Donald Miller‘s book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is an excellent book. A while back I started doing a review of each of the five sections the book is split into, but apparently I got bored with it because I only did three of the five parts… not much of a book review if you ask me. So I picked up the book and found Part Four, and scrolled through some of the sentences I highlighted (I used to like bracketing and underlining but I can’t do straight lines so I found highlighting to be less nauseating). And, just like when I first read through it, there are some great points he makes. This is a book by a Christian man about living your life in terms of a story – understanding yourself in a sub-story as he calls it, inside the larger story of God’s story of redemption. I loved the whole book but want to focus in on a few points Miller makes in Part Four.

“Joy is what you feel when conflict is over. But it’s conflict that changes a person.” p. 180

This is everyone’s experience, isn’t it? Ask someone what has changed their life the most and they will almost inevitably tell you a story (because connecting life events and finding meaning in them is telling a story) about something very difficult in their life. The divorce of their parents, the abandonment of friends, the death of someone they loved, the loss of a physical ability, losing a job, and so on. The pain is not nice and it’s usually not enjoyable, but it is what changes people. Going through hard times, particularly as a Christian, is what instills the Gospel even deeper into our hearts. And we can look back and see how we became more patient, how we trusted God in deeper ways, how we depended on him every day, and how he formed our character through the crucible of conflict and pain.

“Part of me wonders if our stories aren’t being stolen by the easy life.” p. 186

The easy life… the “American Dream”… I think these two ideas are synonymous. If you were to get the honest truth out of most of us, especially younger people who haven’t had life beat this idea out of them yet, we’d tell you our highest aim is wealth and comfort. We want to work enough to make enough to eventually not have to do anything. We want to retire young, get that second (or third) home in whatever idealized area of the world we want to move to, and we think that’s the dream. But it isn’t. It’s boredom. It’s ridiculous. It’s insanity. The easy life, or the dream of the easy life, robs us of wonderful stories our lives were made to tell of sacrifice, love for God and others, risk taking, and adventure making. God’s highest concern for you life is not that you achieve the easy life; it’s that you glorify him by mirroring his story of redemption, reconciliation, and grace to the broken, unreconciled world around you. And the more we tolerate the easy life’s empty promises

“Growing up in church we were taught that Jesus was the answer to all our problems.” p. 203

Isn’t he, though? No, actually, he’s not. And he never promised to be. Miller makes a great point as he recounts his Christian experience after believing the lie that Jesus fulfills every longing we could ever have here on earth. He talks about how Jesus is sold like an infomercial – “If you’ll just believe in Jesus and let him in your heart, he’ll bring you everything you long for and keep the bad stuff away.” But that’s B.S. if I’ve ever heard it (if you’re not sure what that stands for, think about it some more. If you’re still not sure, ask your parents. If you are a parent, just ask me). There is a longing that each of us has for full redemption, when pain and sadness and death is completely swallowed up. The good news is that God does promise that to us – just not in this life. God does fulfill us, but he doesn’t answer all our questions this side of Heaven and all of our problems aren’t necessarily solved. Jesus is our hope, our Savior, our redemption and our propitiation. Let that be enough, and be satisfied in all he is for you.

This is just a small sampling of some of the quality material in this book. I probably read Miller’s books faster than any other author because it flows extremely well, is entertaining, and is always poignant. I recommend ordering it from Amazon sometime soon.

