Essays are just way they pretend to be - thoughts that are more coherent and too long for a blog post.
Musings on Love
You ever have those thoughts that just consume your mind for days, weeks on end? It’s like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube when you don’t know the correct turns. Your mind is enveloped, swamped, completely consumed with this thought and nothing else can manage to unseat it for very long.
No, I’m not talking about a teenage boy’s love of food.
Recently my thoughts have been consumed with love – the romantic kind, the brotherly kind, the family kind, and God’s love for us. Songs like RED’s “Love Will Leave a Mark” and Valentine’s Day videos from the Skit Guys are logs for the fire that keep it burning.
I’m no expert on love. I would be dubious of any human claiming to be. However, there are some observations and thoughts that I think are worth sharing (and who knows, maybe even starting a conversation about :) I can dream).
Of note, when I talk of love I’m referring to the highest ideal of love: the love that God shows us and then overflows from us into others. When I speak of mankind being flawed, I speak of those who are merely men: sinful by birth.
Love changes you. After loving someone, you are never the same. Your heart is bigger, you find yourself able to love more, you are quicker to forgive, quicker to expect their best. It is both a blessing and yet twisted by sin into a curse. Love holds within itself a tension of forgiveness and hope.
We hope for the best for those we love. We long for it, we’ll go to extreme lengths to ensure that they have the greatest opportunity possible to succeed. Everyone is flawed though, everyone fails. There is no one who is perfect. Within our hope for their greatest, we must also make room for forgiveness, for allowing them to fail. Not because we desire their failure, but because failure is inevitable and love must not be shaken.
Balancing those changes of being quicker to forgive and hoping for more produces a tension. Tension isn’t to be feared or avoided, tension is crucial to love.
Internal tension means that we see someone for who they are and who they could be at the same time. We forgive who they are and hope for who they could be simultaneously. Everyone is and is becoming in this moment. Love is the best of both worlds.
External tension means that yes, we will argue with those we love. Maybe it’s our way of saying “I’m letting this situation get in between us and I value you too much for anything to come between us.” Maybe fighting is us being willing to sacrifice their affection to push them toward what is best. Maybe fighting is clearing the air of miscommunication. It’s not loving to sweep everything under the rug; it is loving to take the rugs outside and beat the dust out of them when it’s necessary.
We are flawed though, so flawed and sinful at our core. Fighting is often selfish, it is often us demanding our way, demanding what we want. Selfishness is never love. Look at Jesus in John 17, He asks God the Father for what is rightly His, His glory SO THAT He can turn around and glorify God the Father. The King of the universe humbles Himself to ask His Father for what is rightly His so that He can honor His Father. That’s love. That’s not selfish.
I once had a long car ride with a friend where we talked about how we wanted to handle disagreements in our friendship. I’m grateful that we recognized that disagreements were inevitable (although having just disagreed does bring that reality to light quickly). Both of us talked about how we thought it should work and then we met in the middle, gave ground, sacrificed our comfort zone for the other. Yep, we failed to operate under our “disagreement rules” time and time again. But in that car ride, I saw a glimpse of what earthly love ought to look like – putting the other first.
Putting someone else first isn’t the result of a fuzzy feeling down in the pit of your stomach. Love isn’t a feeling. Love brings feelings with it, absolutely, but love at its core is a choice. A choice made daily. Sometimes more than daily.
We have another choice to make daily. Jesus calls us to daily pick up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23-26 when Jesus is speaking with His disciples after Peter recognizes that He is the Son of God)
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
We can’t love someone if we’re holding them with a closed fist, not allowing them to live their own life. For that matter, we can’t love someone if we’re holding them open handed either. Love is about setting the other before the foot of the cross, taking up our own cross, fixing our eyes on Jesus and Jesus alone, and following Him. It is not loving to value someone above Jesus. It’s dangerous to them, to you, and it’s a slap in the face of the Almighty God. Praise be that He is also a God who forgives.
Loving someone means that we’re vulnerable. It’s part of the deal. When you choose to open your heart and invite someone in, they can slam the door, they might come in without wiping their feet or taking off their shoes, they might sit in the doorway for the longest time. Love allows itself to be vulnerable.
Love protects. Love doesn’t make another’s vulnerability a weakness. Love offers security, provision; loves cares for others in whatever area their needs may lie. Toward that end, love sacrifices. Love doesn’t blink before giving up something selfish to bless the other. My grandpa left his high paying job for a job that meant he could be home each night. My mom moved across time zones when she got married. My dad works three jobs to provide for his family. (Of note, my dad also drank coffee when dating my mom. He can still count on one hand the number of cups of coffee he’s had in his entire life).
Love waits. It is patient. Love doesn’t impose a timeline, doesn’t force a plan on the other. Love is willing to sit in a ballet waiting room for hours; love will wait until the miles are dissolved. Love doesn’t fade with time or distance, it grows stronger with choice. Love perseveres.
Love accepts. Love isn’t based on what your hair looks like, on whether or not you can sing, on how tall or short you are, on the color of your eyes or the tone of your skin. Love looks beneath the surface, past the earthly injuries and complications and sees you for who you are in God’s eyes.
Love trusts. Love allows itself to be vulnerable because we trust the other to love us in return. Before and after trusting others though, love trusts God. Love recognizes that God alone hold our hearts, that nothing can separate us from His love. Love trusts that no matter the pain, love is worth it. Look at what Christ suffered because of His love for us. He trusted His Spirit solely to God the Father, even after He cried out “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” That’s trust, that’s love.
Love is so much more. The more I experience, learn, live out love the more I realize I don’t know anything. It’s a beautiful mystery, the deeper you get, the deeper it goes. I’m guessing that’s because God is love.
No, I’m not talking about a teenage boy’s love of food.
Recently my thoughts have been consumed with love – the romantic kind, the brotherly kind, the family kind, and God’s love for us. Songs like RED’s “Love Will Leave a Mark” and Valentine’s Day videos from the Skit Guys are logs for the fire that keep it burning.
I’m no expert on love. I would be dubious of any human claiming to be. However, there are some observations and thoughts that I think are worth sharing (and who knows, maybe even starting a conversation about :) I can dream).
Of note, when I talk of love I’m referring to the highest ideal of love: the love that God shows us and then overflows from us into others. When I speak of mankind being flawed, I speak of those who are merely men: sinful by birth.
Love changes you. After loving someone, you are never the same. Your heart is bigger, you find yourself able to love more, you are quicker to forgive, quicker to expect their best. It is both a blessing and yet twisted by sin into a curse. Love holds within itself a tension of forgiveness and hope.
We hope for the best for those we love. We long for it, we’ll go to extreme lengths to ensure that they have the greatest opportunity possible to succeed. Everyone is flawed though, everyone fails. There is no one who is perfect. Within our hope for their greatest, we must also make room for forgiveness, for allowing them to fail. Not because we desire their failure, but because failure is inevitable and love must not be shaken.
Balancing those changes of being quicker to forgive and hoping for more produces a tension. Tension isn’t to be feared or avoided, tension is crucial to love.
Internal tension means that we see someone for who they are and who they could be at the same time. We forgive who they are and hope for who they could be simultaneously. Everyone is and is becoming in this moment. Love is the best of both worlds.
External tension means that yes, we will argue with those we love. Maybe it’s our way of saying “I’m letting this situation get in between us and I value you too much for anything to come between us.” Maybe fighting is us being willing to sacrifice their affection to push them toward what is best. Maybe fighting is clearing the air of miscommunication. It’s not loving to sweep everything under the rug; it is loving to take the rugs outside and beat the dust out of them when it’s necessary.
We are flawed though, so flawed and sinful at our core. Fighting is often selfish, it is often us demanding our way, demanding what we want. Selfishness is never love. Look at Jesus in John 17, He asks God the Father for what is rightly His, His glory SO THAT He can turn around and glorify God the Father. The King of the universe humbles Himself to ask His Father for what is rightly His so that He can honor His Father. That’s love. That’s not selfish.
