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"A Timeless Balance"
One of the greatest challenges that we face as Christians today involves how we answer the following difficult question: How do we live in a manner that is uncompromisingly righteous yet maintain a firm foundation in keeping culturally relevant? If we are to be followers of Jesus Christ, and furthermore lead others according to the example that He established for us through His gospel, how can I further His kingdom best? This article is my attempt to synthesize Biblicaly sound precepts and excerpts from God's timeless word, and meld them with any thoughts or ideas the Holy Spirit may lead me to share as I write these pages. I would first like to mention that this may not be a black/white type choice, and as you will soon read based on the aspects of my life that I choose to share with you today, it has no specific, universally applicable answer.
Please allow me to elaborate on this some. Although I do believe that there are definitely universally applicable portions of the word of God, I would venture to say that when we ourselves as humans do derive knowledge and practical applications from God's word - we do so in different ways. For example, when I hear a verse such as "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" from (Philippians 4:14), I may apply it in a variety of ways. Someone who is unfamiliar with the Bible, who may have a flawed or limited understanding of scripture, could grab this verse and attempt to justify even questionable or sinful behavior with this kind of excerpt. If I incorporated faulty reasoning such as: "if I could do all things through Christ who gives me strength, well I guess that means I could disobey x command and have a free ticket to sin." This is surely not what God intends for us to decipher from this particular verse or any other for that matter.
We need to remember a few things about God's word and character before we dangerously start to apply scriptures as the one above that are taken in an isolated manner without proper consideration of the entirety of God's word. If you delve into God's word without dedicating yourself properly to prayer, worship, and the leading of the Holy Spirit that God blesses believers with you cannot expect to comprehend it even on a basic level - much less on a higher one. We need to come to Him in a state of humility and gratitude, and immerse ourselves in His presence in order to diligently seek His face and hear His true voice. If instead we jump into the word of God with a selectively perceptive mindset that is heavily laced with pride and unwilling to let go of all the sins our hardened hearts hold dear - we are not wholeheartedly seeking the truth of Gods word and letting go of our selfish desires.
We need to understand that without His grace and divine provision we would never be able to understand His comprehensive word, and much less be able to facilitate the purification of our hearts or the transformation of our minds the way He intends for all of us to do. We cannot do any of this apart from Him. Additionally, apart from God, you will never find your ultimate purpose in life, You will never be living out your full potential in light of His word, and You will never be fully satisfied or fulfilled when you try to replace His plan with your own plans.
There are at least a couple more vital components of this initial idea that I need to share. The first I want to incorporate into this text immediately involves the infiniteness and depth of God and the fact that attempting to fathom the ultimate Creator of the universe, who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, in a full, comprehensive manner is impossible. When I say "full, comprehensive manner" I mean - we should not presume that we will ever be able to fully grasp God's full depth on every aspect of His character, and much less do so in this world. With that said, I do pray like Erwin Lutzer ( http://erwinlutzer.com/ ) suggested in one of his sermons, to ask that God blesses us with being able to understand His character and word according to the greatest extent humanly possible, and of course in perfect alignment with His plan for each and every one of us. We have to realize that we are finite beings here on earth, and we should always remember that not one of us has all the answers or even knows a fraction of all there is to know about God.
Now some of you may be thinking, but "Isn't that a little discouraging? Victor where is the good news?" Such a question is welcome and I sympathize with your thoughts, however we need not worry about understanding everything there is to understand. There is so much good news to share, that God has provisioned all of us to take part in, that not fully fathoming his infinite depth should be perfectly acceptable. There are many components of beauty embedded into this situation. One idea that immediately comes to my mind is that these basic facts help us to exercise our faith and showcase the love of Jesus to others here on earth based on His initial love and sacrifice for us. The King of Kings/Creator of the whole universe sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. None of us deserve this kind of provision, none of us can say apart from Jesus Christ's sacrifice that we can earn our way into heaven. Each and every one of us has the free gift of being able to accept this sacrifice to atone for our sins by grace and faith through accepting Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior. I know that I am far from perfect, and we have all been guilty of sin at one point or another. The word of God is crystal clear, those of us that have fallen short in one area are ultimately guilty of disobedience and rebellion against all of it. This means apart from accepting Jesus Christ we all stand condemned, and only He can be our Mediator and forgive us our trespasses. Please let all that sink in for a minute as you continue to read this message.
