow, for if we fight the tide we will wear ourselves out and drown in the watery depths below. And there is freedom in going with the flow, of rolling with the punches. There were things in life I desired to have the power to exercise control over, that I wanted to have mastery over. Yet in the end, the real master was the circular thinking, and I was a puppet to it. Being a puppet caused me to lose my edge, my confidence. It felt as if my eyes generated a blank stare that led down the downward spiral staircase of my soul. And the truth is, none of us are in control. Yes, we choose what we will wear in the morning, the kind of car we will buy and drive, and what kind of cereal we will eat in the morning. But ultimately, there are the bigger issues in life that absolutely dig delineating from our 5 and 10 year plans, our social constructs, our desires…you get the picture.
But in this freedom, I learned a valuable lesson. You can travel too far in life and experience too much to go back to whence you came. I have lost some things and people I held very dear, and at one time thought if such things were lost my world could possibly come to a crashing halt. I was surprised when I found my world still spinning and orbiting. It is amazing to know that life does not stop, especially when you think your whole life could hinge on a handful of desires, people, or occurrences. And that is the blessing in life. Your world does not need hinge on anything. I have often told students I work with that our goal must be to have our lives revolve and orbit around God; that all the things we think are important in life must revolve around God and not God revolving around everything in our lives. The things we think are important in life are like planets that orbit the sun, and the sun is God. Planets orbit suns but suns do not orbit planets. I have a friend in Colorado Springs, CO who puts it another way: he says we should strive to bend our lives around God. I almost like the way he says it better. The reason being is that when he says, “bend our lives around God” I develop a mental picture of me hugging God so deeply and sincerely that somehow I stick and melt all over Him. I’m like a candy coating of sorts.
And in this process of trying to have futile mastery over instances in my life, trying to orbit God instead of God orbiting me, and striving to bend around God instead of God bending around me I have been encouraged to change many things about myself, some good and some bad. I made a lot of changes, some changes I really liked and some changes I resisted because I wanted to continue being me. Sometimes you can change unhealthily, enough so that you don’t recognize yourself. And when you change too much you die on the inside.
Dying on the inside is the most painful of deaths. You may have heard of the “heat death” the universe will experience trillions of years into the future. This is when all the stars in the universe will burn out, light will slow its pace across the universe, and eventually everything that is contained within the universe will die from freezing to death. The universe will literally be a frozen, inescapable graveyard to creation. In my opinion, a man’s ego is a universe unto itself. What is said to him will either make him soar or ground him to inaction. And when a man dies on the inside, it is like a “heat death.” It happens slowly, over a succession of time. It is not all at once, but slowly he retreats to inner caverns of cold with thoughts of self-doubt and abasement as the stars in his eyes burn out and his universe grows cold. I was dying on the inside at one point, and yet I did not utilize a way back.
I have a quiet nature about me and it is not always easy for me to express my goals and desires to others. Often in my mind I comprehend what I am doing but it is difficult for me to articulate that understanding. I tend to work in secret and not openly. I prefer to craft what I am doing before I make it public. It reminds me of the process of losing 140 pounds that I went through. There was a time when I would rise early three or so times a week at around 6am to run a few miles. There are not many people up at that time of day, so to me it seemed as if my process was a secret to the rest of the world. Sure, the rest of the world could not see my sweat or feel my aching muscles – they could see me shedding the weight, but they could not share my process. It is the same way for some of my hopes and dreams. I do not share those things with everyone nor can I always articulate it. And the best way for me to accomplish some of these goals is to be like a crocodile.
If you ever watch a crocodile that is floating through the water you will notice that it is mostly their head that is barely above water with most of the body concealed below the ripples. It moves slowly and its eyes look around at potential prey. Then, when you are least expecting it the crocodile strikes. You thought it was slow and lazy before, but in actuality it was deadly the whole time.
I am reminded of one of my mis-adventures in Ghana, Africa. I had walked out on a concrete platform to take my picture with a stone crocodile. I was riding the statue like a rodeo cowboy as the photos snapped, arm extended as if I was riding a bucking bronco. I was laughing as I stood up and walking back down the platform when I looked down and saw two crocodiles swimming towards me. They were moving quite quickly as they had chosen a target to hone in on, and that target was me! I am that crocodile. You know I’m in the pond, but you may not take my presence seriously. I am simply floating in the water as I wait and watch and ponder. But as soon as I hone in and find something on which to wrap my steely teeth...I would say look out...but it would be too late by then. I will stick to my strengths of quiet ponder and subtle movement. It will seem as if an overnight success flashed before your eyes when in actuality it took many years to happen.
I am reminded of the story of a quarterback who was interviewed by a reporter. She asked the athlete what it was like to be an overnight success. He responded, “If being an overnight success means ten years of slugging it out in the trenches while going unnoticed, then yeah, it feels great.” This QB’s words are true, at least to me, especially since we do not think of an “overnight” success with the athlete’s definition. This is true to me because I do not mind working quietly and honing my abilities. There will be a day when my abilities will come to a greater light (and maybe not, and that is fine as well, as it is not really about me), but until the day I am touted as an overnight success (even though it took many years), I will work quietly and obscurely.
There will be an overnight success to the Kingdom of God, even though it has taken millennia thus far to advance as far as we have. Isaiah 11:6 offers a futuristic look at the impending utopia we will experience in a fully realized Kingdom of God. The animals that once preyed on other animals will now be docile and satiated by other means as opposed to the previous desire for bloodlust. I, like many people, look forward to the day the wolf will lie down with the lamb, but until that one day comes, I prefer to be the wolf.
I am not back, and definitely I am not my old self. I am not back to where I started, as I have chosen to move forward beyond that point and mindset. If we believe it is God’s will for us to go “from glory to glory” (II Cor 3:18) and continue to move away from our original nature, that means that my old self sucks. Maybe I had a good run despite sucking, but I sucked nonetheless. This will remain true till the day of my departure to the next life. There is a fire in my eyes and a sensing in my gut that I am not who I used to be or once was. I am not solely the crocodile in the pond that moves slowly through the water, nor am I fully the dominating wolf of the overnight success that is yet to come. But I am the oncoming storm. Watch the clouds billow from a far off distance in the sky. See the lightning scream to the ground and ignite the earth with fire. Hear the roaring and crashing waves of thunder sojourn in emanation. I have no intention of being back to my old self, especially with an oncoming storm brewing.
(C) Aaron Brown, 2010
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Could There Have Been Anything More Distracting?
As many of you may know, I had the privilege to take a team of ten people (8 ladies, one other dude, and myself) to Ghana, Africa. Needless to say, we had a blast as we lived, laughed, soaked in the culture, and built relationships with many loving people. I have just now begun to write about my trip as I have spent the past few weeks since my return reflecting, maybe sometimes too deeply, about my trip. (This trip was probably pretty easy to think about but I ended up taking a hermeneutics class upon my return which rocked me a little as well.) I found myself simply wanting to be alone, and I sensed I was hiding out a little, from the outside world. I apologize to my friends upon whom I imposed my aloofness – I was not ready to articulate my thoughts.
Hence, I want to share a story that touched my heart. It was the last day of street evangelism. And although that is a story in and of itself, I want to speed ahead to the evening of the street ministry. We broke up into two teams of five. We left the North Kaneshie Assemblies of God Church in which we were headquartered out of in the City of Accra to go out into the community and share the Gospel with anyone who would listen. And we were surprised that most of everyone wanted to listen.
