dev177

“…and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.“

John 15:2

William Carey is often credited as being the initiator of the modern mission movement. He is known for awakening the church to the countless billions who were heading into eternity without every hearing the good news of the God who sacrifices. His famous quote, “Attempt great things for God; Expect great things from God” has inspired many a Christian worker to have big ambitions for the kingdom of God.

As a missionary, Carey’s genius laid in the realm of linguistics. He translated the Scriptures into dozens of South Asian languages, including the scholarly Sanskrit language of the Indian intellectual elite. He made huge advancements in the western acquisition of these languages, including writing grammars and dictionaries to help westerners learn these language and, most importantly, translate God’s word for the people of India.

He and his colleagues had set up a mission center where they worked tirelessly in this translation work. They had an office that was over 170 feet long where they had types in Arabic, Persian, Nagari, Telagu, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Chinese, Oriya, Burmese, Kanarese, Greek, Hebrew, and English. They had printing presses. They had workers. They were producing fruit.

Then one day in March of 1812 there was a fire, and fire does not have mercy on no matter what is written on it.

Of course in 1812 you couldn’t just recall your files from you backup hard drive. They completely lost these manuscripts had taken years of work to put together. In his biography, S Pearce Carey writes, “Lost were nearly all his Indian Scripture versions; all his Kanarese New Testament; two whole, large Old Testament books in Sanskrit; many pages of his Bengali Dictionary; all his Telagu grammar, and much of the Punjabi.” An overwhelming amount of toil had gone up in flames; toil that must be redone.

So what does one filled with the Holy Spirit do when faced with such a loss of labor. When the house that takes a lifetime to build is burned to the ground, how ought one respond? The answer was quite simple for Carey and his companions-you get up in the morning and start rebuilding.

There are many times in life where we lose the fruit of our labor, and in these times the temptation to quit and give in can be overwhelming. But let us not forget the painful pruning of our Lord, for this is done that we might bear more fruit. For Carey and his fellow workers, the fire gave them a celebrity status in England and caused many churches to awaken to their cause. More money was sent. More missionaries came to India. God used the fire as a means to spread His kingdom.

And for the man who went through the pruning, his faith was strengthened. Carey wrote, “Much ground must be labored over again, and I have suffered most. But we are not discouraged. We are chastened and not killed; cast down, but not destroyed; perplexed, but not in despair.”

Carey was pruned, and he bore more fruit.

dev176

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came^*, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”  Then He said^* to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”  Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus said^* to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

John 20:24-29

The more I reflect about the above verses concerning Thomas, the more I am amazed at the transition that takes place upon seeing Jesus. The man whom Thomas had been following for the past three years died on a cross. Indeed, Thomas had seen Jesus perform all kinds of miracles, from feeding the five thousand to raising the dead, but upon seeing Jesus’ bloody corpse, he had lost hope. In his despair he denied belief in the resurrection even though all of the other disciples were testifying to the fact. He needed to feel the wounds of the risen Christ to believe.

Be careful what you wish for. Thomas received a visit from Jesus, and was called on his bluff. Here was Jesus in radiant flesh showing off his wounds by which he redeemed humanity, and Thomas was invited to touch them. At this moment we see an incredible change, for the words that Thomas exclaims show that his belief concerning the person of Jesus had undergone a drastic transformation. The One he formerly considered dead he now pronounced as His Lord and His God.

This is not a small thing that Thomas has said. Thomas was a Jew, and Jews had been commanded to have no other gods other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet what we see here is not a rebellion from Thomas’ Judaism; rather, it is a proclamation that declares that the God of the Hebrews and Jesus are in fact the same Being. He understood that the resurrected man that stood before him was the same Person that created the heavens and the earth. In a glance Thomas changed from thinking he had been following a dead rabbi to confessing the deity of Christ.

How does Jesus respond? Does he shush Thomas and say that He is not God? Does He scold him for committing idolatry? Not at all. He blesses him and confirms the accuracy of his belief. Jesus claimed to be more than an angel, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses say, and more than a prophet, as the Muslims say; His affirmation of Thomas’ bold declaration shows that He is claiming to be One with Yahweh. The word became flesh. His flesh was broken. His flesh was resurrected.

