My Journey: Part 3

God as Jesus

Why is it that the person and character of Jesus can be so much easier to relate to?

I can actually recall a specific moment where the cross and the death of Jesus made more sense to me. My family and I were at a Christian film festival one Easter weekend. I have no idea what film we watched, but afterwards the pastor of the church hosting the event presented the gospel and spoke of the cross in a way that my nine year old self had never heard. He said that for each time the nails were driven into Jesus' hands and feet, one of my sins was forgiven. Like "BANG! Lying." Or "BANG! Disobeying your parents." Now I know it sounds trivial and not theologically correct or whatever, but it was my first realization of what Jesus did for me personally. And after being dead for a good, long time, he actually became alive again! He fought death and won. Just for me. So I went up at the alter call and repeated a prayer to accept God’s forgiveness and "ask Jesus into my heart." Of course that phrase didn't really have any effect on me until later in my life.

It's not like the world looked different to me at that moment, or that I felt like a new person, or even that I changed everything about my behavior immediately after that, but I can confidently say that was when I became saved, because that was the first moment that Jesus' death and resurrection actually meant something to me.

I was baptized on Easter of the following year; my first public announcement of my relationship with Jesus. Thankfully, my church provided a Sunday school class for fifth graders to learn about and understand baptism before actually going through with it. I look back with the knowledge I have now, and know that my baptism is not what saved me, and sadly, not all the kids I was baptized with were actually saved. I was baptized as an act of obedience and as a public (kind of public, it was just all of our families really no more than like 50 people J) declaration of my faith in Jesus.

More to come!

My Journey: Part 2

God as an Idea

I grew up in a Bible-believing family, with parents who were fully committed to following Jesus and teaching my sister and me the Bible. For me, my family's heritage and religious background plays a huge role in my own spiritual journey. Because my parents grew up in nominally Christian environments, which held more to religious practices and old cultural superstitions, than an actual relationship with the person and character of Jesus Christ; those sentiments were subtly present in my upbringing. I don't know much about when my parents actually came to understand the gospel, but I think I can assume that their conversions came through a series of life experiences.

My story is similar, since it's hard to identify a clear moment of repentance, or when I came to realize my own sin and my need for a Savior. I grew up knowing that I was a sinner and needed to be forgiven in order to live in Heaven after I died someday. I probably raised my hand multiple times in my early life when asked by a Sunday school teacher if I wanted to receive the gift of God’s forgiveness. I was a good little church kid though, by some standard. I had memorized Bible stories and verses and I was at church in my Sunday best every week. I didn't really think I needed God’s forgiveness at all. It's hard to realize you need anything at a young age, you just kind of do what your parents say without much thought to why.

There's more to the story though. Stay tuned!

My Journey: Part 1

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

Happy Easter to you all! I pray the message of the cross and Christ's resurrection reaches you with a fresh exuberance this year!

Recently, I was given an assignment in my mentoring relationship to write out my full spiritual autobiography. You might have heard this referred to as a testimony in some Christian circles. I've done this numerous times in my life in many different settings. When on a mission trip to a foreign country, my testimony had to be short and easily translatable into the native language. At camp, the focus was on specific instances where God met me, or when He was real to me. The testimony I shared at my baptism was only of my experiences in my short ten years of life.

The truth is, coming to faith was more of a journey for me than an event. And continuing as a follower of Jesus is a permanent journey that will, by God's grace, take me to the end of my days here on earth.

So over the next few weeks (maybe months, I mean lets be honest about how often I blog J), I plan to share the significant portions of my faith journey so far, specifically writing about who God was to me at each point of my journey.

Every faith story is uniquely different. But maybe some truth will be spoken into your life about the transforming and redeeming work of Jesus on the cross. And hey, I would love to hear your story too!

Jesus vs. Religion-Spoken Word

There was a video that went completely viral on YouTube this week. Maybe you've seen it, or maybe you haven't.

I mean seriously, this video blew up! As did all the Facebook shares, posts and critiques about it.

Responses to Jeff's video have been varied across the board. Some hated it. Some loved it. The guy's heart is definitely in the right place. I struggled with the message however. Then I got angry with myself for overanalyzing a video that probably wouldn't have started a worldwide revolution anyway.

