"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."
-Psalm 139:13
I meant to write this a very long time ago, but I never got around to it for whatever reason. In any case, I wanted to talk about something that has been revealed by Thomas Drake and Edward Snowden. If you have never heard these names before, they are two men who informed the public about the government's plans to collect data on citizens of the United States. More specifically, the NSA was developing hardware and software that could store information such as people's emails, phone calls, and other private information. The reason these people are so famous is that what they did was technically illegal, because they revealed classified information to the public. Despite this, many people consider them to have done the right thing, because the information that they revealed told us that the government was planning on violating the privacy of every American.
I am not going to argue whether or not these men did the right thing or not, but to talk about privacy. When I heard about the government's plan to spy on U.S. citizens and the public outrage when this plan was revealed, I thought a little more about why people care so much about privacy. Of course, I believe that privacy is important because we do not want our sensitive information such as bank account numbers and PIN numbers to get leaked. However, why are we so intent on the government keeping their hands off our private things? Is it really only because we don't want our sensitive information to be "out there"?
Now, I am not saying that the government should have total access to our emails and whatnot. I just want to talk about why we are so worried about our private things getting exposed. A common thing that people state in support of government surveillance is that "there is nothing you should be hiding anyway". I was thinking about privacy at a smaller scale, such as when a friend is looking through your phone. What is our first reaction when this happens? We freak out, and ask (or yell at) them why they are going through our phone. Now, unless you have some really sketchy photos or text messages, why does this matter so much? There is nothing you should be hiding anyway, right?
Of course, that is a silly example, but the concept is clear. Often times, we don't like when people get too close to our personal things. I think the reason we don't like when people invade our privacy is that they will get a glimpse of who we really are. When we are outside of our personal and private space, we present a version of ourselves that we want others to see. We can choose what to show others in order to make ourselves look better than we are. Most importantly, we can hide the things that might be embarrassing or shameful. We want people to only see the best parts of us.
To be frank, we often times don't like who we are. This is why we try so hard to only show people a part of ourselves. Also, we know that people are naturally judgmental. People are by nature sinful and judging. We don't like the fact that we are sinful, and we don't like the fact that others are judgmental. However, have you ever really thought about the fact that God knows everything about you? The fact that only God can truly judge you? It's a scary thought, but something we have to keep in mind. We don't want our sinfulness and true nature to be shown, but God already knows exactly who you are. He made you!
I brought up the story of Thomas Drake and Edward Snowden because I think reveals that we think we are entitled to our privacy. We expect to have some things that only we get to see. I think we carry this idea in our relationship with God. We think that we are entitled to our privacy. We are okay with God knowing about our good deeds, like going to church, but we don't want Him to see our sin. As I said before, God already knows everything about us. Why pretend that He doesn't know our sins? Why get mad at God for knowing our sins? We should thank God that He knows who we are and yet chooses not to condemn us. Confess your sins and your shortcomings, and He will gladly forgive. He doesn't want you to pretend to be good, He wants you to embrace who you are and to trust Him. Let's not forget who God is, but let's put our trust in Him.
-Smart
(P.S. I realize that this post is not very well written, especially in light of my friend David's last post, but hey it's just a blog. I hope you still learn something.)
All your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind
"Love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength"
-Deuteronomy 6:5
"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."
-Matthew 22:37
A couple weeks ago our church studied Deuteronomy 6, which contains a popular and well known verse that I have written above. I didn't think much of it at the time, since I actually had to miss that Sunday worship service due to snow (I did get to see the sermon online). The next week (or the week after) I was asked to help the youth group praise team and to teach them about worship. As I was thinking about what I wanted to share, I was reminded of Deuteronomy 6:5. I had listened to a message by Ravi Zacharias a long time ago where he talked about worship, and how it requires all of ourselves to worship God in spirit and truth. I don't remember exactly how he phrased it, but I remember the basic idea. Finally, last Friday I led our college group in discussion about discipleship. As I prepared for that discussion, the topic of love was presented to me in the book we are studying. The book "Multiply" actually used Matthew 22:37, which is when Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, but replaces "strength" with "mind".
Now that we have discussed the background of how I came to meditate on these verses, I want to share what spoke to me. As I watched the sermon on Deuteronomy 6, the messenger asked an obvious question that anyone would have while reading Deuteronomy 6. "What does it mean to worship God with all your heart, soul, and strength?" He then proceeded to say that it means we worship God with our whole being. I absolutely agree, but I think we can think a little bit more about what is meant by "all your heart and all your soul and all your strength (and all your mind)".