I once had a long car ride with a friend where we talked about how we wanted to handle disagreements in our friendship. I’m grateful that we recognized that disagreements were inevitable (although having just disagreed does bring that reality to light quickly). Both of us talked about how we thought it should work and then we met in the middle, gave ground, sacrificed our comfort zone for the other. Yep, we failed to operate under our “disagreement rules” time and time again. But in that car ride, I saw a glimpse of what earthly love ought to look like – putting the other first.
Putting someone else first isn’t the result of a fuzzy feeling down in the pit of your stomach. Love isn’t a feeling. Love brings feelings with it, absolutely, but love at its core is a choice. A choice made daily. Sometimes more than daily.
We have another choice to make daily. Jesus calls us to daily pick up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23-26 when Jesus is speaking with His disciples after Peter recognizes that He is the Son of God)
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
We can’t love someone if we’re holding them with a closed fist, not allowing them to live their own life. For that matter, we can’t love someone if we’re holding them open handed either. Love is about setting the other before the foot of the cross, taking up our own cross, fixing our eyes on Jesus and Jesus alone, and following Him. It is not loving to value someone above Jesus. It’s dangerous to them, to you, and it’s a slap in the face of the Almighty God. Praise be that He is also a God who forgives.
Loving someone means that we’re vulnerable. It’s part of the deal. When you choose to open your heart and invite someone in, they can slam the door, they might come in without wiping their feet or taking off their shoes, they might sit in the doorway for the longest time. Love allows itself to be vulnerable.
Love protects. Love doesn’t make another’s vulnerability a weakness. Love offers security, provision; loves cares for others in whatever area their needs may lie. Toward that end, love sacrifices. Love doesn’t blink before giving up something selfish to bless the other. My grandpa left his high paying job for a job that meant he could be home each night. My mom moved across time zones when she got married. My dad works three jobs to provide for his family. (Of note, my dad also drank coffee when dating my mom. He can still count on one hand the number of cups of coffee he’s had in his entire life).
Love waits. It is patient. Love doesn’t impose a timeline, doesn’t force a plan on the other. Love is willing to sit in a ballet waiting room for hours; love will wait until the miles are dissolved. Love doesn’t fade with time or distance, it grows stronger with choice. Love perseveres.
Love accepts. Love isn’t based on what your hair looks like, on whether or not you can sing, on how tall or short you are, on the color of your eyes or the tone of your skin. Love looks beneath the surface, past the earthly injuries and complications and sees you for who you are in God’s eyes.
Love trusts. Love allows itself to be vulnerable because we trust the other to love us in return. Before and after trusting others though, love trusts God. Love recognizes that God alone hold our hearts, that nothing can separate us from His love. Love trusts that no matter the pain, love is worth it. Look at what Christ suffered because of His love for us. He trusted His Spirit solely to God the Father, even after He cried out “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” That’s trust, that’s love.
Love is so much more. The more I experience, learn, live out love the more I realize I don’t know anything. It’s a beautiful mystery, the deeper you get, the deeper it goes. I’m guessing that’s because God is love.
The Most important thing is people finding Jesus
How can I say this in light of the Jesus saying to love the Lord our God with all my heart, soul, and mind and to love my neighbor as myself? And what about Jesus saying "If you love Me, feed My sheep?" Well really, I think we're saying the same thing just with different words.
Loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves was given as the greatest commandment: From Matthew 22 (NIV)
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
There really is very little other context for this story that needs to be shared – Jesus was being questioned and the religious elite (Pharisees and Sadducees) were trying to get Him to mess up. Jesus’ answer was flawless and silenced His accusers that day.
So what does loving God look like? Well, in John 15 Jesus talks about how if we love Him we will remain in Him by following His commands (following His commands I believe is a guaranteed result of loving Him with everything we are).
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit —fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
We show that we love God by obeying His commands. And Obeying His commands is a necessary result that comes out of a true love for God without any effort on our part. His command is to love each other.
The command to love each other closely resembles the second greatest commandment but their difference is in who we are called to love. Our neighbor verse each other. Since Jesus was not a man of contradictions, tossed about by the wind, I don’t believe that His command in John 15 nullifies His earlier statement that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor. In fact, if we are meeting regularly with our brothers and sisters in Christ then they are our neighbors. Loving our neighbors includes loving each other – meaning that the neighbor command can be greater without contradicting or nullifying the love each other command.
So who is our neighbor then? Is it just our brothers and sisters in Christ? Jesus answers the question of who our neighbor is directly in reference to the greatest commandments in Luke 10
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
So we see that loving our neighbor includes loving those who we hate, who have different beliefs and faiths. Loving our neighbor means having mercy on them. But, as fallen sinful creatures, how can we love our neighbor? How can we show them mercy? Once again Jesus talks about how to show others mercy in Matthew 18 in a discussion with Peter. Peter wanted to increase the number of times you must forgive someone to seven times which was a crazy high number for Jewish society.
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
The King’s reply of (paraphrased) “I had mercy on you, why didn’t you extend that mercy to someone else?” is echoed by the apostle John in one of his later letters (1 John 4)
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Couple of notes – loving God and being in God are inseparable, we love out of the overflow of His love for us, God’s love for us manifested itself in Christ’s sacrifice. Love, in the most beautiful, pure form to ever grace creation is seen in the bloodied cross where our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung to die to pray the price for my sin and offers me eternal life. That is the ultimate picture of love. Nothing else comes close.
So if my love for others overflows out of the cross where Jesus showed the full extent of His love for me...well, I can’t give them salvation. Only God can. Only God saves (Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – it is the gift of God, not by works lest any man should boast). So how can I love out of an overflow of the cross where Jesus made known to me the full extent of love?
Hang on to that thought because we’re jumping back to the greatest commandment now. Love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. Let me look at human love for a second here. When I love a human, I desire to spend time with them, I listen to them and seek to know who they truly Are. And, perhaps most importantly, I talk about them to others. The most powerful love for someone leads us to speak well of them. If I like the food I’m eating I share that thought. If I love a lady, I brag about how mature and wise she is, how she is beautiful from the inside out, etc.
So why should my love of God be any different? If I truly love God with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind (or strength, I’m not too picky about translations here) then quite literally ALL of me, every single last part of me will be bursting at the seems to tell about how awesome God is! If not, then my love for God isn’t truly love...it’s a liking of God, a warm fuzzy feeling but not love.
So not we have two paths and we need to find their intersection. The first path is that we love our neighbors out of the overflow of God’s love for us which has its shining moment at the cross and the hope of salvation for all mankind. The second path is an insatiable need to tell others about how awesome God is because we love Him so much. The intersection is that we tell our neighbors about the cross. We marvel at Christ’s love and share our wonder. Ceaselessly? Yes, if they will listen. Otherwise we’re throwing seed among thorns and rocks and onto hard soil. Who do we share this joy, this love with? Anyone who will listen.
But I’ve only answered half your question, the other half lies in the feed my sheep part. The command of feed my sheep was given to Peter at the end of the gospel of John. I am unaware of any other places where the command “Feed my sheep” was given so please correct me if I am wrong. John 21:
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”
24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
The command here is clearly given to Peter to care for the Christ’s flock. So who is in Christ’s flock? Well, a couple of other passages come to mind. Isaiah 53, which prophesies about Jesus but the sheep part about us is in verse 6.
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
And also in Luke 15 where Jesus tells three parables. I’ve included all three because I think that they emphasize a point.
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
God’s heart is sold out for the lost. The Good Shepherd is willing to leave the 99 to find the one lost sheep, the one sheep who has gone astray to his own way. There is rejoicing in heaven (where the angels cry out day and night to God “Holy Holy Holy” but they still pause to rejoice) when a sinner comes to salvation in Christ.
So, since we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) we are lost sheep who have strayed to our own path. And God has laid on Christ our sins, our iniquities, our transgressions. God will was accomplished in crushing Christ for the sin of His sheep. He seeks us out and finds us, He relentlessly pursues our hearts. The sheep had no say in whether or not he was found by the Shepherd (but at the same time the prodigal son came back of his own volition. Yay for predetermined free will!)