Previously, we had gone to homes and people would grab chairs for us to sit in and listen to us share and ask questions about their faith. This act of hospitality shocked me. In contrast, most people in the U.S. would have thought we were Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons and slammed the door in our faces. If not one of these two, if we had asked to talk to them about Jesus they would have given us replies of, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be somewhere’ or ‘come back some other time’. Yet, these people opened up their homes to us.
We went to this one particular home. Our contact, Pastor Ockloo, asked a lady if we could share the Gospel and evangelize as we were from the United States and on a missionary trip. The lady agreed and the chairs came out and we sat down. We had learned the best way to talk to people was to ask questions, as Ghana is 60 to 70% Christian, but many are nominal Christians.
There were four ladies we were speaking with. Quickly, the familiar questions began to fly: “Do you go to church anywhere? You do; okay, where? Describe your relationship with Christ? When you pray, what is your prayer time like?” And the questions continued to roll.
One lady tried to tell us that her cousin was a big wig in the Assemblies of God Church, which was code for, I’m not really serving God right now, I just don’t want to be confronted by you about my lack of relationship. Another lady had a genuine relationship with Christ and we were able to pray with her. And it was at this time the distractions began.
I had to ask myself, ‘Could there have been anymore distractions?’
While speaking with the group of four ladies, a woman who is sitting directly in front of me with her baby in her lap, pulls out her breast and begins to feed her child. Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate her providing her child nutrients and much needed care, but this was a major distraction! I immediately began to encourage myself with, ‘Eyes up, Aaron! Eyes up!’
Look, I’m just sayin’!
And then, as I’m speaking to the lady who is to the left of the lady nursing her child, a teenage girl comes out in nothing but a towel. Nothing but a towel! And then I exhorted myself again with, ‘Bounce the eyes away, Aaron! Bounce the eyes away!’
Now, the whole time we are speaking to the four ladies, the lady who was trying to sidestep our enquiries about her relationship with God by telling us she has a cousin who is big in the Assemblies of God, is about to fall out of her shirt.
I’m just bein’ real!
It seemed that the old school Lost in Space classic television show with the Robot came to life in my mind as it turned from side to side with arms flailing and yelling out, “Danger! Danger Will Robinson!” Except it was a little more personal with, “Danger! Danger Aaron Brown!”
Now, I said that this outreach was memorable. The instances just described is not what made the trip memorable, just to let everyone know.
Then we start to talk to the lady nursing her child. We began asking her if she attended church, and she tells us that she attends prayer meetings. That seemed a little odd that she would go to prayer meetings but not church. As we started to delve deeper, another distraction occurred. A cat starts fighting a dog! Hissing and barking!
Then, some friends of the ladies are greeting them but its loud yelling from about 50 yards! So I’m sitting silently waiting for them to stop yelling. And I’m wondering if we’ll be able to help this lady as it seems we are about to get to something important in her life. And while I’m sitting there, waiting for the conversation of yelling to end, one of the ladies looks at me and said, “We’re waiting for you to speak.”
I was thinking to myself, ‘Whose kidding who here lady?’
If that was not enough, some kids in the street started acting out so the Pastor stands up and tells them what time it is! But we made it back to the lady. And it is she that provides one of the highlights of the trip.
We asked her as to why she went to prayer meetings but not church. Finally, she says through the Pastor who was translating for us, “I had an abortion.”
Pastor Ockloo and I had a side bar about the situation, basically clarifying that she was going to prayer meetings to find forgiveness and things such as that.
I asked her, “Do you believe God can or wants to forgive you for having the abortion?”
“No, I don’t.” She replied.
I then asked her, via Pastor Ockloo, if she knew who the Apostle Paul was?
“Yes,” she said.
I asked her, “Did you know that the Apostle Paul murdered many many Christians before Christ appeared to him and he became a Christian?”
“No,” she replied with a look of surprise in her sullen face.
“If God forgave Paul, who killed lots of Christians, and Paul became one of the greatest Apostles, do you believe God can forgive you?”
The look on her face changed. She went from sullen with a light of life and hope in her eyes. And to my query she replied, “Yes.”
We prayed with her and connected her with the church.
She got up and had a newness of life was on her coutenance.
We connected the rest of the ladies with the Church and with the sun setting, we thanked them for their hospitality and giving us their attention, we left for the North Kaneshie Assemblies of God.
We began to talk amongst ourselves about all the distractions that occurred.
From the nursing mother, the girl in the towel, the woman about to fall out, the cat and dog fighting, the people yelling to one another, and the kids acting up, I told the team the only thing that could have been more distracting is if a car would have come crashing over the wall that was next to us.
Could there have been anything more distracting?
I think the real question is, could there have been anything more amazing than someone finding forgiveness?
(c) 2008, Aaron Brown
Hence, I want to share a story that touched my heart. It was the last day of street evangelism. And although that is a story in and of itself, I want to speed ahead to the evening of the street ministry. We broke up into two teams of five. We left the North Kaneshie Assemblies of God Church in which we were headquartered out of in the City of Accra to go out into the community and share the Gospel with anyone who would listen. And we were surprised that most of everyone wanted to listen.
Previously, we had gone to homes and people would grab chairs for us to sit in and listen to us share and ask questions about their faith. This act of hospitality shocked me. In contrast, most people in the U.S. would have thought we were Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons and slammed the door in our faces. If not one of these two, if we had asked to talk to them about Jesus they would have given us replies of, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be somewhere’ or ‘come back some other time’. Yet, these people opened up their homes to us.
We went to this one particular home. Our contact, Pastor Ockloo, asked a lady if we could share the Gospel and evangelize as we were from the United States and on a missionary trip. The lady agreed and the chairs came out and we sat down. We had learned the best way to talk to people was to ask questions, as Ghana is 60 to 70% Christian, but many are nominal Christians.
There were four ladies we were speaking with. Quickly, the familiar questions began to fly: “Do you go to church anywhere? You do; okay, where? Describe your relationship with Christ? When you pray, what is your prayer time like?” And the questions continued to roll.
One lady tried to tell us that her cousin was a big wig in the Assemblies of God Church, which was code for, I’m not really serving God right now, I just don’t want to be confronted by you about my lack of relationship. Another lady had a genuine relationship with Christ and we were able to pray with her. And it was at this time the distractions began.
I had to ask myself, ‘Could there have been anymore distractions?’
While speaking with the group of four ladies, a woman who is sitting directly in front of me with her baby in her lap, pulls out her breast and begins to feed her child. Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate her providing her child nutrients and much needed care, but this was a major distraction! I immediately began to encourage myself with, ‘Eyes up, Aaron! Eyes up!’
Look, I’m just sayin’!
And then, as I’m speaking to the lady who is to the left of the lady nursing her child, a teenage girl comes out in nothing but a towel. Nothing but a towel! And then I exhorted myself again with, ‘Bounce the eyes away, Aaron! Bounce the eyes away!’
Now, the whole time we are speaking to the four ladies, the lady who was trying to sidestep our enquiries about her relationship with God by telling us she has a cousin who is big in the Assemblies of God, is about to fall out of her shirt.
I’m just bein’ real!
It seemed that the old school Lost in Space classic television show with the Robot came to life in my mind as it turned from side to side with arms flailing and yelling out, “Danger! Danger Will Robinson!” Except it was a little more personal with, “Danger! Danger Aaron Brown!”
Now, I said that this outreach was memorable. The instances just described is not what made the trip memorable, just to let everyone know.
Then we start to talk to the lady nursing her child. We began asking her if she attended church, and she tells us that she attends prayer meetings. That seemed a little odd that she would go to prayer meetings but not church. As we started to delve deeper, another distraction occurred. A cat starts fighting a dog! Hissing and barking!