Truth is though, I did struggle. I was confused as to why people I know whose actions and life do not reflect Jesus and obedience to Christ were sharing the video. Then I got angry with people who claim to hate the church because of past shortcomings of church individuals. And then I got upset with myself for being confused and angry at other people. Because I practice religious disciplines and because I was judging the "irreligious" actions of others, did I actually succumb to living the horrible "religious" life that Jeff condemned in his video?

I ultimately (after prayer - which btw can be considered a religious discipline - and discussion with those wiser than me) came to grips with the existing and important distinction between religion and the Gospel. The truth is found in what my definition of religion is. Tim Keller spells out the distinction with a helpful comparative list in his book Gospel in Life (study guide p.16). Read it, check it out, it will do your soul good. Here's a sneak peek:

"Religion: I obey, therefore I am accepted
The Gospel: I am accepted, therefore I obey

Religion: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity
The Gospel: Motivation is based on grateful joy

Religion: I obey God in order to get things from God
The Gospel: I obey God to get to God, to delight and resemble Him"

Below are links to other articles and responses to Jeff's video. They are from contributing pastors of the Gospel Coalition and helped me out with my own processing.

"Jesus Was Religious"

"Does Jesus Hate Religion?" then read "Jefferson Bethke Responds"

"Religion and the Gospel"

I really like the last one. But don't take my word for it (don't take my word for anything except that, my word) read it yourself!

Blessings,
Adina

God Our Sins Paying Everyone Life

Watch the vid. Then read this.

G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

"So You're Religious Right?"

Finally, the post I've wanted to write about for so long! This question has been on my heart for the past month, and I haven't been able to process and write out my answer until now. For those of you who don't remember, last month one of my coworkers asked me the question "So you're religious right?" This was in response to a Facebook status I wrote about God's divine work in my mom's open heart surgery. I fumbled to find an answer to this question, for no apparent reason except for the fact that I do not live my life in order to be ready at any moment to share my faith clearly, boldly, and decisively.

Clearly, this has been bothering me a lot. Biblically, we are mandated to "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have" (1 Peter 3:15). Aside from the fact that it's hard to me to clearly communicate my beliefs; I think there were some tensions in what my answer should look/sound like. I know the first thing that spills out of the mouths of most Christians is "it's a relationship, not a religion," which to me is true, but I know that as a part of my relationship with God, I do practice certain disciplines that to a non-believer would be considered religious by definition (going to church, reading and studying the Bible, praying, fasting, etc.).

Now my following thoughts are based off an article from The Gospel Coalition specifically related to college/peer ministry. However, it's incredibly relevant and I think addresses my tensions in my answer to the title question really well. 

Thought #1 - There needs to be a shift from religion and relationship to Gospel.

Like I said previously, it's common for well-meaning Christians to say, "Being a Christian is not about religion. It's about a relationship." But honestly, I think this line is both tired and discounted by the unchurched (never been to church) and dechurched (left the church). Non-believers can rightfully point out much that is still "religious" about the Christian faith. (If they've done their research, they can reference verses like 1 Timothy 5:4 and James 1:26-27). And honestly, I'm not sure some non-believers will find talk of relationship very persuasive, because non-Christian "spiritual" people already have their pick of other of "spiritual relationships" from which to choose.

Both religion and relationship capture helpful aspects of what Christianity is, but I think neither word is strong enough to fully encompass what Christianity is about. Only GOSPEL can do that. The Gospel alone is the power of salvation for all who believe (Romans 1:16); no amount of our religious observance or relational feeling has the power to save.

Many of us are aware of how religion easily becomes a work, through legalistic observance of rules and rituals, but sometimes we forget that relationship can fall into some of the same traps. While the legalist chases adherence to the rules, the relationist chases the next feel-good moment. In this sense, relationship can become just another type of salvation by works among holier-than-thou people, going from one passionate mountaintop experience to another. Been there, done that!