So Jesus’ command to Peter, one of the first leaders in the church, Christ’s bride, was to feed His sheep. Each of us are sheep. We have each strayed. The only question remains whether or not we’ve been found yet. Whether or not we’ve repented and gone back to our Father and begged for forgiveness. But we are all God’s and we are all His sheep.
So when Jesus says “Feed My sheep,” I feel safe extrapolating from that statement that Jesus wants the church to “feed” the world for we all are sheep. But what does feed mean? Give food to the poor? Absolutely (Matthew 25:40 and its context). But food here isn’t just physical (just like we aren't physically sheep). In John 4, after the Samaritan woman at the well goes back to her village to tell them of Christ, Jesus is talking with His disciples and they’re concerned about His blood sugar levels (or something like that)
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Our food is more than just bread. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Deut. 8:3). So really, for Peter to feed Jesus’ sheep, for the church today to feed Jesus’ sheep we must listen to Jesus’ voice, listen to God’s words. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6). For us to hear God’s words, to come to the Father and sit at His feet and listen, we must go through Jesus. To feed others is to point them to Jesus so that they might sit before God’s throne as His children through and by His will.
That includes everyone. So you’ll notice that I said “the most important thing is people finding Jesus.” We’re included, saved and unsaved alike. Everyone needs Jesus. He commands us to love Him, to love others by telling them about Him, to feed others by pointing them to Christ which ultimately means that we must point them to the cross.
I really think we’re viewing this the same when all is said and done. Christians are sinners too and every sinner needs Jesus and the cross.
Loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves was given as the greatest commandment: From Matthew 22 (NIV)
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
There really is very little other context for this story that needs to be shared – Jesus was being questioned and the religious elite (Pharisees and Sadducees) were trying to get Him to mess up. Jesus’ answer was flawless and silenced His accusers that day.
So what does loving God look like? Well, in John 15 Jesus talks about how if we love Him we will remain in Him by following His commands (following His commands I believe is a guaranteed result of loving Him with everything we are).
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit —fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
We show that we love God by obeying His commands. And Obeying His commands is a necessary result that comes out of a true love for God without any effort on our part. His command is to love each other.
The command to love each other closely resembles the second greatest commandment but their difference is in who we are called to love. Our neighbor verse each other. Since Jesus was not a man of contradictions, tossed about by the wind, I don’t believe that His command in John 15 nullifies His earlier statement that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor. In fact, if we are meeting regularly with our brothers and sisters in Christ then they are our neighbors. Loving our neighbors includes loving each other – meaning that the neighbor command can be greater without contradicting or nullifying the love each other command.
So who is our neighbor then? Is it just our brothers and sisters in Christ? Jesus answers the question of who our neighbor is directly in reference to the greatest commandments in Luke 10
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
So we see that loving our neighbor includes loving those who we hate, who have different beliefs and faiths. Loving our neighbor means having mercy on them. But, as fallen sinful creatures, how can we love our neighbor? How can we show them mercy? Once again Jesus talks about how to show others mercy in Matthew 18 in a discussion with Peter. Peter wanted to increase the number of times you must forgive someone to seven times which was a crazy high number for Jewish society.
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
The King’s reply of (paraphrased) “I had mercy on you, why didn’t you extend that mercy to someone else?” is echoed by the apostle John in one of his later letters (1 John 4)
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Couple of notes – loving God and being in God are inseparable, we love out of the overflow of His love for us, God’s love for us manifested itself in Christ’s sacrifice. Love, in the most beautiful, pure form to ever grace creation is seen in the bloodied cross where our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung to die to pray the price for my sin and offers me eternal life. That is the ultimate picture of love. Nothing else comes close.
So if my love for others overflows out of the cross where Jesus showed the full extent of His love for me...well, I can’t give them salvation. Only God can. Only God saves (Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – it is the gift of God, not by works lest any man should boast). So how can I love out of an overflow of the cross where Jesus made known to me the full extent of love?
Hang on to that thought because we’re jumping back to the greatest commandment now. Love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. Let me look at human love for a second here. When I love a human, I desire to spend time with them, I listen to them and seek to know who they truly Are. And, perhaps most importantly, I talk about them to others. The most powerful love for someone leads us to speak well of them. If I like the food I’m eating I share that thought. If I love a lady, I brag about how mature and wise she is, how she is beautiful from the inside out, etc.
So why should my love of God be any different? If I truly love God with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind (or strength, I’m not too picky about translations here) then quite literally ALL of me, every single last part of me will be bursting at the seems to tell about how awesome God is! If not, then my love for God isn’t truly love...it’s a liking of God, a warm fuzzy feeling but not love.
So not we have two paths and we need to find their intersection. The first path is that we love our neighbors out of the overflow of God’s love for us which has its shining moment at the cross and the hope of salvation for all mankind. The second path is an insatiable need to tell others about how awesome God is because we love Him so much. The intersection is that we tell our neighbors about the cross. We marvel at Christ’s love and share our wonder. Ceaselessly? Yes, if they will listen. Otherwise we’re throwing seed among thorns and rocks and onto hard soil. Who do we share this joy, this love with? Anyone who will listen.
But I’ve only answered half your question, the other half lies in the feed my sheep part. The command of feed my sheep was given to Peter at the end of the gospel of John. I am unaware of any other places where the command “Feed my sheep” was given so please correct me if I am wrong. John 21:
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”
24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
The command here is clearly given to Peter to care for the Christ’s flock. So who is in Christ’s flock? Well, a couple of other passages come to mind. Isaiah 53, which prophesies about Jesus but the sheep part about us is in verse 6.
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
And also in Luke 15 where Jesus tells three parables. I’ve included all three because I think that they emphasize a point.
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
God’s heart is sold out for the lost. The Good Shepherd is willing to leave the 99 to find the one lost sheep, the one sheep who has gone astray to his own way. There is rejoicing in heaven (where the angels cry out day and night to God “Holy Holy Holy” but they still pause to rejoice) when a sinner comes to salvation in Christ.
So, since we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) we are lost sheep who have strayed to our own path. And God has laid on Christ our sins, our iniquities, our transgressions. God will was accomplished in crushing Christ for the sin of His sheep. He seeks us out and finds us, He relentlessly pursues our hearts. The sheep had no say in whether or not he was found by the Shepherd (but at the same time the prodigal son came back of his own volition. Yay for predetermined free will!)
So Jesus’ command to Peter, one of the first leaders in the church, Christ’s bride, was to feed His sheep. Each of us are sheep. We have each strayed. The only question remains whether or not we’ve been found yet. Whether or not we’ve repented and gone back to our Father and begged for forgiveness. But we are all God’s and we are all His sheep.
So when Jesus says “Feed My sheep,” I feel safe extrapolating from that statement that Jesus wants the church to “feed” the world for we all are sheep. But what does feed mean? Give food to the poor? Absolutely (Matthew 25:40 and its context). But food here isn’t just physical (just like we aren't physically sheep). In John 4, after the Samaritan woman at the well goes back to her village to tell them of Christ, Jesus is talking with His disciples and they’re concerned about His blood sugar levels (or something like that)
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Our food is more than just bread. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Deut. 8:3). So really, for Peter to feed Jesus’ sheep, for the church today to feed Jesus’ sheep we must listen to Jesus’ voice, listen to God’s words. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6). For us to hear God’s words, to come to the Father and sit at His feet and listen, we must go through Jesus. To feed others is to point them to Jesus so that they might sit before God’s throne as His children through and by His will.
That includes everyone. So you’ll notice that I said “the most important thing is people finding Jesus.” We’re included, saved and unsaved alike. Everyone needs Jesus. He commands us to love Him, to love others by telling them about Him, to feed others by pointing them to Christ which ultimately means that we must point them to the cross.
I really think we’re viewing this the same when all is said and done. Christians are sinners too and every sinner needs Jesus and the cross.
An Epiphany on Marriage
Epiphany: sudden realization: a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence. (Definition taken from bing.com)
I had one of those today. Marriage is not a goal, it is not an end in itself. Rather, marriage is but an option for achieving the goal of mankind – to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. (the goal of mankind taken from John Piper is his book “Desiring God”).
