Category: Science

47th Greatest Invention . . .

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Though the printing press was deemed the number one innovation since the invention of the wheel by The Atlantic magazine’s group of scientists, historians, and technologists; it was number 47 on the list that caught my eye. Don’t get me wrong, we as Christians understand God’s hand in the development of the printing press, for God chose to reveal Himself through a book! However, check out the succinct description of the 47th greatest breakthrough since the wheel according to The Atlantic: “The nail, second millennium B.C. ‘Extended lives by enabling people to have shelter.’ -Leslie Berlin”

Wow. The nail enabled people to have shelter. Though Leslie Berlin was probably thinking of the physical shelter nails help to provide when they are pounded into wood and concrete, my mind went immediately to the spiritual shelter we find because of the three nails used by Roman soldiers two thousand years ago. And actually, those three nails were in the “hands” of God the Father, who willingly sacrificed His Son so you and I might find shelter from the justly deserved wrath of a Holy God. The ultimate effect of my own sin cannot rain down upon me, because I am under the shelter of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on that old, rugged Cross.

The Atlantic says that nails “extended lives by enabling people to have shelter.” Again – no doubt – the extension refers to earthly years. Physical life could go on longer because our bodies were better protected from the elements, wild animals, and enemies. But we as children of God apprehend the measureless value of spiritual life. No matter the year or day of our physical demise, salvation ensures eternal life. As Peter so beautifully records, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable” (I Peter 1:23, ESV). The nails that pierced the body of Jesus on Mount Calvary have brought to us an endlessly extended life!

Just as those nails of long ago punctured the physical body of Jesus, they will also help bring to our physical bodies the new and glorified existence we shall enjoy forever and ever. I Thessalonians 3:20b-21 (ESV) proclaims, “We await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” The crucifixion of Jesus – aided by nails – ensures our safety in an incalculable and everlasting sense.

A thank you to The Atlantic for reminding us of the importance of nails. We take much for granted. And the biggest thank you to our God who gave humans the capacity to invent the nail, which He knew would be used to crucify His own Son. No doubt, God was thinking of sheltering us when He created trees and inspired the invention of nails.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'” (Psalm 91:1-2, ESV)

Reference: Fallows, James. “The 50 Greatest Breakthroughs Since the Wheel.” The Atlantic. Nov 2013. 56-58.

Sin Brings Death: Does That Make God Mean and Selfish?

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For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23 (NIV)

The consequences of sin are not the result of a mean God who delights in making miserable those who oppose Him. The consequences of sin are the result of human opposition to the definition and parameters of the only genuine life available. God created the universe out of nothing at the beginning of time. As much as we may or may not like the fact, God made it all and logically defines it all. Every bit of meaning and every operational standard for the world flows from its Creator. When we rebel against that rightful intention and those uniquely plausible standards, we shun the only life that can make sense and bring authentic joy.

For too long the church of Jesus Christ has allowed the world to think God is simply bossy and unreasonably selfish. It is time we proclaim that God is the Definer of Reality. If we go against His plan, there is simply no other plan to which we can turn except a corrupted version of the real system. God made all reality; there is no other existence outside of Him. Evil is a perversion of His good. Satan is a created being who rebelled. Therefore, when we reject God’s plan, the only option is to become miserable and purposeless. There exists no separate created order where we can define the ways of life and righteousness. We are in God’s cosmos.

Think of it in terms of the simplicity of an automobile. When I drive one, I must operate the vehicle according to the designer’s thoughts. For instance, I will be in big trouble if I say, “Instead of the brake pedal, I choose to use the left turn signal to stop the car.” A severe crash may ensue. Similarly, I won’t be going anywhere if I decide, “I don’t care what the manual says; I am using the radio volume control to accelerate the vehicle.” We find we must operate the automobile according to the designer’s plan if we want a chance of effective driving. When it comes to effective living, we must operate according to the plan of the Grand Designer, the God of the Bible.

Death is the result of sin because God is the Giver of Life. If I go against the Creator, there exists no other life to which I can turn. Death is the only other option. It reminds us of Peter’s response to Jesus’ question when many disciples were walking away from the Lord because of His hard teachings, “You do not want to leave, too, do you?” Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:67-68, NIV). In other words, Peter was clearly stating that there exists no one else to turn to for true and everlasting life. If we walk away from Jesus, we walk to destruction.

The Good News is found in Romans 6:23 (NIV), “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” After we have turned away from God and die spiritually, that death can be overcome by God alone. Only He can make dead people live. Sick people may have a chance at helping themselves get better, but dead people can do nothing to bring back life. It takes God to restore spiritual life. That is precisely why God put on human flesh and came to our world. As a human, Jesus could pay the price for the sin of people; as God, He can give life back to us. The turning away from God is resolved by turning back to Him in the Person of Jesus Christ. Look to Jesus today. He can forgive your sin and give you a new chance to live according to the only plan that works.

Deep Waters of the Heart

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The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration reports that 95% of the seas remain unexplored and unseen by human eyes. Yet, Psalm 104:24-29 tells us that our God is currently sustaining every creature of the ocean. Psalm 139:1-4 also proclaims that God has searched each one of us and knows us intimately. What does this mean for our own lives? I pray this poem helps us realize:

Deep and murky waters
Yet largely unexplored
Holding strange and diverse creatures
Skimming ocean floors.

No human eye has glimpsed
All your spaces, oh, so broad;
Your expanse while truly finite
Is largely left untrod.

The seas contain such creatures
As small as plankton all adrift,
As large as whales whose tails
Above the waves do lift.

