I thought I would type up a quick update to let you all know I did not hurt myself snowboarding! In fact the snow was so nice, I mostly rode in a foot or two of powder which meant if i did fall (which lets be honest, I didn't lol, kidding of course) it didn't hurt at all! It was a very tiring trip and yesterday I slept the whole bus ride home, took a nap at home and then slept soundly at night as well. I had a blast and learned some new stuff and got a lot better at boarding so that was fun, I also was able to help teach people too which was also very fun! The mountain was beautiful and to get to another side of the mountain I rode a 20 minute long gondola ride which was quite scenic. I saw some monkeys chillin in a tree as well as a bear and what appeared to be its cub, however it may have been another type of animal, but it really looked like a bear. The snow was wonderful, at one point I rode through powder that was up to my chest.
Tonight is New Years Eve so i'm off to do some traditional stuff with my family. In a few days I'm going to Disney Sea! Have a happy new year everyone!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
I'm really enjoying break here, its nice to not have anything to do and no school. I go snowboarding in 2 days, I'm super stoked. Christmas here was good but its is mostly celebrated on Christmas eve. I spent a lot of time playing with Teruki and some of his new toys he got. He like the gifts I got him (or got from my mom who did an awesome job sending presents for me to give). An old home stay student who was with my family two years ago is also here for the holidays and he is really cool, but a little sick, so hopefully he'll feel better since he came all the way over here.
Playing at the park with Teruki. Shortstop Status.
When he pulled this out of the bag he said the japanese equivalent of boo-yah. It was awesome.
My host family!
Teruki's new mini-trampoline!!!
I'm really enjoying break here, its nice to not have anything to do and no school. I go snowboarding in 2 days, I'm super stoked. Christmas here was good but its is mostly celebrated on Christmas eve. I spent a lot of time playing with Teruki and some of his new toys he got. He like the gifts I got him (or got from my mom who did an awesome job sending presents for me to give). An old home stay student who was with my family two years ago is also here for the holidays and he is really cool, but a little sick, so hopefully he'll feel better since he came all the way over here.
Weekly Mediations: Judges 19-21: Civil War
First off, merry Christmas to all of you. Secondly, a bit of a disclaimer to this passage, chapter 19 of Judges may be the most, as Teacher Julie puts it, "R rated" stories in the Bible. It is really quite gross but yet it is also scripture and thus it is God's word. So bear with the passage now, and others like it during your own quiet times or scripture studies. That said, this passage is also quite cool in that there are many allusions to other parts off scripture in this single passage which I think shows God's authorship of the passage, the good parts and bad parts. (You might recognize themes and events in the stories of Jacob, Lot, Joshua, Saul and even Moses)
I think there are many themes in this passage, most of which I've touched on to some extent the last several weeks, and for that reason, i'm going to make a bit of a stretch and talk about something completely new. These three chapters are the account of the civil war in Israel; the civil war amongst God's chosen people. The first thing that comes to my mind after reading that is the "civil wars" if you will, in the church; God's chosen people. For that reason I want to look at this passage and compare it too our lives as members of a local church, and how we can deal with conflict, because sadly, we are all human and thus we all err and therefore conflicts will arise. However, I think how we handle these conflicts not only can glorify God, but also can show a beautiful expression of sacrificial love to others. That said, lets look at this passage thinking about three things: the offense, the response and the reconciliation.
First, the offense. The events of chapter 19 are quite heinous to say the least, and sadly, terrible occurrences do occur in the church, but I want to get at however are smaller problems. The first oft-disputed "church problems" that come to mind is worship style, I think there are also times people disagree with something a preacher says in his sermon and then off course individual disputes also occur often within bodies of believers, take for example Euodia and Syntyche whom Paul addresses in his letter to the church at Philippi. So lets imagine something did happen between two people, some sort of dispute, I think we can take note of Judges 19:29-30 and think of how to first respond. In the text, a pretty terrible crime develops and the nameless Levite responds first by telling people, essentially taking his case to the authorities. It was a big deal so he made a big deal out of it, but for a small dispute, I think we need to put things in perspective. Our initial response should not be to make a huge deal out of it, to gossip, to tell others. A dispute between two people should be resolved by those two people, get an elder or the pastor to help you if needed, but I think it is deconstructive to take your problem and involve others.
