Believing It Right

Does God care more about whether we believe everything correctly about who Jesus is or does he care more about how we live and treat others? Or does he care equally about both?
Recently I felt that I was caring too much about figuring out my theology. So much of Jesus's message was about a new way of living within his kingdom, doing good, and having compassion on the poor and oppressed of our world. I think I got sidetracked. Not that theology isn't important, but I have found in myself and in other Christians that we are perhaps overly concerned with teaching our doctrine correctly and missing out on God's heart for justice and righteousness.

Perhaps God is much more gracious than we think, and most definitely more gracious than we as believers are.

Christians

I recently spent a week at Plover Lake Bible camp near Youngstown, Alberta as a counselor. It was my first time ever on that end of things at camp. What an experience! My girls were the youngest at camp and probably the most boy crazy! I had a few girls that spent most of the week “hating me” with lots of attitude. But I also had some girls that were really excited to learn about God and to have a good week at camp. This made for some awesome discussions in our cabin devotions time every day. The questions some of them asked were so honest and candid. It was beautiful to watch the Lord soften their hearts and teach them over the course of a week.

There was one thing that I noticed throughout my time there that kind of bothered me. I can say this because it was something the Lord convicted me of myself previously. As believers we tend to have categories for all people. They are either Christians or non-Christians. Some of the counselors would say “that kid isn’t a Christian” without giving it another thought. One of the guys they spoke of this way spent most of his week hitting on a number of girls, getting into fights with other guys, and all sorts of other stuff. During chapel sometimes I would watch the kids singing and the way they reacted to songs and the messages being spoken. This particular guy was so into this part of camp. I felt as though he was on a journey towards God. There were areas of his life in which God had not dealt with him yet, but there are in all of our lives. But I think he was becoming a Christian.

It reminded me of something that C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity:

The world does not consist of 100 percent Christians and 100 percent non-Christians. There are people who are ceasing to be Christians but who still call themselves by that name. . . There are other people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so. There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly attracted by him that they are his in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God's secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it.

So perhaps we should not be so quick to jump to these conclusions about the hearts and salvation of others. Some people are somewhere in the middle. I know I have made this judgment in the past, but I really desire to avoid it in the future. I look back on the journey God has taken me on and I can see more clearly now how gradual my journey towards realizing I was known by him was, though there was a specific time that I felt I was choosing to follow him.

Summer Thoughts

Many of my friends are at camp this summer, which I spent a few weeks being jealous of. I would love to be at camp...or working with people at all! The Lord showed me recently why he has me working by myself doing manual labor. I have the time to pray really specifically for my friends at camp. In a way I am part of it. And there's more.

This past year I've spent lots of time asking questions about the Christian faith and the gospel. The Lord really humbled me in that I feel as though I don't know much anymore. So I have all summer really to think through things. Also it is a gift from Him that I have been made aware that my thoughts need to be disciplined.

Here are some of the things I've been thinking about.

God doesn't just (though he does) save us so that we can go to heaven. He blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others. He wants to make us good...why he does that seems obvious at first...because He is good and we are to be like him. Maybe it is so that we can change things around us for the better....which is probably connected to being like He is.

In my History of Christianity class this year my prof made a comment about the followers of religious movements. Because the leaders were the ones that were so inspired with the real vision for the movement, when they died or ceased to be involved, their followers tended to take the theories and doctrines to unhealthy extremes or go off on tangents. This could be seen with many groups like Lutherans, Anabaptists and many more. As I sat varnshing a log the other day this concept came to my mind for some reason. It dawned on me that followers of Jesus are the same way. How have we missed the point as followes of him?

Work

So I've been home for about three weeks now and I've worked for two of them. I'm working for a man named Jim Proudfoot that goes to my church. He builds log homes. I've known him for as long as I can remember and he's kind of like another father to me. Last week we worked together a bit while I learned how do some stuff. It is a blessing to have a Christian boss. We talk lots about the Lord, theology, and basketball. I'm sure by the end of the summer he'll be sick of hearing the question "So Jim, what do you think about this?" coming from my mouth! I've learned from him though. Some guys we worked with last week got so mad when things went wrong with the building, but not Jim. He was so calm about it. He was quiet and just worked hard to fix it.

Now that I (more or less) know how to do the majority of the work I'll be doing for him, I work by myself. It means that I have loads of time to think (sometimes too much) and pray and sing. I have been thinking about my friends at school and things that I've learned. Sometimes I catch my mind wandering to where it shouldn't. I think the Lord is trying to teach me (again) to take every thought captive to Christ. It is hard.

The other day it was freezing outside (in my opinion) and I was pressure spraying logs and getting soaked in the process. I came home miserable and not wanting to go back to work the next day. That night I had a dream. I don't know if you believe that God speaks to us through dreams, but I think I have experienced that a number of times. In this dream I was in Uganda encountering all sorts of suffering people that were poor, limbless, and the like. I woke up in the middle of the night wondering why I live here in Canada and have such a good lot in life. At times I've forgotten how real poverty and suffering is because I am not directly faced with it everyday like I was in Africa. I was made by God to repent for being so ungrateful for the job I have and my life. The next day I read in James to consider trials pure joy! God really has a way of disciplining us.

