Hey everybody! I just wanted to take a few minutes and let you know about this really great summer project my friend Camden has put together with his friends. It’s called called Do: Living Water. Here’s a little bit of info about what they do that I copied from their website:

We aren't really an organization, just a couple of teens passionate about seeing change in the world. We aren't radical visionaries, but God showed us a problem in the world, and He showed us how to change it. Now we want to offer what we've experienced to others, a chance for the younger generation to rise up and change the world through a simple carwash.

Do: Living Water hosts student-led fundraising initiatives such as carwashes to raise money to dig wells in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We do this through partnership with TouchGlobal, the compassion ministry of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA).

In the Congo, Do: Living Water is invested in the Northwest corner of the DRC, in the Ubangi region. Two specific locations where DLW works are Tandala Hospital and the Elikya Training Center.

Basically, the idea behind their efforts is to bring fresh water to those who have none – a necessity most of us take for granted. If you’ve been looking for a way to get involved in overseas mission work, then please let me urge you to click over to their website and respond in whatever the Lord leads you. As Jesus reminded us in Matthew 10:42, “…whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.”

Looking back through my archives I realized that it’s been nearly five months since I last authored a series. With that in mind I have decided to begin a new, small series of posts which will describe what many modern-day theologians have come to describe as God’s “general revelation” to humanity, and go into some detail as to how each aspect of Creation, both directly and indirectly, declares the glory God for all to hear.

Since I began to pursue photography a little less than a year ago, I’ve come to pay special attention to detail that I once overlooked. Sunsets are more majestic, the flight of a bird more captivating, and the fading beauty of a wild daisy more appreciated than it was before I started to actually look for such things. To the untrained eye, starlit evenings are often taken for granted as part of nature’s natural course; but once you come to understand the wisdom wherewith God put these heavenly bodies into orbit, each twinkling star suddenly becomes a messenger loudly ascribing praise and glory to its Maker and, as David wrote in Psalm 19:3, “there is no speech, nor language, where their voice is not heard.” 

No person can live in this world and never hear the simple testimony all Creation gives to its Maker. No eye is so blind and no ear so deaf as to keep an individual from ever discerning the handiwork of God around them. You can accept it or reject it, but the fact of God’s existence remains unchanged and absolutely unchangeable. If you want proof all you have to do is look around.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 
And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

                      -Romans 5:1-8

Only when we find ourselves standing in the magnificent grace of God can we have hope for tomorrow. A life lived apart from the sweet and incomparable taste of His mercy and love  has been wasted in the truest sense of the word, and those who spend their days “laboring for that which satisfieth not” (Isaiah 55:2) will reap to themselves a harvest of anguish and discontent.

Trust in Jesus today, O sinner, and find rest for your wearied soul (Matthew 11:29). Those that come to Him shall never hunger and they who believe on Him will never thirst (John 6:35).

“For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

               -Acts 4:20

Any person who has both truly and fully experienced the amazing grace of God should feel within himself an irresistible desire to share the truth of judgment and salvation with the world around him. The good news of redemption is for all men (Luke 2:10), and no act is more selfish than that of concealing the Gospel from those who desperately need to hear it. Rather than dancing around the truth we ourselves have received, as Christians we should recognize that time is not at all the world’s friend and that this very day is our best, and perhaps last, chance to tell someone how they can be “…justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24)

What if, at this very moment, you were suddenly found in the presence of your Lord? What if you were now asked to give an account of your life and whatever fruit you did or did not bear? Without a doubt most of us would find ourselves very sorely embarrassed at remembering the countless opportunities we blatantly wasted only for fear of sounding silly and unlearned.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

               -II Timothy 2:15

As Paul reminded Timothy, it is entirely unnecessary that you one day stand before your Savior with a marred conscience. Rather than living a life of comfortable complacency, let us instead study to show ourselves approved unto God as workmen that “…needeth not to be ashamed.”  The world cannot possibly believe in a Gospel they’ve never heard (Romans 10:14), and it’s our job to let God make of us His mouthpiece to a broken and sin-filled world (Jeremiah 1:7).

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

               -I Corinthians 13:11

It’s weird for me to think that, in just a few days, I’m going to be 18 years old. I know that I’ll technically be only slightly older than I am at the moment I write this post, but at the same time I feel I’m entering a brand new, and very significant, chapter of  life: I’ll be able to vote in elections, own a credit/debit card, and sign papers without someone else putting their name next to my own. On the other hand there’s the not-so-pleasant realities such as jury duty, car insurance, and the possibility of being drafted. However you look at it – either with optimism or pessimism – no one can deny that turning 18 is a pretty big deal which comes along with a significant set of privileges and responsibilities.

I’m sure the majority of you reading this have already crossed this bridge in your life. Adulthood came long ago and you can hardly imagine a life without mortgage payments and electric bills. If so, let me encourage you not to spend your life wishing for yesterday or hastening tomorrow. Whether you’re 18 or 81, each day has a special blessing from God and a person who consistently wishes for what they cannot have will likely lose that blessing. I spent much of my earlier youth looking forward to this day, and, now that it’s almost here, I regret that I often failed to take advantage of the moments God blessed me with simply because I wanted tomorrow to come a little sooner. If today wasn’t a gift then we wouldn’t call it the present.

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.”

               -Proverbs 21:2

What a person thinks about themself as an individual is largely dependent upon the lense through which they view their life. If you analyze your actions based on the world’s distorted standard of what is acceptable and what’s not, then you’ll naturally come away with an equally distorted perspective of who you are and where you stand. Just as a doctor prescribes only those glasses which will make his patient’s vision accurate and trustworthy, so we must ensure that we’re looking at life as it truly is through the universally perfect lense of Scripture if we expect our resulting decisions to be right.

“Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

               -Isaiah 6:5

Though Isaiah was a great man of God, it was only when He was surrounded by the majesty of his Lord’s holiness that he was able to fully comprehend his own sinfulness. In his words, he was a  man of unclean lips surrounded only by those who shared his dilemma. He’d been called of God to proclaim judgment to the unrighteous (ch. 5), and yet now realized he was just as unworthy as the rest. Even though the facts had not changed at all, Isaiah’s estimation of himself was completely shattered when he looked through the lense of holiness and saw, not only his personal insufficiency, but his Maker’s all-sufficiency.

What lense have you been looking through lately? Whether it is one of pride or even of sincere humility, just remember that neither one of these things necessarily indicate an accurate worldview. It’s only when we see God as He truly is that we can be sure we’re looking through the right set of glasses.

Over the past 7-10 days, my family and I have found great entertainment watching this beautiful bluebird prepare and tend to her nest. She daily added to her cluster of eggs until she had laid an even half-dozen, and has since then sat on her nest almost constantly waiting for them to hatch. Assuming this is her first year of life, she likely has no idea what she is even doing; she is driven purely by instinct and yet has more patience without clear motivation than we often do with all the promises of God at our side.

“But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.”

               -I Timothy 6:11

I’ve often heard fellow Christians warn against praying for patience, being careful to remember that God is unlikely simply to give it to you, but will rather give you something to be patient about. The fact is, though, if we really need patience we shouldn’t allow the fear of inconvenience to keep us from seeking it. Would we never ask God to create in us a heart full of love for fear of Him placing the nearly unlovable in our lives? Would we stray away from a desire for peace just because He might teach us to trust in Him by way some way we’re uncomfortable with? Patience is a necessary element of any good Christian’s life, and deciding we don’t really need it (e.g., “That’s just how I am!”) is like deciding we don’t really need righteousness, Godliness, faith or love.

All of us, no matter how young or old in the Lord we may be, undoubtedly have much room for growth in Him. If you’re like me and often struggle in the area of patience, take a lesson from the bluebirds and rest assured in the truth that the rewards of waiting on God far outweigh the costs of doing so. It may not always be easy, but it’s always worthwhile.

For this week’s memory verse, I’ve chosen a passage that has really been on my heart over the past several days. Though it’s definitely not one of the most popular verses in the New Testament, or even one most of us our familiar with, I believe it beautifully encapsulates the feelings of self-doubt and insecurity most of us face from time to time, as well as the best way to overcome these obstacles:

“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.”

               -1 John 3:20

What Christian can deny ever feeling burdened with the guilt of passed sins? How many times do we dwell on what God has forgotten, and allow yesterday’s failures to obscure today’s blessings? Yet John reminds us in this passage of his first epistle that God is greater than whatever doubts we may be facing and, in His omniscience, already knows of our tainted past. When God chooses to forgive a person it’s not because the fact of their past sins momentarily evades His memory; He simply chooses not to hold them against that person any longer.

Whatever doubts you may be struggling with, let this Scripture remind you today that, if you have been washed in the atoning blood of Christ, a guilty conscience should be one of the furthest things from your soul. As John continued, “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.” (1 John 3:21) In other words, though we may not always feel forgiven, we need to be confident in it just the same so that we may “come boldly unto the throne of grace.” (Hebrews 4:16) When we find ourselves standing in the light of God’s amazing love and mercy, the shadow of yesterday’s sins will have to flee.

And He Shall be Called…

Advocate – Lamb of God – the Resurrection and the Life – Shepherd and Bishop of Souls – Judge – Lord of Lords – Man of Sorrows – Head of the Church – Master – Faithful and True Witness – Rock – High Priest – the Door – Living Water – Bread of Life – Alpha & Omega – True Vine – Messiah – Teacher – Holy One – Mediator – the Beloved – Branch – Carpenter – Good Shepherd – Light of the World – Image of the Invisible God – the Word – Chief Cornerstone – Savior – Servant – Author & Finisher of our Faith – The Almighty – Everlasting Father – Shiloh – Lion of the Tribe of Judah – I AM – King of Kings- Prince of Peace – Bridegroom – Only Begotten Son – Wonderful Counselor – Immanuel – Son of Man – Dayspring – the Amen – King of the Jews – Prophet – Redeemer – Anchor – Bright Morning Star – the Way, the Truth & the Life

Jesus Christ

"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come."

               -John 16:13

Charles Spurgeon once said that discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather, it is being able to tell the difference between right and almost right. Just as our adversary the devil masquerades as an “angel of light”  hoping to deceive whom he may (II Corinthians 11:14), so his schemes are often very aptly disguised and it takes a heart and soul saturated with the Holy Ghost and God’s Word to discover the lies which are hidden beneath the surface. It took less than 50 words to trick Eve into taking forbidden fruit, and it was all because she failed to look any further than the few grains of truth scattered about the surface what Satan was telling her (Genesis 3:1-5).

As James reminded us in his epistle, “whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (2:10) In other words, you have to walk in the whole truth or you’re not walking in truth at all. If we add to it, we implicate its insufficiency apart from us (Proverbs 30:6); if we diminish from it, we suggest that what God gave us is inaccurate and flawed (Deuteronomy 12:32).

“I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.”

               -I John 2:21

The truth cannot be changed. It is “forever settled in heaven”, and must be either accepted or rejected by all who hear it (Psalm 119:89; John 17:17). Trying to find a comfortable middle-ground between both righteousness and selfishness is like trying to reconcile the east and west: if you try to go both ways at the same time you’ll end up getting nowhere at all.