Theology: Does God Care More About Christians Than Non-Christians? May 13, 2010

Theology: Why Does Evil Live on Yet Good Men Die? May 12, 2010

What I’m watching:  The Invention Of Lying May 10, 2010

26 years and Counting April 26, 2010

Lies We Believe:  All Hard Things Are Bad Things April 22, 2010

Vacations April 15, 2010

Some Quotes and Some Thoughts April 12, 2010

The Future of My Blogging April 11, 2010

What If He Isn’t Alive?  What If He Is? April 4, 2010

Mexico:  Final Recap April 2, 2010

Confusing as S*** March 20, 2010

Wages of Sin vs. Free Gift of God March 15, 2010

Three Things More, Three Thing Less March 13, 2010

Some Thoughts on Marriage March 12, 2010

we have no reason to celebrate like we do as Christians.

we are all fools for believing the biggest hoax in human history.

how can you explain the instant life transformation of the disciples, most of whom died gruesome deaths because they wouldn’t stop saying he was alive?

there is no hope for anything after this life.

he is a dead Savior and therefore no Savior at all.

none of us claiming to have “new life” or be “born again” actually are… we just wished it upon ourselves and perhaps radically altered our lives on our own power.

our money and energy is wasted to advance a cause for someone who died almost 2000 years ago.

we should go back to living primarily for ourselves rather than some guy who had some nice things to say but couldn’t back them up.

Easter really should be about a bunny who lays colored eggs for children to find.

I am wasting my life in a meaningless, empty, foolish endeavor to serve a dead person who never rose, and therefore has no power to change anyone’s life and am the biggest liar I know.

If Jesus is alive…

we have every reason to celebrate like we do as Christians and should be the most consistently joyful, happy people on earth.

he is the living Savior who has been building his Kingdom and his Church for nearly 2000 years, and will one day return to fully receive his Kingdom for all eternity.

we have hope for today, tomorrow, and eternity.

the death of Jesus on behalf of sinners like you and me makes sense… he died to pay for our sins and rose to give us new life in him.

the Holy Spirit now lives in us, opening our minds to the truths of the Gospel.

there is every reason to use our money and energy to serve him.

Easter is rightly about him, not a bunny and eggs.

I am spending my life doing meaningful, beautiful, and eternal work – and not just because I work for a church but simply because I am a Christian who seeks to bring him honor in all I do and be a witness to the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Friends, spend some time reflecting on what would be different if Jesus in fact did NOT rise from death but is actually in the ground, still rotting away like every other dead person. Such a thought on Christians should cause great distress if that is in fact the case because we’ve been dooped by simple fisherman, a tax collector, and some other normal guys who turned radical about a man they believed to be alive. The Gospel is not a set of facts you must adhere to – it is NEWS of a risen Savior who conquered Satan, sin, and death through the cross and resurrection. The cross means nothing without the resurrection. The death in our place on the cross receives much attention and rightfully so, but if he did not rise it would have no power.

If you’d like to add to this list please do so by either commenting on the blog or commenting on the link provided on Facebook. What else would be different if he didn’t rise, and what should it mean to us that he did rise?

1. The media is able to be tricked easily into believing something and then project that to the whole world.

At least twice in the movie someone was killed and the media twisted it in order to cover for the Vatican. Or, perhaps more accurately, the Vatican released an official statement about the incident and the media ran with it. The movie showed at least 4 different languages represented in the media, covering much of the world who would be eating up this lie. I am not sure if this was a major point they were trying to get across but I know I saw it as pretty important. We can indeed be fed a good deal of important information from media outlets such as TV, internet, radio, and newspapers (does anyone read those anymore?), but they can easily be twisted or lied to (or do the lying themselves) and it suddenly gets received as absolute truth. A dangerous concept in real life to be sure.

2. There was a strong sense that passionate belief in something does no make it true or right.

Towards the end of the movie a major decision was about to be made, something that would change the course of the Catholic church. The cardinals were conversing and becoming convinced of something and one of them said that if the Holy Spirit is leading them to do __________ (I won’t give it away), they should do it because it is God’s will. Come to find out that they were wrong and evidence showed just moments later. The point here is that passionate belief about anything can be misled. Even cloaking it around words like “Holy Spirit” and “God’s will” doesn’t make someone less susceptible to being fooled. We need to seek wise counsel, rely on God’s leading (just because we could be led astray doesn’t mean we always will be), and take a humble and patient approach to big decisions. Only God is perfect, and while we can make wise decisions it is best to do so slowly and with more prayer than we normally think is necessary.