Then, some friends of the ladies are greeting them but its loud yelling from about 50 yards! So I’m sitting silently waiting for them to stop yelling. And I’m wondering if we’ll be able to help this lady as it seems we are about to get to something important in her life. And while I’m sitting there, waiting for the conversation of yelling to end, one of the ladies looks at me and said, “We’re waiting for you to speak.”
I was thinking to myself, ‘Whose kidding who here lady?’
If that was not enough, some kids in the street started acting out so the Pastor stands up and tells them what time it is! But we made it back to the lady. And it is she that provides one of the highlights of the trip.
We asked her as to why she went to prayer meetings but not church. Finally, she says through the Pastor who was translating for us, “I had an abortion.”
Pastor Ockloo and I had a side bar about the situation, basically clarifying that she was going to prayer meetings to find forgiveness and things such as that.
I asked her, “Do you believe God can or wants to forgive you for having the abortion?”
“No, I don’t.” She replied.
I then asked her, via Pastor Ockloo, if she knew who the Apostle Paul was?
“Yes,” she said.
I asked her, “Did you know that the Apostle Paul murdered many many Christians before Christ appeared to him and he became a Christian?”
“No,” she replied with a look of surprise in her sullen face.
“If God forgave Paul, who killed lots of Christians, and Paul became one of the greatest Apostles, do you believe God can forgive you?”
The look on her face changed. She went from sullen with a light of life and hope in her eyes. And to my query she replied, “Yes.”
We prayed with her and connected her with the church.
She got up and had a newness of life was on her coutenance.
We connected the rest of the ladies with the Church and with the sun setting, we thanked them for their hospitality and giving us their attention, we left for the North Kaneshie Assemblies of God.
We began to talk amongst ourselves about all the distractions that occurred.
From the nursing mother, the girl in the towel, the woman about to fall out, the cat and dog fighting, the people yelling to one another, and the kids acting up, I told the team the only thing that could have been more distracting is if a car would have come crashing over the wall that was next to us.
Could there have been anything more distracting?
I think the real question is, could there have been anything more amazing than someone finding forgiveness?
(c) 2008, Aaron Brown
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Tis' the Season...for Miracles
Matthew 14:18-20
And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
Jesus walked on the water (a miracle) to get to the disciples. Miracles have purpose. These instances are not to simply dazzle us, such as fireworks or the Macy’s Day Parade, but to accomplish a purpose. A miracle without purpose is simply an exhibition.
The miracle of walking on the water was not simply to display the magnitude and wonders of Christ’s faith, but to demonstrate the depths and lengths as to which Jesus was willing to go in order to reach and comfort his disciples.
Mark 16:6-8
But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.
But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”
So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
I heard a sermon not once, but twice actually, that emphasized the occurrence of Peter being singled out in this passage. The speaker stated that there are some scholars who believe that there is an importance in the act of “mentioning” in biblical texts. And in this particular passage, Peter was specifically “mentioned.” Now, some people will say that Peter was mentioned simply because Christ had designated him the Rock, Cephas in the Greek, and that Christ would found His Church upon Peter. That is true, but if you explore the previous passages, you will find that Peter had denied Christ.
Christ had poured all this time, effort, passion, compassion, and designation of appointing Peter one of the twelve disciples. Peter spent three and a half years with Christ and saw numerous miracles first hand, such as Jairus’ daughter being raised from the dead and the Transfiguration. Peter was the one who answered Christ when Christ asked, “Who am I? Really? Who do you think I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Anointed One. The Son of the Living God. Meshiach. Messiah. That’s who you are.”
It was Jesus who said, “Peter, you have received direct revelation from God Himself. You didn’t learn this in a book. You didn’t learn this burning the midnight oil pouring over ancient texts (not that it hurts any to do so). You didn’t seek counsel from the Pharisees or the Sadducees. You got this straight from God.”
It was Peter who told Christ, “I will never leave you. I’ll be here till the death.”
Yet Peter turned his back in embarrassment and shame to Christ.
And how does Jesus respond after the resurrection?
Does Jesus say, “Go tell the disciples to start the Church. As for that Peter cat, I’m through with him. I’ve had my fill. He denied me. Turned his back. Enough is enough with that redneck rabble rouser. I’ll make John the Rock. At least he loves me.”
No. The angel hangin’ out in the tomb tells the women who came to honor Christ’s body to go tell the disciples, AND Peter, that Jesus is going to meet up with them.
And Peter.
Jesus restores Peter.
It’s a miracle.
Just like Christ defied the laws of physics and crossed treacherous waters to meet with His disciples, and ultimately inviting Peter to join Him on the waves; so Christ crosses the treacherous waves of our lives and reaches out to us, and invites us out of our boats that we cling so desperately to, to join Him in the chaos and confusion that is seemingly licking and chomping to consume us.
And Peter steps out.
He does fine for awhile.
But he becomes focused on the circumstances and begins to sink.
As he sinks, he cries out.
Jesus lifts him up. He restores him to the boat.
Just like Peter…
…Jesus calls us to meet Him in the middle of our trials and circumstances.
Sometimes we do fine for awhile - sometimes we make it to Christ.
Sometimes we sink.
But there is Christ.
Pulling us up. Restoring us to the boat.
And the angel says, “Go tell the disciples, AND Peter.” And as the sermon went, the speaker said, “Maybe in that instant, God loved Peter…just a little more.”
Just a little more? you might ask with a raised eyebrow of skepticism.
Maybe it seems and we feel that when we are hurting the most, God puts an extra blessing, an extra grace upon our heads that cause us to “feel” as if God is so focused on us in our trials and circumstances, that He loves us just a little more. As if we’re just a little more special than anyone else at that instant in time.
And I think that is a miracle.
God did another miracle because He loved each and every one of us so much.
God made a way for Christ to reach across the expanse and trappings and confinements of the space/time continuum. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Imagine that.
God is with us.
Ordinary people just like you and I…
…and God chooses to be right smack dab in our midst.
For the first time ever since the garden, God is miraculously walking, talking, sharing, teaching, loving, giving, healing, raising up, creating, and divesting every single day with ordinary people like you and me.
Christ humbles Himself and divests Himself of His Deity when He took on the fashion of a man (Phil 2:7-9). A man born of a virgin birth, and He’s not on the ground more than a few moments, and God is speaking to His surrogate father in a dream to get out quick, fast, and in a hurry to Egypt so that Herod wouldn’t kill Christ. (Now, for each and every one of us, we might have strongly considered to stay in Heaven and not have to deal with all this giving up Deity and eternal comforts instead of coming to earth to save a rebellious humanity).
Christ lives in Egypt and eventually He is able to return to the heritage of God. Christ lives a sinless life. Performs so many miracles that the miracles are not all recorded because the author of John says there is not enough room to contain them all (John 21:25).
And He sacrifices Himself.
On a cross.
Cursed is every man that hangs on a tree.
He’s buried for three days.
Resurrects.
Its one thing to die, it’s a whole different thing to resurrect!
It’s a miracle!
A miracle that is for each and every one of us.
A miracle in which Christ crosses the sloshing sea and tempestuous waves of death and separation from this plane of existence, to restore eternal life to humanity.
And do we deny Him?
We all do from time to time.
But He takes us back.
It’s a miracle!
(c) Aaron Brown, 2008
And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
Jesus walked on the water (a miracle) to get to the disciples. Miracles have purpose. These instances are not to simply dazzle us, such as fireworks or the Macy’s Day Parade, but to accomplish a purpose. A miracle without purpose is simply an exhibition.