All my life when I’ve thought about marriage I’ve thought of it as the end of a race that we can choose whether or not to run. Marriage was never a necessity but it was the finish line. I viewed marriage as a summit, a point of arrival. But what then? What comes next? Sure, children are another race that you can choose whether or not to run but for me, that used to be it. Marriage was an end. When I was little marriage was a disgusting end where you had to kiss a girl (gross!) and as I grew older marriage became a beautiful end where mutual love and respect ruled for the rest of our days. But it was an end. (Let me emphasize that before today I viewed marriage as an end.)
So today, after physics I’m walking to the far side of campus thinking about marriage and it hits me. Marriage isn’t an end. It’s a path. It’s one mean to the “end,” the ultimate goal of mankind. Marriage is a means for us to glorify God. Marriage (for guys) is finding a Godly lady who reflects God’s beauty, God’s compassion, God’s grace, God’s gentleness (etc.) to complement our own reflection of God’s strength, God’s protection, God’s power, God’s nobility (etc.). Marriage is not primarily concerned with enjoying the company of another human – although that is a large part of it – marriage is about seeking and enjoying God and inviting your best friend to come on your journey with you. Marriage is about edifying each other to better reflect the attributes of God that you as a man or woman of God are created to reflect.
Marriage can include (and some should be included but these are certainly not the main priorities of marriage) raising children, getting to know one another, learning to live with another person, sharing joy with each other, having fun, having a physical or emotional partner to go through life with, etc. Now, I do fully believe that a marriage whose ultimate goal is glorifying God by enjoying Him forever and seeking Him as a couple will include some of these. If you work with someone for God’s kingdom you get to know them, you have fun together, you learn to live with them, you learn to love them. It’s a natural consequence of doing the right thing. But these consequences, these reactions to a purpose driven marriage are not the reason for marriage. They are not the goal of mankind – they are merely God’s blessings to let us know when we’re on the right path.
So with this new view on marriage, I’ve changed what I look for in a wife (although “looking for” is a whole different story). I’m seeking a Godly woman who reflects the attributes of God that I struggle with. She will be quick to accept others because I have to remind myself to not judge people before I get to know them. She will be forgiving because why God would ever forgive me confuses me to no end. She will be mysterious because there is so much about God that I don’t understand. And she will be all these things and more than I could ever imagine if she but loves God with her everything and loves Him so much more than she could ever dream of loving me.
(Some thoughts also inspired by the book “Hero” by Fred Stoeker & Jasen Stoeker with Mike Yorkey)
Hero’s Website:http://www.fredstoeker.com/book/hero.shtml
John Piper’s Website: http://www.desiringgod.org/
I had one of those today. Marriage is not a goal, it is not an end in itself. Rather, marriage is but an option for achieving the goal of mankind – to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. (the goal of mankind taken from John Piper is his book “Desiring God”).
All my life when I’ve thought about marriage I’ve thought of it as the end of a race that we can choose whether or not to run. Marriage was never a necessity but it was the finish line. I viewed marriage as a summit, a point of arrival. But what then? What comes next? Sure, children are another race that you can choose whether or not to run but for me, that used to be it. Marriage was an end. When I was little marriage was a disgusting end where you had to kiss a girl (gross!) and as I grew older marriage became a beautiful end where mutual love and respect ruled for the rest of our days. But it was an end. (Let me emphasize that before today I viewed marriage as an end.)
So today, after physics I’m walking to the far side of campus thinking about marriage and it hits me. Marriage isn’t an end. It’s a path. It’s one mean to the “end,” the ultimate goal of mankind. Marriage is a means for us to glorify God. Marriage (for guys) is finding a Godly lady who reflects God’s beauty, God’s compassion, God’s grace, God’s gentleness (etc.) to complement our own reflection of God’s strength, God’s protection, God’s power, God’s nobility (etc.). Marriage is not primarily concerned with enjoying the company of another human – although that is a large part of it – marriage is about seeking and enjoying God and inviting your best friend to come on your journey with you. Marriage is about edifying each other to better reflect the attributes of God that you as a man or woman of God are created to reflect.
Marriage can include (and some should be included but these are certainly not the main priorities of marriage) raising children, getting to know one another, learning to live with another person, sharing joy with each other, having fun, having a physical or emotional partner to go through life with, etc. Now, I do fully believe that a marriage whose ultimate goal is glorifying God by enjoying Him forever and seeking Him as a couple will include some of these. If you work with someone for God’s kingdom you get to know them, you have fun together, you learn to live with them, you learn to love them. It’s a natural consequence of doing the right thing. But these consequences, these reactions to a purpose driven marriage are not the reason for marriage. They are not the goal of mankind – they are merely God’s blessings to let us know when we’re on the right path.
So with this new view on marriage, I’ve changed what I look for in a wife (although “looking for” is a whole different story). I’m seeking a Godly woman who reflects the attributes of God that I struggle with. She will be quick to accept others because I have to remind myself to not judge people before I get to know them. She will be forgiving because why God would ever forgive me confuses me to no end. She will be mysterious because there is so much about God that I don’t understand. And she will be all these things and more than I could ever imagine if she but loves God with her everything and loves Him so much more than she could ever dream of loving me.
(Some thoughts also inspired by the book “Hero” by Fred Stoeker & Jasen Stoeker with Mike Yorkey)
Hero’s Website:http://www.fredstoeker.com/book/hero.shtml
John Piper’s Website: http://www.desiringgod.org/
A Problem of Style
I recently read an advice column (http://www.jsonline.com/features/advice/who-in-this-family-is-being-unreasonable-132956808.html) and I was struck by one particular line in the girl's rant.
“I can't wear halter tops, short shorts, a bikini or much makeup. If I tell her it's the style, she says, 'Modesty is always in style.'”
Now, I'm not a girl so I'm shooting in the dark here for the most part but her assertion of what is and is not stylish right now got me thinking...who determines style anyways? Style keeps changing (thank goodness, no bell bottom jeans for me please) but why? There's no universal, timeless sense of style. So who sets the current style? Who determines what looks good and what doesn't?
Well, clothes (style) tell others about who we are without using words. Clothes are our first silent introduction to strangers. And we like to make a good impression. Sure, there are some people that I like to torque off just for the fun of it but in general I want people to think good things about me. I can't imagine girls are any different. In fact, I would go so far as to say that girls feel that need – especially when it comes to looks and appearances – far more than I do. As a guy, the question I ask of myself is “Am I strong enough?” Girls ask “Am I beautiful?” So as much as I enjoy dressing up and looking shnazzy, girls not only enjoy looking beautiful but need to look beautiful on a whole different level than I do. (Ever notice how's guys formal fashion has stayed pretty similar over the last couple hundred years? And how girls formal fashion has changed a lot more? Yeah...)
So for this girl, she feels the need to make a first impression as a fashionable young lady. Completely understandable. But once again, who decides fashion? Let's look at just her case. The people she runs into each day are the ones who will determine whether or not she's fashionable because they see her. Now, if I know anything about teenagers its that they hang out with other teenagers and try to impress their peers (and not their elders). So for this young lady, her sense of fashion is set by her peers, boys and girls her age. So where do they get their sense of fashion from?
I would argue that the fashion sense of the younger generation is dictated by two major factors when it comes to female fashion. First off, a sense of rebellion. For whatever reason, the younger generation feels the urge to go against the values of the older generation. My best guess is that this brings forth a sense of identity and community for the younger generation. And so we have this girl's mom preaching modesty to a younger generation in rebellion and wanting to strut their stuff (or whatever you want to call it).
Secondly, and more importantly, her peers get their sense of style from wanting to impress each other. So whatever she wears, she wants her friends to notice and to like it. I would say she especially wants guys to notice it and to like her attire in the hopes of attracting guys. Sure, girls think other girls are cute (a phenomenon I don't understand in the slightest) but when it comes down to it, I think girls' style is really driven by a yearning for a guy's attention. If there weren't guys around, girls would go out in their sweats and pajamas all day just for the sake of comfort. But since there are guys, there's the pressure to look “sexy” or “hott.” Girls, being more aware about styles, fashions, and their reactions, notice what guys like (aka immodesty) and that helps to shape their sense of style and what they look for in what other girls wear.