Just some thoughts from a decent movie draped in Catholic mystery.

I say all of that because I was thinking about it this morning after reading a very well known verse – Romans 6:23. It says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Growing up in Sunday school I must have known this one since kindergarten or 1st grade… not that I really got it, but I probably got a nice gold star on the Sunday School poster next to my name for saying it by memory. Good times. Anyway, the verse is very powerful when you think about what is being implied. I believe Paul was a master communicator who was filled with the Holy Spirit to write down God’s inspired Word, the Bible. Therefore, let’s break these two concepts down.

For the wages of sin is death

Paul has been arguing in Romans 6 (and other places) that sin leads to death. It is the logical outcome of our rebellion against God’s holiness, his commands, and his overall character. It is what we all deserve – it is what’s “fair” in this life. (As a side note, I believe this means we should love the fact that, for believers in Christ, life is not “fair”, meaning that we don’t get what we deserve, which is eternal damnation in hell as righteous punishment for our sin.) The reason I brought up my Scandia experience is that my wages for all those hours under my boss was some money – it was my justified payment for what I did. In a similar way, the justified payment, or the justified outcome, of anyone’s life lived under sin and not under God’s grace which comes through faith in Christ, is death. That is, both the physical death we will all experience (unless Christ returns before that happens), and also eternal death – separation from God forever. These are the wages of sin, and these are the wages everyone either is under today who is apart from Christ, or was under before you came to Christ (or before he came to you and rescued you, which I would argue is a more accurate way to describe it).

But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul now juxtaposes what belonging to sin leads to with what belonging to God leads to. The free gift is the exact opposite of the justified payment (wages) – there is nothing about a free gift that anyone can boast in and say “Ya, I got it because I worked really hard for it.” Sometimes kids think they got a free gift from their parents because they manipulated their parents and dropped not-so-subtle hints about what they want for their birthday, but if the parent is a good parent then, in the end, they know that the kid got it because of a free gift of love. God is the “Free Gift Giver” here – he is the one who knows our condition better than anyone and yet still offers this free gift through Jesus Christ. We do not earn it, we receive it (Romans 3:24). You are a Christian because you received something from God… you did not pay him back and thus receive your just due.

And what is this outcome of this free gift to be received on faith? Eternal life! The contrast should be obvious by now, but the outcome of all your work under sin as your “boss” or more accurately as your owner, is death – physical death and eternal separation from God. Yet the outcome of God’s undeserved gift of grace is eternal life IN Jesus Christ. Eternal life is given for everyone in Christ – everyone who has come to receive this gift and live for him. Everyone who has come out of the bondage of sin, the ownership of such a brutal taskmaster, and into this marvelous light. Everyone who has seen their rebellion and seen what their Creator did in order to have them back. Everyone who recognizes that the chasm between them and God would never be jumped over or somehow breached unless God himself became a man and took our punishment for us. The gift of eternal life is entirely free to you and I, but not to God. It cost the life of the Son, who willingly sacrificed himself on the cross for our sin, in order that we might become children of God.

Praise his name today! While we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). We who were working for sin, under the bondage of sin, on our way to receiving our just payment of death have been rescued. Yes we will die in this life because of the effects of sin, and yes there are still consequences to our sin that we still struggle with. But you can go about your day and the rest of your life knowing God has rescued you, given you free grace through Jesus Christ, and that your physical death one day has been transformed so that it is no longer the end of anything but the doorway into eternal life with God our Savior.