The miracle of walking on the water was not simply to display the magnitude and wonders of Christ’s faith, but to demonstrate the depths and lengths as to which Jesus was willing to go in order to reach and comfort his disciples.
Mark 16:6-8
But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.
But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”
So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
I heard a sermon not once, but twice actually, that emphasized the occurrence of Peter being singled out in this passage. The speaker stated that there are some scholars who believe that there is an importance in the act of “mentioning” in biblical texts. And in this particular passage, Peter was specifically “mentioned.” Now, some people will say that Peter was mentioned simply because Christ had designated him the Rock, Cephas in the Greek, and that Christ would found His Church upon Peter. That is true, but if you explore the previous passages, you will find that Peter had denied Christ.
Christ had poured all this time, effort, passion, compassion, and designation of appointing Peter one of the twelve disciples. Peter spent three and a half years with Christ and saw numerous miracles first hand, such as Jairus’ daughter being raised from the dead and the Transfiguration. Peter was the one who answered Christ when Christ asked, “Who am I? Really? Who do you think I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Anointed One. The Son of the Living God. Meshiach. Messiah. That’s who you are.”
It was Jesus who said, “Peter, you have received direct revelation from God Himself. You didn’t learn this in a book. You didn’t learn this burning the midnight oil pouring over ancient texts (not that it hurts any to do so). You didn’t seek counsel from the Pharisees or the Sadducees. You got this straight from God.”
It was Peter who told Christ, “I will never leave you. I’ll be here till the death.”
Yet Peter turned his back in embarrassment and shame to Christ.
And how does Jesus respond after the resurrection?
Does Jesus say, “Go tell the disciples to start the Church. As for that Peter cat, I’m through with him. I’ve had my fill. He denied me. Turned his back. Enough is enough with that redneck rabble rouser. I’ll make John the Rock. At least he loves me.”
No. The angel hangin’ out in the tomb tells the women who came to honor Christ’s body to go tell the disciples, AND Peter, that Jesus is going to meet up with them.
And Peter.
Jesus restores Peter.
It’s a miracle.
Just like Christ defied the laws of physics and crossed treacherous waters to meet with His disciples, and ultimately inviting Peter to join Him on the waves; so Christ crosses the treacherous waves of our lives and reaches out to us, and invites us out of our boats that we cling so desperately to, to join Him in the chaos and confusion that is seemingly licking and chomping to consume us.
And Peter steps out.
He does fine for awhile.
But he becomes focused on the circumstances and begins to sink.
As he sinks, he cries out.
Jesus lifts him up. He restores him to the boat.
Just like Peter…
…Jesus calls us to meet Him in the middle of our trials and circumstances.
Sometimes we do fine for awhile - sometimes we make it to Christ.
Sometimes we sink.
But there is Christ.
Pulling us up. Restoring us to the boat.
And the angel says, “Go tell the disciples, AND Peter.” And as the sermon went, the speaker said, “Maybe in that instant, God loved Peter…just a little more.”
Just a little more? you might ask with a raised eyebrow of skepticism.
Maybe it seems and we feel that when we are hurting the most, God puts an extra blessing, an extra grace upon our heads that cause us to “feel” as if God is so focused on us in our trials and circumstances, that He loves us just a little more. As if we’re just a little more special than anyone else at that instant in time.
And I think that is a miracle.
God did another miracle because He loved each and every one of us so much.
God made a way for Christ to reach across the expanse and trappings and confinements of the space/time continuum. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Imagine that.
God is with us.
Ordinary people just like you and I…
…and God chooses to be right smack dab in our midst.
For the first time ever since the garden, God is miraculously walking, talking, sharing, teaching, loving, giving, healing, raising up, creating, and divesting every single day with ordinary people like you and me.
Christ humbles Himself and divests Himself of His Deity when He took on the fashion of a man (Phil 2:7-9). A man born of a virgin birth, and He’s not on the ground more than a few moments, and God is speaking to His surrogate father in a dream to get out quick, fast, and in a hurry to Egypt so that Herod wouldn’t kill Christ. (Now, for each and every one of us, we might have strongly considered to stay in Heaven and not have to deal with all this giving up Deity and eternal comforts instead of coming to earth to save a rebellious humanity).
Christ lives in Egypt and eventually He is able to return to the heritage of God. Christ lives a sinless life. Performs so many miracles that the miracles are not all recorded because the author of John says there is not enough room to contain them all (John 21:25).
And He sacrifices Himself.
On a cross.
Cursed is every man that hangs on a tree.
He’s buried for three days.
Resurrects.
Its one thing to die, it’s a whole different thing to resurrect!
It’s a miracle!
A miracle that is for each and every one of us.
A miracle in which Christ crosses the sloshing sea and tempestuous waves of death and separation from this plane of existence, to restore eternal life to humanity.
And do we deny Him?
We all do from time to time.
But He takes us back.
It’s a miracle!
(c) Aaron Brown, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Rebuttal to Not by a Cause
Wow! That is all I can safely say to the response to my latest blog posting. I have never received so many responses, assertions, and questions to any of my blogs. I hope to craft my responses to your concerns and questions as carefully as possible. One thing I will say is that I never pretend or assume that I have all the answers. That would be pious and ludicrous on my part.
As I stated when I started my blog through the Facebook group, “I’m on a journey, come with me.” And I do appreciate everyone who reads my blog and comments. The blog is about growing through the ebbs and flows of life, not necessarily asserting my own opinion (but I rest assured that my opinion will always be present, you can never fully separate objectivity from partiality – at least that’s my opinion). Therefore, I hope to share some more of my thoughts regarding the “Not by a Cause” blog, my rational for writing it, and respond to the concerns of my audience.
I wrote “Not by a Cause” because I wanted to be able to remember such a historical night. I meant what I wrote when I looked into the sea of people and saw Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” coming to life before my very eyes, with black people and white people and Indian people and Asian people joined together in unison. Though I do not agree with President Obama’s politics, I will not apologize for seeing such a beautiful occurrence in America and remembering it in my own words. To quote Sam Cooke, “Its been a long time coming,” and I am quietly ecstatic that “a change has come.”
One of the comments to my post stated that I need to be more careful parsing the scriptures together that I used. I understand the concern for using scriptures out of context, and I am especially confident given the historical background of the texts used (and as I explicated towards the end of my post) that when Paul and Peter wrote those scriptures, they were speaking of a repressive Roman occupation to their country that was calling for every citizen to acknowledge Caesar as God. When you read such phrases in Phillipians as, “Jesus is Lord” and “Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords”, Paul took those phrases from the modern day vernacular of Rome and Phillipi. Let me explain: The original phrases were “Caesar is Lord” and “Caesar, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” Paul did not instruct the citizens of Phillipi to revolt. He did not instruct them to raise up an army or militia to take on Rome. Paul basically tells the Body of Christ in Phillipi, “Hang in there, baby. I know it’s gonna get rough.”
Caesar at this time is Nero. Nero is burning Christians at the stake. He eventually beheads the Apostle Peter. And with Peter’s death very immanent, Peter does not tell Christians to revolt. He tells them to honor the king. Peter literally says, “Honor Nero.” And that is tough for us to reconcile in our Western mindset. We don’t like to be told what to do, and we are not accustomed to being oppressed.
Governments, in general, set up laws that usually (except for extremely oppressive countries that we find in continents like Africa and Asia) benefit and protect their people to some greater degree. For example, China oppresses Christians, but China still has laws that protect its citizens. It is still illegal to murder without a cause. No, China is not the most moral nation, but the government has been instituted to protect its citizens.