Compassion

The day after I got home my mom asked me to come and help her at the school. I didn't really feel like it, I just wanted to unpack, but I decided to go anyways. It turned out to be a huge blessing!

My cousin Marie who is in grade 9 at my mom's school, and her class were doing a fundraiser for cancer research. All the boys were shaving their heads, along with Marie and one other brave girl. So I was able to witness the "head-shaving" and it was so great. I was so encouraged to see 15 year olds actually caring about people and wanting to help people they've never met. The best part was when their principal shaved his head as well. What a good example. I was very blessed to see what I did and by the fact that so many people from the community came to support the class as well.

Calgary

I spent the weekend before coming home from school with my sister Louise and her husband Brian. It was Brian's birthday and last exam for his engineering degree ever, so we decided to get together. It was truly great to see the way they have grown in the past year. I had the best talks with them that I've ever had about the Lord and what he is teaching them.

One of the nights, while we were out for dinner for Brian's birthday at a tiny little Italian place, we ran into some people from Pincher Creek! It was awesome to see them, and they told us about an church event concerning peace in which a woman from Uganda was going to speak about her experience of having her daughter abducted into the LRA. It was totally God. We went to the event and I was able to speak briefly with the woman. . . it was SOOOO good to hear a Ugandan accent again! It was also a good reminder about what really matters. I can get so caught up on life here and all that comes with it, that I forget about the rest of the world.

Finished School!

It is sad, but also good to be finished the school year. It did go really fast though. It was a challenging year both in the classroom and out. I am very thankful for the classes I was able to take this past semester, especially the History of Science and Religion class. The final paper I wrote was so interesting. I researched B.B. Warfield, the man that wrote most clearly and precisely about the Inspiration of the Bible. He was a fundamentalist, but also an evolutionist. Most would ask "how is it possible for him to be both?" I discovered (in many of the books that I read) that it was the very way in which he viewed Scripture that allowed him to accept the theory of evolution.

The Bible is a completely human document. . . it is also completely inspired by the Holy Spirit of God at every point. (Just as Jesus was fully man and fully God). God did not bypass the limitations and characteristics of humans when the process of Scripture took place. Warfield called this concursus and saw the happenings of the world occurring in the same way. The events of history and what takes place on our planet are a result of the action of humans and the hand of God at every point. God works through and with humans. Therefore, perhaps there is room for the best theology and the best science. So if there is much evidence for evolution, would not Christians seem kind of ignorant to claim that it is a lie? Is there a need for the current war between science and faith? It is all very interesting to me. Of course God created in the beginning, but maybe we don't know exactly how!?

So these were some of the things on my mind within the classroom. Outside of it, the Lord really challenged and convicted me of my pride. I began this school year with such gratitude to Him that I get to be at Bible college. I just couldn't get enough of reading for my classes and learning as much as I could. I really did not want to take my time at school for granted. . . so I studied quite a lot. Of course, when a person spends that much time on their studies, it usually shows in their marks. I had never had marks like that, and while I knew it was all because of the Lord's help and that it all came from him, I slowly began to take more and more pride in how I did in my classes. Of course I always wanted to do my best, but it became less and less about simply seeking the face of God and learning about Him and more about keeping my grades high.

Just as the Lord began to point this out to me, a couple of my friends called me on it. Praise the Lord for friends who will be honest...and that loved me enough to point out my sin! How awesome. So I spent the last few weeks very humbled and getting back on track. So that was very hard, but our heavenly Father truly loves us when he disciplines us like that for our good.

Biblical Studies Teacher

Yesterday was such a great day. Our school is looking at hiring a new Biblical Studies prof who just happens to be a woman. She was here for a couple days being interviewed for the job. (We currently don't have any women Biblical Studies profs at school). She taught our John class. Up until yesterday I didn't think many people (besides my Greek prof) could read in English from the Greek text. She proved me wrong! She was very knowledgeable and qualified to teach the Bible...she was a very approachable and vibrant woman, full of the Spirit. It was so encouraging.

I had the privilege of joining with about 15 other students to interview her. We got to ask her all about her education, her walk with the Lord, and her vision. It became so clear to us that she had a heart very soft towards Him, but was also very academic. It was a breath of fresh air for a bunch of Biblical studies students that spend so much time studying the Bible in an academic setting, to encounter someone that still lets the Scripture inpact her life profoundly.

The cool thing was that as a woman she didn't have an adjenda. We didn't get the impression that she felt she had something to prove. I was so excited to meet a learned woman that didn't have one. Two of my girlfriends who happen to be quite feministic were also blown away by her, because they thought every woman in this position had to have one! We were all very encouraged in our work. It is sometimes easy to get bogged down in all the details of our study, but the Lord really used this woman in our lives, and she doesn't even have the job yet!