All that to say, I’ve been going through Romans in preparation for Mexico – yes, all Mexico participants are going through ROMANS in 40 days. Kind of nuts but also really cool. Sad to say, I’m a full week behind and planning to play catch up this coming week. So while I should be reading Romans 7:13-25, I’m reading in Romans 4:1-12. But nonetheless, as I was reading and answering some of the questions in the devotional, this whole thing with the Old Testament came to mind. Paul basically translates salvation in the Old Testament for us, saying that even Abraham was saved by faith. It wasn’t because he got circumcised… that came after God “counted his faith as righteousness”. It wasn’t because he was Jewish either… the Jewish nation started with him, therefore while he was the first Jew so to speak, he was not a Jew by heritage. All this to say, Abraham started a spiritual lineage of salvation by grace through faith that continues today. Christ died in our place for our sins, just like the old system of a lamb (or other animals) being slaughtered in place of the sinner.

You and I, through faith in Christ, join in this spiritual inheritance and spiritual family – not because our parents told us to, not because we go to church enough, and certainly not because we have first cleaned ourselves up. It’s all because we have been given grace by God and received this free gift of eternal life through Jesus by faith.

But here’s the deal with all of that: I’m the same as my college student. I read stuff from saints of old or I know another Christian who is wiser than I am, and I tend to assume that it’s just a matter of time before I get there. However, if I’m not making decisions in my day todaythat will help me draw closer to the Lord, why would I assume I’ll be any closer in a few years? Why would I assume I’ll just naturally be ready for that trial or hardship? When it comes down to it, I know that there is quite a bit in my life that holds me back from drawing closer to the Lord more regularly.

One of those things is my “addiction” (not literally… but sort of) to all things ESPN. I listen to ESPN in my car, I watch Sportscenter and many other shows on ESPN, and I check espn.com several times a day. I don’t do this because I need to know who won the basketball games, or what some columnist thinks Lebron James will do after his contract expires this year… I do it because it’s a habit (or addiction perhaps?). So I decided to give up all things ESPN for Lent – the period of time in the traditional church year between Ash Wednesday (last Wednesday) and Easter Sunday. And you know what? It hasn’t been that difficult to give it up so far. Sure I’m still watching some of the Olympics and keep up a little bit so far on some other sites, but it’s far less frequent – and I’m intentionally not turning the dial to ESPN or the channel to their stations.

Here’s what I’m finding out: ESPN isn’t the sole issue. Giving up one thing in order to spend more time with the Lord in the morning is good; but the issue is that my heart is inclined to just find something else to be distracted with! Other websites become more interesting, emails beckon me to be checked, and so on. I need the Holy Spirit to do a work in my heart so profound that I don’t just stop one habit, but I prefer Jesus over all other things – communing with Him, loving Him, praising Him, bringing my concerns and requests to Him, and so on. This is what my heart needs and this is what I’m seeking from the Lord.

Currently, millions of Americans are worried sick about our economy and our unemployment rate. We are also worried about the health care bill passing or not passing and the seemingly constant threat of terrorism. There are many more concerns that many people have, and many of them are legitimate. But please take a moment to step outside of your current issues and worries and read Revelation 4 and 5. If properly understood, it will raise your eyes above your situation and onto the One who “created all things and by his will they existed and were created” as well as lift your eyes to Jesus who was “slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…”

In chapter 4 of Revelation, John describes the Throne in Heaven. He uses incredible, heart stirring imagery of what he saw or what things were like – I just imagine John writing down very reflectively of this true story and can only come up with so many human words to describe this very divine experience. John gets the unimaginable privilege of seeing the throne room of Heaven as it stands right now – consider it the reality beyond your reality. At this very moment, while our world scurries about like busy ants, while we fret over very trivial and very serious things alike, while we are consumed in our personal little world, God is on the throne and God is not worried or losing control (unlike us). He is the One who is worthy of our praise and deepest affections, He is the one who created all things and who is leading human history to it’s eventual coming climax. He raises up leaders and brings leaders down, He is drawing men and women to himself from all walks of life, all nationalities, and out of all kinds of false religions through the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it penetrates the whole world. The state of our union may be disagreed upon (and it always will be), the issues will be there until this final act is over… but the state of the Throne has not changed.