In conclusion to this response, I was warned to not take the passage so literal.
I take the passage literal. I would encourage the concerned commenter to study the historical setting of those passages. I think it will bring richer meaning. When it says, “For the Lord’s sake” I take it as saying, “because God has asked you to honor the government, then you should honor the government for the Lord’s sake.” I do not take it to mean that when a government is operating on “Behalf of the Lord’s sake,” that is when you should honor them. I don’t see that in that passage and I don’t believe it will be found to be historically relevant to the author’s intent. Call me on it if I’m wrong.
However, I will say, God has always made a way of escape. Jesus instructs his disciples to “flee” (Matthew 10:22-24). If you feel in your heart that the government has become so oppressive of your Christian faith to the point that you need to flee, I commend you to flee. Godspeed. Get outta’ here. The best example would be that of the Pilgrims who were partially fleeing for religious reasons. Currently, I don’t see persecution as a problem with President Obama’s presidency.
I believe that you are right though when you say that Christian’s are reserved a right of resistance. I think the first right of resistance is prayer, though. We don’t struggle against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces. Fortunately, for us, in the US our government affords us the right to freely express our disagreements through peaceful, constructive objection. This is our second right of resistance. However, the first right of resistance, in my opinion, is prayer. We forget that it is prayer that changes things.
To the second post: I disagree that Obama does not have vision or character. I think that he is a good person trying to do good things. He spent his post under-grad years organizing communities to vote and helping destitute communities in the south side of Chicago. In my opinion, that takes character.
The issue with vision is that you and he do not share the same vision. Obama has vision, its just that his vision is different from yours. And that’s okay. I don’t share in some of Obama’s vision myself, but it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t support him or stand by him. Biblically, I believe we have a mandate to do so.
I don’t necessarily have a response to the rest of your post. Although, I will say, let’s pray for him. God changes hearts, not rhetoric or people. It is the Holy Spirit who brings peace, not dissension. Let us all come together in prayer and let God do the rest. It is not by might nor power, but by my Spirit says the Lord (Zechariah 4:6).
I understand your concern for the Constitution and it being slowly dismantled. That’s why I wish we had strict constructionists in the Supreme Court. However, I find the assertion that all Godly men constructed the constitution a tad incredulous. Thomas Jefferson was a Deist who edited his own Bible to take out all the healing references. So, I made that statement to say, we have had a lot of people influence our government. Some good, some bad, but that is life. I choose to look through a brighter lens regarding the future of the U.S.
As far as Ayers and Khalidi and Obama’s association with such individuals, all I can say is that most allegations are unsubstantiated at this time and still at the hear say level. If you want to connect Obama with Khalidi (who do not share the same views regarding Middle Eastern affairs) then I think you also need to take into account the fact the Bush administration undeniably did allow members of the Bin Laden family to leave the U.S. during 9/11 while every other airplane was grounded. That has the makings of a conspiracy theory in and of itself. My goal is not to get into conspiracy theory, but I do believe that we need to call a spade a spade when it comes to matters such as these.
I received the following quote, “Aaron, can you look me in the eye honestly and say Obama is a God-Fearing man who should lead this great country?” I don’t know where Obama is at in his faith. I know where I am at and I am the only one who can answer for myself. I find it curious that no one question’s John McCain’s faith. Perhaps it is because he is a Republican, and the consensus among church goers is that Republican equals God’s Righteousness. McCain is pro-life. But simply because you agree that murdering unborn children is wrong, does not make you a Christian.
Should Obama lead this great country? Let me answer that question with a question: should Thomas Jefferson, a Deist, have led this country? Should Abraham Lincoln, whose wife sought mediums to speak to their dead son, have been allowed to lead this country, if indeed Lincoln is guilty by his association with his wife (Obama and Khalidi)? I say pray for Barack Obama. It is prayer that changes things.
The last posting is super tough and I can only address it honestly through this means: I don’t know. I laughed when I wrote, “I don’t know.” I’m one of those people that will disagree sometimes and not be able to explain why I disagree. It’s just a conviction that I have at the time.
I do know the Apostle’s wrote and said to respect the authorities. I do know Christians were being martyred. I do know that Christians today have a hard time reckoning their spiritual lives with their political view points (I’m not saying they should be separated, I’m simply implying they should be reconsidered). I do believe there are times when God will allow people to break way from their governments due to severe oppression, but I cannot in good conscience state what the criteria for such an uprising should comprise. I seriously consider everything I say and realize the severity of what I write and the implications that could arise due to my assertions.
I knew that when I wrote “Not by a Cause” that there would be objections. In my own mind, I had trouble reconciling those scriptures with the Colonies breaking away from King George III. Honestly, I don’t know if it was right or wrong. Looking back from a historical vantage point, I’m not sure the Colonies broke away for strictly religious reasons or for tax and governance issues, and if a seeming difference should be considered anyway. There might be a difference. There might not be a difference.
To my last poster, no, I don’t think you missed anything. I’m troubled sometimes, too. I can’t explain everything. I would not call the instances you listed as possible sin a sin in my own book, either. You have made great points and it is something that I am still wrestling with myself. I would actually recommend some of Thomas Aquinas’ writings. He addresses the issue of just war and obviously did a much better job with it than I could ever do.
In closing, my intent is really for everyone to heed the scriptures I listed in “Not by a Cause” to the fullest possible. My concern is a spiritual concern, it is a concern to do what is mandated to us by the scriptures. I am afraid that sometimes we pick and choose which scriptures we are going to follow and then explain away the ones we don’t like. I think Christians do a great job of this especially when people are elected into office we don’t agree with completely. I am becoming a broken record and an annoying echo: let’s pray for Obama. If you could pray for Bush, you can pray for Obama.
I think it is interesting that I received more comments and questions regarding this post than any other. In no way am I defensive or licking any wounds. (I will state that despite what comments or concerns I receive from here-on-out, I don’t plan to address them publicly in my blog. I will probably address them via Facebook or through another means. I might change my mind if it is something that maybe I feel that I’ve been inaccurate or led someone astray due to my personal theology. I want to be considerate of my readers.) I wish I got as many responses and concerns over my other postings. If you haven’t got a chance to read my other writings, I encourage you to do so. I would love to receive more feedback on those. But maybe they are not as controversial or as fun as “Not by a Cause”
(C) Aaron Brown, 2008.
As I stated when I started my blog through the Facebook group, “I’m on a journey, come with me.” And I do appreciate everyone who reads my blog and comments. The blog is about growing through the ebbs and flows of life, not necessarily asserting my own opinion (but I rest assured that my opinion will always be present, you can never fully separate objectivity from partiality – at least that’s my opinion). Therefore, I hope to share some more of my thoughts regarding the “Not by a Cause” blog, my rational for writing it, and respond to the concerns of my audience.
I wrote “Not by a Cause” because I wanted to be able to remember such a historical night. I meant what I wrote when I looked into the sea of people and saw Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” coming to life before my very eyes, with black people and white people and Indian people and Asian people joined together in unison. Though I do not agree with President Obama’s politics, I will not apologize for seeing such a beautiful occurrence in America and remembering it in my own words. To quote Sam Cooke, “Its been a long time coming,” and I am quietly ecstatic that “a change has come.”
