Contradictory? I think not

Usually, when people think of "predestination" they think "no free will". Actually, the Bible speaks of both. Consider Ephesians 1:4-5, 11-12...

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
...
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

And Matthew 11:27-28 (still predestination)...

27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

And Acts 13:48...

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Now for free will, well, I'm sure you know some...

Both choice and election are described in the Bible, so the question is not "do we have a choice?", but rather, how can God choose us yet we still have a choice?

Think of my little 4-year-old nephew, Owen. One night Owen sits down for dinner and his mom places two plates of food in front of him. The first has a handful of peas on it. The second has a cupcake on it. Let's say she gives him the choice of which one to eat. Which one do you think he is going to choose? Probably the cupcake...in fact, that's probably a no-brainer. In fact, it's almost guaranteed that he will choose the cupcake every time if given the choice. Even though the peas are better for him from a health perspective. He will choose the less healthy cupcake because to him it is more enticing. But imagine if Owen was able to truly understand what would happen if he ate healthy food all the time. Imagine if he had the foresight to know what a diet of cupcakes would do to him in the long run... If his "eyes were opened", so to speak, then he'd be far more likely to choose the peas. Not to say the cupcake wouldn't still be tempting. And at times he might still go back to the cupcake, but his overall perception and dislike for the peas would change. He would begin to enjoy eating them because he would know how good they really are.

The same is true in our lives when we have the choice of Christ or self. When we are dead in our sin we look at the plates and self looks far more enticing than Christ. Each time we're given the choice we will choose self. 10 times out of 10. The reason is because we are sinful beings and our master is the sinful nature. When you're dead to sin the last thing you want to do is live for Christ.

Now, once God does an act of "regeneration" in our hearts and brings us spiritually back to life (something only God is able to do) we see the plates a little differently. Once God has brought our hearts back to life, Christ becomes irresistible. Only then are we willing to choose "the peas" (Christ).

So you see, free will and predestination can both be realities when it comes to our salvation. The predestination part is God making a dead heart alive. The free will is there throughout.

The common reaction to predestination is "God is so unfair if He chooses one over another!" Paul confronts this exact thought in Romans 9. The whole chapter is pertinent but I will only take an excerpt...

10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— Romans 9:10-23

Here Paul is explaining why God is not unjust for choosing one person over the other. His main point is that since God is the creator He can do whatever He wants to do. He is the potter. If he wanted to break the pot to pieces he would have every right to do so because it's His pot. He created it. Even so, however, God, out of his mercy--even though he has no obligation to do so--chose some that would be adopted as His children.

sushi

the other day my friend randy and i were eating lunch in a sushi restaurant we enjoy. the tables were close together and sitting next to us was a lady, mid 40s with shoulder-length blonde hair. across the room was a table of highschool girls. though by room placement seemingly unrelated, i came to find out one of the girls was the daughter of the blonde lady. the daughter walked over to her mom.

"mom, i can't find a pair of my abercrombie jean shorts. have you seen them?"
mom asks for a description.
"they are jean cutoffs."
"oh those. yeah, i've seen them. i threw them away when i was doing laundry."
"MOM, those were $50 abercrombie shorts!" (growing louder than was polite in a sushi restaurant)
"and they were way too short for you to be wearing around."
"MOM, how could you do that??!" (in loud, ultra-whiny tone)
"you shouldn't be wearing shorts like that."
"MOM, you owe me $50 for those shorts!"
...
daughter continued to yell at mother for throwing away her shorts, then stomped out of the restaurant with her onlooking friends.

i was a little irritated by the commotion, especially considering the topic. and i questioned what could be at the heart of such a conflict.

about five minutes later, a man walks in to the restaurant and sits with the mom. the mom says, "your daughter was here a few minutes ago. and she yelled at me for throwing her shorts away..." the conversation was short.

the man's phone rang. rather than mute it, he picked it up, and proceeded to talk for several minutes while the mother ate by her lonesome. he eventually hung up. a few words later the mother's phone rang. she picked it up and began conversing while the man ate alone. this continued for about 45 minutes. i'd guess that over the course of their meal, the couple talked for less than 5 minutes total.

all of a sudden, the first scene between mother and daughter made way more sense.

debrief:
i base the following points on my snapshot view. this is just what i think, but may or may not be entirely accurate. just think about it...
1.there was a lack of love/respect between mother and father.
2.father was too busy for mom indicating he is probably too busy for daughter too.
3.lack of love from father causes girl to seek other means of validation.
4.girl resorts to wearing indecent shorts to attract attention from boys, hence validating who she is.
5.mom is too uninvolved in daughter's life to have conversation about shorts.
6.daughter feels disrespected by mother because rather than talk about the issue (this requires a conversation, mind you), mother threw shorts away.

