Bigger and Better

lately, i've struggled to keep my eyes fixed upon Jesus. i've noticed myself falling into trends of selfishness and self-centerdness. there haven't been any real defining moments where this has become obvious to me or to others, it's not like i've really changed at all on the surface, or much at all for that matter. it's just that i catch myself not thinking about the Lord with the same passion that i once did, or talking to people with no care of how He's working in their life, or failing to pray for people who i know need it... little things that no one notices... are becoming obvious to me. and it's not like there's no reason to be a little distracted. i have 3 ap tests within the next week or so, school has been heating up, the play has been going on, spring practice is about to start, etc., etc.... but i can't escape the fact that i have, in a sense, lost my way as of late.

the great thing about this revelation is that i can do nothing. i say that not to mean that i am helpless and feel the need to give up the fight for Christ - quite the opposite. i have begun to realize that all that is in my power is to let God be the center of my life. no amount of religious activity is going to change the fact that i'm exhausted or busy out of my mind or going through a "low". on the contrary, trying to work to feel better will probably just exhaust me more. in the words of tim keller:

"the best way to avoid Jesus is to avoid sin... the devil, if anything, prefers pharisees - men and women who try to save themselves. they are more unhappy than either mature Christians or irreligious people, and they do a lot more spiritual damage."

Jesus denounced the religious, clean, rich, "good" people of His day:

"...'now then, you pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. you are follish people! did not the One who made the outside make the inside also?' " - luke 11:39-41

"woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it." luke 11: 44

He isn't talking to prostitutes, gangsters, killers, or murderers. he is talking to people who were middle to upper class, presentable, clean, well-mannered, and popular. in ancient israel, "woe to you" meant literally that you were going to Hell - eternal separation from God, in a culture that understood what that separation was like. we have no equivalent for that kind of expression. the closest thing we have is a curse we use today starting with the letter d. but that doesn't even come close to the amount of crude, uncouth, serious language Jesus is using. Jesus isn't just cussing them out, He's condemning them in a way our modern culture is completely unfamiliar with. and why? they've broken no rules, they've given plenty of money to the church, they've prayed their prayers on a daily basis, they have done everything right. so why?

they were doing.

my dad made a comment a couple of weeks ago that i will never forget. "people, institutions, and even religions will tell you do this, do this, do this for salvation... on the cross He said it is done, it is done, it is done!"

Christianity is the only faith in this world that says that God came down, humbled Himself, and did all the work that we can't do for us. budhism says that you have to keep doing good works and giving up your possessions till you have reached spiritual ascension. hinduism, much in the same way, says that you must please the gods through following their rules until you can become like them. islam claims that, if your good deeds outway your bad ones, you are given a chance to get to heaven. all other religions essentially give out how-to guides to reach spiritual heights. Christianity says to let Him in so He can love you... that's why i find it so liberating tonight as i type these words that i can do nothing. He can do it all - and sooooo much more!

and that's why we say He is worthy. because, in the end of ends, He is all that matters. the reason we exist is to love Him. that's it.... and why not? He is so utterly beautiful; just look at the mountains or the sea or even the trees in your backyard. the ugliest of them is so utterly precise and complex that the dna in each cell of the tree is almost 6 feet tall. that means that He puts 6 feet worth of information into each and every one of the trillions of cells in a single tree. all of His creation is just a reflection of His beauty. He is sooo much more beautiful than any of it! why not worship someone so amazing?

and He is soooo incredible. the same being who is that intelligent, complex, powerful, enormous, and infinite, the same being who - if you don't believe in evolution - set the world up - if you believe in evolution - planned the Big Bang in such a way as to create all of the perfect physical laws of nature so that one tiny spec of dust in the universe could develop a ridiculously complex system of life on that spec of dust and mold this life like a potter molds clay - into a perfect vessel to reflect His glory, and then, when that glory was lost, came to that little spec of dust in the universe, took the form of a helpless babe of the tiny life on the tiny spec of dust, lived 32 years on the tiny spec of dust, suffered humiliation, rejection, pain, cursing, and separation from His very self... all so that the little microscopic life on the spec of dust could know who He was, and live fulfilled... that is deserving of glory. that is deserving of my attention, time, and life.

just a quick word of encouragement to everyone struggling to see beyond your situation - look at Him. He is bigger and better than you can imagine. and He loves you more than you'll ever know!

a quick song about Him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfr5rOfimnU

"6 Christ Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross! 9 therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father." - Phil 2:6-11