With that in mind lets continue to talk about how we respond. In these three chapters in Judges, the Israelites pretty much handle everything the wrong way. From the initial sin on, it is a downhill slope. In our day-to-day disputes I think we need to keep in mind that in this story, one side seeked justice while the other side (the Benjamites), for whatever reason, thought they had done no wrong, and war broke out. As Christians we should not ever want a "war" to break out between two believers as the result of some conflict. When conflicts arise, we need to act calmly and address the issue in a loving manner, face to face with whoever wronged us. When we have wronged someone else, we need to take responsibility for it humbly, as hard as that may be. While in the context of Judges the sinful Benjamites of Gibeah deserved punishment, because of how the situation was handled, the entire tribe of Benjamin ended up almost being wiped clean (of course keeping in mind that King Saul, Esther and Paul were of this tribe, God had different plans). Nonetheless, I think that humility is the key to disputes. That is really hard for me to do, its easy for me to get fired up about something and want to vent and tell a bunch of people without directly solving the problem, but I think it is of great importance to lovingly and humbly address the situation one on one with the person.
Lastly, the reconciliation. In our story, the Israelites continue to be rash, ending up leaving the remnant of Benjamite men wifeless. To fix this the kidnap wives for the Benjamites and murder more people. As I said before I'm making a bit of a stretch but basically I think that after conflicts are resolved, we need to make sure to tie up any loose ends in a Godly manner. Was anyone else affected by the conflict? Do you need to apologize to anyone else? These types of smaller problems and issues can stem off from the main issue. We need to continue in our humility and try to mend any other hurts or problems caused by the initial conflict.
To conclude, if a conflict arises, be calm, be humble and approach it in a loving manner. Confront the person directly in love, leaving other people out as far as gossip goes. Once the conflict is resolved be sure to fix any loose ends. Make sure God is at the center of it all, when we stray away from him, that is when we act rashly and make poor decisions. Sorry if I sound like a middle school counselor but I think that church conflicts are very real things and when handled well can be a great picture of Christ and his love for the very church we are a part off.
I think there are many themes in this passage, most of which I've touched on to some extent the last several weeks, and for that reason, i'm going to make a bit of a stretch and talk about something completely new. These three chapters are the account of the civil war in Israel; the civil war amongst God's chosen people. The first thing that comes to my mind after reading that is the "civil wars" if you will, in the church; God's chosen people. For that reason I want to look at this passage and compare it too our lives as members of a local church, and how we can deal with conflict, because sadly, we are all human and thus we all err and therefore conflicts will arise. However, I think how we handle these conflicts not only can glorify God, but also can show a beautiful expression of sacrificial love to others. That said, lets look at this passage thinking about three things: the offense, the response and the reconciliation.
First, the offense. The events of chapter 19 are quite heinous to say the least, and sadly, terrible occurrences do occur in the church, but I want to get at however are smaller problems. The first oft-disputed "church problems" that come to mind is worship style, I think there are also times people disagree with something a preacher says in his sermon and then off course individual disputes also occur often within bodies of believers, take for example Euodia and Syntyche whom Paul addresses in his letter to the church at Philippi. So lets imagine something did happen between two people, some sort of dispute, I think we can take note of Judges 19:29-30 and think of how to first respond. In the text, a pretty terrible crime develops and the nameless Levite responds first by telling people, essentially taking his case to the authorities. It was a big deal so he made a big deal out of it, but for a small dispute, I think we need to put things in perspective. Our initial response should not be to make a huge deal out of it, to gossip, to tell others. A dispute between two people should be resolved by those two people, get an elder or the pastor to help you if needed, but I think it is deconstructive to take your problem and involve others.