Christianity is expressed and experienced in both religion and relationship. But it's not about either. Only the Gospel occupies that central place. The Gospel is not merely an initiation for new converts but the foundation for everyone. The Gospel - in all its depth, riches, and fullness - must be repeatedly proclaimed to believer and unbeliever, churched and unchurched alike.

Thought #2 - There needs to be a shift from compartmentalizing faith to full life engagement.

Many churches or campus/peer ministries believe they are adequately equipping students to live out their faith. However, too many of us focus only on private spiritual disciplines. While teaching these things is a must, missional ministry realizes that Christians must be equipped to think and live Christianly in every sphere of life. This means calling believers to whole person transformation - mind, body, and spirit - through the Gospel, a transformation that begins through the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2). Grove City College did this so well! I attended college there for two years and we were required to take this Humanities core that was all about the Gospel and how it applied to history, art, music, literature, and most importantly, how it should shape our entire worldview.

Missional ministry constantly helps believers make sense of their lives from a deeply Christian perspective. Believers are helped to view relationships, work, school, money, entertainment, justice - and many other issues - from this Christian perspective. Missional outreach is familiar with and engages the various "gospels" proclaimed in culture, particularly through movies, music, TV, and the internet. This takes wisdom and discernment, as well as a deep awareness (and appreciation) of both the biblical and cultural narratives.

So there's definitely a lot more I could say, but I tried to be as concise as possible. If you know anything about me, then you probably know that this post itself took like 6 drafts and multiple publishing attempts. The "What has God been teaching you lately?" question, is an interesting one, because most of the time God's teaching me a lesson on one thing in so many different ways, either because I'm just not getting it, or it's an eternal lesson with so much depth and richness. God's mystery is part of His beauty, but I'm also so thankful that He's made Himself known to me, in whatever way my feeble human mind can comprehend.

Blessings,
-Adina

Faith in Action: The Good News

The countless number of things that heartlessly ravage "the least of these" in our world is overwhelming to someone reading about them for the first time, or even overwhelming to someone who has no idea how to go about alleviating the world's pain. As Christians, we must not stick our heads in the sand and pretend that the world is doing fine just because we are. We must not turn our eyes away like the priest and the Levite in the story of the good Samaritan, walking by those suffering on the other side of the road - our neighbors. We must face the brutal facts about poverty and injustice - only then can we take the first steps to respond.

There is something so much greater at work here! If you ache for a better world but are engulfed by a sense of hopelessness, I have some really really good news for you! Centuries ago there was a man named Jesus who walked this messed up world too. In a time when the Romans were running the show, hope was in short supply for the Jewish people. It was in this context that the son of a carpenter from a town called Nazareth stood up in a local synagogue and read a scroll from the prophet Isaiah.

Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."...The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:17-21)

Imagine that you're a Jew back then listening to your local Home Depot guy say these things. Weird right? Isaiah had prophesied that a King was coming who would usher in a kingdom unlike anything the world had ever seen. Could it be that Isaiah's prophecies were really coming true with this guy? Was is really possible that justice, peace and righteousness were about to be established forever? Would this King really bring healing to the parched soil, the feeble hands, the shaky knees, the fearful hearts, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute, the brokenhearted, the captives, and the sinful souls, and would proclaim the year of jubilee for the poor? (Isaiah 35:1-6, 53:5, 61:1-2) Well Jesus' answer was a YES to that, declaring that "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

What a mission for one man! Of course the nature and work of Jesus Christ is much fuller than we can understand, using us now to do his work before he comes again. Stay tuned in October for a more complete picture of Jesus' mission and what it means for every human being on this planet.

In the meantime, check out a couple of really awesome books. When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert is a great book moving from the foundational concepts about poverty (Who are the poor?), to principles (Should we do relief, rehab, or development?), to practical strategies. (How can we actually help the poor domestically? internationally?) Another great book is The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision US. (If you can't get this from me already, I LOVE World Vision!) It outlines Stearns' story of how he left worldly success for something far more significant, and discovered the full power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Stearns uses his story to demonstrate how the whole gospel was and is always meant to be a world-changing social revolution, a revolution that begins with us.

Check them out somewhere, or hit me up if you want to borrow my copies!

Blessings,
Adina