Ocean, you are vast
Containing mystery profound,
An environment so odd to us
Who traverse mainly solid ground.

Yet God is ever-watchful
Down in the depths obscure;
He feeds each curious creature
That swims below, beyond the shore.

Though humans stand mainly unaware
Of sundry species in the seas,
God sustains through each second
Every single one of these.

Numbered and known by their Creator
All swimming creatures are fed
By He who told the very oceans
How far their boundaries could spread.

As life above the sea goes on
And we grasp so little of what’s below,
So life outside our heart goes on
And our depths we do not show.

How glorious a thought, then,
That God, who feeds the creatures of the deep,
Searches out this heart of mine
Though the crags inside be steep.

Even I do not understand
The depths of my own heart;
But God is down where I cannot see
Sustaining every part.

Sea creatures thrive far down below
Without human intervention;
My soul goes on despite confusion
For my life is God’s intention.

Swim on, beautiful creature
In the deep waters of the sea;
For God sees every move you make
And sustains you constantly.

Live on, beautiful child of God
Though you do not understand;
For God sees every part of you
And still holds tightly to your hand.

What Fallen Bridges Tell Us About God

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On August 1, 2007, the I-35W Bridge in Minnesota collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing thirteen people and injuring 145 others. This human tragedy is devastating, with consequences of death. Research points to miscalculation of gusset plate width as the reason the bridge collapsed.

Gusset plates are thick sheets of steel that provide strength at the intersection of beams. Apparently, the gusset plates used on the I-35W Bridge were not thick enough to support the added weight of construction vehicles and concrete that would come with time and use. It is essential for engineers to use exact calculations and mathematical formulas when building bridges. The physical universe only accepts true and accurate work; otherwise, disaster ensues. In medicine as well as construction, precision is necessary. Diabetics suffer physically and may die with a miscalculation of insulin dose, for example. The Creator of the universe has chosen to have the physical world operate according to mathematical and physical laws; this situation reflects His unchanging, reliable disposition.

Supernatural God runs the natural world with serious precision. Proper functioning requires uncompromised accuracy. If God has made this true of the natural realm, how much more is it true of the supernatural realm; for, the supernatural is more real than the physical! God Himself is supernatural, and the One from Whom all reality flows. His spiritual working requires exactitude to the same or greater degree than His tangible working. Certainly, the consequences of spiritual errors are infinitely graver than even the catastrophe of inaccuracy in the physical world. Injury and death are horrors, for sure; but the calamity of a lost soul in eternity trumps all earthly afflictions.

And so, with an urgent heart, the Apostle Paul calls to us in Philippians 1:9 (NASB), “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.” Do you see the connection here between love and knowledge? To Paul – and to God – love is not a feeling. Love grows in real knowledge. The building of a spiritual life requires unequivocal accuracy. If we think bridge building requires right engineering processes, how much more does soul building require right spiritual processes?

Our relationship to God must be built on truth! We need to study His Word as an engineer studies math and science to ensure design and construction according to reality. Our spiritual lives must be built on right knowledge. This will require sacrifice of time and effort. The risk is not physical injury or death, but spiritual injury and eternal death. The stakes are high, and it is time for Christians to take seriously the call for our love to abound in real knowledge and all discernment.

The church of Jesus Christ seems to be missing the call to methodical, intentional, and precise training in spiritual knowledge. Dean (2010) comments on the problems presented in the National Study of Youth and Religion,

    We “teach” young people baseball, but we “expose” them to faith. We provide coaching and opportunities for youth to develop and improve their pitches and SAT scores, but we blithely assume that religious identity will happen by osmosis, emerging “when youth are ready” (a confidence we generally lack when it comes to, say, algebra). (15)

We would not allow our loved ones to drive over bridges that we knew were designed without proper knowledge of or regard for mathematical principles. We trust that bridges are designed by professionals who have invested much time and effort into a solid education in the field of engineering. Here are some pivotal questions: Are we allowing our loved ones to drive over spiritual bridges designed and built on patchwork theology? Are we truly investing in a serious understanding of God as revealed in His Word? How much time do we spend intentionally growing in real knowledge? Do our children know sports better than the revelation of God Almighty? Do we require they know algebra well, but settle for a haphazard understanding of the things of God?

Jesus once said to an earnest inquirer named Nicodemus, “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12, NASB) In other words, the earthly points to the heavenly, which is far deeper and greater. Think bridges – fallen bridges. What is God saying to us through the physical, mathematical knowledge required for safety? He is telling us to get serious about biblical knowledge. Fallen souls are far more costly than fallen bridges.

Reference: Dean, K. C. (2010) Almost Christian: What the Faith of our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Riding the Updraft

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As I stepped out of my car and onto my driveway, I looked up into the clear, blue sky and spotted a beautiful, large bird of prey. This hawk was sailing in the expanse above, in that familiar circular motion. Without flapping its large wings at all, the bird floated in a large circle a few times. Soon, the hawk gracefully made its way to yet another area of spherical pattern; it did so seamlessly. One second the creature sailed in one circle, and the next second it veered slightly to begin rotating around the next pattern. At no point in the transfer did the bird ever beat its wings. Amazingly, I watched as the creature continued in this endeavor for more than five minutes, riding from one circle to another, until the bird was on the other side of the sky and nearly out of sight. Not once did it flap its wings!

“How graceful,” I thought. As a bird lover, I recognized what was happening. The hawk was engaged in thermal soaring. This flight technique depends on thermal updrafts, which are defined well by Perrins and Elphick (2003), “As the ground warms up in the morning sun, more energy is absorbed by some features than others. This causes the air locally to heat up, forming an invisible, rising bubble. As it rises, more air is sucked in and heats up, and it too rises” (p. 18). The bird I observed that day was literally soaring from updraft to updraft. The hawk migrated by gliding from warm air bubble to warm air bubble – and nearly effortlessly. I cannot even estimate the area it covered without ever flapping its large wings.