interstate 85

this morning a blue acura TL merged onto I-85. there was a blonde girl at the wheel. as she merged onto the interstate she entered the far right lane. it was a decent lane. smooth pavement. wouldn't disappear for a few miles. her speedometer read somewhere around 65 miles per hour. 65, however, wasn't quite fast enough. there was a car in front of her. she began changing lanes to the left. about that time i saw blue in my peripheral vision. by the time i turned my head her mirror was about two inches from my door. i quickly turned my wheel, entering the lane to my left. she noticed at the same moment, and curved back into her lane. i had a hunch she knew what almost happened. mainly because the rest of my drive, she stayed about three car lengths behind me.

was i angry? not really, i make stupid mistakes while driving too. i was disturbed. primarily because my gut-instinct reaction was wrong. to prevent her from hitting my car i swerved out of the way. the thought of 'what if' entered my mind.

what if there had been a car in my left lane?

she changed lanes slowly. slow enough that i could react. i changed lanes fast. too fast for someone to avoid me. ironically enough, my reaction was potentially worse than the error causing me to react. and we were both guilty of the same fault: changing lanes without looking.

sometimes i find myself in a situation with no good options. i can choose A or B, but neither one offers me the ease i desire. legally, i should have just let her hit me. i could have honked my horn (for some reason, i never do. it just doesn't occur to me that's what a horn is for), but i shouldn't have changed the direction of my car in any way. if she had hit me, it would have been her fault, and hopefully i wouldn't go spinning out of control. that option stinks for obvious reasons. no one wants to get sideswiped going 65 down the interstate. the other option was what i chose, but it had potential to cause more damage to my car than letting the acura hit me, and it would have been my fault.

these situations crop up every now and then, and i was reminded this morning that ultimately, when it's all said and done, even when we make bad decisions, God is still capable of working them together for good.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
romans 8:28

christ is my spotter

last night i was at the gym lifting weights. it was about 9 pm--the time when only serious lifters remain--and i'm doing the bench press with individual dumbbells. i had already done two sets, so i was pretty tired, but my third and hardest set still remained. i laid back on the bench with the bells on my chest, then lifting them up, i proceeded to bench...1...2...

rep 3 proved too heavy. i lifted maybe 20% of the way up and then hit the glass ceiling. the bells wouldn't go any higher, no matter how much more blood flowed to the already over-capacitated veins in my head. i was at my limit.

then the amazing happened.

a man i had seen earlier doing a similar exercise--but with much heavier weights--grabs my arms and yells "PUSH IT!" adrenaline pumped. i had a new confidence. with his help, up they went...3...4...5...6. he didn't make it easy, mind you. i needed it to be hard. but he added the strength i needed to finish, and finish well.

as the bells finally hit the ground, i looked up and said a simple "thanks". he doesn't know this, but christ made an unexpected visit to the gym last night.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 2 corinthians 12:9

in the gym, when you know you're going to be lifting to the point of exhaustion, you grab a partner and you say "spot me". the spotter's job is to make sure you don't kill yourself, and if he's good, he'll push you more--adding strength you don't have. sometimes i see guys lifting without spotters--like i did last night--and i think about how pride keeps us from asking for a spotter. we don't want to admit we need the help. we can do it...wait...no, we can't.

it's the point in our lives when we are pushing as hard as we can, but we've hit the point of complete muscle failure...the glass ceiling. jesus loves it when we hit this point because it's our first realization of our dependence on Him. he is glorified (acknowledged for who He is) when we "can't". beautiful.

spot me, Jesus.

benefit of the doubt

i desire to be understood. i think it's one of my strengths. it drives me to write and speak as clearly as i can. it causes me to think a lot about what i do, say, and think. intentionality.

"i like you." (for example)

it's also one of my biggest weaknesses. when i'm not understood it frustrates me. to the point that i will attempt to explain until there are no words left to use. then i'll try rearranging words. put them in a different order. maybe that will help.