With that in mind lets continue to talk about how we respond. In these three chapters in Judges, the Israelites pretty much handle everything the wrong way. From the initial sin on, it is a downhill slope. In our day-to-day disputes I think we need to keep in mind that in this story, one side seeked justice while the other side (the Benjamites), for whatever reason, thought they had done no wrong, and war broke out. As Christians we should not ever want a "war" to break out between two believers as the result of some conflict. When conflicts arise, we need to act calmly and address the issue in a loving manner, face to face with whoever wronged us. When we have wronged someone else, we need to take responsibility for it humbly, as hard as that may be. While in the context of Judges the sinful Benjamites of Gibeah deserved punishment, because of how the situation was handled, the entire tribe of Benjamin ended up almost being wiped clean (of course keeping in mind that King Saul, Esther and Paul were of this tribe, God had different plans). Nonetheless, I think that humility is the key to disputes. That is really hard for me to do, its easy for me to get fired up about something and want to vent and tell a bunch of people without directly solving the problem, but I think it is of great importance to lovingly and humbly address the situation one on one with the person.
Lastly, the reconciliation. In our story, the Israelites continue to be rash, ending up leaving the remnant of Benjamite men wifeless. To fix this the kidnap wives for the Benjamites and murder more people. As I said before I'm making a bit of a stretch but basically I think that after conflicts are resolved, we need to make sure to tie up any loose ends in a Godly manner. Was anyone else affected by the conflict? Do you need to apologize to anyone else? These types of smaller problems and issues can stem off from the main issue. We need to continue in our humility and try to mend any other hurts or problems caused by the initial conflict.
To conclude, if a conflict arises, be calm, be humble and approach it in a loving manner. Confront the person directly in love, leaving other people out as far as gossip goes. Once the conflict is resolved be sure to fix any loose ends. Make sure God is at the center of it all, when we stray away from him, that is when we act rashly and make poor decisions. Sorry if I sound like a middle school counselor but I think that church conflicts are very real things and when handled well can be a great picture of Christ and his love for the very church we are a part off.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Winter Break!
Winter Break is finally here! I had two classes today and now I'm done for a couple weeks. In the mean time, I'm gonna play basketball on Saturday, Sunday is Christmas, next Tuesday night I leave for snowboarding and I'm going to Disney Sea in early January as well as probably some other New Years festivities (there are more traditional things and festivals here in Japan to see during New Years; kind of like all the countdown shows... but not really). Anyways, its crazy that my first semester is almost over! I'm looking forward to this break, I'll try to take lots of pictures!!
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Weekly Meditations: Judges 17-18; When we Make Plans for God
I think a lot of people hate Christians. It's kind of a weighty statement but I think its true. In countries where freedom of religion is not an institution, by proclaiming Jesus people are killed, jailed and hurt every day. In America though I think a different kind of hatred ensues and I think that this hatred towards the church is in part, the church's fault. Not all the church's fault but maybe 50/50. Now I don't mean a single church but rather the church as a whole meaning the entire body of Christ. So why is it the church's fault it is hated? Personally, after reading these two chapters, I think the church has misrepresented Christ, and in doing so it has come off as a sour taste in the mouths of those who aren't believers. Don't get me wrong, not every local church is at fault nor is it necessarily fair to single one body in particular out, but lets take a quick look at some times when the church has misrepresented Christ through history, and the effects it had.
The Pharisees: The religious leaders of the time, who basically knew Jesus was the Messiah (John 11:45-57) killed him to keep their social status. (of course Jesus had to die to accomplish his task of bringing salvation to the world but nonetheless this is an example of people putting worldly desires in front of God)
The Crusades: In short, this was Christians trying to "evangelize" by killing people. Holy war is something only God can instigate, (see Joshua) not something man can start. It is a dangerous game when one starts justifying their actions with "God told me too".
The Roman Catholic Church in the oh lets say 1000-1600: Instead of aiming at spreading the gospel, the religious authorities selfishly set goals to expand wealth and power (sadly reminds me of the Pharisees). Through false teachings, relics, and many other things, the church's earthly kingdom grew.
Hate groups: There are many groups who's slogan is "God hates ______". As Christians we know that this is absurd because 1st John 4:16 tells us that "God is love". Sadly this is essentially a modern day holy war if you will. Groups fighting against something or someone using God's name to justify their cause.
Health, Wealth Gospel preachers: Jesus didn't promise health or wealth on this earth, he promised persecution and suffering. A rapper said it well when he wrote: "like a televangelist preaching out of his Bentley".
Finally, the fact that we are all sinners, even though we as Christians are saved, means that we will mess up and this, unfortunately, misrepresents Christ. I think all of us can confess to that, I know I can.
