Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made abound toward us in all wisdom in prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth - in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, your were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
-Ephesians 1:3-14
The first word blessed in the first verse is translated to eulogetos in Greek. It is different than the blessed found the second and third time in the first verse which translates to eulogeo-meaning a benediction or invoking a blessing on another. Eulogetos translates to high adoration or worthy of praise. Verses 3-14 in the Greek language is one long sentence and a continual thought of Paul's. We were chosen, blessed and made holy in God's sight, within the blood of Christ, because of His good will and choice! This choice of him, choosing us to be His bride and redeeming us is for His glory and His praise. WOW! May we respond with adoration to our God who is so worthy of praise! Let our adoration lead to repentance and obedience.
Amen
Friday, April 26, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
I Do(n't)
Just a little over three months ago, my wife and I said these two simple words to each other, "I do". But, as simple as the words are, the commitment behind them is what drives their meaning. When we became married, we made a vow to each other to be devoted to serving one another at all costs, a vow that was consecrated by God, through God, and for God. We have now officially committed our lives to serving God together, as one, as husband and wife.
Now, three months into marriage (which is literally the best thing ever, I adore my wife), God has been revealing more and more to me the importance of being true to these vows beyond being a husband, but being a follower of Christ. In Luke 9:21 (NIV), Jesus says, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Jesus says we must deny ourselves. Deny our rights, our entitlements, and our pride. He didn't say you "should" deny yourselves, He said you MUST, at all costs.
Being married means you're in closer proximity with another person more than ever before, which means you're exposed to the best and worst of your spouse, as well as showing your spouse the best and worst of you. This often results in ugliness I didn't even know I was capable of, which turns my "I do" into "I don't". Situations may come up where I'm feeling prideful or selfish and I don't serve my wife selflessly in the way God has called me to, or I'm arrogant in an argument and refuse to humble myself, putting her down. The vow I made to honor God and Hannah is trumped by my sin.
This ugliness is a product of sinful nature, but, because of Jesus Christ's work on the cross, we have the power to turn that ugliness into beautiful truth and love. I have the power of the Holy Spirit to lay myself down, and pick God up. I have the power to love and serve even if it's inconvenient or difficult. I have the power of Christ to show Christ to my wife and others, and that's through following Him and picking up my cross saying "I do".
In Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 (NIV), it says, "When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it." Marriage (since it is the relationship that mirrors Christ and the church) has been showing me how to serve God in more committed ways. It has showed me the seriousness of what a vow means. So often "Christians" say they follow Jesus and have devoted their lives to Him, yet when things are hard their cross is still on the ground because the sincerity and seriousness of devotion to God isn't there. In Joshua 24 he says, "If serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve [...]". Serving and following God isn't a thing out of convenience. It's not an "oh, I'll honor God here but then do my own thing here."
When we say we follow Christ and ask Him to overtake our lives, we're committing ourselves to Him and devoting what we say, how we think, how we act, everything we do, to Him. Marriage has helped me understand the importance of being true and devoted to the vow I've made with Christ. Please know though, it does not take being married to see this. Whether you're single, dating, or have been married for 40 years, following Christ is all the same, it's about being true to your "I do" with Jesus, and humbling yourselves like our Savior did so we can honor Him through devotion of our lives.
Jesus, completely free of sin, humbled Himself to human form, left His throne in Heaven, bore our sins on His shoulders, was crucified and raised from the dead all out of faithfulness and love for us. He was, is, and will be committed to us.
The question is, are you ready to be committed to Him?
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
The Endgame of All Prayer
I'm writing from NYC this morning. God woke we up earlier than expected this morning with an unreasonable amount of energy. After fiddling around with trying to fall back asleep for a few minutes, I gave in. I bent to my knees, closed my eyes, and the first thing that came out of my mouth as I began to pray confirmed that this morning my schedule included an unforeseen appointment with the Holy Spirit.
"Let the endgame of all of my prayers and blessings be glory to you, Father..."