So, her sense of style and fashion is being dictated by a need to rebel and teenage guys hoping to score more of a look than they know is usual. She gets more attention if she's wearing short shorts and halter tops than she does otherwise. That then becomes her sense of style. What's there to be done?
Girls, let me ask you this: do you really want a guy to give you attention just because he's seen more of your skin than some other girl? How much can you trust a guy who there just to catch a glimpse or cop a feel of something he shouldn't? Is that what you want? Sure, you can argue all day that bikinis and short shorts are “cuter” but are they really? Or are they really what gets a guy's attention faster than jeans and a t-shirt?
Guys, grow up. Do you want a girl who's showing off her stuff to everyone? Or do you want to be the first one to see it, the first person whom she's trusted enough to share with? If so, what are you going to do to earn that privilege? Play the game as fast as possible and ditch once you get your reward? Or stick through it to the end and find something way better than a look or a feel: her heart.
It's a two way street. Guys need to treat girls like ladies instead of pieces of meat to help girls. Girls need to dress like ladies and not like pieces of meat to help guys. So ladies, cover it up and be beautiful, not just “sexy” and guys, look past skin deep and value her heart more than her looks.
“I can't wear halter tops, short shorts, a bikini or much makeup. If I tell her it's the style, she says, 'Modesty is always in style.'”
Now, I'm not a girl so I'm shooting in the dark here for the most part but her assertion of what is and is not stylish right now got me thinking...who determines style anyways? Style keeps changing (thank goodness, no bell bottom jeans for me please) but why? There's no universal, timeless sense of style. So who sets the current style? Who determines what looks good and what doesn't?
Well, clothes (style) tell others about who we are without using words. Clothes are our first silent introduction to strangers. And we like to make a good impression. Sure, there are some people that I like to torque off just for the fun of it but in general I want people to think good things about me. I can't imagine girls are any different. In fact, I would go so far as to say that girls feel that need – especially when it comes to looks and appearances – far more than I do. As a guy, the question I ask of myself is “Am I strong enough?” Girls ask “Am I beautiful?” So as much as I enjoy dressing up and looking shnazzy, girls not only enjoy looking beautiful but need to look beautiful on a whole different level than I do. (Ever notice how's guys formal fashion has stayed pretty similar over the last couple hundred years? And how girls formal fashion has changed a lot more? Yeah...)
So for this girl, she feels the need to make a first impression as a fashionable young lady. Completely understandable. But once again, who decides fashion? Let's look at just her case. The people she runs into each day are the ones who will determine whether or not she's fashionable because they see her. Now, if I know anything about teenagers its that they hang out with other teenagers and try to impress their peers (and not their elders). So for this young lady, her sense of fashion is set by her peers, boys and girls her age. So where do they get their sense of fashion from?
I would argue that the fashion sense of the younger generation is dictated by two major factors when it comes to female fashion. First off, a sense of rebellion. For whatever reason, the younger generation feels the urge to go against the values of the older generation. My best guess is that this brings forth a sense of identity and community for the younger generation. And so we have this girl's mom preaching modesty to a younger generation in rebellion and wanting to strut their stuff (or whatever you want to call it).
Secondly, and more importantly, her peers get their sense of style from wanting to impress each other. So whatever she wears, she wants her friends to notice and to like it. I would say she especially wants guys to notice it and to like her attire in the hopes of attracting guys. Sure, girls think other girls are cute (a phenomenon I don't understand in the slightest) but when it comes down to it, I think girls' style is really driven by a yearning for a guy's attention. If there weren't guys around, girls would go out in their sweats and pajamas all day just for the sake of comfort. But since there are guys, there's the pressure to look “sexy” or “hott.” Girls, being more aware about styles, fashions, and their reactions, notice what guys like (aka immodesty) and that helps to shape their sense of style and what they look for in what other girls wear.
So, her sense of style and fashion is being dictated by a need to rebel and teenage guys hoping to score more of a look than they know is usual. She gets more attention if she's wearing short shorts and halter tops than she does otherwise. That then becomes her sense of style. What's there to be done?
Girls, let me ask you this: do you really want a guy to give you attention just because he's seen more of your skin than some other girl? How much can you trust a guy who there just to catch a glimpse or cop a feel of something he shouldn't? Is that what you want? Sure, you can argue all day that bikinis and short shorts are “cuter” but are they really? Or are they really what gets a guy's attention faster than jeans and a t-shirt?
Guys, grow up. Do you want a girl who's showing off her stuff to everyone? Or do you want to be the first one to see it, the first person whom she's trusted enough to share with? If so, what are you going to do to earn that privilege? Play the game as fast as possible and ditch once you get your reward? Or stick through it to the end and find something way better than a look or a feel: her heart.
It's a two way street. Guys need to treat girls like ladies instead of pieces of meat to help girls. Girls need to dress like ladies and not like pieces of meat to help guys. So ladies, cover it up and be beautiful, not just “sexy” and guys, look past skin deep and value her heart more than her looks.
Good and the Existence of Evil
Why is there evil? Why, if God is all good and all powerful, does He allow there to be evil in this life? Honestly, I can't answer that question. But one answer I've heard a lot is that evil is necessary for us to know what good is. This, I believe, is absolutely wrong. Let me give an analogy and then use scripture to back up my point.
Imagine you're in a completely bare room. No furniture, no windows, no funny wall shapes, just four walls in a square. There's a light bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling, it's just a 40 watt bulb. Flip on the switch. What happens? Well, the entire room lit up, right? No shadows, just soft, yellow incandescent light everywhere. No dark, just light. Ok, now replace that 40 watt bulb with a 3,000 watt bulb (if those exist, just imagine it). What's different? There's still all light and no shadows, right? So what's changed? Well, the light is a lot lighter, that's what. Now imagine looking at the 40 watt bulb and then having it instantaneously turn into the 3,000 watt bulb. You'd be temporarily blinded it'd be so bright. But still, there wouldn't be any shadows in the room either way. Yet there would be a huge difference in the light.
In this analogy, the light is goodness. I would argue that goodness can and does entirely exist without evil, that evil isn't even needed to highlight how much greater God's goodness (the 3,000 watt bulb) is than any goodness He created (the 40 watt bulb). Evil (darkness) doesn't even have to exist for goodness to manifest itself. Now yes, it is true that if your eyes are used to the darkness the 3,000 watt bulb would seem even brighter. But God is infinitely good. Even though evil can serve to highlight God's goodness more for us God's goodness is not dependent goodness in general does not require evil in order to exist.
But that's just an analogy. Let's look at scripture. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:1-4, HCSB). Did you catch that? Two things. First off, God saw that the light was GOOD. Hey look, no mention of evil. And from before, we see that there was God...and a formless and empty earth before He added light (which was good). Six days God creates and every day God saw that it was good. Hhmm, God plus a bunch of creations that He calls good. I don't see any evil there. Good existed in the beginning without evil. All by itself.
Also, the universe has to have a creator. The existence of anything requires an outside source creating it. So space, time, and matter (what makes up the universe) had to have been created. And when it was created, only one thing could have existed previously (you can't have a separation of things without space, matter, or time so if those didn't exist yet, then you only have one thing). Since God created the universe and nothing else could have existed in conjunction with God before He created the universe and God is wholly good in every way...well, there's no room for evil in there. God's pre-existence and inherent goodness require that good can and does exist in its purest form without evil being necessary. If evil was necessary for good's existence then God would have to be both good and evil and because that's a contradiction, God would cease to be God and the universe would simultaneously implode and explode. Because God is good and God is self existent, good also is existent without evil.