One of the comments to my post stated that I need to be more careful parsing the scriptures together that I used. I understand the concern for using scriptures out of context, and I am especially confident given the historical background of the texts used (and as I explicated towards the end of my post) that when Paul and Peter wrote those scriptures, they were speaking of a repressive Roman occupation to their country that was calling for every citizen to acknowledge Caesar as God. When you read such phrases in Phillipians as, “Jesus is Lord” and “Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords”, Paul took those phrases from the modern day vernacular of Rome and Phillipi. Let me explain: The original phrases were “Caesar is Lord” and “Caesar, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” Paul did not instruct the citizens of Phillipi to revolt. He did not instruct them to raise up an army or militia to take on Rome. Paul basically tells the Body of Christ in Phillipi, “Hang in there, baby. I know it’s gonna get rough.”
Caesar at this time is Nero. Nero is burning Christians at the stake. He eventually beheads the Apostle Peter. And with Peter’s death very immanent, Peter does not tell Christians to revolt. He tells them to honor the king. Peter literally says, “Honor Nero.” And that is tough for us to reconcile in our Western mindset. We don’t like to be told what to do, and we are not accustomed to being oppressed.
Governments, in general, set up laws that usually (except for extremely oppressive countries that we find in continents like Africa and Asia) benefit and protect their people to some greater degree. For example, China oppresses Christians, but China still has laws that protect its citizens. It is still illegal to murder without a cause. No, China is not the most moral nation, but the government has been instituted to protect its citizens.
In conclusion to this response, I was warned to not take the passage so literal.
I take the passage literal. I would encourage the concerned commenter to study the historical setting of those passages. I think it will bring richer meaning. When it says, “For the Lord’s sake” I take it as saying, “because God has asked you to honor the government, then you should honor the government for the Lord’s sake.” I do not take it to mean that when a government is operating on “Behalf of the Lord’s sake,” that is when you should honor them. I don’t see that in that passage and I don’t believe it will be found to be historically relevant to the author’s intent. Call me on it if I’m wrong.
However, I will say, God has always made a way of escape. Jesus instructs his disciples to “flee” (Matthew 10:22-24). If you feel in your heart that the government has become so oppressive of your Christian faith to the point that you need to flee, I commend you to flee. Godspeed. Get outta’ here. The best example would be that of the Pilgrims who were partially fleeing for religious reasons. Currently, I don’t see persecution as a problem with President Obama’s presidency.
I believe that you are right though when you say that Christian’s are reserved a right of resistance. I think the first right of resistance is prayer, though. We don’t struggle against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces. Fortunately, for us, in the US our government affords us the right to freely express our disagreements through peaceful, constructive objection. This is our second right of resistance. However, the first right of resistance, in my opinion, is prayer. We forget that it is prayer that changes things.
To the second post: I disagree that Obama does not have vision or character. I think that he is a good person trying to do good things. He spent his post under-grad years organizing communities to vote and helping destitute communities in the south side of Chicago. In my opinion, that takes character.
The issue with vision is that you and he do not share the same vision. Obama has vision, its just that his vision is different from yours. And that’s okay. I don’t share in some of Obama’s vision myself, but it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t support him or stand by him. Biblically, I believe we have a mandate to do so.
I don’t necessarily have a response to the rest of your post. Although, I will say, let’s pray for him. God changes hearts, not rhetoric or people. It is the Holy Spirit who brings peace, not dissension. Let us all come together in prayer and let God do the rest. It is not by might nor power, but by my Spirit says the Lord (Zechariah 4:6).
I understand your concern for the Constitution and it being slowly dismantled. That’s why I wish we had strict constructionists in the Supreme Court. However, I find the assertion that all Godly men constructed the constitution a tad incredulous. Thomas Jefferson was a Deist who edited his own Bible to take out all the healing references. So, I made that statement to say, we have had a lot of people influence our government. Some good, some bad, but that is life. I choose to look through a brighter lens regarding the future of the U.S.
As far as Ayers and Khalidi and Obama’s association with such individuals, all I can say is that most allegations are unsubstantiated at this time and still at the hear say level. If you want to connect Obama with Khalidi (who do not share the same views regarding Middle Eastern affairs) then I think you also need to take into account the fact the Bush administration undeniably did allow members of the Bin Laden family to leave the U.S. during 9/11 while every other airplane was grounded. That has the makings of a conspiracy theory in and of itself. My goal is not to get into conspiracy theory, but I do believe that we need to call a spade a spade when it comes to matters such as these.
I received the following quote, “Aaron, can you look me in the eye honestly and say Obama is a God-Fearing man who should lead this great country?” I don’t know where Obama is at in his faith. I know where I am at and I am the only one who can answer for myself. I find it curious that no one question’s John McCain’s faith. Perhaps it is because he is a Republican, and the consensus among church goers is that Republican equals God’s Righteousness. McCain is pro-life. But simply because you agree that murdering unborn children is wrong, does not make you a Christian.
Should Obama lead this great country? Let me answer that question with a question: should Thomas Jefferson, a Deist, have led this country? Should Abraham Lincoln, whose wife sought mediums to speak to their dead son, have been allowed to lead this country, if indeed Lincoln is guilty by his association with his wife (Obama and Khalidi)? I say pray for Barack Obama. It is prayer that changes things.
The last posting is super tough and I can only address it honestly through this means: I don’t know. I laughed when I wrote, “I don’t know.” I’m one of those people that will disagree sometimes and not be able to explain why I disagree. It’s just a conviction that I have at the time.
I do know the Apostle’s wrote and said to respect the authorities. I do know Christians were being martyred. I do know that Christians today have a hard time reckoning their spiritual lives with their political view points (I’m not saying they should be separated, I’m simply implying they should be reconsidered). I do believe there are times when God will allow people to break way from their governments due to severe oppression, but I cannot in good conscience state what the criteria for such an uprising should comprise. I seriously consider everything I say and realize the severity of what I write and the implications that could arise due to my assertions.
I knew that when I wrote “Not by a Cause” that there would be objections. In my own mind, I had trouble reconciling those scriptures with the Colonies breaking away from King George III. Honestly, I don’t know if it was right or wrong. Looking back from a historical vantage point, I’m not sure the Colonies broke away for strictly religious reasons or for tax and governance issues, and if a seeming difference should be considered anyway. There might be a difference. There might not be a difference.
To my last poster, no, I don’t think you missed anything. I’m troubled sometimes, too. I can’t explain everything. I would not call the instances you listed as possible sin a sin in my own book, either. You have made great points and it is something that I am still wrestling with myself. I would actually recommend some of Thomas Aquinas’ writings. He addresses the issue of just war and obviously did a much better job with it than I could ever do.
In closing, my intent is really for everyone to heed the scriptures I listed in “Not by a Cause” to the fullest possible. My concern is a spiritual concern, it is a concern to do what is mandated to us by the scriptures. I am afraid that sometimes we pick and choose which scriptures we are going to follow and then explain away the ones we don’t like. I think Christians do a great job of this especially when people are elected into office we don’t agree with completely. I am becoming a broken record and an annoying echo: let’s pray for Obama. If you could pray for Bush, you can pray for Obama.
I think it is interesting that I received more comments and questions regarding this post than any other. In no way am I defensive or licking any wounds. (I will state that despite what comments or concerns I receive from here-on-out, I don’t plan to address them publicly in my blog. I will probably address them via Facebook or through another means. I might change my mind if it is something that maybe I feel that I’ve been inaccurate or led someone astray due to my personal theology. I want to be considerate of my readers.) I wish I got as many responses and concerns over my other postings. If you haven’t got a chance to read my other writings, I encourage you to do so. I would love to receive more feedback on those. But maybe they are not as controversial or as fun as “Not by a Cause”
(C) Aaron Brown, 2008.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Not by a Cause
I couldn’t help but smile as he spoke. He exhumed confidence, assurance, candor, hope, belief, conviction, and unity. He spoke to a crowd of approximately 125,000. He was a beacon of light illuminating the night.