A second component I would like to mention, before proceeding, involves taking Gods word holistically and in proper context. I will be the first to admit that I must prayerfully consider, research, and immerse myself in God's word step by step and day by day before I can elaborate on it. By myself I could not grasp it, even if I wanted to, it is only by the filling of the Holy Spirit and God using me to share His message that I can elaborate on topics like the ones you find here on our site. I know this is a huge blessing, and I truly feel privileged to be used by God in a powerful way through FSS and in various ways as I proceed to go forward with my life. Back to my point, taking it holistically, means to take God's word as a whole, entire work. We cannot conveniently choose the fragments of scripture that stand alone to support our selfish motives or flawed agendas. With that said, I am not immune to making mistakes by any means, and I am certain that if there are little or no mistakes in all that I have written about God's word it is because of several key factors. The first one is Gods providence and illumination that He has given me, the second is surrounding myself with a multitude of counselors. In Proverbs we have previously observed the verse "In a multitude of counselors therein lies safety." - (Proverbs 11:14). What I mean by this is my family and friends help me to stay in line with Gods word. Perhaps chiefly among these as of late, is my dear friend Jim Sager who also writes to God's glory on our web page. I am thankful for Jim and other men and women of God in my life, and highly value their advice and correction. Please allow me to paraphrase what Solomon advises to us by the leading of the Holy Spirit in Proverbs: do not spurn correction, but instead treat it like a secret love.
I can see it now, some of you may feel the following right now: "Victor, you've definitely gone off the deep end now bud, how are we supposed to love it when people tell us what to do?" I know its a tough pill to swallow, but please allow me to elaborate on this idea. I once read a book called "The Richest Man Who Ever Lived" by Steven Scott, and he shared his insight on this matter in a highly understandable way. Many of us would embrace the sweet words of strangers with open arms, and even more so from our friends. This is dangerous at times, because it may sometimes come in the form of flattery, and could involve ulterior motives among other potentially detrimental accompaniments. Although we are to love God first and foremost, and share the love Jesus shared with us with others on a daily basis, we are also instructed by Gods word nuggets of wisdom such as: "Be shrewd as a serpent, but innocent as a dove." (Matthew 10:16). Sure, when we walk by God's grace and mercy equipped with His full armor, blessed with his unmerited favor, and guided by the Holy Spirit - we do not need to worry. However, as the title of this article alludes to, we need to aim to be balanced in all the areas that God instructs us in.
Let's take a look at just two of the ideas that come to mind, which I believe God wants us to carefully consider from His word, and attempt to achieve balance in such areas:
God wants us to be transparent, but not naive: I may share important, and potentially intimate, details of my life with even strangers who need to experience Gods love. This doesn't mean that if a stranger from a remote location lets me know I have won the "Microsoft lottery" and am entitled to $1,000,000,000 US funds if I simply share my bank information and other personal data for an initial transfer cost or what have you, that I will buy into it. We need to exercise the beautiful minds and common sense that God has blessed us with to ensure that we do not fall victim to these sorts of scams.
