Street View

     I have to admit, I have a slight addiction to Google and all that it has to offer. I am the guy that looks for their beta (test) versions of some of their apps and provides feedback on what I think. One of my favorite things Google offers is the "street view" option inside of Google Maps. Street view gives you the perspective of being in a car and driving down the street of the area on the map you are looking at.  I know that it has been around for a while, but they have finally gotten around to sending that little Google car to most of the streets here in Oklahoma City. I have used the terms "street view" and "map view" to describe a theory I have on how men and women see directions differently. Remember this is simply my opinion, but I feel like most women see directions from the street view, ground level, and tunnel vision perspective. They know where to turn by remembering certain landmarks not by seeing the overall plot of the course. In contrast, most men (and I use most liberally) see directions from the map view. Men visualize a map in our head and plot out the course from point A to point B. Because of this over view of the directions, when something such as a wreck or road construction causes us to detour we are able to adjust on the fly.  For those that view directions from the street view level, an accident can cause panic and confusion because their only reference points may not be accessible.  

     This analogy also works wonderfully when comparing how we see our lives versus how God sees everything.  God is not bound by time and space and is able to see the "map view" compared to our extremely limited "street view." Psalms 115:3 is simple and concise in saying "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." Regardless of what we feel like should happen from our street view, God will take us in the direction that He pleases.  Even the evil King Nebuchadnezzar came to this realization; that is after being driven out of his kingdom, eating grass like an ox, growing hair like feathers of an eagle and nails like claws of a bird (Daniel 4).  After regaining his reason and sanity, the king came to this realization in Daniel 4:35; "all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ' what have you done?'"  

         As I have spent the summer studying Romans 8 in depth, I have come to a new understanding of a popular verse in the Christian world.  Romans 8:28 says “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” I have been guilty, in the same way many others have, of hijacking this verse as simply a good response to people going through a rough patch, or at an impasse on their street view. As my view of God and his ultimate love for me has changed, my understanding of what Paul is communicating in this verse has become much more clear.  He is writing to believers, and yes all things will work together for good, but the key word is all.  From the street level, we are not able to see how weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities (2 Cor 12:10) can work together for good, but all of those things fall under the category of all.  We simply have to trust that the God who created the universe is capable of getting us from point A to point B, regardless of what the view looks like from our windshield. 

Blogging again for the second time...

I have decided, once again to start keeping a more consistent blog.  Previously I stepped away from writing, feeling unqualified to be writing something others may read.  In previous writing, I would question whether some of the statements were truth and/or whether I truly believed them.  The last year in my life has been an eye opening time where I have done my absolute best to take off any filters I have of God’s word.  [I will preface the next statement in saying that my feelings are not directed at my parents but rather at the environment of the church I grew up in] I grew up in a church environment, whether it was intended or not, put a specific lens on God’s word that prevented me from seeing it in its entirety.  Taking this filter off of the Bible has done a pretty good number on my belief system and more than ever I have been able to see just how much God loves me.  Even over the past few weeks I have spoken with several people who were raised in a similar church setting as myself and see how their current state is affected by what they were taught.  My background is full of some absolute wonderful experiences but lacked in absolute truths. 

The experience based theology in which I spent the first 26 years of my life taught me to fear making a mistake, and when I did I felt less about myself and further from God.  I have begun a process of truly knowing a God whose word says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And it is not your own doing; not a result of works, so that no man may boast (Ephesians 2:8&9 ESV).” I now live in a freedom of knowing nothing I have done or do has anything to do with my salvation, but God, while I was and still am a sinner, justified me through his grace.  This has not given me a license to sin, but the security in knowing my sanctification is a process.  I now strive to daily live as He has commanded, not out of a fear, but out of a desire to experience the joy he has in His commands. 

The following lengthy quote from J.I. Packer’s book Knowing God is an absolute description of where I was, and where I believe many who read this are:

“One can know a great deal about godliness without much knowledge of God.  It depends on the sermons one hears, the books one reads, and the company one keeps.  In this analytical and technological age there is no shortage of books on the church booktables, or sermons from the pulpits, on how to pray, how to witness, how to read our Bibles, how to tithe our money, how to be a young Christian, how to be an old Christian, how to be a happy Christian, how to get consecrated, how to lead people to Christ, how to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit (or, in some cases, how to avoid receiving it), how to speak in tongues (or, how to explain away Pentecostal manifestations), and generally how to go through all the various motions which teachers in question associate with being a Christian believer…Whatever else may be said about this state of affairs, it certainly makes it possible to learn a great deal second hand about the practice of Christianity… Yet one can have all this and hardly know God at all.” [Parentheses were apart of the original text, not added by me]

         This book was written by a man who I had never heard of, in church or Bible College most likely due to the fact his theological leanings did not meet the 16 truths.  I believe this excerpt, although over 30 years old, is an incredible accurate description of where the church is today.  Both sides of the theological aisle need to do a better job of “knowing God” and not simply knowing a great deal about God.  Our foundation has to be based on sound Biblical truth if we want to be able to withstand life.  Experiences will wash away with the house built on sand.  Through this blog, my desire is to stir others to begin to question and seek God for who He truly is.  Is what you believe tinted by the shade of your glasses or have you truly dug into God’s word and sought to know Him for yourself?