Prayer, like any conversation, has an endgame, a moment where one finally receives what one was looking for. All the prayers we pray, whether we realize it or not, have an endgame. We pray a prayer of thanksgiving in order to count our blessings and remind ourselves of how fortunate we are. We pray a prayer of confession in the hopes of repenting and cleansing ourselves from sin. We pray a prayer of adoration to remind ourselves how powerful and loving our God is. And we pray a prayer of supplication in the hopes of seeing God move in our lives.
These are all honorable and justifiable endgames for our prayers. But being in NYC, and praying for God's favor recently, I have been reminded that the true endgame, the pinnacle, the answer to every prayer, is the glory of the God we're speaking to.
An answered prayer isn't truly answered until the glory is placed in the proper hands of the Lord God. "Every good and perfect gift comes from God" (James 1:17), and therefore "His glory is the desire of our hearts." (Isaiah 26:8).
I truly believe that everyone's life would be better if they had a personal relationship with the Lord God and His Son Jesus Christ, and because of this, with every prayer I pray, I want to echo the words of Isaiah and cry out for God to be glorified. If God goes unnoticed, the prayer has not really been answered. The endgame of all prayer is the glory of God, because the endgame of our lives is the glory of God. Let my life be a prayer for you, O Lord.
"Be exalted, O God, in the heavens, let your glory be over all the earth." Psalm 57: 5&11
jon
"Let the endgame of all of my prayers and blessings be glory to you, Father..."
Prayer, like any conversation, has an endgame, a moment where one finally receives what one was looking for. All the prayers we pray, whether we realize it or not, have an endgame. We pray a prayer of thanksgiving in order to count our blessings and remind ourselves of how fortunate we are. We pray a prayer of confession in the hopes of repenting and cleansing ourselves from sin. We pray a prayer of adoration to remind ourselves how powerful and loving our God is. And we pray a prayer of supplication in the hopes of seeing God move in our lives.
These are all honorable and justifiable endgames for our prayers. But being in NYC, and praying for God's favor recently, I have been reminded that the true endgame, the pinnacle, the answer to every prayer, is the glory of the God we're speaking to.
An answered prayer isn't truly answered until the glory is placed in the proper hands of the Lord God. "Every good and perfect gift comes from God" (James 1:17), and therefore "His glory is the desire of our hearts." (Isaiah 26:8).
I truly believe that everyone's life would be better if they had a personal relationship with the Lord God and His Son Jesus Christ, and because of this, with every prayer I pray, I want to echo the words of Isaiah and cry out for God to be glorified. If God goes unnoticed, the prayer has not really been answered. The endgame of all prayer is the glory of God, because the endgame of our lives is the glory of God. Let my life be a prayer for you, O Lord.
"Be exalted, O God, in the heavens, let your glory be over all the earth." Psalm 57: 5&11
jon
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Our Irrational God
So I am really into food. But often times for one reason or another, I am chowing down without thinking about what I am eating. Just chomping away at the plentiful bounty on my plate. I finish eating and the only thing that is satisfied is that my stomach is now full and now longer empty. I guess that is okay, it goes along with the saying, "eat to live, not live to eat". But there is a big difference between what I have just described and the experiences of savoring your favorite meal!
My all time favorite meal, is a steamed Maine lobster at my favorite Lobster shack in southern Maine. I will never eat one of those puppies, without thinking about the taste, the aroma, and texture! I marvel over God, that He would make food taste so good , something that is a basic need in which we would do anyway in order to survive, yet he designed it to be pleasurable (please, no theological debates on whether God intended us to eat Lobster. I am aware of the Jewish laws prohibiting the consumption of shellfish). I mean think about it, the muscle of an animal actually TASTES GOOD! Isn't that kind of weird. However, I am not writing this blog in order to encourage us to stop and think about our food. I want to try and relate the opposing experiences of eating to our relationship with God.
