why am i created...

For centuries philosophers have been asking the age old question why are we created? Socrates, Plato, Sartre, Derrida, Foucault have all discussed in conversation the meaning of life and our existence on earth. While in graduate school I remember feeling like an existential, metaphysical blob of collected cells. And let me tell you, walking around thinking there is no purpose in life and my existence is mere happenstance is a dark way to live. I'm surprised I didn't dress in black and hug myself while rocking in the corner of a dark room.

When I heard my friend Joey Rozek explain our purpose in life, it was painfully simple. I remember skeptically listening to his two minute dissertation on the true meaning of life and I was sure that there had to be more--there had to be a Secret that only one author and Oprah could truly know. But maybe, just maybe, Occam's razor was right: the simple answer is always the right one.

Why are we created? What is the meaning of life? We are created to bring God glory. Period, the end. Isaiah 43:7 says, Everyone who is called by my name, whom I have created for My glory... God has called us with a purpose and a destiny. I've asked a million times over what my purpose in life is. God has never come down with a booming voice and said, YOU ARE TO BE A UNDERWATER BASKET WEAVER, MY CHILD. What has happened is that I've taken steps of faith, then been able to look back at my journey and see that God's hand was upon every step. It's stepping out of the box and trusting, committing, and relying upon the Lord for direction.

Paul wrote to the Colossian church and informed them, All things were created through Him and for Him. If we believe this simple truth, that our purpose is to bring Him glory, no matter what you're doing should be for the glory of God. Teacher, chef, trash collector, homemaker, lawyer, homeschool mom, or dog whisperer, we have the honor and obligation to do all things for His good purpose.

Take pictures that make God proud. Write songs that make God proud. Run really fast to make God proud. He's given us gifts for His glory. Now use 'em!

speaking in silence...

They gathered around the atrium and hoped upon hope that their prayers would be heard and answers given through raindrops. Every drop which dripped onto the floor of the villa spoke of hope. Hope that the divine would speak into the deafening silence of life. Stiff as the marble statues in the garden before them, they waited for the oracle to speak through splashes or see answers pictured in puddles. For the ancient Romans, their gods would speak through rain and thunder when the answers to life were lost.

I remembered this art history fact while visiting the Getty Villa in Malibu. I touched the marble columns and stared at marble statues which once adorned Romans villas. I stared at the blue, cloud-less California sky and prayed for rain. And wind. And fire. And something miraculous. I didn't want to hear from Zeus on power or Athena on love, but from God Almighty. I was tired of asking the same questions because the deafening silence was too painful to listen to. The questions echoed internally and ricocheted off the walls of my mind. I wanted answers, but I received silence.

God are you there? Are you even listening to me?

“A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard [it], he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave”(1 Kings 19:11-13).

God put on a real show with the wind blowing, the earth shaking, and fire darting, but he wasn’t speaking to Elijah in any of those powerful and visible ways. Elijah was learning that God, who once spoke by fire that consumed a soaked altar sacrifice, does not always reveal himself in powerful, miraculous ways. What does this say to us? Some people think that the only place to find God is in something big, the impressive, or the miraculous. We look for God in the spectacular but miss him in the silence. I'm currently in silence, but I know that it's the still, small voice that will answer me when I finally shut my mouth and listen.

god of ALL comfort... [part II]

I vividly remember the day. I could tell you everything about that moment; what I was wearing, how I felt, the music I heard from the frat boys room below mine. Something supernatural occurred in my heart as I overwhelmingly experienced the comfort of God in a moment of great need. I was curled up in  fetal position laying on the floor of my college dorm room, my world in pieces as I tried desperately to keep it together. I was 21 years-old, going through finals, my mom is battling brain cancer and literally dying in front of me, my 16 year-old sister was in rebellion to all rules and was living on her own, and my dysfunctional three-year relationship with Satan had just ended. In between the sobs and tears, I cried out to God and begged him to help me. Yes, my mom had cancer and my sister was on drugs and needed Jesus, but in that moment I needed help.

Matthew 15:21-28 documents an encounter of a woman who interceded for her daughter as well as herself. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. asked, let's see how she stands in the moment of challenge and controversy.

 In this passage we are told that Jesus and his disciples were traveling through gentile cities which Isaiah 23 tells us were not looked upon very favorably. A parallel account of this story, we are told that Jesus went into a house to rest from the crowds and throngs of people (Mark 7). She's obviously heard about Jesus because Luke 16 documents that word traveled from Jerusalem to Judea about the miracles, healings, and teachings he was doing! Multitudes of people had spread word about what he did for them or someone they knew.

So there she was. A gentile woman standing proxy for someone she loved probably outside the doors of the house. She was interceding for her severely demon-possessed daughter and Jesus was her only hope for healing. Loudly she cried out for Jesus to heal her daughter. He says nothing. Ouch! But we should never judge the Lord by the process, but rather the product of the process. His silence to this woman, like the silence to the psalmist who cried out for answers, like the silence we sometimes receive, reveals that he is not obligated to respond. The gentile woman, like us, had no basis on which to appeal to Jesus except to cling to his mercy. She cried out not once, not twice, but three times, with the final plea not being for her daughter, but for herself! It's at the point of complete surrender that the voice of Jesus can change our lives. And so it was in that moment, as it was in mine, that I was comforted by my God. O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire (verse 28).

My God is the God of ALL comfort! He can heal the sick, the weak, the feeble, the hurting, the lame, the dead, and the desperate. Nothing is too big for our God (Luke 1:37)! Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

god of ALL comfort... [part I]

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 [click to read]

Paul (aka Boyfriend) encourages the Corinthian believers by reminding them that God is full of mercy and has endless arms to which He can love on us (BIV* paraphrase). The definition of mercy in the Bible is not quite what we think of in today’s term. Today mercy usually means that we cease to deliver a punishment that is justly deserved; or refraining from dishing out pain and punishment usually out of pity (BIV*). But that’s not the best definition according to The Handbook of Biblical Values.  Dr. Pilch notes that an ancient context of mercy is better rendered as steadfast love. 

Paul also says that God is the God of ALL comfort. Not some comfort, or a little bit of comfort, but ALL comfort! The word comfort used here to to make strong, impart strength, to encourage, and to fortify. When the earth on which we stand trembles and we stumble around looking for comfort, God is there. When we feel like we are surrounded in darkness and can't see the light, God is there. When our hearts ache and break from the trials of Life, God is there.

How do I know this? How can I speak with conviction and persuasion? Because I'm living it out. Through poverty, God has been there. Through obesity, God has been there. Through adversity, God has been there. Through loneliness, God has been there. Through bruised, beaten, and battered heartbreaks, God has been there. Through cancer, asthma, and hydrocephalus, God has been there.

1 Corinthians 1:7 ...our hope for you is not shaken, for as you have shared in our suffering, you will also share in our comfort J The words Paul gave me for comfort, I pass along to you. God will never leave us nor has He forgotten about us (Deut. 31:6). Maybe you are physically sick and need comfort, God is there. Perhaps you're psychologically sick and life is too overwhelming to continue on, God cares. Maybe it's an emotional sickness residing in your heart, God wants to heal you.

God is the God of ALL comfort.

The question that begs to be answered is, how will you stand in the face of affliction, the depths of despair, in the choke of the challenge? Martin Luther King, Jr. beautifully said, The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Tomorrow we'll take a look at a woman from the bible who stands before Jesus in the face of challenge and controversy and comes out fully experiencing the God of all comfort.

*BIV=Bianca International Version