"you like i" no that doesn't help. rarely does it.

i can hardly sit still when someone misunderstands me. my mom says i should give people the benefit of the doubt. i take that to mean i should assume they are smart enough to get what i mean. they'll figure it out.

when i really think about it, it's a faith issue. can God really work it out even if i'm not understood? will the world really keep spinning? yeah, it will robby. believe it or not. jesus was misunderstood. big time. lots of times. but then again, i think that frustrated him too...but of course, if you misunderstand jesus, your world might actually stop spinning...

weight gainer

in an effort to bulk up my body a bit, i've started drinking a weight gainer shake after i work out. if i have a full serving, the shake provides 1850 calories full of vitamins, minerals, carbs, and of course, PROTEIN. it's kind of like drinking chocolate concrete mix. mmm mmm good.

my muscular roommate made the comment, "people think they can get big just by lifting weights, but if you're not putting the right foods in your body, hard weight lifting will only tear your body apart." (right now my roommates are all arguing over whose the "muscular" one...) i've been told if i eat and work out correctly, i can put ten pounds of muscle on my body in twelve weeks!

there's a phrase i've just recently been introduced to..."weightier christian". i want to be a weightier christian. unmoveable. deep roots. solid foundation. my physical regiment tells me that if i'm to become a weightier christian it'll take a combination of filling my body with the right food (truth, scripture), and hard core exercising (applying the knowledge i've stored up).

and just as it is with physical strength building, i won't see a difference on a daily basis. when i look in the mirror with my shirt off each morning (come on, you know you do it too), my pecs don't really look that much bigger...but i bet if i didn't take my shirt off for three months, i would notice a measurable difference when i finally did (and i bet i'd stink a little too!).

"Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?" 1 corinthians 3:1-3

prison

the office building i work in blocks all internet traffic to email websites. this means gmail, yahoo, and hotmail are all blocked. luckily for me, however, there's the slightest wireless signal coming in through the walls, probably from an apartment complex next door. seriously, on days when i am insanely bored at work, gmail is the only thing that keeps me sane. imagine, if you will, being in a prison cell with only one tiny window. every now and then you press your mouth up to the window to get a single breath of fresh air. just enough to allow you to continue a little while longer.

yesterday the wireless disappeared. all hope left me. fear of insanity crept over. it was like someone bricking in the single tiny window that allowed me to breathe. oh, the agony!

then i rebooted, and it worked again. i said a prayer in thanksgiving.

Glorify? Huh?

I've often been confused about the word "glorify".  To say, "they glorified God." What does that mean?  What does it mean to glorify God?  Can we humans really give God more glory than He already has?  Can we actually take some glory away from God?  That would give us an awful lot of power, don't you think?  Does God need us to glorify Him at all?  To me, the word "glorify" carries with it the connotation that we are adding a quantifiable substance (here, glory) to a pool of glory that God is in possession of.  So then when we praise Him we put more glory in that pool and when we are sinful we take some glory out of that pool.

After researching the Greek I think this is where English has failed me.  Perhaps a better word to use is "acknowledge".  The word "glorify" in Greek is "doxazo" (δοξάζω Strong's 1392).  One of the meanings is "to cause the dignity and worth of some person or thing to become manifest and acknowledged."  I replaced it with "acknowledge" (or one of its derivatives i.e. acknowledged, etc) in each verse where the word "doxazo" is used.  The verses made more sense to me than they ever had before.  Here's an example:

54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’  John 8:54 (ESV)

Now replace it with the word "acknowledge":

54 Jesus answered, “If I acknowledge myself, my acknowledgement is nothing. It is my Father who acknowledges me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ (Robby's translation, I guess)

Based on these thoughts my point is this:  I don't think we can add to or take away any glory from God's pool...regardless of what we do, think, say, or believe.  I think when we "glorify God", as it says in our English translations, we are actually acknowledging the glory God already has and deserves.

"WOW God! You have more glory in your pool than I can possibly comprehend!"

Think about it and consider how this line of thinking might affect things.

whack dating

the christian dating culture is askew. let me tell you why. this is the story i hear from both sides over
and over
and over
again.

guys don't ask girls out. (i'll get to the "reason" in a moment.) girls complain that guys don't ask them out, and rightfully so, because guys don't. a guy decides, despite the "reason" (still to-be-defined), that he will ask a girl out because she intrigues him...mind you, not necessarily because he is interested in her on a romantic level. guy asks girl out. since guys don't ask girls out in general, girl figures guy must really like her. this scares girl. too much, too fast in her mind. girl assumes guy has major intentions and the "reason" happens. drama. girl either...

a) turns guy down immediately
b) goes on date but doesn't have very good time because she's too concerned about guy's intentions

either option further facilitates original statement: guys don't ask girls out.
an exception to this (perhaps THE exception to this) is if the girl likes the guy before he asks her out. in which case, neither "a" or "b" take place, but rather an unusual "c", whereby the girl goes on the date excitedly.