So many times, especially those who have grown up around the church and the message of the Gospel, we forget how crazy and pleasurable God's love is; and therefor find seasons in where it is difficult to worship and praise. I know we know God so loved the World that he gave up his one and only Son so that we may have everlasting life, but do we get how radical and weird that is. I mean the Words of God have told us that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No matter what our attempts are, our effort is a miserable attempt to be holy and live to Gods standard. Gods own word says that we are filthy and sinful, which sin in itself is something God himself detests. Yet, God was so in love with me, and so in love with my wife, and so in love with you and everyone you know, that he covered all of our crap by sending Jesus, his own Son, to die in the most miserable way taking our full punishment, so that He may be with our wretched selves!!! And on top of all of this, HE WANTED TO! He longed for the chance to stand beside me while I struggled to give up lust. He wants to patiently love you and help you while you let go of your sinful nature. He wanted and has always wanted us, you and I, and all of the baggage we come with! Now you have to admit to yourself, our God is crazy in a beautiful way.
The best description of this love is in Ephesians 1: 3-9 (ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
Before the foundation of the World, it was Jesus' want and logical decision to shed his blood, be separated from Heaven and God (who is all light and love) to save us because he loved us. This makes no sense and I am so grateful we serve a God who thinks the way he does. His wisdom is not ours and lets praise Him for that.
In His love,
Cory
My all time favorite meal, is a steamed Maine lobster at my favorite Lobster shack in southern Maine. I will never eat one of those puppies, without thinking about the taste, the aroma, and texture! I marvel over God, that He would make food taste so good , something that is a basic need in which we would do anyway in order to survive, yet he designed it to be pleasurable (please, no theological debates on whether God intended us to eat Lobster. I am aware of the Jewish laws prohibiting the consumption of shellfish). I mean think about it, the muscle of an animal actually TASTES GOOD! Isn't that kind of weird. However, I am not writing this blog in order to encourage us to stop and think about our food. I want to try and relate the opposing experiences of eating to our relationship with God.
So many times, especially those who have grown up around the church and the message of the Gospel, we forget how crazy and pleasurable God's love is; and therefor find seasons in where it is difficult to worship and praise. I know we know God so loved the World that he gave up his one and only Son so that we may have everlasting life, but do we get how radical and weird that is. I mean the Words of God have told us that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No matter what our attempts are, our effort is a miserable attempt to be holy and live to Gods standard. Gods own word says that we are filthy and sinful, which sin in itself is something God himself detests. Yet, God was so in love with me, and so in love with my wife, and so in love with you and everyone you know, that he covered all of our crap by sending Jesus, his own Son, to die in the most miserable way taking our full punishment, so that He may be with our wretched selves!!! And on top of all of this, HE WANTED TO! He longed for the chance to stand beside me while I struggled to give up lust. He wants to patiently love you and help you while you let go of your sinful nature. He wanted and has always wanted us, you and I, and all of the baggage we come with! Now you have to admit to yourself, our God is crazy in a beautiful way.
The best description of this love is in Ephesians 1: 3-9 (ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
Before the foundation of the World, it was Jesus' want and logical decision to shed his blood, be separated from Heaven and God (who is all light and love) to save us because he loved us. This makes no sense and I am so grateful we serve a God who thinks the way he does. His wisdom is not ours and lets praise Him for that.
In His love,
Cory
Monday, February 25, 2013
Closing Our Eyes In Order To See
I remember my early days in the contemporary, non-denominational faith. The church I went to in high school was not charismatic by any stretch of the imagination. There were no exorcisms or healings going on on stage, at least not weekly. But in my teenage, newly formed Christian mind, I could not for the life of me understand why everyone had their eyes closed all the time.
During worship, admittedly so, I would spend a lot of time watching the people around me. I was curious how this whole "not a fundamentalist religion, but a relationship with Jesus, but still going to church" thing worked, so I figured I would observe the veterans. All of them, especially the one's who served weekly in the high school ministry had their eyes glued shut. The only time they dared to open them was maybe when the band would whip out an old hymn that no one knew the lyrics to, so they would peek a glance at the words on the screen every now and then, hoping that no one would notice their lack of hymnal memorization.