The Ruler and Creator of all things is the Lord, He is the King of kings, He is mighty to save and is accomplishing his will on earth. He is moving throughout every nation, in the midst of earthquakes in Haiti and wars in the Middle East. He is moving with no regard to border or popularity. He is moving through underground churches in China, mega-churches in America, and house churches on every continent (does anyone live in Antarctica? If so, He’s moving there too). We have reason to be concerned about political issues that affect our daily lives – please don’t think I’m trashing all your cares and worries. But we have far greater reason to have secure peace and hope in times of trouble, because Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb, the One who rescued us from our sin and gives eternal life. And, no matter what the state of our union is or becomes, that will always be true.

Just some thoughts

So, anyways, I totally stunk it up today. Since last week I have developed what I believe is known as the “yips” in the golf world – an unforeseen problem with your swing that causes you to hit the ball in the wrong direction. I didn’t have it on every hole, but on enough to be sure. Not only that, but it rained for about 8 holes. And I’m not talking the misty kind of rain that comes on coast almost every day. I’m talking about side ways rain that felt like the ocean was just spitting on you! We were drenched through and through but kept on going… I mean, this is Pebble Beach here! You don’t just quit after 11 holes because of a little rain. Not only was I soaked, so were all my clubs and their grips. On the 15th hole I took off my glove (who needs a glove in a down pour?) and took a whack at it, and I’m pretty sure the club flew further than the ball. It soared for about 3 seconds through the air, hit some branches and tumbled down. Poor 5 wood… it doesn’t deserve to be treated so poorly. Fortunately the rain stopped on the 15th hole and the sun actually came out pretty quickly. I miraculously got par on hole 16 and 17, then bogeyed 18 (perhaps the most famous par 5 in the world, literally) just before the clouds threatened again.

If you’ve made it all the way to this point, I’m impressed. Most people fall asleep when talking about golf for more than 5 minutes, let alone when reading about someone else’s round for a couple paragraphs. But let me mention a few things I was thinking about either before playing, during the round, or afterward in reflection.

1. It’s amazing that God created a world with such creativity that we can mold it and make golf courses all over it. That also goes for parks, fields, and many more things. God providentially allowed grass to be planted, bunkers to be placed in certain spots, and all of that. Awesome.

2. Amidst such beauty, who cares how you play. And if you do care too much, then you either need to be getting paid tons of money for playing on some professional tour or you need to quit. It was horrible weather and an incredible experience all at the same time.

3. Sometimes, when I’m at places where I know some people have been before, I just get this awe-struck sensation. Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, Phil Mickelson, and countless other golfers and celebrities have been held captive by the beauty of Pebble Beach for many years, and now I’m in that number – not in the talent sort of way, but in the “I’ve-been-there-too” way.

4. Jesus is better than Pebble Beach. No, seriously, I was thinking this. The good news about Jesus coming to earth to die for my sins, and rising again and being the Ruler over all the earth is much cooler than saying I played Pebble. Who really cares about Pebble? OK, I do and so do many others. But just think about it… if who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us isn’t more important than a place like Pebble, or your favorite vacation spot, or your dream vacation, or that home, or that financial goal, or that relationship, something is seriously wrong with us. Honestly I don’t always think in these terms, but as I was thanking God for this beautiful place he made and allowed mankind to carve up into that golf course, I realized that while it’s cool to play golf along cliffs and watch your golf ball sail into the ocean several times, it’s way better to know my sins have been paid for by Christ and totally forgiven.

More could be said about my day today, but that’s all anyone would want to read. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to play and would have played 18 holes in terrible weather if I needed to. But while this was a day I’ll remember the rest of my life, I’d be OK if it had never happened. Life would go on, God would be God, Jesus would be my Savior, and I’d still be OK. This is the perspective I hope to have on other things as well, and by God’s grace will grow into as I mature in him.