so, the question might be asked, "what caused this culture, robby?" and i would then give my theory..."the ever-so-popular gospel that one shouldn't date unless they are pursuing marriage."

now, before you Christian-non-daters freak out at me, let me unpack that statement. the point of that gospel is to prevent someone from wasting his (or her) time and, more importantly, making an idol of girl after girl after girl and getting their heart broken time and time and time again. but, as we people tend to do, we've taken what is a good principle and taken it to the extreme. now, the guy thinks, "i shouldn't ask a girl out unless i'm sure she's The One" and the girl thinks, "i should turn down the date unless i think he might be The One". the end result is we begin seeing people for who they could be, rather than who they are.

guys, why not take a girl out to make her feel special, and show her a good time? don't worry about what she could be...just enjoy who she is. if she could be, and she's meant to be, then she will be without you having to worry about it. girls, same principle. an acorn grows into an oak tree without worrying about how...it just happens...that's how God made it.

i think the marriage pursuit is an active-passive deal. actively, you desire it, pray for it, and take steps you believe might lead to it (in faith). passively, you wait for it, knowing that in the big picture it's way more about God doing something in another person's heart than about anything you can control.

objective: to enjoy what i do.

the store my roommate works at was closing and so, being the diligent man he is, he updated his resume and began passing them out to various potential employers. as any well-organized resume does, his resume gave his personal objective at the top: "to enjoy what i do". how profound, and obvious, yet so few people actually do it.

he told me, "if they can't offer me that, i'm not interested." stick it to the man, roomie!

men at work

half the elevators in the building where i work are under construction. this means when i click the down button, half the time the doors open the elevator is already full and there's no room for me. at lunch today i managed to squeeze on. the guy next to me says, "worst commute in atlanta...georgia 400 to marta to these elevators...i can't get to my desk! every one of them is under construction." i thought i had it bad.

poopy

my trip to seattle started out poopy. literally. i had a serious case of the "hershey squirts". i woke up at 6:30 sunday morning, my stomach rolling over and over. i was to catch a flight at 6:45 that evening to seattle. a five-hour flight. ugh.

i debated cancelling and spending the week at home, but eventually decided to just drug up with immodium, advil, and pepto bismol. problem solved. i was clogged for about two days after that.

so tomorrow is day 3 of my seattle adventure. i'm here for training. i'm learning a lot about the culture of my company, about how to resolve conflict, about teamwork, and tonight i learned about cooking. i spent 3 hours at a cooking school creating dishes such as sweet beignets, gnocchi, and beef and mushroom papillotes.

yesterday i drank a caramel macchiato from the world's first starbucks, stood underneath the space needle, and saw mount rainier from a far distance. not to mention i saw jacob moody, a friend from college i hadn't seen in almost 3 years.

i'm spent. so i'm going to hop in my king-size bed with the oh-so-plush pillows and bid adieu.

here i list a few quotes that have motivated, inspired, and encouraged me over the past couple weeks...

"'Almost' carries no weight, especially in matters of the heart." -charles dickens

"Small hinges swing big doors." -anonymous

"This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it." -ralph waldo emerson
a comment on this last one. it's my favorite quote of all time (that i've read). i read this quote in my 11th grade english class as it was placed under the chapter heading of my textbook. it hit me like a bolt of lightning. for the first time in my life i realized every new moment holds the same potential as the last. whether that potential is realized is largely determined by how i choose to spend my time. live intentionally.

spiritual streaking

throughout my christian life, i've always been told, "don't be a spiritual streaker." by this my instructor meant, don't divulge my most intimate struggles, desires, etc to anyone and everyone who will listen.

i think i've done pretty well so far. but lately i've had some experiences with people that make me question that seemingly wise ultimatum.

every time i go downtown for homeless ministry i meet guys who tell me about huge struggles they're having. not necessarily because i ask them, just because they are broken guys. they tell me about issues that, were i struggling with them, i don't think i'd have the guts to tell anyone.

these are the types of people i believe will fill the kingdom. the ones who know they struggle, and are so broken, they'll be honest with anyone and everyone. conventional wisdom aside, they don't own a mask. they don't own much of anything. but they know they need help, they just don't know where to get it.

one thing i know for sure...they are authentic people.

ok, so there's two extremes here:

hiding everything, not being authentic with anyone. vs. telling everyone everything about you. it's an intricate balance. hiding everything destroys community, and prevents you from experiencing the grace God has for you. but if the community isn't ready to handle it, streaking can send you packing. what's more, there's another dimension involving what's permissible to share with the opposite sex! finding the right middle ground is key, and i think it requires living intentionally.