Though I whole heartedly disagree with his politics, I noticed something unique about his crowd. The crowd was an amalgam. Black standing next to white; Hispanic shoulder to shoulder with black. It was truly a moment that I thought was reserved for the hallows of Eternity when all the Church would be gathered for its eternal reward.
I pray that history will not simply remember that Barack was the first black president. Though the accomplishment of a minority attaining the greatest and most powerful office in the world is unprecedented, in my eyes it was greatly diminished by the crowd that gathered in Chicago, IL to hear the president elect give his acceptance speech.
I pray that history will remember in that particular crowd that there was young and old, black and white, Spanish and Indian, all the colors of the rainbow representing, for the first time since 9/11, a united America. For the first time in a long time, the United States was personified in the masses of unified ethnicities who had banded together, lifted up their voices, set their hands to the plow, and made a unanimous decision to be led by one individual.
How beautiful and breathless and mesmerizing was it to see all those different shades of humanity stand side by side, united not by a cause, but by a dream.
The Apostle Paul told us to pray for those who are in authority over us. I Corinthians 13:1-2 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
Barack Obama has stepped into the office of President of the United States of America and is now ordained by God to lead this sovereign nation.
I Timothy 2:1-3 states, I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior.
If you want to please God, you will pray for President Obama and that God’s hand will be on his presidency. It is sin and devilish for you to do otherwise.
Peter writes in I Peter2:12-14, Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
When the Apostle Peter wrote this, he was not telling Christians to pray for the Emperor of Rome that everyone had come to love and did the will of God and was kind and generous to every citizen, captive, and slave of Rome.
Peter was telling Christians to pray for Nero, the Emperor who martyred Christians by using them as human torches at his parties. We are nowhere close to Martyrdom here in America.
Be RIGHTEOUS! OBEY God! HEED the words of the Apostle’s Paul and Peter! SINCERELY PRAY for President Obama. Just like myself, I’m sure he can use every one of your prayers.
(c) Aaron Brown, 2008.
Though I whole heartedly disagree with his politics, I noticed something unique about his crowd. The crowd was an amalgam. Black standing next to white; Hispanic shoulder to shoulder with black. It was truly a moment that I thought was reserved for the hallows of Eternity when all the Church would be gathered for its eternal reward.
I pray that history will not simply remember that Barack was the first black president. Though the accomplishment of a minority attaining the greatest and most powerful office in the world is unprecedented, in my eyes it was greatly diminished by the crowd that gathered in Chicago, IL to hear the president elect give his acceptance speech.
I pray that history will remember in that particular crowd that there was young and old, black and white, Spanish and Indian, all the colors of the rainbow representing, for the first time since 9/11, a united America. For the first time in a long time, the United States was personified in the masses of unified ethnicities who had banded together, lifted up their voices, set their hands to the plow, and made a unanimous decision to be led by one individual.
How beautiful and breathless and mesmerizing was it to see all those different shades of humanity stand side by side, united not by a cause, but by a dream.
The Apostle Paul told us to pray for those who are in authority over us. I Corinthians 13:1-2 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
Barack Obama has stepped into the office of President of the United States of America and is now ordained by God to lead this sovereign nation.
I Timothy 2:1-3 states, I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior.
If you want to please God, you will pray for President Obama and that God’s hand will be on his presidency. It is sin and devilish for you to do otherwise.
Peter writes in I Peter2:12-14, Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
When the Apostle Peter wrote this, he was not telling Christians to pray for the Emperor of Rome that everyone had come to love and did the will of God and was kind and generous to every citizen, captive, and slave of Rome.
Peter was telling Christians to pray for Nero, the Emperor who martyred Christians by using them as human torches at his parties. We are nowhere close to Martyrdom here in America.
Be RIGHTEOUS! OBEY God! HEED the words of the Apostle’s Paul and Peter! SINCERELY PRAY for President Obama. Just like myself, I’m sure he can use every one of your prayers.
(c) Aaron Brown, 2008.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Temptation
James 1:12-18
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
Verse 13 conveys that people think that God is tempting them. Why would anyone believe this? My personal belief is that religion teaches us that God punishes us for our mistakes and failures by tempting us or allowing us to be tempted. Or perhaps if we were just more spiritual, then we would be somewhat “holier” and less tempted. Maybe if I read the Bible more, I would be spiritual enough to escape temptations. Or perhaps if I prayed more, then temptations wouldn’t come. If perhaps we just did more “works” in the Church, then temptation would not come our way.
Now, I agree that being in the Word and praying more will alleviate the burdens of temptation. Our focus and attention will actually shift from earthly things to heavenly things, but for the individual to believe that temptations only come to depraved individuals is a fallacy. One of my favorite quotes by Kenneth Hagin is, “You can’t stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from landing and building a nest.”
I can’t stop all the temptations that come my way from coming. However, I do have authority over whether or not I entertain those thoughts and allow them to build strongholds in my mind.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. The imagery that is used in the Greek language is that of a fish and bait on a hook. Our struggles with temptations are very similar to this analogy. If you’ve ever gone fishing, you can bait a hook with a worm. The fish will swim up and circle the bait and you can see this from the ripples and flux of the water around the cork. Then you see the cork bob up and down in the water and this is indicative that the fish is “nibbling” on the bait. Then, after the fish has nibbled a little…
CHOMP!
The fish clamps his mouth over the bait and gets itself caught on the hook.
What happens when the fish gets hooked? Simply put, the fish is subject to follow the hook wherever it goes. If the hook exits the water, the fish will exit the water and leave its natural habitat because it is no longer able to escape the hook.
This analogy is just like our lives. We see something that tempts us and we know we should not have anything to do with it, but the bait looks so good. So we stupidly tell ourselves that we want to partake wholeheartedly of the bait, we’ll just go near it. We’ll circle it over and over, piquing our curiosity and lust by looking at it from every angle. Then, after we’ve done this long enough the lines blur, and we figure we might as well “nibble” on it since we’ve gone deep enough to view it from every angle. After we’ve nibbled on it a little bit, we think to ourselves that we’ve been nibbling on it long enough and since we’ve come this far, we might as well wholeheartedly partake of the bait. And…
CHOMP!
We’re hooked. We have to go wherever the hook leads us. We “flirted” with the bait so much we didn’t see the lines blur, and we go from circling the bait to wholeheartedly partaking because we allowed the lines to blur and self-deception to creep in. We are super remorseful. We ask ourselves how this all happened, and the truth is…
…each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lusts.
The reality is that a temptation is not a temptation unless you desire it. You can’t be tempted with something you don’t desire.
Let me explain: I have not drunk soda pop in over two years. I do crave it from time to time, but I don’t really desire it. You can put me in a room full of pop and no water and I’ll simply think to myself, “Well, looks like there’s nothing here for me to drink. I’ll just have to go without.” You can’t tempt me with it like you might have could in the past because I have brought the desire of soda pop into subjection by the choice I made not to partake of it.
However, if you waive a cheesecake in front of my face, that is a whole different ball game! About a year ago, I had a roommate named Joel. Joel brought home a cheesecake from work. Well, I am wholeheartedly partaking of the cheesecake. In the course of time, I look at the box and see that there are 500 calories per slice! (Yes, I had the same reaction when I read the caloric content).
