Future Events

I'm heading out Thursday to Minneapolis to attend the Desiring God Conference. Activities include a Q & A time with John Piper, great messages by Piper, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, and others, coveting hundreds of great books in their massive bookstore, and spending some quality time with some good friends. Here's a pic from last year's conference.

Also, I found out yesterday that I'll be going to London with Tom Mullis a week from today until that next Sunday. So many cool things came together for that to happen and I am pretty pumped to say the least. I don't know much of what we'll be doing, but I know it involves hooking up with a church over there and getting to know the Muslim culture over there. In fact, when my work told my I'd be able to go yesterday, the rest of my day was significantly altered. In view of my trip I couldn't help just smiling the rest of the day, serving my coworkers better, encouraging them more, and overall working harder.

And then it hit me. There is one other future event that should cause me to live every day of my life that way, namely my eternal inheritance of perfect fellowship with God in heaven. But I often forget about this one. I often complain, often have a sour attitude and disposition, often am slow to help and encourage others. In light of my imperishable, undefiled, and unfading future inheritance, I should be to face any and all setbacks and hardships with joy knowing they are all light and momentary afflictions. Didn't Christ do the same for me?

A Query

The latest Time magazine cover story is "Does God want you to be Rich?". Click here to read the article (Click on the Bentley commercial to be able to view the whole article). The main point of this article to awareness to the theology running around in church today that God does in fact want to bless us with material wealth while living here on earth. The article spotlights on Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, TD Jakes, and Joyce Meyer who all fall into this line of thought, and who all have many people following them. Their thoughts are contrasted against many different opinions from people of all different denominations who comment on how dangerously infective this teaching can be.

It seems that the main verse harked on among adherents to the prosperity teaching is John 10:10: [Jesus] came that you might have life, and have it abundantly." It might be a great verse to use, except a joyful abundant life does not come from material possession. And that is a very clear teaching of the Bible. Consider these thoughts. "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money (Eccl 5:10)". "Do not toil to acquire wealth (Prov. 23:4)". "Keep your life free from the love of money (Heb 13:5)". "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil (1 Timothy 6:10)". "Do not love the world or the things of the world (1 john 2:15)".

Christ Jesus lived the most perfect, full, and glorious life ever to be lived on Earth. Yet he was a "man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief...He was despised and we esteemed Him not." He was poor yet making many rich, He had nothing yet possessed everything. And this is exactly how Paul exhorts us to live. When others look into our lives, can they easily see that material possessions aren't what drive us and make us happy? Or are they confused? Let us be like Moses who considered the reproaches of Christ greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt. Why? Because he was looking to the reward. There's the key. Fullness of life is coming. Let us be bold in standing up for that Truth.

The Human Body

I recently went to see the Bodies Exhibition down at the Atlanta Civic Center. What a treat. For those of you who still haven't seen it, it's open until September 10th. Check it out. There were so many different ways the human body was displayed. For those of you unfamiliar with the exhibit, it is a visual walk through of the human body. It is catergorized into all the different systems of the body and it displays the intricate details of how it all is put together and sustained. Coming out of that time makes me wonder how anyone who really contemplated the complexity of it all could really talk of random atoms bumping into one another to create the human body.

Also, the display of fetal development will stop any pro-choice person and cause them to reconsider their philosophy. Models and well as real fetuses were displayed to show the progressive development that goes on within the womb. At week 6...the heart, liver, and intestines are forming. At week 8... fingers and toes. By week 14...muscles and sex organs are formed. In this country alone, 4,000 babies a day are aborted. Internationally, 46 million a year. An overwhelming majority do it as a means of birth control. And about half of the abortions occur after the 9th week when most vital organs and tissues have developed. I bring this to light to make us all aware of this tragedy. Let us love those who have gone through it, and take a stand to preserve life as we are provided the oppurtunity. And let us give glory to the God who thought of and designed our bodies, and who sustains our every breath and heartbeat.

"As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything" - Eccl. 11:5