If we think about what human essence consists of, we can consider four things. We are physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual beings. Our physical essence is easy to understand- it is simply our five senses. Our emotional essence is constituted of our emotions and feelings. Our intellectual essence is our ability to think and reason. Lastly, our spiritual being is the image of God in us, our character and our connection to God. These four things make up who we are as people.
So why talk about this? Think again to Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:37. We are to love God with our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Each of these things correspond to a part of our being. Our heart is our emotional being, our soul is our spiritual being, our strength is our physical being, and our mind is our intellectual being. We are meant to love God with each of these parts of ourselves. If we leave any of these parts out, we are not loving God as we are commanded to. It would be a half-hearted love. Love is the highest calling that we have in our lives, so let us love God with every single part of our being.
-Smart
-Deuteronomy 6:5
"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."
-Matthew 22:37
A couple weeks ago our church studied Deuteronomy 6, which contains a popular and well known verse that I have written above. I didn't think much of it at the time, since I actually had to miss that Sunday worship service due to snow (I did get to see the sermon online). The next week (or the week after) I was asked to help the youth group praise team and to teach them about worship. As I was thinking about what I wanted to share, I was reminded of Deuteronomy 6:5. I had listened to a message by Ravi Zacharias a long time ago where he talked about worship, and how it requires all of ourselves to worship God in spirit and truth. I don't remember exactly how he phrased it, but I remember the basic idea. Finally, last Friday I led our college group in discussion about discipleship. As I prepared for that discussion, the topic of love was presented to me in the book we are studying. The book "Multiply" actually used Matthew 22:37, which is when Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, but replaces "strength" with "mind".
Now that we have discussed the background of how I came to meditate on these verses, I want to share what spoke to me. As I watched the sermon on Deuteronomy 6, the messenger asked an obvious question that anyone would have while reading Deuteronomy 6. "What does it mean to worship God with all your heart, soul, and strength?" He then proceeded to say that it means we worship God with our whole being. I absolutely agree, but I think we can think a little bit more about what is meant by "all your heart and all your soul and all your strength (and all your mind)".
If we think about what human essence consists of, we can consider four things. We are physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual beings. Our physical essence is easy to understand- it is simply our five senses. Our emotional essence is constituted of our emotions and feelings. Our intellectual essence is our ability to think and reason. Lastly, our spiritual being is the image of God in us, our character and our connection to God. These four things make up who we are as people.
So why talk about this? Think again to Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:37. We are to love God with our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Each of these things correspond to a part of our being. Our heart is our emotional being, our soul is our spiritual being, our strength is our physical being, and our mind is our intellectual being. We are meant to love God with each of these parts of ourselves. If we leave any of these parts out, we are not loving God as we are commanded to. It would be a half-hearted love. Love is the highest calling that we have in our lives, so let us love God with every single part of our being.
-Smart
Another thought about Salt
"You are the salt of the earth."
-Matthew 5:13a
Not too long ago I wrote about salt, and how salt is meant to be used collectively, not individually. This made me think more about the nature of salt, and then something funny happened. A huge snowstorm hit where I live, and guess what happens during a snowstorm? You buy salt. As I've stated before, salt is used to preserve and to flavor food, but it is also used to melt ice. I reflected briefly on the fact that salt is used in this manner, and I wondered if this applies at all to our lives as Christians. As you probably guessed by the fact that I am writing this, I believe that it does.
In the Bible, there is this idea of a "hardened heart". An example is in the book of Exodus, when Moses is instructed to speak to Pharaoh. God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh to let His people go, but adds something interesting. God tells Moses "I will harden Pharaoh's heart..." and "he will not listen to you". Isn't it weird that God instructs Moses to approach Pharaoh about the deliverance of the Israelites even though He knows Pharaoh will harden his heart?
I would be lying if I told you that I know why God instructs Moses to speak to Pharaoh even though Pharaoh would not listen. However, if we look forward in the book of Exodus, Moses obeys God. As promised, Pharaoh does not listen to Moses, and in response, God sends a plague on Egypt. In fact, God sends many plagues on Egypt because Pharaoh continually hardens his heart towards the Israelite people. If I were Moses, I can tell you that I would have a very hard time obeying God's commands to repeatedly approach Pharaoh. Why should I waste my effort trying to convince Pharaoh to do something that he clearly is not willing to do?
If you are familiar with the book of Exodus (or perhaps the word "exodus"), you know that eventually Pharaoh softened his heart and let the Israelites go. What caused Pharaoh to finally listen to Moses? It was the fact that Moses was persistent and obedient. Despite not seeing any results over and over again, he still approached Pharaoh again and again. Moses never gave up trying to reach Pharaoh, and eventually Pharaoh softened his heart.