                                                                                                                     

Blessed are you who believe without seeing His wounds.

dev175- for Tuscaloosa

“And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

Job 42:10

The last few days I have helplessly poured over the news and facebook looking at devastating photos from Alabama. Tuscaloosa.  The town that I call home, was pounded by a violent tornado on Thursday, leaving a mile wide trail of destruction where formally sat houses of friends, restaurants that I enjoyed, and churches that were dear to my heart, and barely missing the hospital where I was born. As I gazed at these photos, my heart was broken at seeing these places, that were once so valuable to me, now reduced to a pile of worthless rubble.

It is at is such times as this that the book of Job is meant to be read. During times of peace and prosperity, we can analyze the conversations of Job and his friends with a haughty air.  We give explanations on behalf of God, trying to answer the all-important “why” question that people ask when their souls are overwhelmed with the depths of woe. But when we are in the midst of the storm, these proud answers do not suffice.  Although surely my friends and family in Tuscaloosa are asking the “why” question after each body they dig up from the rubble, they will never be satisfied by the arrogant answers. God does not need these answers. God’s ways do not need to be defended. They need to be trusted.

Job’s friends took the road of conventional wisdom - if you are being punished, it is because you have sinned. While we certainly see in the scriptures that God sometimes uses natural disasters to punish sin, we do not see that as being the case all the time. And, in the case of Job, we know that this conventional wisdom of Job’s friends was not only incorrect, but was despicable in the mind of the Lord. Man’s reasoning ability is unable to account for the works of the Lord.

The temptation is to either give up God’s sovereignty or God’s goodness. People would like to either say that God did not cause this to happen or that he doesn’t love people enough to stop it. Yet, in Job, God does not leave either of these positions as an option. Job, who God loves, was chastised because he doubted God’s sovereignty. “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?  He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

“Then Job answered the Lord, and said: ‘Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.’”

For the moment, we will have to be content without an answer to why my hometown lays in ruins. We are in a position where trust is necessary, and thankfully we have One who is worthy of our trust and who can relate to us in our tears. Just a few days before this tornado brought its worst, the churches of Tuscaloosa met together to remember the time when God suffered for us. They broke bread and drank wine in memory of the Savior that wept over the cup that he would have to drink. Tears are part of what it means to be human in a fallen world. The eyes of God cried tears just like our eyes do. The fact that the sovereign King chose tears tells me that He can be trusted.

Because of His sufferings, eternal life is promised. On account of His afflictions, tears will never be the final emotion. The tears of Tuscaloosa will be turned back into praise soon enough, and therein lies the beauty of the gospel. There could never be any suffering so grave that it would keep the church from praising the One whose wounds healed them.

This Sunday morning in Tuscaloosa there will surely be many “whys” in the hearts of the churches of Tuscaloosa, some of whom will be meeting in new places because of the destruction of their sanctuary. Yet drowning out these “whys” there will be a melody. The great hymns of old will ring through the city like a like a mighty choir ready to welcome in their King. The organs will blast their chords and the drums will bang out the rhythm of a triumphal Savior who has already conquered the death that is staring them in the face. The people from different races, backgrounds, and denominations will unite their voices in harmony in awe of the One who is as sovereign over the storms and as He is over the cross. Why will they do this? Because there will never be a tornado strong enough to keep the church from praising their God.

Alabama, I love you. You are in my prayers, and I will be singing with you this Sunday.

dev174-version française

“Le soir, quand souffle la brise, l'homme et la femme entendirent le Seigneur se promener dans le jardin. Ils se cachèrent de lui parmi les arbres. .“

Genèse 3:8

Récemment, J’écoutais une chanson de John Mayer appellé «Le cœur de la vie.» Je considère John Mayer comme un musicien d’elite, et j’aime vraiment sa musique. Cependant, Les bons musiciens sont dangereux a cause de l’imact que la musique peut avoir sur le cœur et la manière dont nous pouvons relâcher notre vigilance intellectuelle à l’écoute d'une mélodie qui nous apaise. John Mayer, tout en étant capable de charmer par sa musique, ne devrait jamais être autorisé à façonner notre vision du monde.

Il y a une phrase dans cette chanson que j’aimerais critiquer. Vers la fin de la chanson, Mayer dit, «La peur est une amie incompris.» (“Fear is a friend that is misunderstood“). J'ai réfléchi à cette déclaration et j’ai essayé de trouver comment il est possible d’y adhêrer. Je dois admettre que comme c’est une phrase que l’on n’a pas l’habitude d’entendre, et qu’elle est chantée magnifiquement, je me suis pris à souhaiter que Mayer y exprime une pensée profounde. J’ai desiré être d’accord avec lui, mais ma foiê me le permet pas.