Through all of this, the church, which is meant to proclaim Christ, has sometimes ended up proclaiming itself. Through all of this I think it is easy to see why people come to dislike Christians. Obviously there are a multitude of reasons for this dislike, but a big one I see is the hypocrisy the church can fall victim too when it tries to do its will rather than God's.
Well, that brings us to the passage. In Judges 17 and 18 we find two smaller stories, one of Micah, a man living in the hill country of Ephraim, the other of a Danite group, set on trouble. Both stories have similar themes flowing through them. They are stories of men trying to worship God but doing so their way. Micah hires a Levite to be his personal high priest. I apologize because I couldn't find the passage that supports this but, Levites were not meant to be personal priests, they served the community, the country of Israel. Micah not only created for himself his personal priest but also had idols he worshiped. The most ironic thing about these idols is that they were created out of silver he stole from his mother but later confessed to. "I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol." Judges 17:3. Micah's mother praises God by breaking the first two commandments. Oxymoronic isn't it?
The Danites on the other hand are looking for land to live in and talk to Micah's Levite asking him if their journey is blessed by God. The Levite, claimed to speak for God (although God had not spoken through them) and blessed their journey. They went on to attack a town and steal Micah's idols an Levite.
All throughout this story we see people attempting to worship God but even more so, trying to accomplish their own agendas, justifying it with a good ole fashioned "God told me too". Just like so many groups through history have done, the folks in this passage justified their actions by using God as a trump card of sorts. David, in his last message at Cove last year talked about this theme. Too often people justify their lifestyle, their decisions and their actions by saying "it's God's will for my life" and all too often God's "will" happens to be contrary to scripture, self serving or comfortable. God's will for us isn't hard to seek out. He wants us to glorify him, he wants us to love others, he wants us to share the gospel. I think if you are truly doing those things then it doesn't matter what you're doing, your doing his will. Take Tim Tebow for example. He's famous, he's making money, but he's proclaiming Christ, he's loving others, he's being a good example to kids across the country and he truly loves Jesus. He is doing God's will. God hasn't given me a sign or a vision but I'm pretty set on moving to Japan later in my life to share the gospel with the Japanese people. I speak Japanese and I know the gospel, sure God didn't tell me to do it, but it makes sense to me, I'll enjoy doing it and it glorifies God. Right now, I think that is God's will for my life and I'm going to keep going until God himself closes a door.
My message here is not to make people love the church; its not a brainstorming session on how to make people not hate the church or stop persecuting Christians. Sadly that is probably impossible. My message today however is to look at your life and ask yourself if you are representing Christ well. Are things in your life the way they are because you want them like that, or is your life in the hands of God? As Christians we need to understand that God's will for our lives is not rocket science. It is not down to every minute detail of what we wear and eat each day. It is simply glorifying God in everything we do. So look at your life, make sure you aren't justifying actions using God's name and look for ways to proclaim Jesus Christ in your everyday life.
Weekend Update
This last week I had the chance to see Christmas lights around Tokyo with some friends. It was very pretty, especially when we were in one of the wealthier, newer areas of town. Other than that I played basketball a couple times this week and am ready to finish the next four days and reach winter break. Its pretty cold here but mostly inside my house because Japanese houses don't usually have insulation and heating the house costs far more money than in the States. Japan beats the U.S. in a lot of ways but warm houses is not one of them.
I wish you all a merry Christmas! Hope you have a fun and relaxing winter break, go Blazers!
I wish you all a merry Christmas! Hope you have a fun and relaxing winter break, go Blazers!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Weekly Meditations: Judges 13-16; Samson
I feel like what I want to say about Samson tonight goes really well with what I talked about last week. Last week the main message was the question of how are you living your life? Are you living to leave behind something finite like a legacy at work or possessions or are you living for eternal things; and if you are living for eternal things, or at least you are a Christian, then what are you leaving behind in that respect? Would your epitaph read "Nice guy, sat in same pew every Sunday" or "Martyred spreading the gospel"? Obviously those are fairly extreme but nonetheless it is an important question to ask ourselves.