So what does this have to do with salt? As I stated at the beginning, salt melts ice. How? Scientifically speaking, it combines with water and ice which lowers the melting point of the ice, and helps it melt at lower temperatures. This also prevents the water from refreezing during the night. That might be interesting if you didn't know that, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. How does salt melt ice? Slowly, yet surely. When we put salt on ice, it doesn't melt right away. Salt isn't some magical compound that is able to immediately melt ice. It has to work itself into the ice, and then it melts the ice slowly. However, eventually the ice does melt.
Even though it may have seemed that Moses was not accomplishing nothing in terms of melting Pharaoh's heart, I believe that Moses was indeed impacting Pharaoh during each plague. While Moses didn't see results, that did not mean nothing was happening. Do you know the most interesting part of how salt is used to melt ice? It is that the salt is not what causes the ice to melt. I didn't explain the science behind how salt works for no reason. Salt does impact how ice melts, but ultimately the sun is responsible for melting the ice. Without the sun, the ice will never melt.
Jesus is calling us to be the salt of the earth. We are expected to impact how the world responds to Christ. It's easy to think that all of our effort is wasted, but maybe we're forgetting that salt doesn't melt ice immediately. Also, we cannot really do anything to change someone's heart. Ultimately it is the Son that melts hardened hearts. We are just called to prepare the hearts of those who have yet to believe. Salt does not melt; it is used to melt. We do not change people's hearts; God uses us to change people's hearts. I want to challenge myself (and you) with this question- am I impacting people's hearts?
-Smart
-Matthew 5:13a
Not too long ago I wrote about salt, and how salt is meant to be used collectively, not individually. This made me think more about the nature of salt, and then something funny happened. A huge snowstorm hit where I live, and guess what happens during a snowstorm? You buy salt. As I've stated before, salt is used to preserve and to flavor food, but it is also used to melt ice. I reflected briefly on the fact that salt is used in this manner, and I wondered if this applies at all to our lives as Christians. As you probably guessed by the fact that I am writing this, I believe that it does.
In the Bible, there is this idea of a "hardened heart". An example is in the book of Exodus, when Moses is instructed to speak to Pharaoh. God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh to let His people go, but adds something interesting. God tells Moses "I will harden Pharaoh's heart..." and "he will not listen to you". Isn't it weird that God instructs Moses to approach Pharaoh about the deliverance of the Israelites even though He knows Pharaoh will harden his heart?
I would be lying if I told you that I know why God instructs Moses to speak to Pharaoh even though Pharaoh would not listen. However, if we look forward in the book of Exodus, Moses obeys God. As promised, Pharaoh does not listen to Moses, and in response, God sends a plague on Egypt. In fact, God sends many plagues on Egypt because Pharaoh continually hardens his heart towards the Israelite people. If I were Moses, I can tell you that I would have a very hard time obeying God's commands to repeatedly approach Pharaoh. Why should I waste my effort trying to convince Pharaoh to do something that he clearly is not willing to do?
If you are familiar with the book of Exodus (or perhaps the word "exodus"), you know that eventually Pharaoh softened his heart and let the Israelites go. What caused Pharaoh to finally listen to Moses? It was the fact that Moses was persistent and obedient. Despite not seeing any results over and over again, he still approached Pharaoh again and again. Moses never gave up trying to reach Pharaoh, and eventually Pharaoh softened his heart.
So what does this have to do with salt? As I stated at the beginning, salt melts ice. How? Scientifically speaking, it combines with water and ice which lowers the melting point of the ice, and helps it melt at lower temperatures. This also prevents the water from refreezing during the night. That might be interesting if you didn't know that, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. How does salt melt ice? Slowly, yet surely. When we put salt on ice, it doesn't melt right away. Salt isn't some magical compound that is able to immediately melt ice. It has to work itself into the ice, and then it melts the ice slowly. However, eventually the ice does melt.
Even though it may have seemed that Moses was not accomplishing nothing in terms of melting Pharaoh's heart, I believe that Moses was indeed impacting Pharaoh during each plague. While Moses didn't see results, that did not mean nothing was happening. Do you know the most interesting part of how salt is used to melt ice? It is that the salt is not what causes the ice to melt. I didn't explain the science behind how salt works for no reason. Salt does impact how ice melts, but ultimately the sun is responsible for melting the ice. Without the sun, the ice will never melt.
