Romans 8:29

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

 All those whom the Father beckons to him are made and conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.  We all were made to be perfect vessels of God, idols in which God dwells and images that reflect his glory.  (Gen 1:27) But just as a cracked pot cannot hold water, a sinful person cannot hold God.  That is why we are being formed and conformed to the image or likeness of the Son, the perfect human container of God, in order that we too might hold life and life in abundance. Without God, we are but empty shells.  We were made to hold Him.

 So how does one so large and so infinite as the Creator God fit inside a person?  The answer is simply that He does not, but rather he fills and overflows in you so that you may be poured out again and again and yet always being filled.  Our God is a never ending spring and whoever drinks of him shall never thirst again not because they will never again have need of water, but they will have water in abundance and will never go without.

There is not just a "God shaped void" in our lives, but our entire being is a void to be filled.  We were born with nothing and will leave with nothing because we were meant to hold eternity within us.  We were meant for God.

Leviticus 20:7-8

“Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy."

The mere fact that there exists a God in heaven necessitates the existence of a holy people, a people called and separated from the world for the Lord's purposes.  Israel exists and on a larger scale the Church exists because God exists.  The mere fact that the Church is alive today in face of sin and adversity pays tribute to the fact that there is one creator God who makes us, saves us, and sustains us.

He is also the God who sanctifies us, "the Lord who makes us holy" because God alone is holy.  God is holy because God is.  Holy is his identity so that all might confess, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty". God's holiness is not an incomprehensible abstract quality but rather is bound and made manifest in his relation to Himself as the holy Trinity and to us who are made in his holy image.

And God's holiness opposes those who do not respond appropriately to Him, i.e. bearing the fruit of life through the reflection of that which is Life (God), worshiping in Spirit and in Truth.  Anything short of this reflection of God in us is a denial of God's glorious reality and thus a denial of our own humanity.  To worship God in obedience is to be fully human.  It is to truly live.

Habakkuk 2:18

"What good is an idol carved by man,
        or a cast image that deceives you?
How foolish to trust in your own creation--
a god that can't even talk! "


It is pure foolishness to trust in that which cannot last.  Money comes and goes.  The best engineered buildings and bridges will collapse in time.  People are here today and gone tomorrow.  Even the flowers of the field see decay.  All things will come to an end unless they are being sustained by the Infinite Yes.


All those who trust in things they have made themselves will become just like them:  lifeless, silent, and temporary.  This is idolatry.  It isn't just making little statuettes and bowing down to them, but it is to trust in anything you create and sustain independent of the Eternal Trinity, whether it be money, or relationships, or your physical appearance, or even your reputation, fame and popularity.


You only become that which you reflect.  If your eyes desire wealth, you may become wealthy, but you will also become lifeless.  If your eyes desire beauty, you may obtain beauty, but you will also be lifeless.  If your eyes desire a husband or wife, you may have one, but the marriage will be troubled for where is Love?  That is only contained within the immortal God.  Therefore I tell you, turn your eyes toward Heaven and gaze upon the Father and He will grant you life, love, and peace for He is all these things.

Romans 12:2

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."


How does one go about transforming their minds?  How are they renewed?  The key lies in the phrase "be transformed".

Be transformed is not an active, but a passive command.  Fully written out, it means "Allow yourself to be transformed"  rather than "transform yourself".  You are not the one who does any transforming, but then who or what does?

The mind is a mirror to that which it sees.  If all it sees is pornography, then the mind will be occupied with lust and sexual images.  If all it takes in is violence, the imagination will turn violent.  If a mind is occupied with video games, it will think of video games for the majority of its thoughts.  The thought life is a reflection upon that which it reflects.  It is transformed only by that which it sees, hears, tastes, touches, and smells.

And what if what the mind reflected was the one, true, and holy God who lives and breathes life into the dying, maker and sustainer of His creation, the way, the truth, and the life?  The mind will be transformed by him.  Its thoughts will be made alive and its imagination brimming with the will of God.  The mind which dwells on God and his Word is holy because God is holy.

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Is Jesus using a metaphor here or is he being literal?