This hawk is a bird of prey, as is the eagle. These birds of prey – with long, broad wings – are often known for thermal soaring, an efficient way to travel. As I watched that winged creature in the sky at my home, God struck my heart with thoughts of security. He reminded me of Isaiah 40:31 (NIV), “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.” Why did God mention the eagle here? Perhaps because God means for us to realize we need not frantically flap our own wings as smaller birds do!

The thermal updraft on which we are to securely glide is the warm strength of the Holy Spirit. His power and love are what fills our hearts and provides our way to ride from experience to experience in this life. We need not rapidly or desperately beat our wings to make things happen; our Lord carries us by His own presence. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, fully God. He remains with us here on this earth to guide, comfort, and provide. No matter what “circle” we transition to, it is the Holy Spirit who carries us. Our responsibility is to stay close to Him, listening to Him as He shows us where to glide next. We can take time to hear Him and fellowship with Him, because our energy is not wasted in frenzied movement. We are still, and we know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). We spread our wings and ride on God’s strength, and we wait for the day the sphere to which we transfer will be on the updraft to our heavenly home. He will take us there, too.

Reference: Christopher M. Perrins & Jonathan Elphick. The Complete Encyclopedia of Birds and Bird Migration. (Edison, NJ: Chartwell Books)

God of the Means and the Extremes

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Did you realize that the God who created the earth also created the ends of the earth? Isaiah 40:28 (NASB) says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.”

If you are just an “average” person in “average” circumstances of life, God’s presence and sovereignty at and over the extremes may not matter much to you. But if, like me, you find yourself at least at times needing God in the extreme and difficult places, His identification as the “Creator of the ends of the earth” bears comforting significance.

God understands the extremes of existence. He is not shocked by problems and sins of all depth and descriptions. No remote or hopeless case exists as far as God is concerned. He fashioned with His own hands not only the earth, but the ends of the earth. The Hebrew root for “ends” means extremity or end. It comes from another word which includes the notion of the border, the outskirts, or the margin. Do you ever feel you are on the margin of the page, instead of inside the story? No fears! God is present even there, for no location exists – physically or emotionally – where the Creator is not the moment-by-moment Sustainer. He is there at the margin.

When I think of the Ark of the Covenant*, that powerful image of the work of Jesus Christ to blot out the power of sin in our lives, I have to think of our God of the extremes. The same Hebrew word used in the aforementioned Isaiah phrase is the term used in Exodus 25:18 (NASB, emphasis mine), “You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.” God intended the image of these magnificent, angelic creatures to loom over the mercy seat from the very edges. God does not tell us the reason, but I wonder if He is beautifully picturing for our simple minds the fact of His merciful covering from one end or extreme of existence to the other. There is no place His mercy cannot go, and even the angels are privy to this compassion and long to see all God does for pitiful humans.

Psalm 139:7-8 (NASB) affirms that God is with us at the highest height (Heaven) and the lowest depth (Sheol or the nether world). Surely, these positions are the extremes. As if to solidify the miracle of His inexhaustible, merciful presence, the Psalmist adds in verse nine, “If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me.” I have never plunged the depths of the sea, but I know it can be very dark, cold, and strange in that world, with odd creatures all about. Have you ever been in a dark and cold place, spiritually and emotionally speaking? God is not only in average situations with average people (if any truly exist!); He is in the depths.

Mathematically speaking, a mean is an average. When I take a list of numbers, add them together, and divide by the total number of numbers, I derive an average (or a mean). So, for example, the average of 0, 5, 10, 50, and 10,000 is 2,013. This seems strange, because 2,013 does not reflect well the extreme numbers of zero and ten thousand. Averages – or means – are funny things. Often, in mathematics, they give us little information. Therefore, statisticians prefer more complicated calculations such as variances and standard deviations. The point, however, is simple; average is sometimes an elusive concept and does not always represent the extremes. Do not think it strange if you do not feel average; rather thank the God of the extremes! He is with you at “0” and at “10,000”!

God accounted for the extremities in His plan for the world. I Peter 1:20 (NIV) says of Jesus, “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” Jesus agreed to come to this world and die for our sins before He ever laid the foundation of this universe (see also Revelation 13:8). The Creator of the ends of the earth knew He was coming because He “so loved the world” (John 3:16, NIV). Our God saw all the world’s best and worst. He looked down through the annals of time and recognized all the extremes of sin and difficulty, and He still came! Why? Peter boldly declares, “for your sake.”

All of us who have feared that the extremities of our life are too “out of bounds” for God’s help need to pray today and call on the Creator of the ends of the earth.

* For more understanding of the Ark of the Covenant, please visit: www.hopeandpassion.org/?p=759/

Pondering Stephen Hawking’s Statements

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I am pondering the profoundly sad conclusions of Stephen Hawking, the brilliant physicist. Although God has given to him a valuable brain, Mr. Hawking has chosen to disregard his Creator and, therefore, His Creator’s unfathomable plan.