all things considered, it's no wonder i sometimes find myself tipping the balance.

favorites

i've been a lot of places. costa rica, australia, south africa, taiwan, turkey, italy, greece, switzerland, france, cuba, alaska...not to mention lots of other places in the U.S. but my favorite place on the entire globe is the outer banks of north carolina. specifically ocracoke island.

it is quaint, secluded, natural, and pristine. i'd have a hard time choosing beach over mountains most of the time, unless you throw ocracoke in the mix. see, i love hiking, camping, campfires, smores, stars...and while ocracoke doesn't have much in the way of hiking, it does have the other outdoorsy things. You can camp in the dunes, have campfires on the beach, and gaze at the milky way all at the same time. then, in the morning, climb out of your sleeping bag and head down to the ocracoke coffee shop for some lox and bagels, with a side of yogurt, fresh berries, and granola.

yeah, you know what i'm talking about. ;)

here's my friend julia getting her fill at ocracoke.

an observation

why is it, when we see others going through pain, we can say wholeheartedly "I am praying for you..." which is in itself a statement expressing some amount of faith in the sovereignty and love of God, yet when we experience pain ourselves, lean to doubt God all around? some people even go so far as to say, "there is no God." (when, in reality, they are just angry at Him and don't know how to express it)

i haven't experienced a wealth of suffering to bring forth wisdom from, but from an outside-looking-in perspective, an observation...

the temptation in pain is to become selfish. gasp.

what i mean is, for some reason, my faith isn't shaken until it's the ground under me that appears to be giving way. as long as it's the ground under you, i can praise God all day long. yeah, that's called selfishness.

this reality makes the story of job that much more remarkable. figure this one out...after job's cattle are slaughtered, his servants murdered, and his children killed in a horrific natural disaster, he is able to make what i believe is the most astounding statement of faith in the Good Book.

"Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;" (job 13:15)

i sit astounded.

gossip-squashers unite!

i used to worry what people thought about me. i mean, i still do sometimes, but not nearly as much as i used to. i remember riding beside my mom in the car. i was about 10. i was telling her about some situation i was in and how worried i was about what some other person thought about me (in hindsight, it was probably a girl, but i don't really remember). her response was simply this, "robby, we wouldn't worry about what people thought about us if we knew how little they did." my mom was always good at keeping me grounded. she's taught me that life is usually a matter of perspective. change your perspective, and everything that seemed such a big deal usually disappears in minuteness.

gossip has hurt a friend of mine. fortunately, i was not the cause of the pain, i was simply an ear to listen. here's the situation...and don't worry, i'm going to stay as general as i need to, so that i'm not gossiping...

person "A" told person "B" that he (person "A") probably would not do "something." person "B" interpreted this to mean "A" definitely would not do "something." two months later, person "A" did "something". cue gossip. "B" found out about it when person "C" and "D" were talking about it at the lunch table. then "B" called "A" a hypocrite in front of several other persons ("E", "F", and "G"...i'm "G"). it's okay if you need to draw a diagram.

person "A" divulged how hurt he was to me, and now i'm blogging about how bad gossip is. get it?

now, i'm of the opinion that i cannot control what people say about me. i've worried about it a lot in my past, but today i'm comforted by the fact that as bad as the gossip may get about me, i'm certainly a lot worse than that. call me a whore...i'd agree. isn't that the point of the gospel, that even though every inclination of my heart is evil all the time, Christ has redeemed me? yes, it is.

but, a lot of people do not have this perspective, and the reality of gossip is, it tears community apart limb from limb. the closer and tighter the community, the worse gossip hurts.

i think there's a serious misconception about the nature of gossip. i used to think gossip was equivalent to slander. that is, falsely putting people down. nope. gossip covers a lot more ground than that.

webster says gossip is....
"a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others", "rumor or report of an intimate nature", "a chatty talk"

in other words, unnecessary talk about others is gossip.

nip it. nip it good.

i encourage you to be proactive about stopping gossip when you hear it. me and some friends were playing the cardgame Nertz one night when two guys started bashing another guy who wasn't there. another person said, "guys, let's talk about something else. i don't like talking about ____ when he's not here to defend himself." the guy who started the talk squirmed in his seat. it was the awkwardness of knowing he was in the wrong and someone had just called him out, mixed with the pride of not wanting to admit it.

you don't have to be so frank about it. simply change the subject. it's easy to do. join the movement of gossip-squashers across the world.