Je ne sais pas où les chrétiens se sont soumis à l'idée que la peur n'était pas quelque chose de mal, et je ne peut certainement pas comprendre l'idée que la peur est une amie, mais je sens que le moment est venu de prendre position contre cela. . La position biblique est que la peur n'est pas de Dieu. La peur a commencé avec la chute de l'humanité, comme il n’y avait pas de quoi avoir peur alors que nous obéissions à Dieu.  Pourtant, immédiatement après, nous trouvons nos représentants humains se cacher de Dieu dans leur émotion nouvellement découverte que John Mayer appelle son «amie», à savoir, la peur.

Pour ceux qui sont en rébellion contre Dieu, je comprends qu’ils avaient peur. Ils devraient avoir peur, car ils vivent dans un monde de menaces et d'incertitude perpétuelle, sans aucune promesse que justice sera faite. Mais pour le croyant qui possède la promesse de Dieu que le Christ s'est donné pour détruire la mort et nous donner la vie éternelle, la peur n'est rien de plus qu’un manque de foi. La peur n'est pas votre amie. La peur est un danger qui menace d'étrangler votre vie chrétienne de manière qu'il n'y ait plus de dépendance du Seigneur. Car, quand un chrétien a peur, il dit essentiellement à Dieu qu'il ne fait pas confiance à ses promesses

Joshua n'a pas dit aux enfants d'Israël d'avoir peur. Paul n'a pas dit à Timothée que Dieu nous donne un esprit de crainte. Notre Seigneur ne nous a pas enseigné que la peur était notre ami, nous devons donc cesser d'agir comme si la peur etait tolèrable. Une foi qui peut déplacer des montagnes est aussi une foi capable de résister contre toutes les formes de terreur que ce monde présente, et il est temps d'arrêter de prétendre qu’il est admissable devant Dieu de nous laisse ébranler par les tempêtes de ce monde. Si le Seigneur est votre vie et votre salut, qui devez-vous craindre?

Désolé, M. John Mayer. La peur n'est pas mon amie. La peur est une preuve de faiblesse de la foi.

dev174

“They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. “

Genesis 3:8

I was recently listening to a song by John Mayer called “The Heart of Life.” I consider John Mayer to be an elite musician, and I really enjoy his music. However, good musicians are dangerous because of the impact music can have on the heart and the way it we can let our intellectual guard down in the presences of a melody that soothes us. John Mayer, while being able to charm with his music, should not be allowed to shape our worldview.

There is one line in this song that I decided that I would pick on. Towards the end of the song, Mayer says, “Fear is a friend that is misunderstood.” I pondered this statement and searched to try to find a possible way that anyone could actually agree with this. I must admit, it was something that was not normally said and something that was sung beautifully, so I found myself wanting him to have made a deep observation and desiring to agree with him. My Christianity would not allow me to do so.

I don’t know where Christians gave into the idea that fear was not something evil, and I surely can’t fathom the idea that fear is a friend, but I feel like it is time to speak against this. The biblical position is that fear is not from God. Fear began with the fall of humanity, as there was no need for fear while we were obeying God. Yet, immediately afterwards, we find our human representatives hiding from God in their newly discovered emotion that John Mayer describes as his “friend,” namely, fear.

For those who are in rebellion against God, I understand their state of fear. They should be afraid, as they are living in a world of perpetual threats and uncertainty without any promise that justice will be done. But for the believer who possesses the promise of God that Christ has given himself to destroy death and give us eternal life, fear is nothing more than a lack of faith. Fear is not your friend. Fear is a peril that threatens to choke your Christian life in such a way that there is no longer dependence on the Lord. For, when a Christian is afraid, he is essentially telling God that he does not trust his promises

Joshua did not tell the children of Israel to be afraid. Paul did not tell Timothy that God gives us a spirit of fear. Our Lord did not teach us that fear was our friend, so we need to stop acting as if us being afraid of things is ok. A faith that can move mountains is also a faith that can stand against all forms of terror that this world presents, and it is time we stopped pretending that allowing ourselves to be shaken by the storms of this world is permissible before God. If the Lord is your life and salvation, whom should you fear?

Sorry, Mr. John Mayer. Fear is not my friend. Fear is evidence of weak faith.

First post

I'm hoping to start writing more, both in English and in French, and I thought a blog would be a good way to hold myself accountable to that. I plan on putting my devotions on here, as well as some thoughts on other issues. Hopefully I'll have something interesting up soon.