As reported by Liz Goodwin on May 16, 2011, at “The Lookout,” a Yahoo News Blog, Stephen Hawking said, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” Given all of his scientific musing, I cannot understand why Hawking does not recognize that computers are always the result of design, and so the metaphorical “computer brain” must also be the consummation of design. Humans contrive computers and build them of earth’s content, and the devices stand devoid of soul or consciousness. God created people and the universe out of nothing, and He deposits in His grand creatures, humans, a living soul. A computer shows similarities to a brain (although it is far less superior than the human organ) precisely because the CPU is designed by people whose minds are made in the image of God. God created human minds, and His creatures make computers. Hence, we trace God’s hand in the technology. Computers being the obvious result of intricate human planning, why cannot Hawking see that human brains must also be the result of intricate divine planning?

Of course there is not an afterlife for broken down computers . . . because there is no “now” life for computers. Mankind alone received at creation the “breath of life” from God. However, the “human computer,” as Hawking may like to refer to it, has life now. People (and their minds) were made to live. God has prepared for them an afterlife. Evidenced throughout history is man’s innate desire to live. Always, people have generally had a great aversion to death. Carlos Eire (2010) quotes Pierre Chaunu,

    The death of any human being is an outrage; it is the outrage par excellence, and all attempts to diminish this outrage are contemptible, no more than opium for the masses . . . Death is the unacceptable. The annihilation of one memory cannot be compensated for by the existence of the universe and the continuance of life. The death of Mozart, despite the preservation of his work, is an utterly evil thing. (p. 1)

Even the atheist philosopher, Bertrand Russell, admitted to a need for “safety” regarding annihilation. As Eire (2010) also quotes Russell, “Brief and powerless is Man’s life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built” (p. 14). Eire then adds his own thought, “Safety in despair: if that is not a leap of faith, nothing else is” (p. 14).

We humans long for eternity because we were made by an eternal, transcendent God. The Bible declares, “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV). Having been made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26), we have a slight grasp on eternity – we sense it and we long for it. When we call on the God of the Bible for salvation, He grants to us eternal life. While we cannot yet know the experiential reality of that fact in its fullness, we begin to operate in a hope that “blows our mind.” One day, when we stand in the presence of our Creator, the perfect will come, and the partial will be done away (I Corinthians 13:10). We will begin to see clearly the amazing, true nature of eternity. For now, we trust the “imperishable seed” that has been planted in us through the Word of God (I Peter 1:23, NASB).

As far as heaven being a “fairy story for people afraid of the dark,” I am not so much scared into Heaven, as I crave what I know is the greater reality. Just because the idea of everlasting life in a perfect place seems too good to be true does not make it untrue. In this life we often say, “[This or that] is too good to be true” because this world is, in fact, a sinful mess. We find ourselves held within a realm of brokenness and incompletion because of sin. We must believe in and live for a home of righteousness that is infinitely greater than the present universe in its collective state of rebellion against God in order to realize what is actually “not too good to be true”! Ironically, genuine fear should come into the picture only when dealing in damning reality, not made-up tales. What should justly haunt humans is the very real existence of Hell, a place of complete separation from God and all that is right. Heaven is not a fairy tale, and Hell is to be feared.

When Stephen Hawking was asked what humans should do to lend meaning to their lives since we are all destined to power-down like computers, Hawking said, “We should seek the greatest value of our action.” This is the point that confuses me the most. If, as Hawking posits, nothing of our existence survives the death of the body, the value at its highest point evaporates. For, no matter what earthly good someone achieves – whether medical advances for the sick, accruement of great wealth for family, the provision of more entertainment for bored masses, the enhancement of personal rights, or any other earthly thing – all of this comes to naught quickly for both the one who acts and the one who receives. The paradigm of the atheistic person leaves no room for anything lasting in the case of any individual person. The “greatest value” of any action amounts to nothing in just moments, hours, days, or years.

On the other hand, the simplest of obedient acts for the sake of Jesus Christ and His kingdom leads to the proliferation of eternal things. When I deal in eternal investments – prayer, human conversations, study of the Bible, kindness to others, generosity reflecting God, teaching others of His Truth, etc. – I get a return on my action that is currently unimaginable to me. The greatest value is not any finite amount, but rather an infinite reality. Matthew 6:19-20, II Corinthians 4:16-18, and I Peter 1:4 are just a few of the places in God’s Word where the reality of eternal investment is made clear.

Stephen Hawking has great knowledge of math and science. Sadly, he has suppressed the truth. I say this standing on the authority of the Word of God. Romans 1:18 makes clear that those who reject God and His Gospel are those who actively “suppress” or “hold back” the Truth. Truth is in front of us, revealed generally, through all God has made (Romans 1:20); and it is available especially to all who cry out for it, as Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6). He stands ready with His Word to answer those who will quit pushing back, with tired arms, the obvious Truth. I pray even Stephen Hawking responds to His Holy Creator and is made new by Jesus and fit for Heaven – the place that is not too good to be true (II Corinthians 5:17 and Revelation 21:1-5).

Reference: Carlos Eire, A Very Brief History of Eternity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010)

Imperishable Seed Beyond the Boundary of Science

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My recent trip to the local library led to my finding a new non-fiction book, “Long for this World,” by Jonathan Weiner. I have not read the volume, only its inside front cover. The book’s subtitle is “The Strange Science of Immortality,” and the last sentences of its main description are “could we live forever? And if we could . . . would we want to?”

The pursuit of immortality has always intrigued mortals precisely because we are just that – mortal. Created by an eternal God, we long for the everlasting. Having had death introduced to us with the commencement of human sinfulness, we most naturally long to regain what has been lost – eternal life. Those of an atheistic bent seek immortality by walking the path of science, hoping for continued advancements right up to the point of deathlessness. The problem is that science can only investigate the natural world, which – for the astute Christian – hints persistently at the attributes of the biblical God (Romans 1:20). However, the natural world alone contains not the solution for death. For the obliteration of ultimate human demise, we must turn to the supernatural. Science is limited by God; its boundaries are set in such a way that it cannot fix the human spirit. Only the Maker of both natural and supernatural things can reach into the depths of the unseen spirit of men and women, and only He can do work there. Death comes to the natural body because death has come to the spirit. The spirit must be fixed for the body to live.