I realize that my view runs contrary to many great minds and thinkers. I also realize that I don't answer the question of why evil exists. But I want to leave you with two thoughts. First off, while what you think about good and evil and their existence stems directly from your views on God and creation, just because you disagree with me doesn't mean you're burning in hell. The requirements for heaven don't include your various beliefs on this or that. These topics are fun to discuss and debate but thy should never grow to have more importance than the issue of saving souls. Secondly, my answer to why evil exists is this: If God wasn't good and loving, if God acted out of His righteousness and holiness without acting also out of His love and mercy, would we even be here? Evil is a problem Satan and man chose, God is gracious enough to give us a chance at accepting Christ's work to undo our problem instead of killing us (as is His right) for our sin. What an amazing, kind, loving, and awesome God we serve.
Imagine you're in a completely bare room. No furniture, no windows, no funny wall shapes, just four walls in a square. There's a light bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling, it's just a 40 watt bulb. Flip on the switch. What happens? Well, the entire room lit up, right? No shadows, just soft, yellow incandescent light everywhere. No dark, just light. Ok, now replace that 40 watt bulb with a 3,000 watt bulb (if those exist, just imagine it). What's different? There's still all light and no shadows, right? So what's changed? Well, the light is a lot lighter, that's what. Now imagine looking at the 40 watt bulb and then having it instantaneously turn into the 3,000 watt bulb. You'd be temporarily blinded it'd be so bright. But still, there wouldn't be any shadows in the room either way. Yet there would be a huge difference in the light.
In this analogy, the light is goodness. I would argue that goodness can and does entirely exist without evil, that evil isn't even needed to highlight how much greater God's goodness (the 3,000 watt bulb) is than any goodness He created (the 40 watt bulb). Evil (darkness) doesn't even have to exist for goodness to manifest itself. Now yes, it is true that if your eyes are used to the darkness the 3,000 watt bulb would seem even brighter. But God is infinitely good. Even though evil can serve to highlight God's goodness more for us God's goodness is not dependent goodness in general does not require evil in order to exist.
But that's just an analogy. Let's look at scripture. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:1-4, HCSB). Did you catch that? Two things. First off, God saw that the light was GOOD. Hey look, no mention of evil. And from before, we see that there was God...and a formless and empty earth before He added light (which was good). Six days God creates and every day God saw that it was good. Hhmm, God plus a bunch of creations that He calls good. I don't see any evil there. Good existed in the beginning without evil. All by itself.
Also, the universe has to have a creator. The existence of anything requires an outside source creating it. So space, time, and matter (what makes up the universe) had to have been created. And when it was created, only one thing could have existed previously (you can't have a separation of things without space, matter, or time so if those didn't exist yet, then you only have one thing). Since God created the universe and nothing else could have existed in conjunction with God before He created the universe and God is wholly good in every way...well, there's no room for evil in there. God's pre-existence and inherent goodness require that good can and does exist in its purest form without evil being necessary. If evil was necessary for good's existence then God would have to be both good and evil and because that's a contradiction, God would cease to be God and the universe would simultaneously implode and explode. Because God is good and God is self existent, good also is existent without evil.
I realize that my view runs contrary to many great minds and thinkers. I also realize that I don't answer the question of why evil exists. But I want to leave you with two thoughts. First off, while what you think about good and evil and their existence stems directly from your views on God and creation, just because you disagree with me doesn't mean you're burning in hell. The requirements for heaven don't include your various beliefs on this or that. These topics are fun to discuss and debate but thy should never grow to have more importance than the issue of saving souls. Secondly, my answer to why evil exists is this: If God wasn't good and loving, if God acted out of His righteousness and holiness without acting also out of His love and mercy, would we even be here? Evil is a problem Satan and man chose, God is gracious enough to give us a chance at accepting Christ's work to undo our problem instead of killing us (as is His right) for our sin. What an amazing, kind, loving, and awesome God we serve.
Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
Why is there something rather than nothing?
There are a total of six possible explanations for the origin of the universe - the origin of the first thing consisting of space, time, and matter. The premise of my argument depends on there being these six and only these six. But, if I am missing one, then my argument is not dead, merely incomplete.
1. The universe has always existed.
2. The universe was created by chance.
3. The universe was created by nothing.
4. The universe is self created.
5. There is nothing, it is all an illusion.
6. The universe was created by a being existing fully outside of space, time, and matter.
There are no other explanations of where the universe came from that I know of. These six are it. However, if you're reading this and can think of another, do let me know. I would be most interested in discussing that with you. But I delay. Only one of these can be true. Which means we either need to prove that one is absolutely true, or that all others are false. If all but one is false and the last one can not be proven false then it is true by the process of elimination no matter how outlandish it may be.
1) The universe has always existed. This is a self defeating statement. If the universe has always existed, then there would be no today. Let me explain. Today, the present, is the end of history. Every moment before is history, every moment after is the future. This very moment itself is the present. The present is thus the end of history. The assumption that the universe has always existed implies that there is an infinitely long history. Where is the end of infinity? Infinity, by definition, has no end. If the universe has always existed, then today does not exist.
A couple of other ways to think about this. If there is an infinitely long history of the universe, then at what point in that infinity, did we get here? We never would have because there would be an infinite number of moments before us and an infinite number of moments can not be traversed.
Let me ask you this: if you were standing in the middle of an infinitely long line (representing the succession of moments of the universe) and a ball (the present) was being passed from one end of the line to the other, when would you touch the ball? Never. Or if there is a man in an infinitely deep hole, when will he climb out of the hole? Never.
An infinite past to the universe is impossible, it means that today doesn't exist.
2) The universe was created by chance. Once again a self defeating statement. Chance is a mathematical term describing how likely an event is to occur. Chance has no causal power, it is not a being, not a thing. It is a representation of math, an explanation of how numbers and probabilities interact. Chance, a ratio of numbers, can not ever have causal power.
3) The universe was created by nothing. Hey look, another self defeating statement. Nothing (like chance) has no causal power. Nothing is not a being, it's nothing. Nothing can not create something. As beings bound by space, time, and matter we have no concept of nothing. Nothing is a lack of matter (ok, I got that), a lack of time (eh....not so much), and a lack of space (isn't space how we define a lack of matter?). Nothing can not create something, it's nothing and nothing has no causal power.
4) The universe is self created. Yep, you guessed it – yet one more self defeating statement. For some to create itself, it would have to exist before it exists to cause itself to exist. So before it exists (when it doesn't exist) it would have to exist to make itself go from a state of non existence to existence. You can exist and not exist at the same time. It's impossible. Self creation is therefore impossible as well. It's based on a confusing, illogical argument that contradicts itself to be true. Yeah, it hurts my head too.
5) Everything is an illusion. And this is our final self defeating statement. If everything is an illusion, then it an illusion that things are an illusion which implies that something real is creating the illusion. Or, look at it this way. If everything is an illusion, where did that illusion come from? Something real? Well, then not everything is an illusion. Did it come from another illusion? Alright, where did that illusion come from? Something real? (see above) or another illusion? You can keep going on and on forever but since you can't go back infinitely at some point you have to have a root cause to break you out of the loop and the only answer that breaks you out is that the illusion was created by something real.
Also of note, an illusion is something. Just saying.
6) So this leaves us with God creating the entire universe. Well, I can't disprove God. He must exist fully outside of space, time, and matter to have created space time and matter. Since He is not defined by anything we know or can understand, we can't logic and reason our way out of God's existence. Now, I'm not saying that we know God, just that we know He exists. This still leaves open the question of God's goodness but let me answer that with another question: if God wasn't good, would the earth, full of stupid, wrong, sinful, selfish humans, still be here?
There are a total of six possible explanations for the origin of the universe - the origin of the first thing consisting of space, time, and matter. The premise of my argument depends on there being these six and only these six. But, if I am missing one, then my argument is not dead, merely incomplete.
1. The universe has always existed.
2. The universe was created by chance.
3. The universe was created by nothing.
4. The universe is self created.
5. There is nothing, it is all an illusion.
6. The universe was created by a being existing fully outside of space, time, and matter.
There are no other explanations of where the universe came from that I know of. These six are it. However, if you're reading this and can think of another, do let me know. I would be most interested in discussing that with you. But I delay. Only one of these can be true. Which means we either need to prove that one is absolutely true, or that all others are false. If all but one is false and the last one can not be proven false then it is true by the process of elimination no matter how outlandish it may be.