Well, that brings us to Samson. Samson's story is fairly simple. He is a blessed man who had great strength which comes from his long hair (his long, uncut hair was a sign that he was set apart to be God's.).
He meets a girl, gets married, tells her friends a riddle and makes a bet, she pries (or in the NLT translation, somewhat humorously "nags") the answer out of him. Fastforward a few events and he meets Delilah, her Philistine buddies want to know the secret to Samson's strength so she pries it out of him and the Philistines capture Israel's judge. With his last burst of strength at a Philistine party, Samson yanks the pillars down, killing himself as well as many Philistines.
To sum it up, Samson makes mistake after mistake during his time as God's chosen judge, ends up at his lowest low but with his last effort saves the day... somewhat.
I think we often look at Samson and call him dumb. His first wife tricks him into giving her the answer to his riddle and he loses a bet. Then, every time he falls asleep with Delilah he wakes up tied up, and this is after she asks him what his weakness is. After the first couple times you would think he would get it right? I know that's exactly what I thought growing up. But I think we need to look at this story the way we look at the mistake-making Israelites throughout the Pentateuch, the pharisees and often naive disciples. It is easy to condemn them but when we look closely at our lives we're not so far off I think. When it comes to Samson I feel like that is definitely the case. Think of the allure of sin. We know its gonna tie us up, we know its gonna destroy us, in fact, apart from Christ we know our sin condemns us to an eternity in hell. But yet we still sin. We tell that lie, take that glance, say those words, the list goes on and on.
The good news here for those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to gain salvation and forgiveness for our sins is that when all is said and done, we are God's. No matter how many times we let sin lie to us and fall, God is there to pick us up, and that is great news indeed! The thing is, and going along with last week, how are we living here on earth? Do we want to live our lives dabbling in sin but on the last day still entering in to heaven, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:15 ... he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." Or, do we want to kill the sin in our life and life to the full extent of how God wants us to live for him?
Samson chose the former. He lived his life listening to stupid lies until finally he was captured, blinded and broken. When it counted yes, he came through and destroyed many Philistines, but he did so in a terrible, humiliating way.
Good advice that has been given to the youth group over the years is to find a friend to confess sin to. Bring the sin, that which loves darkness, to light. I encourage you all to live life to the fullest, in Christ! Don't let sin weigh you down but know that Christ, through is death has freed you from your sin! Your chains are broken and you've been set free!
Well, that brings us to Samson. Samson's story is fairly simple. He is a blessed man who had great strength which comes from his long hair (his long, uncut hair was a sign that he was set apart to be God's.).
He meets a girl, gets married, tells her friends a riddle and makes a bet, she pries (or in the NLT translation, somewhat humorously "nags") the answer out of him. Fastforward a few events and he meets Delilah, her Philistine buddies want to know the secret to Samson's strength so she pries it out of him and the Philistines capture Israel's judge. With his last burst of strength at a Philistine party, Samson yanks the pillars down, killing himself as well as many Philistines.
To sum it up, Samson makes mistake after mistake during his time as God's chosen judge, ends up at his lowest low but with his last effort saves the day... somewhat.
I think we often look at Samson and call him dumb. His first wife tricks him into giving her the answer to his riddle and he loses a bet. Then, every time he falls asleep with Delilah he wakes up tied up, and this is after she asks him what his weakness is. After the first couple times you would think he would get it right? I know that's exactly what I thought growing up. But I think we need to look at this story the way we look at the mistake-making Israelites throughout the Pentateuch, the pharisees and often naive disciples. It is easy to condemn them but when we look closely at our lives we're not so far off I think. When it comes to Samson I feel like that is definitely the case. Think of the allure of sin. We know its gonna tie us up, we know its gonna destroy us, in fact, apart from Christ we know our sin condemns us to an eternity in hell. But yet we still sin. We tell that lie, take that glance, say those words, the list goes on and on.
The good news here for those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to gain salvation and forgiveness for our sins is that when all is said and done, we are God's. No matter how many times we let sin lie to us and fall, God is there to pick us up, and that is great news indeed! The thing is, and going along with last week, how are we living here on earth? Do we want to live our lives dabbling in sin but on the last day still entering in to heaven, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:15 ... he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." Or, do we want to kill the sin in our life and life to the full extent of how God wants us to live for him?