Enter the glorious words of I Peter 1:23-25 (NIV), “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For ‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you.” As God’s Word proclaims, not only are we as fleeting as the grass in the field, but our glory is as transitory as the flower’s blossom. One day we see it, and the next day it is withered. In stark contrast stands the mighty Word of God that literally endures forever.

The key for our help comes from verse twenty-three, which declares that we can be born again of a seed that never perishes. Inside a person, an eternal seed of life can be planted through the Word of God that has the power to carry a mortal over the chasm of earthly death into the astonishing reality of life everlasting. Moreover, this precious, indescribable Word is very close. Peter declares that this living and enduring Word of God “is the word which was preached to you” (I Peter 1:25, NIV). The Word that enables a sinful, dead spirit to be reborn into a righteous, living spirit is the Word about which you are reading right now! God has not kept this Word from us, but He has sent it to us!

The Bible is God’s written Word, and Jesus Christ is God’s living Word. At this very moment, He has come to you to deliver the incorruptible seed of life. A human spirit is dead because of sin; it needs a living seed planted in it in order to live and last forever. No string of scientific breakthroughs can ever blast through the impenetrable wall of mortality; only the eternal Word of God, Jesus, can carry a mortal past death to life.

Jesus said, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!” (Revelation 1:18, NIV). Jesus begins alive. We begin dead. We are born into corruption by our very nature. Jesus is God, and so “Before the mountains were born or [He] gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, [He] is God” (Psalm 90:2, NASB). Jesus was alive before He came to earth, and He rose from death after bearing the penalty for our sin. Notice God’s Word says Jesus is the Living One, that He was physically dead for a brief period, and that He is presently alive forever and ever.

Jesus can plant the imperishable seed of His salvation in us. Then, we can follow Him in this world. Ultimately, we can follow Him in His pattern of life after death. One amazing day, we will be able to stand with Him in Heaven and say, “I was dead, but now I am alive forever because of Jesus!”

Back to the inside cover description of “Long for this World.” The last question is, “And if we could [live forever] . . . would we want to? In a world that is itself crying out for redemption and restoration (Romans 8:20-23), I believe we realize we would not want to live forever in the present state of things; with disaster, disease, and disappointment abounding in every direction. “This world” needs changed, just as we do. We long to be immortal, but in a perfect world. The flawless world is coming, my friends. In the same way that we are made imperishable – by the Word of God – this creation will be rendered right. II Peter 3:5, 7, 12-13 (NIV) tells us, “Long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water . . . By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men . . . That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”

There it is . . . crystal clear. The Word of God brings an imperishable seed to humans and to the universe. Immortality is not so much a “strange science” as it is the loving work of a redeeming God. Our supernatural God blasts through the natural to deliver to us immortality and an unbroken cosmos, something science can never do. Though you may have enjoyed or endured many science classes, know also that the Word of God has come to you this day, offering an imperishable seed!

Outside the Box

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“I pray that you . . . may have power . . . to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” – Ephesians 3:17-18

“He measured the city with the rod and found it to be . . . as wide and high as it is long . . . I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” – Revelation 21:16,22

A simple square
Of length and width,
So distinct, and very clear.

If it is raised
And given height,
A cube it now becomes.

In three dimensions,
Volume calculated
By length times width times height.

I can determine
The amount of space
My cube occupies.

Multiply, I will
The length by width by height.

My basic math procedures
Will not suffice, however,
To measure the amount of love
My God has for me.

Little cubes
In the three space dimensions I know
Have capacity determined
By how long and wide and high.

But the love of God,
In dimensions unknown,
Has magnitude unbelievable!

Paul prayed
That we would have the power to grasp
How long and wide and high and deep
Is the love of Christ.

Four dimensions to the expanse of God’s love!
Exceeding all I know in this world alone,
Defying my calculations,
His love goes a dimension deeper.

Oh, Lord,
We need your love
To be as long as our lives endure,
As wide as our unfaithfulness,
As high as Heaven can take us,
And as deep as human misery goes.

Oh, Lord,
Your love’s volume
Covers all I know,
And all I don’t know.

We read of your love’s dimensions
In the vision you gave to John.

He saw the New Jerusalem
Come down from Heaven,
Measuring as long as it is wide as it is high –
A perfect cube.

And then He saw,
In that glorious city
Of length and width and height,
No temple did abide.

For the fourth dimension –
The depth of that city –
Is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.

Beyond all comprehension,
Deeper than any physical glory could ever be,
Stands the love of God in Jesus,
The Lamb slain for you and me.

So when tempted to think
All is lost –
That we could have possibly exhausted
The length and width and height of
The love we grasp,

Remember the added dimension –
The depth –
The unfathomable depth –
That passes our understanding –
The depth of the love of Christ.

How long, how wide, how high
And – gloriously –
How deep
Is the love that makes me think
“Outside the box.”

Upsetting the World

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After being imprisoned in Philippi for sharing the Good News of Jesus, Paul and Silas proceeded to Thessalonica and were accused of something most peculiar. A mob gathered to come against Paul and Silas and said of them, “These men who have upset the world have come here also” (Acts 17:6, NASB).