Peter is continuing his discourse on what Christ did and who Christ is, telling us in v. 20 that “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world…” Jesus is God who has lived eternally past and will live eternally in the future. But why did he come? Peter answers that immediately – he came for our sake, the sake of those who are believers in God through Jesus. Christ came into human history for my sake and for your sake. He didn’t just come to give us truth, to be the truth, which he was and still is today. He came for us, so that we could belong to our Heavenly Father. God the Father raised Christ from the dead and gave him glory so that our faith and hope are in God, Peter goes on to explain. The “so that” is important here as it shows the purpose for which God raised Jesus from the dead. In some way it seems to me that the resurrection, while of course necessary in the salvation plan of God, also served to increase our faith and hope in God himself. We believe God and hope in him because Christ was risen from death. He conquered it, and God will conquer it for us as well. My hope does not have to be rooted in what I can do anymore, nor do I have some vain “hope” that in the end I’ve done enough for God to accept me. He has accepted me and given me a new and living hope, as Peter has already mentioned, through the resurrection of Jesus.

Peter begins a new thought in v. 22, moving from the explanation of who Jesus is and what God has accomplished into exhorting believers toward maturity in Christ. His basic message is this: because of all God has done, love one another from a pure heart. The super-natural response for each individual Christian is to NOT keep it to themselves but to share this love that God has given them with others. Specifically Peter has in mind Christians loving other Christians – this does not mean we are only to love Christians and shun non-Christians, but rather the point here is that there needs to be a mutual love for one another because of what God has done in each heart. The line of reasoning for v. 22 and 23 could go something like this: Since you have been born again to a new life following Jesus, obey Christ’s greatest commands to love God and love one another in brotherly (and sisterly) love. The important idea is “since” – that is, because God has given you new life, a new and living hope in Jesus, the response must be one of love. And as the world sees our love for one another – which must be different and deeper than the world’s vain version of love – spiritual light is reflected in our Christian communities to a world desperately in need of light.

The idea of being “born again” (in v. 23) is one of the best known and most mocked ideas in all of Christianity. Yet it comes up several times in Peter’s writing, and he obviously gets it from Christ. Here’s the deal: you simply can’t get away from the fact that conversion is like a new birth. You were born into futility in this world, spiritually dead, blind, and dumb. You cannot save yourself and the only hope you have is for God to do a supernatural work and re-birth you and me. While there are many ways to describe what happens to someone when they become a Christian, one inevitable fact remains: they are born-again as Christians. What I find ridiculous is when people say “born-again Christian” as if there is another kind of Christian. There isn’t. If you’re a Christian, you’re a born-again Christian. I will be the first to admit that I get uncomfortable at the questions some pose, such as “So are you a ‘born-again’ Christian?” But the fact remains that this is exactly what happened. I once was dead and now am alive. I once had no true hope and now have a living hope because I belong to a living Savior and the only true living God, my Heavenly Father. Born again is exactly what happened, and if you’re not born again you’re not a Christian. This new birth is of “imperishable seed” Peter goes on to explain. This is because my first birth was natural (though the birth process is amazing, it is still natural) and this second birth is super-natural. It is the coming to a knowledge of Jesus Christ that so changes you that you’re literally re-born.

Peter then uses the Old Testament to say something that the Bible says over and over in different ways: you and I are a blip on the radar of human history, like the grass in a field or a flower in a garden. If this were a movie, you would be in it for, oh I don’t know, 0.3 seconds or less. You’d have to try and pause the scene at just the right time so your friends could see you in the far back-drop of the scene. We are not the main Characters… God is. We are not the main point… He is, and His Word stands forever. It cannot be stamped out, killed out, chased out, legislated out, or anything else. Verse 25 says “And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” This good news about Jesus that Peter was inspired to proclaim will stand forever, changing the lives of all who receive it in faith. Praise his name.