God wants us to fear Him, but not panic to the point of distancing ourselves from Him: There is a recurring theme that we may observe that plays through in different parts of the Bible, including: Psalms, Proverbs, and others. This theme involves the fear of the Lord. One of my personal favorite scriptures, which I even chose for our yearbook, along with my classmates back in my Christian high school, said: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10). It is clear that humility has a lot to do with fearing God, but also a reverence and awe in His presence. Additionally, I do believe that God wants us to turn to Him in our times of need. He doesn't want us to pursue less than ideal, or even counterproductive, means of mitigating challenging circumstances. Personally, I try to rely on God even when the Devil tries to tell me: "It's okay you do not need God, from here on out you can handle things yourself." This of course is nothing but a bold faced lie. It doesn't matter if we are at the peak of our entire life, or at the lowest point of a life of drug use, alcoholism, sexual addictions, and bondage to sin - we need God in the present time. If you submit to His authority and allow God to work through you, He will use you in magnificent ways according to His plan and timing. If you are willing to fear God in the sort of manner where you fear Him in the sense of fearing the consequences of what it means to impose your views on Gods plan, making it your own plan, and effectively rebelling against Him - you are on the right track. That was a bit of a tongue twister, let me clarify: you no longer rebel against Him, but as a result of your fear of the consequences of disobedience, rebellion, and misalignment with God's divine and ideal plans for you - you decide to fully commit every aspect of your life to Him in the way He intended. Obviously, this is only an initial foundation for what fearing God may truly encompass. I intend to write an entire book based on this topic at some point in the future, and will hopefully receive inspiration from God to do so in His timing and to His glory.
I know I veered off track in a sense with the "treating correction as a secret love message" of Solomon that I was getting at, but now I want to continue to address that initial idea. Although it seems counter intuitive, and is certainly a challenge to do in many respects, we should pay careful attention to correction that comes from those who have our bests interests at heart. Chiefly among these is punishment, correction, and leading coming from God - He loves you unconditionally and despite our short-sightedness, spiritual blindness, and propensity to rely on ourselves rather than Him - He does have our long term best interests at heart. I highlighted on the word long term, because I feel that it is important for us to grasp that God sees all the angles and we only have a limited view of life - much less eternity. We need to adjust to an eternal mindset in our day to day living, and run this race of life with a sense of purpose, dignity, and diligence in doing the right things for God's glory. For example, some unfortunate circumstance could occur in the short-term that we perceive as bad, but its long-term implications may in actuality be beneficial somehow. This is where we need to learn to rely on Gods understanding. We may think that a specific decision may be better for us overall, but God knows much more. Armed with this nugget of wisdom, we know that no matter how hard it is or how much of a sacrifice it may seem to be: it will never be the ideal choice to rebel against God in any aspect of His sound, Biblical teaching. No matter how daunting the situation, how tempting the temptation, or how insurmountable the odds may seem we need to be willing to tell our problems how big our God is - not God how big our problems are. The word of God says that: "Even a mustard seed of faith can move mountains." (Matthew 17:20) There will be times of great need where all we can muster up is saying a short, and effective prayer: "God please help me!" Accompany this short prayer with faith, conviction, and whole-hearted reliance on the promises of Gods word in the heart of a real follower of Jesus Christ and all of a sudden the simple words may have a profound impact and truly reach God's heart in a special way. I am not saying there is no room for longer, more elaborate, prayers. As a matter of a fact I do believe there is a time and place for both of these at different times in life. For example, I could feel as though the Devil and/or his demons are attacking me at a specific time and feel the firm need to verbalize powerful excerpts of scripture such as a few of the following:
No weapon formed against us will prosper. (Isaiah 54:17)
All things work out for good to those who put their trust in Him and obey His commands. (Rom. 8:28)
Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
Resist the Devil, firm in faith, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)
Remember, there does exist spiritual warfare in this world, and the greatest lie the adversary ever spread throughout the globe is probably to mislead an alarming number of us to think that he doesn't exist and furthermore distract us from our true calling through God. There is no doubt in my mind that the United States of America needs to get its act together. We can only turn away from God for so long, before His justice needs to be served. God is love, and He is ultimately merciful with us. With that said, there is definitely a certain amount of leeway that we, His children, get in our fight to seek the truth. However, I do believe that there comes a point where when we are armed with the truth, yet dismiss taking action in light of it in our lives - that we are undermining His word and essentially doubting its legitimacy.