Then the pastor would come on stage and lead the congregation in prayer, which meant we all were closing our eyes again. And not only that, but then once the sermon begun, anytime the speaker was making his or her point, the veterans around me would make an, "mmm" sound, or maybe a soft "amen", and, you guessed it, close their eyes!
I was fed up. I didn't understand. People were entering a church service and leaving one of their fives senses at the door. I mean, didn't Jesus come so that the blind could see? Aren't we moving a little backwards here, I thought in my fifteen year old mind. The only time I ever closed my eyes in church was when I was drifting off to sleep. And for a while I became extremely jaded towards the veterans with their eyes closed. They were obviously in touch, or pretending to be in touch with something that I clearly did not have the spiritual capacity to understand.
Then one day, and I cannot say exactly when the turning point was, but I decided to try it. I began to really close my eyes during prayer, and I began to ask God to help me focus during worship. I don't have a degree in theology or spiritualism or anything like that, so I don't know how to explain it other than to say that slowly, but surely, I began to feel the presence of God. And not just during church services, but alone in my room. I would close my eyes and ask God to help me focus on Him, and an overwhelming feeling of His presence would ensnare me, right in the middle of my room.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that having your eyes closed is a pre-requisite for getting into the presence of God or being the member of a non-denominational mega-church. But soon enough, I became one of those veterans who I had been so jaded towards before. Realizing they weren't veterans at all, but just a bunch of broken people like me who were hungry for a God who loves them and understands to be nearby.
Over the years, closing my eyes has become a daily practice, along with falling to my knees, or even sometimes laying flat on my face. I have spent hours with my eyes closed, feeling overwhelmed by the presence of God. But I never asked myself a very important question until recently. Why? Why do I close my eyes during worship? Why did those other veterans when I was younger close their eyes during worship?
The answer came to me one night, and the answer was simple. When we close our physical eyes to pray, God opens our spiritual eyes to receive blessings. When we close our physical eyes to worship, God opens our spiritual eyes to His presence. The physical posture of our bodies has a true effect on the spiritual posture of our hearts. By closing our eyes we are cutting of one of our five senses, but we do it in order to heighten the awareness of our spiritual sixth sense. This is why we fast, we cut off our sense of taste, in order to heighten our sense of God's presence in our lives. The world bombards our physical eyes with about a million stimuli, aka distractions, every minute of every day, so we close our eyes to gain perspective, and to tune out all the competing voices.
Just as the blind man must heighten his sense of touch in order to read brail, we allow ourselves to be physically blind for a moment, in order that we may be spiritually illuminated.
During worship, admittedly so, I would spend a lot of time watching the people around me. I was curious how this whole "not a fundamentalist religion, but a relationship with Jesus, but still going to church" thing worked, so I figured I would observe the veterans. All of them, especially the one's who served weekly in the high school ministry had their eyes glued shut. The only time they dared to open them was maybe when the band would whip out an old hymn that no one knew the lyrics to, so they would peek a glance at the words on the screen every now and then, hoping that no one would notice their lack of hymnal memorization.
Then the pastor would come on stage and lead the congregation in prayer, which meant we all were closing our eyes again. And not only that, but then once the sermon begun, anytime the speaker was making his or her point, the veterans around me would make an, "mmm" sound, or maybe a soft "amen", and, you guessed it, close their eyes!
I was fed up. I didn't understand. People were entering a church service and leaving one of their fives senses at the door. I mean, didn't Jesus come so that the blind could see? Aren't we moving a little backwards here, I thought in my fifteen year old mind. The only time I ever closed my eyes in church was when I was drifting off to sleep. And for a while I became extremely jaded towards the veterans with their eyes closed. They were obviously in touch, or pretending to be in touch with something that I clearly did not have the spiritual capacity to understand.