I needed to put the cheesecake down, but my desire for the cheesecake was so strong that I chose not to put it down. Then I told myself that I would put the rest of the cheesecake away into the fridge and “nibble” on it through the next few weeks or so. And there the cheesecake sat, in the fridge.
But the cheesecake was like the Poe’s, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” It seemed to call to me from the refrigerator. At one point it seemed that I began to pace back and forth across the fridge, knowing that the cheesecake was in the fridge.
“I know you’re in there,” I called to it.
“Come to me, Aaron!” The cheesecake called back.
It was talking to me.
And I wanted to talk to it.
Therefore, I made the choice to just go ahead and eat the cheesecake so I wouldn’t have to go through the awful ordeal of being tempted day in and day out of this cheesecake.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Back to the fish analogy: desire is conceived by circling the bait and giving it your attention. Nibbling gives birth to sin. Sin, when it becomes full grown in your life, leads to chomping on the bait.
I think that so often when we read this passage of scripture and see death, we immediately think of physical death. This is true, but Satan may not want to simply kill you physically. He may target your spiritual life. Or perhaps he will aim at your social life. Maybe he’ll shoot arrows at your professional life. Whatever area of your life it may be, Satan wants to bring forth death.
For instance, if you’ve ever lied to your parents, and you did it habitually, that brought forth a type of death. By you lying, you “murdered” your parents’ ability to trust you. There was a death in your relationship with your parents.
So, what is the point?
The point is, you have to make a choice. Do you choose to enter into your temptation, or do you choose to disavow the desire inside and please God instead of gratifying those desires.
Now, I warn those who give into temptation to be careful. Once you give in, Satan will whisper in your ear, “You gave in. You’re unworthy of God’s love. Don’t go to Church on Sunday, because you are a sinner. If you do go to Church, don’t raise your hands and sing songs of praise, you hypocrite.”
Don’t let the deception continue. Pick yourself up off the floor and purpose to make better choices, repent from your ways, and go on for God. Don’t continue giving in to temptation. Go to Church. Raise your hands. Sing those songs of praise. Don’t be deceived. God still loves you.
It all starts with the choices we make. We make choices every day.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
Verse 13 conveys that people think that God is tempting them. Why would anyone believe this? My personal belief is that religion teaches us that God punishes us for our mistakes and failures by tempting us or allowing us to be tempted. Or perhaps if we were just more spiritual, then we would be somewhat “holier” and less tempted. Maybe if I read the Bible more, I would be spiritual enough to escape temptations. Or perhaps if I prayed more, then temptations wouldn’t come. If perhaps we just did more “works” in the Church, then temptation would not come our way.
Now, I agree that being in the Word and praying more will alleviate the burdens of temptation. Our focus and attention will actually shift from earthly things to heavenly things, but for the individual to believe that temptations only come to depraved individuals is a fallacy. One of my favorite quotes by Kenneth Hagin is, “You can’t stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from landing and building a nest.”
I can’t stop all the temptations that come my way from coming. However, I do have authority over whether or not I entertain those thoughts and allow them to build strongholds in my mind.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. The imagery that is used in the Greek language is that of a fish and bait on a hook. Our struggles with temptations are very similar to this analogy. If you’ve ever gone fishing, you can bait a hook with a worm. The fish will swim up and circle the bait and you can see this from the ripples and flux of the water around the cork. Then you see the cork bob up and down in the water and this is indicative that the fish is “nibbling” on the bait. Then, after the fish has nibbled a little…
CHOMP!
The fish clamps his mouth over the bait and gets itself caught on the hook.
What happens when the fish gets hooked? Simply put, the fish is subject to follow the hook wherever it goes. If the hook exits the water, the fish will exit the water and leave its natural habitat because it is no longer able to escape the hook.
This analogy is just like our lives. We see something that tempts us and we know we should not have anything to do with it, but the bait looks so good. So we stupidly tell ourselves that we want to partake wholeheartedly of the bait, we’ll just go near it. We’ll circle it over and over, piquing our curiosity and lust by looking at it from every angle. Then, after we’ve done this long enough the lines blur, and we figure we might as well “nibble” on it since we’ve gone deep enough to view it from every angle. After we’ve nibbled on it a little bit, we think to ourselves that we’ve been nibbling on it long enough and since we’ve come this far, we might as well wholeheartedly partake of the bait. And…
CHOMP!
We’re hooked. We have to go wherever the hook leads us. We “flirted” with the bait so much we didn’t see the lines blur, and we go from circling the bait to wholeheartedly partaking because we allowed the lines to blur and self-deception to creep in. We are super remorseful. We ask ourselves how this all happened, and the truth is…
…each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lusts.
The reality is that a temptation is not a temptation unless you desire it. You can’t be tempted with something you don’t desire.
Let me explain: I have not drunk soda pop in over two years. I do crave it from time to time, but I don’t really desire it. You can put me in a room full of pop and no water and I’ll simply think to myself, “Well, looks like there’s nothing here for me to drink. I’ll just have to go without.” You can’t tempt me with it like you might have could in the past because I have brought the desire of soda pop into subjection by the choice I made not to partake of it.
However, if you waive a cheesecake in front of my face, that is a whole different ball game! About a year ago, I had a roommate named Joel. Joel brought home a cheesecake from work. Well, I am wholeheartedly partaking of the cheesecake. In the course of time, I look at the box and see that there are 500 calories per slice! (Yes, I had the same reaction when I read the caloric content).
I needed to put the cheesecake down, but my desire for the cheesecake was so strong that I chose not to put it down. Then I told myself that I would put the rest of the cheesecake away into the fridge and “nibble” on it through the next few weeks or so. And there the cheesecake sat, in the fridge.
But the cheesecake was like the Poe’s, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” It seemed to call to me from the refrigerator. At one point it seemed that I began to pace back and forth across the fridge, knowing that the cheesecake was in the fridge.
“I know you’re in there,” I called to it.
“Come to me, Aaron!” The cheesecake called back.
It was talking to me.
And I wanted to talk to it.
Therefore, I made the choice to just go ahead and eat the cheesecake so I wouldn’t have to go through the awful ordeal of being tempted day in and day out of this cheesecake.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Back to the fish analogy: desire is conceived by circling the bait and giving it your attention. Nibbling gives birth to sin. Sin, when it becomes full grown in your life, leads to chomping on the bait.
I think that so often when we read this passage of scripture and see death, we immediately think of physical death. This is true, but Satan may not want to simply kill you physically. He may target your spiritual life. Or perhaps he will aim at your social life. Maybe he’ll shoot arrows at your professional life. Whatever area of your life it may be, Satan wants to bring forth death.
For instance, if you’ve ever lied to your parents, and you did it habitually, that brought forth a type of death. By you lying, you “murdered” your parents’ ability to trust you. There was a death in your relationship with your parents.
So, what is the point?
The point is, you have to make a choice. Do you choose to enter into your temptation, or do you choose to disavow the desire inside and please God instead of gratifying those desires.
Now, I warn those who give into temptation to be careful. Once you give in, Satan will whisper in your ear, “You gave in. You’re unworthy of God’s love. Don’t go to Church on Sunday, because you are a sinner. If you do go to Church, don’t raise your hands and sing songs of praise, you hypocrite.”
Don’t let the deception continue. Pick yourself up off the floor and purpose to make better choices, repent from your ways, and go on for God. Don’t continue giving in to temptation. Go to Church. Raise your hands. Sing those songs of praise. Don’t be deceived. God still loves you.
It all starts with the choices we make. We make choices every day.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
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