What a wonderful accusation! The apostles were guilty of upsetting the world. Oh, that we would be known for the same, as this world certainly needs shaken. The world system is inside-out and headed in the wrong direction. It is on a fleeting, selfish, and deceptive course toward destruction. We need men and women who will follow God in swimming upstream, against the flow of sin and confusion.

Ads of all kinds attempt to convince people that more things and expensive things are necessary to be respectable. This notion flows from the false assumption that the respect or envy of other people won through materialistic efforts holds the potential to bring real joy. The glitz of fancier modes of entertainment pushes people to believe contentment is found when we have more time and ability to laugh mindlessly and to avoid reality as we deny the core questions of the heart. Recently, a television commercial portrayed a grown woman as amazingly excited to discover seven people were searching for her online. Does it really change our lives to know a handful of other mortals is looking for us? Can self-centered living bring peace?

When Jesus saves people, He turns them inside-out; He makes them new (II Corinthians 5:17). On this earth, Jesus begins to prepare His people for the new world He is someday making. Jesus begins to shape individuals who are no longer content to waste hours, days, and years accumulating things that distract us from the pursuit of God. Jesus molds men and women who radically race toward what is broken in order to bring healing. Jesus transforms people into those who embrace the greatest paradox – that in giving our lives away to God, we gain everything (John 12:25).

As a Christian, I ought to feel the friction of my travels in a direction opposite the flow of the current, unrighteous world system. When I undergo new birth in Jesus, every fiber of my being ought now to sense that sin is to be battled vehemently.

Our Jesus is coming back to make a home of righteousness (II Peter 3:13). In other words, He will invade again the space-time continuum to make a world that is as it ought to be. Obviously, right now this world is far from being as it ought to be. The earth is broken (as seen in natural disasters and the second law of thermodynamics), bodies are broken (by disease, disability, and aging), relationships are broken (by selfishness, impatience, and unrealistic expectations), and hearts are broken (in ways innumerable). But, the Maker of the universe will miraculously remake the universe. Only the God who made everything from nothing can make wholeness out of brokenness. The fixing of this world will come by no human endeavor. It will take the invasion into history of our God . . . and He will do it!

Meanwhile, Jesus remakes people one at a time as He redeems us from sin. And then He calls us to “upset the world” – to live radically different from this vanishing, sinful flow. Jesus has the power to overcome brokenness in your life. Sin pulls us away from wholeness in our hearts. Sin also set into motion the tendency toward disorder and disintegration we see in the natural world; scientists refer to this deterioration as the second law of thermodynamics. When we shake a puzzle box and then drop the pieces to the floor from a few feet above, the pieces land randomly – scattered all about. The more we shake the box and the higher from which we drop the pieces, the more randomness and separation we observe.

Picture your heart as those puzzle pieces. Left to sinfulness without Jesus, our hearts – our lives – fall shattered, making no sense. However, if Jesus shakes your heart, the unexpected happens – the pieces fall out and are fully connected! He overcomes the natural, and forms the whole picture, causing things to make sense! He fixes us – against every plan of the enemy and every apparent triumph of wrong.

We need to reflect our Savior in shaking the world in which we live. We need to pursue the wholeness Jesus intends. We need to go against the flow.

Upset your world with a heart of service instead of a heart of power, private integrity in place of facade, kindness in the midst of attack, value of prayer and Bible study above entertainment, truth-telling though it cost much, giving of resources in the midst of selfishness, gentleness though surrounded by harshness, forgiveness when revenge is easier, sacrifice of time for those in need, and love of God above love of all else.

May Christians be accused as Paul and Silas were – of upsetting this world.

The Implications of Worry

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The Implications of Worry: A Biblical and Research Discussion
By Shelli S. Prindle, M.A. Educational Leadership

Current brain research demonstrates that students under the distress of anxious thoughts do not learn as well as is possible. Stress and worry have a distinct negative impact on a person’s ability to process and work properly with new information. In fact, Willis (2006) notes in regard to PET scans and fMRI scans,

    [These] reveal significant disturbances in the brain’s learning circuits and chemical messengers when subjects are studied in stressful learning environments. In particular, the amygdala becomes overstimulated by stress, and in that hypermetabolic state, information cannot pass from sensory awareness into the memory connection and storage regions of the brain. (58)

Research is making clear that stress is a disruptor, causing a break in the normal processes of learning. If you will, it is as if the brain process becomes broken when anxiety appears on the scene. The emotional state rises to prominence, and deep and rational connections cannot be made. As Sprenger (2005) notes, “The brain is captivated by the emotion and turns attention to it. When these emotions capture the brain’s attention, working memory is flooded and cannot be effective in working with the task at hand.” In fact, Willis (2006) posits,

    If the state of anxiety and stress is prolonged, it can lead to destruction and loss of critical connecting dendrites and synapses in the hippocampus. This means that new information does not reach the brain regions where it needs to be processed, associated with previous knowledge and experience, and stored for later recall. (60)

Obviously, then, heightened and prolonged anxiety inhibits true learning. Our bodies are designed for optimal learning when a general sense of peace and safety is present. My mind goes to Adam and Eve in the garden, as they were given the entire created world to explore and learn and work. While walking unhindered with their Creator, this process was a beautiful one. However, human rebellion against our God has brought disruption and misery to all the processes of life. This world is now broken; and so are we and all the functions of body and life. Fear floods in when a heart completely yielded to God goes out.

Jesus instructs His followers in Matthew 6:25 (NASB), “Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.” The Greek word for worry in this quote comes from a root that means “to be drawn in different directions; to be divided, separated into parts, or cut in pieces.” Wow; to be worried is essentially to have a divided mind! That is precisely what worrying feels like – our mind is cut in pieces so that we cannot stay focused on what matters. We are distracted and irritable and may even begin to feel hopeless. The mind was not meant to be divided, but whole.