There are many aspects of God's word that are not music to the ears of many of us here on earth. There are so many different world views, cultures, and belief systems across the globe - yet the Bible (God's word) transcends all these boundaries and every aspect of life. If you teach/share/preach/sing the word of God, you should expect some opposition by the natural of course of what sharing the gospel entails. You are effectively stomping on many toes and a lot of people will be upset. Personally, I rather have someone upset at me that I shared the truth with them, rather than literally love people to hell. I try to be tactful and understanding of others, and I do not impose my views on others. However, I rather be myself authentically and share what is on my heart to others - instead of trying to water down my truth to fit the bill of others that I believe are being misled. The universality of Gods truth extends to those who believe, and those who do not believe. We have free will, and may therefore choose Jesus Christ as Savior, or as short-sighted of a choice I believe it is [especially taking into consideration the extent that God loves us and has sacrificed on our behalf], we may choose to separate ourselves from Him. I do not say these words lightly, it is a sobering reality to me when I think of all the people across the globe that may not have embraced the truth yet.
God has given us this remarkably awesome opportunity to be set free from sin, false doctrine, and even be empowered to refrain from the attacks of the enemy through His divine provisions. I pray that He softens all our hearts so that we may diligently seek His face daily, and be uncompromising men and women of God the way He intends.
Now, I know this is probably shaping up to be one of the longer articles I have written for FSS. I also know that I have much more to say, and thanks be to God (it being summer) I have the precious time to be able to not only rest and enjoy my summer, but also answer His call and share His word the way He intends for me.
With all that said, I wanted to proceed to share with you some of my thoughts regarding different life paths that may lie ahead of me and how I am trying to incorporate some of the ideas shared within this article to live Gods calling for my life. I have a lot of doors before me that I know that God has opened for me. After graduating from the University of Miami with my degree in Marketing and a minor in Psychology - there are a number of different paths that I could take. I have approximately three semesters to go, and I intend to graduate on December 2012. With that said, I want to consider several different options that I may choose from depending upon God's guidance, my family and friends counsel, available opportunities, and of course my personal willingness to execute the plan in my heart among a plethora of other factors. I am strongly considering my graduate school options at this point, rather than taking time off to pursue freelance writing like I originally intended, or even before joining the workforce if I am given the opportunity to do so.
As far as the graduate school I will attend, that of course is unclear at this point. I have not ruled out the possibility of pursuing my graduate degree outside of Florida if I am given an attractive opportunity to do, and will weigh all the offers presented to me in the coming year and a half. Above all I want to put God first in this decision, not my own selfish desires, and this may very well chart the course for my life. My heart is in spreading the word of God, and potentially developing a ministry in the future. Whether that will continue to be an online initiative such as www.fatherspiritson.com or if it means pastoring a physical church - I do not honestly know at this point. All I know is that what I do will incorporate writing in some form: whether it be in books, websites, sermons, or all of the above. I know this is a significant part of what God is calling me to do, and I know it is only a matter of time before I could consider full time ministry in the future if that is the calling in my heart.
Now, as far as specific options, I do not want to go in too much detail yet because I am unsure of what route to choose still. I am still prayerfully seeking God's will in all of this, and I know that it will be a decision based on so many factors that I do not think I should even speculate at this moment. I honestly have not even narrowed my choice to pursuing a graduate degree in a school of business in a masters program or an MBA, and pursuing an education more deeply embedded in God's word where I could study apologetics and other topics dear to my heart. I think I am currently leaning towards the business school route because I feel that doing so would equip me with the experiences and the resources that I may later need to bring it all full circle again for Gods glory. This does not mean I will stop writing, reading, and generally immersing myself in God's word on a daily basis - but it does mean that I may pursue an MBA-type of program in order to facilitate my future ambitions in light of what God has put in my heart.
Anyways, it has not been an easy road to this point in my life. In all of this I have had my share of difficulties, particularly in my very personal struggles with getting overwhelmed with school/work/gaming in the past. This story is quite dynamic and I need to seek Gods guidance in prayer before I share it in any greater details than I already have - but suffice it to say I had a tough period back when I had to drop school, work, and everything else "important" to recalibrate my mind and to this day I cannot claim to understand every aspect of what happened in that tough period. Thank God He restored me everything I had, and much more because I did not ultimately doubt His plan in my life. I know He had the power to heal me, restore me, and build me up into the person He intended me to be. I honestly feel that today is a turning point and a culmination of that journey to turn back to God in every aspect of my life. He has truly been raining blessings on myself and many of those around me, and I do not claim to have earned it, deserved any of it, or even know what it is exactly that He is calling me to do long term beyond what I have expressed.