Jesus is calling us to be the salt of the earth. We are expected to impact how the world responds to Christ. It's easy to think that all of our effort is wasted, but maybe we're forgetting that salt doesn't melt ice immediately. Also, we cannot really do anything to change someone's heart. Ultimately it is the Son that melts hardened hearts. We are just called to prepare the hearts of those who have yet to believe. Salt does not melt; it is used to melt. We do not change people's hearts; God uses us to change people's hearts. I want to challenge myself (and you) with this question- am I impacting people's hearts?
-Smart
Do I have Compassion?
"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd."
Mark 6:34
Recently a friend of mine and I were having a nice chat about various things. We came across the topic of our college group (which we both are a part of leading), and talked about how we wanted to lead the upcoming semester. As we were talking, a question was proposed to me that took me off guard- "do you really care about people"? I got a bit defensive and was about to say "of course", but then I really thought about it. Do I really care about people?
One of the amazing things about Jesus when He walked this earth is that He had compassion on people. It's so easy to take that simple fact for granted. If we stop to think about it though, Jesus caring about people is crazy. Why should the Lord of lords and King of kings even bother to have compassion on the sick, hungry, and poor? Why should Jesus have compassion on you and me? He saw how broken and lost we were, and He came to our rescue by way of the cross.
When we look at Jesus, and specifically the cross, having compassion on others should be easy. If the Son of God could have compassion on me, I should have no trouble showing compassion to others. I thought about why it's so hard to really care about others. I think one reason is that I am so focused on myself. I want my life to be comfortable, and reaching out to others puts my comfort at risk.
Mark 6 describes when Jesus fed the five thousand. His disciples wanted Him to send the crowd away, since there were so many people. Jesus had compassion on the crowd, and told the disciples to feed them. The disciples didn't want to deal with the crowd, because it meant that they would have to find money to buy them food. Also, they would have to distribute food, which would take a lot of effort. They didn't even think it was possible to feed so many people, which in reality, was true. However, Jesus challenges them to share in His compassion. Notice that Jesus tells the disciples to distribute the food. Jesus could have just made food appear in everyone's lap, but He invites the disciples to share in His compassionate work.
Jesus is also calling each of us to have compassion on the world. Sometimes it seems uncomfortable, or even impossible, like feeding five thousand people. However, if we just dismiss others, we not only prevent them from hearing the gospel- we miss a chance to grow our character to be more like Jesus. We are called to love others not just for their sake, but for ours.
The obvious question is how we can grow in our compassion. I don't have all the answers, but I have two thoughts. The first thing we can do is to fix our eyes on Jesus. If we remember His compassion on us, it will be easier to have compassion on others. Second, we can start small. The disciples didn't suddenly have the ability to feed five thousand people. They started with five loaves and two fish. They started small, and Jesus worked through them to multiply their offering. I'll be the first to confess that it is very difficult for me to truly have compassion on others. However, Jesus calls each of us to share in His compassion. I want to grow in my compassion, and I hope you are inspired to grow in compassion as well.
-Smart
(P.S. This post was pretty different from what I first planned, but I think it covers what I wanted to share. I hope you enjoyed it and were inspired.)
Mark 6:34
Recently a friend of mine and I were having a nice chat about various things. We came across the topic of our college group (which we both are a part of leading), and talked about how we wanted to lead the upcoming semester. As we were talking, a question was proposed to me that took me off guard- "do you really care about people"? I got a bit defensive and was about to say "of course", but then I really thought about it. Do I really care about people?
One of the amazing things about Jesus when He walked this earth is that He had compassion on people. It's so easy to take that simple fact for granted. If we stop to think about it though, Jesus caring about people is crazy. Why should the Lord of lords and King of kings even bother to have compassion on the sick, hungry, and poor? Why should Jesus have compassion on you and me? He saw how broken and lost we were, and He came to our rescue by way of the cross.
When we look at Jesus, and specifically the cross, having compassion on others should be easy. If the Son of God could have compassion on me, I should have no trouble showing compassion to others. I thought about why it's so hard to really care about others. I think one reason is that I am so focused on myself. I want my life to be comfortable, and reaching out to others puts my comfort at risk.
Mark 6 describes when Jesus fed the five thousand. His disciples wanted Him to send the crowd away, since there were so many people. Jesus had compassion on the crowd, and told the disciples to feed them. The disciples didn't want to deal with the crowd, because it meant that they would have to find money to buy them food. Also, they would have to distribute food, which would take a lot of effort. They didn't even think it was possible to feed so many people, which in reality, was true. However, Jesus challenges them to share in His compassion. Notice that Jesus tells the disciples to distribute the food. Jesus could have just made food appear in everyone's lap, but He invites the disciples to share in His compassionate work.
