Deep Friendship

Deep Friendship

 

Dear Champions, 

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is John 15:12-14 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.

 

If you say, I do not think that anyone should convert other people; what you are saying is, My view of God is better than your view, and your view is narrow.  You are doing the very thing at that moment that you are forbidding that person to do.  You are saying, Do not say that your view of God is better than someone else; but when you say, Do not claim that you have superior truth and all of that,  you are actually refusing to do the very thing that you are making other people do.  You are saying, I have a view of spiritual reality that is better than your view of spiritual reality. 

 

There is always a certain exclusivity in your beliefs about God because everybody has beliefs about God even if you are an agnostic.  You are betting your whole life on your belief that there is not one or that you do not need to know one.  Everybody is basing their life and their eternity on that view of God, and everybody thinks that their take on spiritual reality is better than other people.  You also think that the world would be better off if more people believed like you do.  There is nothing wrong with that. 

 

Here is what is wrong.  How do you treat people who differ from you?  If you hate bigots, do you not feel superior to them?  Then you are a bigot.  If you are deeply religious and you only love people who love or believe just like you or who are moving in that direction, why would anyone want to believe or convert to your view of God? 

 

The most transforming thing that facilitates an encounter with God is unconditional love in a powerful friendship.  If you love people in deep friendship regardless of what they believe, what you believe is going to look pretty credible.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

The Debt

The Debt

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. . . .

 

If someone really, really wrongs you; I would suggest there is a debt between you and that person, and it cannot be washed away or ignored.  One thing that you can do with a debt is to can make the other person pay the debt down by hurting them and by finding ways to make them suffer.  As you see them paying for the debt, you can sense that it is being paid down and at a certain point it is gone. 

 

The other thing you can do is to forgive them.  To forgive means that when I want to hurt someone, when I want to slice up their reputation by talking to other people, when I want to just think hateful thoughts about how they have done awful things, I do not do it.  And if I do that, I will find as time goes on that my anger slowly subsides because I am paying the debt down myself.  It is costly and difficult; but when a real wrong is done, it does not just go away and it cannot just be just forgiven without someone paying for the debt.  Someone has to pay the debt or the barrier is there.

 

We have wronged God and our neighbor, and there is a debt that must be paid.  There is a debt that must be paid and when Jesus Christ cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me, the Father paid the debt for us -- Jesus had to die.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Filthy Rich!

Filthy Rich

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Francis Chan from his book Crazy Love, and the scripture is James 2:5 Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

 

Ronnie, a blind boy who lives in eastern Uganda, is unique not because of his circumstances or the fact that he is blind, but because of his love for Jesus.  If you were to meet Ronnie, one of the first things you would hear him say is, I love Jesus so much, and I sing praises to Him every day!  He possesses very little of what counts in our society, but he has what matters most.  He came to God in his great need, and he has found true joy.

 

Because we do not usually have to depend on God for food, money to buy our next meal, or shelter, we do not feel needy.  In fact, we generally think of ourselves as fairly independent and capable.  Even if we are not rich, we are doing just fine.

 

If one hundred people represented the population of the world, fifty-three of those would live on less than $2 a day.  Do you realize that if you make $4000 a month, you automatically make one hundred times more than the average person on this planet?  We are rich.  Filthy rich.

 

The reality is that being rich is a serious disadvantage spiritually.  As William Wiberforce once said, Prosperity hardens the heart.

 

Jesus said, How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!  He says that it is as hard as a camel to go through the eye of a needle-in other words, impossible.  But then Jesus offers hopeful words:  What is impossible with man is possible with God.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

P.S.  If you have 3 minutes and 12 seconds, go to crazylovebook.com and click on the awe factor of God.