Hodos is a Greek word meaning way, path, road, or journey.  Coupled with the latter half of the verse, he is a roadway to the Father himself, a path upon which we can walk.  Traditionally people interpret this as "If we behave in the way Jesus did, we will come to the father".  Hodos can indeed mean a manner of thought or behavior when used metaphorically, but is this a metaphor?  Is it the traveler or the path that determines where the traveler ends up?

Lethe is a Greek word for "forgetfulness" or "Concealment" or "Oblivion".  It's counterpart is Aletheia (a-lethe-ia) literally meaning "un-forgetfulness" or "Un-concealment", just something that is not hidden or is evident.  It is the Greek word for "Truth".  Jesus is the invisible God made flesh, self-evident and fully disclosed.  He is the revelation of God himself.  When coupled with Jesus's statement of "I AM" at the beginning of this sentence, he is making a bold claim.  Or is he simply saying that he is the only thing that is true?

Zoe, which means life, is a bit tricky.  If literal, he is saying that He is the exact thing which animates all living things and the source of all life.  If it's a metaphor, he is that which brings true and everlasting life and is the sustainer of all life.

So which is it?  Metaphor or literal?  I think so.

Psalms 148:5

"Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created."


There is no other justification needed other than this to praise God:  that you even live and breath, you who were once dirt and water (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen) and now is able to feel, and think, and dance.  If you saw a statue come to life you would be amazed, and yet how can you find the birth of a child anything less than a miracle?  Where there was no life, now there is.

Try as they might, no biologist can ever figure out what makes a man alive, what animates his cells and causes them to divide and grow.  At any given moment there are billions of different processes occurring inside your body simultaneously, all of which work together and the resulting harmony is called "life".

Miraculously, it is this life which keeps every function running in oder to sustain and produce more life which sustains every function... and so on ad infinitum.  It is this breath of life which overflows from God onto his creation and so all things great and small praise God for without Him we would have no voices at all.  As easily as God has breathed life into a man so too can he take it away.

So let everything that has Breath praise the Lord for this is the reason it was given!

Psalms 104:24

"How many are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you have made them all;
The earth is full of your creatures."


How amazing is the Earth and all of God's creation?  Everything has been designed to work together in harmony.  We can consider the mighty rivers that flow from the mountains or how the grass of the field grows to feed the cattle.  We live on a planet that overflows with life of all sorts, all of it amazing and beautiful.  And it is God who makes it all move.  God does not create lifeless beings as we create, but rather everything that the Lord touches is alive!

But do you see it?  When you walk around on Earth, do you take the time to appreciate a leaf or marvel at the intricacies of an insect?  Do you take for granted every perfect sunset painted by the Creator, or simply tread upon the flowers in His fields?  In all these things God has displayed the magnitude of his splendor, yet these very things are unacknowledged in favor of our own devices which do not live.  No one can create like our God.

But above it all lies God's prized creation.  Above all things has God valued this one thing.  That thing is you.  Us.  All of humanity was been made in the image of God himself, both male and female.  To God, you are much more beautiful than any sunset on any beach and much more valued than any forest or mountain.  God has redeemed you so that he can once again enjoy you.  That's how precious you are to Him.

Psalm 143:5

"I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands."

Today I turn 24 years old and I can hardly believe it.  So much has happened in those 24 years that I could spend all day reflecting on it, but even though I've been alive for 24 years, I've only been living for 3.

It all means nothing without Jesus.

In the 3 years that I've known Him, I've learned and grown more than the previous 21 years combined.  When I consider the work he's done in me, how through everything he has lead me to this point, I am amazed. In a certain sense I believe in free will, but I also believe in destiny.  Everything that's happened in my life has happened so that I might know Christ.  The same is true for everyone.

Now every new day is an adventure.  Everyday there is something new to learn or discover or experience and I am just happy to be able to enjoy it while I last.  Truly if not for Christ's suffering I would have no freedom to live and love life.

So here I am free to do whatever I love, but the only thing I could ever want to do is love Christ.  How could I not?  He has never betrayed me!

So here's to one more year serving in Christ!