God has strategically placed key people in my life time and time again, but more than perhaps ever before in my life I do think that things are becoming more clear as to what I should be doing. I am confident that despite not having all the answers, despite not knowing exactly where it is I need to go, or what it is I need to do in the short-run, I am trusting God will enlighten me step by step as long as I continue to submit to His will and seek first His kingdom.
Please join me today, and embrace the calling that God has placed in your hearts. Serve Him with your gifts and talents, trust His instruction, and attempt to live praiseworthy lifestyles in light of His timeless message. I do not know you all, but God knows you. He knows every intimate detail, struggle, or situation that is present in your lives. Once I was reading one of my favorite websites, it is located at Godandscience.org. This powerful website is a great resource for believers and skeptics, saints and sinners, and everyone in between. Basically if you're breathing and reading this, it would probably benefit you to read a few of their articles. In any case, Rich Deem, the site owner said the following in an article titled "Dancing with the Broom: Your worth in the eyes of God v How others See You":
"Whether you are the president of the United States or "just dancing with a broom," you have worth because you are created in the image of God. As Christians, we are to do our work as if we were serving the Lord Himself, since we are. Besides the work we do to support ourselves, we are to humbly serve others, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs as we lead them to the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ."
Rich Deem (www.godandscience.org)
This was his conclusion, and includes a thought from scripture that I wanted to highlight. The Bible is straightforward when it says: "Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." (Mark 10:31) This is important because in the eyes of man many of us may appear to be doing all these great, effective things - even things for God's glory. However, God knows the true intentions of our minds and hearts. He knows whether or not we are truly seeking to better ourselves and our selfish desires or if we are diligently seeking to further His kingdom and bring Him honor, glory, and acknowledgment as He deserves.
I know that my motives are not always 100% pure, and I know that I need to ask God regularly to search my heart and purify my heart and transform my mind according to His will and timing. Rich Deem wrote this in the same article:
"So, it seems likely that the famous people on earth might be the broom pushers in heaven, while the lowly are given the highest honors." - Rich Deem
I couldn't have said it better myself. Sure many who are well-off or even rich could enter the kingdom of heaven. This is not exactly the issue at hand, but before you are in a hurry to get rich, famous, or successful by worldly standards - please ask God to only bless you with these things if they are part of His plan. Do not compromise God's plan for these things, they are not worthy of it.
Woo, I am already on page seven. God has really blessed me with a lot to say today, I hope this message found you well today and I pray that God uses it to powerfully inspire those of you who diligently seek Him.
Thank you, as always, for reading one of my articles. Looking forward to doing more in the very near future. I would also like to share several top notch websites and ministries that I have found recently and have been a great blessing to me.
I want to leave you with the following two scriptures:
Do you not fear Me? [This is] the Lord's declaration. Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring barrier that it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot pass over it. 23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and have gone away. 24 They have not said to themselves: Let's fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain, both early and late, in its season, who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest. Jeremiah 5:22-24 (HCSB)
When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is fear God and keep His commands, because this [is for] all humanity. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (HCSB)
Resources/Links:
http://carm.org/ - A powerful online "Christian Apologetics Research Ministry" that juggles key, sensitive topics and analyzes them in a biblically sound, uncompromising, and extensive manner with the lense of Godly research. It is embedded with scripture, and thanks to God is a powerful resource today as well.
www.rzim.org - Ravi Zacharias International Ministries: An influential man of God who is a key leader in apologetics today. I highly respect his work and I recommend you visit his website. Consider donating to his work if you feel the agenda is in line with something you would like to support.
Godandscience.org - A classic website from my perspective that I continue to mention on a regular basis here, that I believe stands firm in many areas to glorify God through truth. Similar to CARM in some respects.
God bless you all! Please e-mail me if you feel called to talk about this or any other article Jim Sager or myself have written. We appreciate your prayers, and ask that you continue to pray for us and the ministry of . Our e-mail is the same: [email protected].
- Victor Nunez