Recall that brain research informs us of the dividing nature of anxiety. Students who are under stress simply cannot learn well because the entire process of learning becomes broken. Recall also Jesus’ answer to worry in our lives: “But seek first [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Jesus tells us here to not allow our minds to be divided by giving undue attention to the basic needs of life. The stress of worrying about these things slices our minds and hearts into distracted pieces; we are no longer able to do what ought to be done – focus on God.

Worry is sin because it goes against the will of God for us. We are designed by God to seek His kingdom and righteousness with all our heart. Jesus proclaims the cure for worry is to unite our mind under one goal: Him! In fact, God promises to add to our life all that we need for daily living as we commit to an undivided heart and mind. If we seek His kingdom first, then He will properly align the needs of life for us underneath the main goal. I have sketched below a picture of the concept. On the left is a worried person having his mind divided by many future cares. On the right is a person trusting in God and focusing on His kingdom. Noticeably, the needs of life are brought to this trusting person by God.

As brain research tells us about classroom learning, so it goes with thinking for all of life. If my mind is to be used for God’s glory – focused on His Word and His will – my mind needs to be united and peaceful. The division of worry destroys the purpose for which the mind was created – to grow in God’s kingdom.

I submit to you another Biblical example of the truth concerning worry and learning. When Jesus spoke to His disciples about their future persecution, He boldly proclaimed in Luke 12:11-12,

    When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

Jesus here tells us that our mind need not be divided because of the future. Jesus is instructing his disciples about a future event, and He wants them to be assured that He is already in the future. When the moment in time comes for the disciples to answer the authorities, God Himself (the Holy Spirit) will teach them what to say. Notice the use of the word teach. We can truly learn when our mind is focused on God and not divided by anxiety.

This Scripture passage is particularly amazing to me because of its clear implication: God connects our future needs with His present peace. Because our Lord is timeless, He is not bound to one moment or another. He is with us now, and He is in the future. He has the authority to assure us that our minds need not be preoccupied with future concerns. When the need arises, the power of the Lord for that particular moment will come to light. His available power for our tomorrow is as sure as His available peace for our today.

Teachers of our day ought to heed the Bible first and foremost. In doing so, they will marvel at the alignment of true scientific discovery with God’s Word. An atmosphere of peace and safety promotes better learning than an atmosphere of stress.

Moreover, people everywhere ought to heed God’s command to live a life focused purely on Him. The root of the sin of worry in the Biblical sense is the idea of a mind divided. This division keeps me from serving God wholeheartedly. This division also causes the human brain to function at a reduced capacity; the learning process breaks. God wants us to learn and learn well. Learning of Him and the creation He has graciously given is a blessing we enjoy now, and we will enjoy it eternally in a home of righteousness, if Jesus is our Savior.

References:
Sprenger, M. (2005). How to teach so students remember. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Willis, J. (2006). Research-based strategies to ignite student learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Dendrites and Deuteronomy: The Alignment of Brain Research with the Timeless Word of God

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Current brain research is invigorating, as it inspires us to acknowledge the amazing circuitry of our minds. The neuronal pathways spanning the various parts of the brain are employed tirelessly by the God that made them. It is estimated that the human brain contains as many as one hundred billion neurons, each neuron sprouting delicate dendrites, and transmitting impulses through appendages called axons. Jesus is Lord over all this gray and white matter. As Christ holds together all created things (Colossians 1:17), so He allows and ensures each synaptic connection.

Incredibly, God had full understanding of brain function in mind when He instructed His people in the Old Testament. The people to whom He spoke were most likely not pondering at the time the inner functions of the brain, but their Creator spoke to them with dignity – holding reality in the palm of His hand. The Bible is not archaic; it is accurate. Its words were spoken and recorded in the context of the existing culture. Looking back, we can see that the ultimate Author of the Bible is truly the Maker of the brain. Thankfully, the Hebrews took God at His Word, no matter what they did or did not understand of the mind’s inner workings. We should also immediately trust God’s Word, knowing science will always “catch up” with the timeless truth of the Bible.

Let us explore the fascinating intricacies of Deuteronomy 6:5-9 in light of current brain analysis. First, we recall the passage: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (NIV)

God first proclaims that He intends we love Him “with everything we’ve got”! I call to your attention particularly the phrase, “with all your strength.” The Hebrew root implies that we ought to love our Lord to the highest degree, with force, with abundance, and exceedingly so. Following on the heels of this great commandment is its corollary: all the precepts God gives to us are to be upon our hearts. In other words, our love for Him will come to fruition as we actually treasure God’s Word at our core. The Hebrew term to designate our heart in this instance is a concept implying that God’s commandments are to reside in our inner being, our mind, or our soul. The nuance tells us that the Word of God should be part of our thinking and our memory; it becomes fluid in our conscience and is present at the seat of our emotions. When His Word inculcates our minds at this level, it becomes natural, for example, to speak of Isaiah 40:26 when looking into the night sky. Instead of simply seeing stars, we are now pondering the mighty God who sustains each one with precision and intention.

In fact, the flow of God’s Word in my conscience prompted a wonderful conversation about Isaiah 40:26 with my eleven-year-old nephew as we sat casually under a starry sky in the summertime. Verses that had become a fluid part of my mind through memorization, study, rehearsal, and application, suddenly cascaded into the moment at hand. This is as it should be, for God is the Lord of everything. The natural points to the supernatural (Romans 1:20), and proper training of the mind is obedience, and can lead to yet more obedience. In this case, the human interaction and discussion of God’s power and care for the stars led to an opportunity to express the even more unbelievable care of God for people made in His very own image. My nephew loved looking at stars, and this was a perfect opportunity for God’s Spirit to work through what had become a part of my mind’s wiring.