Jesus is also calling each of us to have compassion on the world. Sometimes it seems uncomfortable, or even impossible, like feeding five thousand people. However, if we just dismiss others, we not only prevent them from hearing the gospel- we miss a chance to grow our character to be more like Jesus. We are called to love others not just for their sake, but for ours.
The obvious question is how we can grow in our compassion. I don't have all the answers, but I have two thoughts. The first thing we can do is to fix our eyes on Jesus. If we remember His compassion on us, it will be easier to have compassion on others. Second, we can start small. The disciples didn't suddenly have the ability to feed five thousand people. They started with five loaves and two fish. They started small, and Jesus worked through them to multiply their offering. I'll be the first to confess that it is very difficult for me to truly have compassion on others. However, Jesus calls each of us to share in His compassion. I want to grow in my compassion, and I hope you are inspired to grow in compassion as well.
-Smart
(P.S. This post was pretty different from what I first planned, but I think it covers what I wanted to share. I hope you enjoyed it and were inspired.)
Quick Thought About Salt
"You are the salt of the earth."
-Matthew 5:13a
This is going to be a super random post, but this is something that popped into my head a while ago and I wanted to share it. If you know me well, I enjoy salty foods. I've always had an affinity for salty foods, and would always choose a salty food over a sugary one. For example, I would much rather have chips than ice cream. This might sound ridiculous to some of you, but God made us all different. Anyway, this is not the point I want to make today.
If you attend a church regularly, it is probable that you have heard a message on Matthew 5. Jesus tells His disciples and the crowd that they are the "salt of the earth". Many times, when I have heard a message of this passage, the salt's attributes are analyzed. For example, it is often said that salt changes the flavor of the food, preserves the food, and is potent (affecting things around it powerfully). These are all true, but one thing that I think is often overlooked is that salt is used in bunches.
When I was thinking about this idea of salt, I was eating chicken noodle soup. It was a bit bland, so I placed some salt into my soup. When I looked at the salt shaker, I thought about the fact that we never use a single grain of salt to flavor and preserve our food. When we hear the word "salt", we don't often think of a single grain of salt. We think of a lot of salt. I realized that this is how we are supposed to be as the salt of the earth. We aren't meant to be a single grain of salt, but to be a community of salt, working together. A single grain of salt does make a difference, but salt in bunches is how salt is meant to be used.
I believe that it is significant that Jesus was talking to His disciples, plural, and not to a single person. God calls us to salvation as individuals, but He calls us to preach as a church. Let us not isolate ourselves from the church, but work together in order to change and preserve the world. Jesus hasn't called us to be a grain of salt, but a group of salt. It's easy for me as an American to individualize my Christian walk with God, but He's called me to work with others. Let's become the salt of the earth, together.
-Smart
-Matthew 5:13a
This is going to be a super random post, but this is something that popped into my head a while ago and I wanted to share it. If you know me well, I enjoy salty foods. I've always had an affinity for salty foods, and would always choose a salty food over a sugary one. For example, I would much rather have chips than ice cream. This might sound ridiculous to some of you, but God made us all different. Anyway, this is not the point I want to make today.
If you attend a church regularly, it is probable that you have heard a message on Matthew 5. Jesus tells His disciples and the crowd that they are the "salt of the earth". Many times, when I have heard a message of this passage, the salt's attributes are analyzed. For example, it is often said that salt changes the flavor of the food, preserves the food, and is potent (affecting things around it powerfully). These are all true, but one thing that I think is often overlooked is that salt is used in bunches.
When I was thinking about this idea of salt, I was eating chicken noodle soup. It was a bit bland, so I placed some salt into my soup. When I looked at the salt shaker, I thought about the fact that we never use a single grain of salt to flavor and preserve our food. When we hear the word "salt", we don't often think of a single grain of salt. We think of a lot of salt. I realized that this is how we are supposed to be as the salt of the earth. We aren't meant to be a single grain of salt, but to be a community of salt, working together. A single grain of salt does make a difference, but salt in bunches is how salt is meant to be used.
I believe that it is significant that Jesus was talking to His disciples, plural, and not to a single person. God calls us to salvation as individuals, but He calls us to preach as a church. Let us not isolate ourselves from the church, but work together in order to change and preserve the world. Jesus hasn't called us to be a grain of salt, but a group of salt. It's easy for me as an American to individualize my Christian walk with God, but He's called me to work with others. Let's become the salt of the earth, together.
-Smart
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