1) The universe has always existed. This is a self defeating statement. If the universe has always existed, then there would be no today. Let me explain. Today, the present, is the end of history. Every moment before is history, every moment after is the future. This very moment itself is the present. The present is thus the end of history. The assumption that the universe has always existed implies that there is an infinitely long history. Where is the end of infinity? Infinity, by definition, has no end. If the universe has always existed, then today does not exist.
A couple of other ways to think about this. If there is an infinitely long history of the universe, then at what point in that infinity, did we get here? We never would have because there would be an infinite number of moments before us and an infinite number of moments can not be traversed.
Let me ask you this: if you were standing in the middle of an infinitely long line (representing the succession of moments of the universe) and a ball (the present) was being passed from one end of the line to the other, when would you touch the ball? Never. Or if there is a man in an infinitely deep hole, when will he climb out of the hole? Never.
An infinite past to the universe is impossible, it means that today doesn't exist.
2) The universe was created by chance. Once again a self defeating statement. Chance is a mathematical term describing how likely an event is to occur. Chance has no causal power, it is not a being, not a thing. It is a representation of math, an explanation of how numbers and probabilities interact. Chance, a ratio of numbers, can not ever have causal power.
3) The universe was created by nothing. Hey look, another self defeating statement. Nothing (like chance) has no causal power. Nothing is not a being, it's nothing. Nothing can not create something. As beings bound by space, time, and matter we have no concept of nothing. Nothing is a lack of matter (ok, I got that), a lack of time (eh....not so much), and a lack of space (isn't space how we define a lack of matter?). Nothing can not create something, it's nothing and nothing has no causal power.
4) The universe is self created. Yep, you guessed it – yet one more self defeating statement. For some to create itself, it would have to exist before it exists to cause itself to exist. So before it exists (when it doesn't exist) it would have to exist to make itself go from a state of non existence to existence. You can exist and not exist at the same time. It's impossible. Self creation is therefore impossible as well. It's based on a confusing, illogical argument that contradicts itself to be true. Yeah, it hurts my head too.
5) Everything is an illusion. And this is our final self defeating statement. If everything is an illusion, then it an illusion that things are an illusion which implies that something real is creating the illusion. Or, look at it this way. If everything is an illusion, where did that illusion come from? Something real? Well, then not everything is an illusion. Did it come from another illusion? Alright, where did that illusion come from? Something real? (see above) or another illusion? You can keep going on and on forever but since you can't go back infinitely at some point you have to have a root cause to break you out of the loop and the only answer that breaks you out is that the illusion was created by something real.
Also of note, an illusion is something. Just saying.
6) So this leaves us with God creating the entire universe. Well, I can't disprove God. He must exist fully outside of space, time, and matter to have created space time and matter. Since He is not defined by anything we know or can understand, we can't logic and reason our way out of God's existence. Now, I'm not saying that we know God, just that we know He exists. This still leaves open the question of God's goodness but let me answer that with another question: if God wasn't good, would the earth, full of stupid, wrong, sinful, selfish humans, still be here?
Words
The Black Knight
Have you ever thought about what words are? Like seriously sat down and thought about the noises that come out of your mouth when you’re communicating with others? They’re just sounds; vibrations we hear that are gone the instant after we hear them. There’s no inherent longevity to words. Words are quick too. You know how a thought starts coming out of your mouth before it’s really even been fully formed in your head? “Oh no, words are coming out! Trying to grab them, quick, put ‘em back in.” Short lived noises that haven't been fully thought out – pretty insignificant, wouldn't you say? So why are they so powerful? Speeches can sway nations to one form of government or another, apologies can heal even the deepest of hurts, songs bring smile to our faces and stick with us throughout the day, quotes are sources of wisdom…but they’re all just words. The only significance of words comes from the value we give to them; their only lasting impact exists solely in our heads because the instant after we hear it, the words are gone. Sure you can ignore someone but something that they say is going to get through. Unless you have some sort of dark magic or some other means of blocking out all noise, you can’t help but hear what others have to say to you. It’s like words are the layman’s way of hypnotizing people, temporarily pushing out their other thoughts to make room for what you’re saying to them. How weird is that? Every time we talk it’s a brief form of mind control almost. So then you have you ask yourself if your words are really so much more important than what someone else is currently doing that you’re going to say them? Or are you saying them merely to blow some hot air around and hear the melodious sound of your own voice? No, we don't ask ourselves questions before we speak, we just talk and hope that what we say doesn't make us look stupid. But is that the smartest thing to do? Say what I feel like without thinking about it? Or would a little more thought and maybe some perspective give the words that I do speak a greater value, make them actually worth hearing? It’s worth a thought, maybe two thoughts…
Guys and Girls: Wolf Pack Relationships
The Black Knight
Males run in a wolf pack. Each one is vying for leadership, each striving to be bigger, better, stronger, faster than the others. We all know who the leader is in any given situation; there's the athletic leader, the smart leader, the funny leader, etc. Knowing who the leader is just gives the “smaller” wolves something, someone to aim for when struggling for that specific leadership role. Respect is only ever earned, rarely given. To be a leader you have to demand the respect of your position else you risk following with the rest of the pack while someone else takes your role.
Unfortunately males take this wolf-pack mentality into other aspects of life as well. Now I'm not saying that this analogy is perfect or completely accurate; it will not apply in all areas of life but it is a lens through which males often see the world. So when we as males take this wolf-pack mentality into the realm of relationships it causes communication gaps with females. Women don't run in a wolf-pack, their's is a much different result for showing weakness. I'm not female, I won't try to elaborate or expound on what living in “girl world” is like except to say that girl world is very different than the wolf pack. I think I'm safe in saying that where males tend to let each man fend for himself, females try to look out for each other more (at least females who are close friends). You mess with one girl and suddenly you have all of her friends after you. From a guy's point of view, I find myself a little envious of that loyalty sometimes.
So how does this loyalty relate to the wolf-pack? Well, in the wolf-pack, you don't go to bat for someone else typically because that casts the other as the weaker wolf and hangs a target around their neck. (There are times when the lead wolf needs to defend the weakest wolf from the other wolves but if a guy is capable of taking care of himself it's usually best to just let him do it for himself to maintain face and rep with the pack). So when girls go to bat for one of their girlfriends the guy sees it through the wolf-pack lens. The girl being defended in this situation is seen as weak and weakness is not tolerated in the pack. Weakness is a disease quickly weeded out in the wolf-pack. Weakness is not standing up for yourself, is letting others fight for you. Weakness goes hand in hand with cowardice in the wolf-pack.
Another form of weakness often confused between genders is the delivery boy. Girls and their girlfriends share favors with each other, they help each other out. This is great except when it gets confused in the wolf-pack mindset. There is no room for a delivery boy in the wolf-pack, if you aren't strong enough to say it face to face, you are not strong enough to back it up. Girls will tell their friends' boyfriends to be careful through notes delivered by other girls or by mutual friends. Unfortunately this sends the wrong message across. Granted, boys understand defending someone else, they might even appreciate that other people care about their significant other that much but when they're running with the wolves again the fact that you didn't deliver the message face to face will kill your credibility with them. Sad to say, it might even encourage them to test the limits and see how strong you really are.
So what was my whole point in writing this? Simply to give a guy's perspective on girls and relationship help. From my own personal experience the only girl who's ever “broken up” with me in a way that didn't make me want to attack her more talked to me face to face, delivered the preliminarily note of “hey, this isn't working” in person, and owned up to her own actions. Granted her girlfriends did help, they did let me know they were there but she did the biggest and hardest parts herself, flying solo. I have immense respect for that. She made sure I knew. Other girls have relied on friends, on veiled threats from others, have dropped hints (never works) that we were through. While I still see them as amazing ladies, my respect for them dropped because of that. Also, when I receive a note delivered by someone other than the author I seriously question the author ability to carry through with protecting her friend if she won't even look me in the eye while making that promise. Girls and guys are different, the differences are not good or bad, they just are. It's what we do with them, whether we take them into consideration or ignore them that's good or bad.