As the Lord continues His directives, we realize that we are to impress His Word on our children and talk about His commandments continually – while rising, walking, sitting at home, and lying down. Could God have made His intention of repetition and discussion of His Word any more clear? In effect, He declares, “Keep doing this. Talk about Me always, in many contexts and in many ways. Over and over and over again I want you to rehearse and discuss My Word – especially with the younger ones.”

Guess what brain research has revealed? Brain growth continues past birth! When we actively rehearse and learn in different ways – stimulating various regions of the brain – we can expand and strengthen neuronal pathways. We can make it easier to recall information readily. As Willis (2006) noted, “The brain pathways and connections that are used regularly are maintained and ‘hard-wired,’ while others are eliminated, or pruned.”

It seems God would desire His law be the hard-wiring of our brains. For my actions and reactions to be healthy, the very Word of God needs to be part of the structure of my mind. Willis (2006) informs, “New connecting cells, called dendrites, can be formed throughout life . . . after repeated practice, working memories are set down as permanent neuronal circuits of axons and dendrites ready to be activated when the information is needed.”

God rightly requires us to “impress [the commandments] on [our] children.” The word “impress” here means to sharpen or whet, as a knife. One nuance implies a wounding or piercing through. Our children and all young ones under our influence ought to feel the emotional, deep piercing of God’s Word. This is not simply an intellectual experience. His Word – when practiced – pricks our soul in ways unimaginable.

I will never forget the penetration of my heart while watching my grandmother die. The summary of those final days in her bed could be, “She drew unbelievably close to Jesus as her outer shell fell away.” I observed a woman of God as all her belief and obedience culminated in glorious moments.

I was pierced through in a simpler moment when the practice of genuine forgiveness led to a feeling of victory and love. The bottom line is that reinforcement of God’s Word as gained in the practice of the principles that have been purposefully hard-wired in our minds leads to deeper understanding and easier retrieval. Current research refers to this as episodic memory and experiential learning. Willis (2006) asserts, “With strategies that engage the senses, students ‘become’ the knowledge by interacting with it. As a result, a new memory that might otherwise be forgotten is linked to a sensation, a movement, or an emotion, and therefore it travels into the memory storage in more than one pathway. This redundancy of pathways means greater memory retention and recall.”

It is no wonder that the Lord demands we ponder His Word in the daily experiences of life. When my mind is fresh in the morning and the world is new, when the quietness of the evening settles in, when walking through the events and relationships of the day, and all times; my musing on His commandments must mix with the occurrences of my life. I need to observe His Word as it relates to all the circumstances I encounter. Behind the scenes, my Creator-God is firing neurons in all the lobes of my brain, hard-wiring me for increased focus on Him.

God adds that His people ought to “write [the commandments] on the doorframes of [their] houses and on [their] gates.” I will here focus on the fact that the people ought to manually write God’s Word. In our brains, the occipital lobe is involved with reading and visual perception; the parietal lobe relates to tactile perception and academic skills; and the frontal lobe is involved with consciousness and attention. Since the Hebrews had a largely oral culture of communication (directly involving the temporal lobe), it is of note that God directed His people to engage all four lobes of the brain in regard to His Word. He obviously desires that all our mind engages.

Interestingly, when referring to students’ study of electrons orbiting a nucleus, Willis (2006) recommends, “If they then draw a sketch of their visualizations and verbally communicate them to partners, or write about them in their own words, multiple brain pathways will be stimulated to enter long-term memory.”

Whether taken literally or symbolically, God clearly advises the Hebrews to “tie [the commandments] as symbols on [their] hands and bind them on [their] foreheads.” The root for the term “forehead” is “frontal.” The frontal lobe of our brains is the epicenter of attention, motivation, guidance of social behavior, judgment, and decision-making. The Lord means for His Word to be right there at the headquarters of our motivation. Let everything be driven by Him.

As we begin to contemplate current brain research, we notice that God is never “behind the times.” He stands omniscient and outside of time and space. Though God inspired the writing of Deuteronomy approximately 3,500 years ago, its words are accurate and align with the latest brain discoveries. At the risk of sounding simplistic, I must say that the Creator best knows the creation. Imagine, when God first created man, He did so giving us the most intricate and organized of bodies and organs. God knew all about branching dendrites and invaluable synapses, for He brought them into existence. We must always trust His Word, because our timeless God has given it to us freely from His unfathomable wisdom.

As we function, using the minds God has given us, may we always cling to John 14:26, for the Creator transcends the creation. Although the design and workings of the human brain point to the One who made them, the Lord is infinitely greater than us. His work cannot be fully captured in the study of created things. In John 14:26, Jesus says, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (NIV)

The Creator of our mind is infinitely greater than our mind. God sent His Holy Spirit to be our Teacher. God’s Spirit superintends the workings of my brain. The genuinely Christian perspective is one that makes a personal God central. God made me more than the sum of the neurons and cells of my body. God Himself is working in my heart and mind as I yield myself to Him. His Holy Spirit works through and above the astounding, intricate brains God has given to us. God chooses to work in us profoundly when we obey His Word, which naturally both aligns with and transcends the created world.

Thank you, Jesus, for giving Your life that the Holy Spirit might live in me so that I can obey God’s Word, using the brain He has given me!

Reference: Judy Willis, M.D. (2006) Research-based strategies to ignite student learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.