Then one day, and I cannot say exactly when the turning point was, but I decided to try it. I began to really close my eyes during prayer, and I began to ask God to help me focus during worship. I don't have a degree in theology or spiritualism or anything like that, so I don't know how to explain it other than to say that slowly, but surely, I began to feel the presence of God. And not just during church services, but alone in my room. I would close my eyes and ask God to help me focus on Him, and an overwhelming feeling of His presence would ensnare me, right in the middle of my room.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that having your eyes closed is a pre-requisite for getting into the presence of God or being the member of a non-denominational mega-church. But soon enough, I became one of those veterans who I had been so jaded towards before. Realizing they weren't veterans at all, but just a bunch of broken people like me who were hungry for a God who loves them and understands to be nearby.
Over the years, closing my eyes has become a daily practice, along with falling to my knees, or even sometimes laying flat on my face. I have spent hours with my eyes closed, feeling overwhelmed by the presence of God. But I never asked myself a very important question until recently. Why? Why do I close my eyes during worship? Why did those other veterans when I was younger close their eyes during worship?
The answer came to me one night, and the answer was simple. When we close our physical eyes to pray, God opens our spiritual eyes to receive blessings. When we close our physical eyes to worship, God opens our spiritual eyes to His presence. The physical posture of our bodies has a true effect on the spiritual posture of our hearts. By closing our eyes we are cutting of one of our five senses, but we do it in order to heighten the awareness of our spiritual sixth sense. This is why we fast, we cut off our sense of taste, in order to heighten our sense of God's presence in our lives. The world bombards our physical eyes with about a million stimuli, aka distractions, every minute of every day, so we close our eyes to gain perspective, and to tune out all the competing voices.
Just as the blind man must heighten his sense of touch in order to read brail, we allow ourselves to be physically blind for a moment, in order that we may be spiritually illuminated.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
In Need of Something
Each Thursday morning at 7:30am, tucked in the back corner of Coffee Tree Roasters in Shadyside in Pittsburgh PA, you'll find a group of better than average looking young Christian men circled up, telling how much their lives have sucked in the last week, then leaning into what looks like an overly affectionate football huddle with their hands all laid on each other's shoulders, they say, "Amen", then they leave. This is Ironmen.
Admittedly, I am being somewhat facetious. We don't only talk about how much our lives suck. There is a parade of blessings and praises as well week after week. But this week, literally five minutes ago, we realized that we were all in a similar place.
In short, we were sick of feeling like we weren't being used by God. As bright, confident, sexy young men of God, we were used to being told, "You're gonna do great things," but we were getting tired of asking that age old question, "When?"
A few months ago, I felt the Lord whispering into my soul, prompting me to start a new group blog with about four or five other Christians. The idea being that if I could centralize a group of young Christian's writings on the same blog, then we could use each specific person's network to increase our reach and influence for Christ.
In that moment, a few minutes ago, the ideas connected in my head, and the Ironmen Blog was born. This blog has been born with the hope of serving the kingdom and doing those great things for God, one small post at a time.
Our prayer is that you would find yourself blessed by the words hear, and that the influence of this blog would, as it says in Daniel 12:3, "shine as the stars forever and ever."
Welcome to Ironmen!
jon
Admittedly, I am being somewhat facetious. We don't only talk about how much our lives suck. There is a parade of blessings and praises as well week after week. But this week, literally five minutes ago, we realized that we were all in a similar place.
In short, we were sick of feeling like we weren't being used by God. As bright, confident, sexy young men of God, we were used to being told, "You're gonna do great things," but we were getting tired of asking that age old question, "When?"
A few months ago, I felt the Lord whispering into my soul, prompting me to start a new group blog with about four or five other Christians. The idea being that if I could centralize a group of young Christian's writings on the same blog, then we could use each specific person's network to increase our reach and influence for Christ.
In that moment, a few minutes ago, the ideas connected in my head, and the Ironmen Blog was born. This blog has been born with the hope of serving the kingdom and doing those great things for God, one small post at a time.
Our prayer is that you would find yourself blessed by the words hear, and that the influence of this blog would, as it says in Daniel 12:3, "shine as the stars forever and ever."
Welcome to Ironmen!
jon
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