Unfortunately males take this wolf-pack mentality into other aspects of life as well. Now I'm not saying that this analogy is perfect or completely accurate; it will not apply in all areas of life but it is a lens through which males often see the world. So when we as males take this wolf-pack mentality into the realm of relationships it causes communication gaps with females. Women don't run in a wolf-pack, their's is a much different result for showing weakness. I'm not female, I won't try to elaborate or expound on what living in “girl world” is like except to say that girl world is very different than the wolf pack. I think I'm safe in saying that where males tend to let each man fend for himself, females try to look out for each other more (at least females who are close friends). You mess with one girl and suddenly you have all of her friends after you. From a guy's point of view, I find myself a little envious of that loyalty sometimes.
So how does this loyalty relate to the wolf-pack? Well, in the wolf-pack, you don't go to bat for someone else typically because that casts the other as the weaker wolf and hangs a target around their neck. (There are times when the lead wolf needs to defend the weakest wolf from the other wolves but if a guy is capable of taking care of himself it's usually best to just let him do it for himself to maintain face and rep with the pack). So when girls go to bat for one of their girlfriends the guy sees it through the wolf-pack lens. The girl being defended in this situation is seen as weak and weakness is not tolerated in the pack. Weakness is a disease quickly weeded out in the wolf-pack. Weakness is not standing up for yourself, is letting others fight for you. Weakness goes hand in hand with cowardice in the wolf-pack.
Another form of weakness often confused between genders is the delivery boy. Girls and their girlfriends share favors with each other, they help each other out. This is great except when it gets confused in the wolf-pack mindset. There is no room for a delivery boy in the wolf-pack, if you aren't strong enough to say it face to face, you are not strong enough to back it up. Girls will tell their friends' boyfriends to be careful through notes delivered by other girls or by mutual friends. Unfortunately this sends the wrong message across. Granted, boys understand defending someone else, they might even appreciate that other people care about their significant other that much but when they're running with the wolves again the fact that you didn't deliver the message face to face will kill your credibility with them. Sad to say, it might even encourage them to test the limits and see how strong you really are.
So what was my whole point in writing this? Simply to give a guy's perspective on girls and relationship help. From my own personal experience the only girl who's ever “broken up” with me in a way that didn't make me want to attack her more talked to me face to face, delivered the preliminarily note of “hey, this isn't working” in person, and owned up to her own actions. Granted her girlfriends did help, they did let me know they were there but she did the biggest and hardest parts herself, flying solo. I have immense respect for that. She made sure I knew. Other girls have relied on friends, on veiled threats from others, have dropped hints (never works) that we were through. While I still see them as amazing ladies, my respect for them dropped because of that. Also, when I receive a note delivered by someone other than the author I seriously question the author ability to carry through with protecting her friend if she won't even look me in the eye while making that promise. Girls and guys are different, the differences are not good or bad, they just are. It's what we do with them, whether we take them into consideration or ignore them that's good or bad.
Heroes
The Black Knight
What is a hero? Or, more properly, what attributes define who a hero is? The tallest, a head and shoulder about the rest? The strongest, human might and muscle defined? The bravest, never flinching in the face of danger? The smartest, able to salve any problem encountered? Or is hero simply too big of word? Do we need to break it down into categories in order for any human to fill it? There are superheroes, endowed with abilities impossible for man but is that the only kind of hero? I believe there are three types of heroes, each vital to the function of society but each overlooked and under appreciated. There’s the situational hero, the person who sees what needs to be done and does it not for the praise and glory that may or may not come afterward, but simply because they were in the right place at the right time and could help out. The deserved hero, a hero merited by some virtue of the person in need of a hero. And finally the hero needed, one able to support and provide for any need, anywhere, any time.
Situational heroes are often ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances: the neighbor across the street from a burning house who rushes in and saves the child lost and afraid or the big guy who walks by a playground bully and puts an end to the fighting. They are each heroes in their own right, though some more so than others. They see what needs to be done in a situation and simply do it. Sometimes they put themselves at risk to save others, and other times they’re forced into a situation that calls for more than usual and they rise to the occasion. They are not always the bravest or the strongest, they do not necessarily have any prerequisites to become heroic, all they do is do the right thing when it needs to be done. They are the teen at the hardware store that helps the guy carry out his huge load of lumber. They are the guys in the cafeteria sticking up for the little kid. They are the people in a youth group who go and sit with the new person to make them feel welcome. They’re the people who walk by a Salvation Army can and put in a little money even though they themselves are poor. They are the people who visit the sick, the elderly. They are the people who go out Christmas caroling to those without hope. They aren’t necessarily the best at anything except being willing; seeing a need and doing all that they can to lend a helping hand and be a friend.
The deserved hero is similar to the situational hero but isn’t limited to situations although that’s where they usually find themselves being heroic. A deserved hero is the person who watches out for a group of people, for their little brother, for their friends. They protect what they love; they honor it by putting the loved one above themselves. They make it a point to look for situations to help, to become more than they can be. They’re not limited to a situation, they look for chances everywhere. They are the people who open the door for the elderly lady and help her carry her groceries to her car and then rush to hold open the door for the mother with three children running all over. They don’t just see a need and fulfill it, they look for the needs. They deliberately put themselves in situations where there’s a need and a vacancy of people to fill the need. They are knights in shining armor, treating ladies with chivalry, treating elderly with respect and dignity, honoring and protecting those younger than themselves. They are fair maidens who won’t let the ugly duckling get picked on and then go and befriend her and see her for the swan she is underneath. They make a point to be the best at what they do so that when they find a situation to help in, they are not only willing but able to aid to the best of their abilities.
Needed heroes are well, needed. They are needed regardless of circumstances or company. There is no way to survive without a needed hero because they are needed. They are the best at anything so they can help with everything. They help not only the what of the situation but the why of the causation. They can avert and subvert evil before it happens. They can heal both the body and mind. They are perfect in every sense of the word. And they are one. There is only one being, human or otherwise who can do all that, who can be all that is needed and more. His name is Jesus. He lived thousands of years ago, but is still needed, sought, disputed, rejected, and helping today. People hear his name and get offended and angry. Why? Because they need Him and don’t want to admit it. Deep down all humanity knows that we’re in need of some hero to come and save us out of the situations we keep getting into. If we could stop getting into situations then maybe we can say that we don’t need Jesus, that even though He is all powerful we don’t need Him, but we keep messing up, falling down and trying and failing to save ourselves. Each time we fall, Jesus is right there offering His hand to us, asking if we want Him to be all we need to live, asking if we want to become friends with the ultimate hero, the hero with no weakness, every strength. . . and we turn away because we’re too arrogant to want to accept that all we need is Jesus. We’d rather turn to Spiderman and let him save us with his webs and wit, or let Batman save us with his bat-mobile and martial arts, or Superman who only has one weakness, but not Jesus; never Jesus because Jesus is daunting since He is so holy. The strange thing is is that Jesus works through situational heroes, He works through deserved heroes and we accept them. We honor them, we even start to worship them in some cases but we refuse to see who sent them, who put them in that situation, who opened their eyes to see an opportunity to help. We focus our attention on what we can control because actually admitting we need a hero to be everything for us is weak, is cowardly, is “un-heroic.” But the minute that we admit we need a hero for life, not just individual circumstances but for all eternity is the minute that Jesus will come into our lives and maybe not remove us from all harm but will keep us safe through the fires and when it’s time become not only all we need in this life, but in the life to come as well.
Situational heroes who react to the situation they find themselves in. Deserved heroes who look for chances to serve and help others who merit it by just being themselves. The needed Hero who will supply our every need. Heroes are all around us and most of them aren’t armored or wearing tights. They look pretty typical, some even look more like villains than heroes. We can be the hero too, provided we give ourselves to the needed Hero so He can give us what we need in each situation we find ourselves in or seek out on its own.