Samson chose the former. He lived his life listening to stupid lies until finally he was captured, blinded and broken. When it counted yes, he came through and destroyed many Philistines, but he did so in a terrible, humiliating way.
Good advice that has been given to the youth group over the years is to find a friend to confess sin to. Bring the sin, that which loves darkness, to light. I encourage you all to live life to the fullest, in Christ! Don't let sin weigh you down but know that Christ, through is death has freed you from your sin! Your chains are broken and you've been set free!
Church Dinner
On Saturday evening I was invited to have dinner at my church with some of the members. It was a lot of fun getting to know them more and good Japanese practice. An added bonus was the night's "chef" an avid fisherman who also cooks very well. (See picture below). Anyways we had a wonderful meal with three types of sashimi, one of which was the fish below which he himself caught and prepared. We had some beef that was pretty raw but still good, some chicken that he prepared with mushrooms and potatoes and the main course was cooked meat, cabbage and small mushrooms cooked in a pot (also below). Very yummy food and a very fun night.
To finish, a couple interesting facts I've forgot to mention in past posts:
1. Pepsi isn't very popular here so you can get a large can for very cheap. It is a great system for someone with my superior tastebuds which desire the sweet taste of Pepsi over inferior soft drinks like coke.
2. Pretty much whenever there is a soda machine in a restaurant, the flavors it has are unbelievable. When I come back it will be a hard transition back to Cola/Lemon-Lime/Root Beer/23 Flavored substance/juice depending on the maker.
3. The Japanese really are years ahead of us in toilet technology. I thought the Simpsons were joking but no, its true. Portland State has gross toilets I wouldn't touch wearing a biohazard suit. Waseda has heated seats.
4. At Disneyland when your car or ride vehicle takes off the attendants say itterashai, the set phrase mostly said when someone is leaving home. I thought that was very hospitable of them. I wonder if the Tower of Terror people say that.
5. In Japan high school is really hard but college is super easy.
Monday, December 5, 2011
12/5
Nothing much is new here but I thought I would check in.
First off, in case I forgot to mention, on Thanksgiving I was able to Skype with my grandparents which was really awesome!
First off, in case I forgot to mention, on Thanksgiving I was able to Skype with my grandparents which was really awesome!
Two days ago I went to a festival with my host mother and several other of my friends and their host mothers. It was a lot of fun; essentially we watched a parade of large, basically floats of lanterns with people on them, pass by.
Lastly, 22 days until I get to snowboard.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Weekly Mediations: Judges 10-12; What is Your Legacy?
In these three chapters we hear the stories of 6 Judges. Let me sum them up for you:
Tola: 23 years of judging, lived and died in Shamir.
Jair: 22 years, had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys and controlled thirty towns.
Jephthah: 6 years, saved Israel from the hands of the Ammonites but couldn't save his daughter when he swore to sacrifice to God the first thing that came out of his house after battle. Who should unfortunately and even slightly ironically come out but his daughter. Despite his great work in war he will best be know for this err of words. Speaking of err or words he also killed 42000 Ephraimites in a somewhat amusing story of their inability to pronounce an "sh" sound.
Ibzan: 7 years, had all of his kids (30 sons 30 daughters) marry outside his clan.
Elon: 10 years.
Abdon: 8 years, his kids and grandkids rode donkeys.
There we have it. 6 stories, five of which are quite boring while the sixth, extremely unfortunate. Judges is full of heroes, God's heroes, who saved Israel from all sorts of harm at the hands of the surrounding peoples. In this chapter however we find one war-hero overshadowed by a dumb pledge and two men who aspired for their children to ride donkeys. Wow! Can you imagine young Hebrew boys asking their grandfathers to tell them the great tales of the judges? I would assume that none of these stories ever got told. Surrounded by the tales of Gideon and Samson (next week) you would be crazy to talk about Abdon and Jair and their donkey riding kin. "And when you grow up, you can ride a donkey just like Jair's children!". What did these people do for God? Obviously in some way they served him; they were judges, but nonetheless what ever they did do was overshadowed by donkeys!
As Christians I think we can ask ourselves the same question. What are we doing for the sake of the gospel? To further God's kingdom? Someday when we see God face to face will he tell us good job for giving up comfort and safety for my kingdom or will he pat us on the back cause we learned how to ride a donkey and then taught our kids. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should strive for any praise in this, however I do think at the end of the day what will our legacy look like? Did we wholeheartedly serve God? Did we give him our all? Or did we go to church most Sunday's and participate in weeknight programs, oh and we read our bible a lot, and, and we prayed and one time we gave a homeless guy a dollar. I think as Christians we too often fall into two places. First, and worst we fall into the gears of life. Our dream legacy is a great house, great job, great kids who carry on our legacy. All we care about is making much of this life. But don't you see? By doing that all we are doing is putting our kids on donkeys and then dying. Secondly I think Christians fall into a checklist mentality. We check off our spiritual to-do list and hopefully we'll be good enough when we die to get into heaven.
Neither of these methods are how we can leave a great legacy for the Kingdom of God. Rather, we need to remember that Jesus Christ has already paid the price for our sins and through that we have salvation. Not through how many people we convert (as if its even us who converts them) or how much we go to church. Then, we need to put our faith fully in Christ and give up our life to him. We need to be radical, we need to put our life on the line for the gospel. Get out of our comfort zones so that someday we can leave a legacy that shouts "Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior and my life was lived for the glory of his name"!
Tola: 23 years of judging, lived and died in Shamir.
Jair: 22 years, had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys and controlled thirty towns.
Jephthah: 6 years, saved Israel from the hands of the Ammonites but couldn't save his daughter when he swore to sacrifice to God the first thing that came out of his house after battle. Who should unfortunately and even slightly ironically come out but his daughter. Despite his great work in war he will best be know for this err of words. Speaking of err or words he also killed 42000 Ephraimites in a somewhat amusing story of their inability to pronounce an "sh" sound.
Ibzan: 7 years, had all of his kids (30 sons 30 daughters) marry outside his clan.
Elon: 10 years.
Abdon: 8 years, his kids and grandkids rode donkeys.
There we have it. 6 stories, five of which are quite boring while the sixth, extremely unfortunate. Judges is full of heroes, God's heroes, who saved Israel from all sorts of harm at the hands of the surrounding peoples. In this chapter however we find one war-hero overshadowed by a dumb pledge and two men who aspired for their children to ride donkeys. Wow! Can you imagine young Hebrew boys asking their grandfathers to tell them the great tales of the judges? I would assume that none of these stories ever got told. Surrounded by the tales of Gideon and Samson (next week) you would be crazy to talk about Abdon and Jair and their donkey riding kin. "And when you grow up, you can ride a donkey just like Jair's children!". What did these people do for God? Obviously in some way they served him; they were judges, but nonetheless what ever they did do was overshadowed by donkeys!
As Christians I think we can ask ourselves the same question. What are we doing for the sake of the gospel? To further God's kingdom? Someday when we see God face to face will he tell us good job for giving up comfort and safety for my kingdom or will he pat us on the back cause we learned how to ride a donkey and then taught our kids. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should strive for any praise in this, however I do think at the end of the day what will our legacy look like? Did we wholeheartedly serve God? Did we give him our all? Or did we go to church most Sunday's and participate in weeknight programs, oh and we read our bible a lot, and, and we prayed and one time we gave a homeless guy a dollar. I think as Christians we too often fall into two places. First, and worst we fall into the gears of life. Our dream legacy is a great house, great job, great kids who carry on our legacy. All we care about is making much of this life. But don't you see? By doing that all we are doing is putting our kids on donkeys and then dying. Secondly I think Christians fall into a checklist mentality. We check off our spiritual to-do list and hopefully we'll be good enough when we die to get into heaven.
Neither of these methods are how we can leave a great legacy for the Kingdom of God. Rather, we need to remember that Jesus Christ has already paid the price for our sins and through that we have salvation. Not through how many people we convert (as if its even us who converts them) or how much we go to church. Then, we need to put our faith fully in Christ and give up our life to him. We need to be radical, we need to put our life on the line for the gospel. Get out of our comfort zones so that someday we can leave a legacy that shouts "Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior and my life was lived for the glory of his name"!
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