Gifts from God

I was listening to a sermon on the radio today by Eric Cartier (incidentally, that's pronounced "Cart-ee-a").  He was talking about how everything we have is a gift from God.  He mentioned how a running car is a gift from God.  The food that we have in the refrigerator is a gift from God.  Children are a gift from God.  He didn’t mention this one, but I'm going to throw it in for free: the spouse that you have is a gift from God (I want to encourage everyone who reads this to treat your spouse as the cherished gift that they really are).
 
When I get busy with work, school, and the daily pressures of life, it is easy for me to forget everything that God has blessed me with.  So after hearing that sermon today, I began to go through my own list.  For example, how often have you thanked God for your five senses, the ability to see, hear, taste, etc.?  This is one that I’ve been more aware of lately, as I recently had to get a pair of glasses to see things at a distance better.  Yes, those glasses are a gift from God too!  There are so many wonderful capabilities that we have that we usually take for granted.
 
How about just life itself?  This is one that I think about often, because God has literally saved my life on more than one occasion (but that’s another blog topic).  On and on we could go.  I think it’s very healthy to mentally rehearse the fabulous gifts we have been given.  It certainly made my day to go through this list.

Kevin Bauer

(James 1:17)

Musings on singleness

Did you know that C.S. Lewis didn’t get married until he was in his fifties?  According to the C.S. Lewis institute’s website, Lewis was born in 1898 and he married Joy Davidson in 1956.  Joy died of cancer four years later, and Lewis himself died three years after that in 1963 (on the same day President Kennedy was assassinated).  I wonder what your response to that Lewis trivia is.  I know of some people who might subconsciously think that there must have been something wrong with Lewis or he would have married at 21 like everyone else is allegedly supposed to.

I can relate to Lewis in this regard.  In June I’m going to be 30 years old; the likelihood is I’m still going to be single.  I have encountered some people who peg me as someone who is afraid of commitment or someone who has a fear of romantic intimacy.  Whether they intended to or not, they conveyed this message to me: “There must be something wrong with this guy if he is still unmarried at his age.”

This kind of attitude is problematic.  To coin an expression: everyone’s story is different.  In other words, just because one person’s life circumstance plays out in a particular way doesn’t mean that everyone else’s will.  Or to put it another way: just because some people get married at 21 doesn’t mean that everyone is supposed to do so.  Some may get married at 25, 30, or even (in C.S. Lewis’ case) 50 something.  In fact, the Bible tells us that there are some folks who are called to be single forever.  These people have concluded that they can better serve God as a single person than as a married person.

So please do us unmarried people a favor and don't inadvertently make your single friends feel inferior by conveying the attitude that singles are odd if they haven't married when they reach a certain age.  Don't say things like, "You are such a nice person; I just don't understand why you're not married yet."  Such sentiments do not help anyone.  An article from got questions.org puts it this way: "Singleness should not be viewed that there is "something wrong" with the single man or woman...a single Christian is is no sense a "second class" Christian"

Furthermore, if you have crossed paths with a single person who is called to be a lifelong single, don’t look at them with scorn or disapproval; rather applaud them for choosing to live out their lives in faithful service to God.  Give them the encouragement that they need.  They are simply trying to be obedient to God’s calling on their lives.

Kevin Bauer

(1 Corinthians 7:17)

Check out the got questions.org article that I quoted from here: http://www.gotquestions.org/single-Christian.html

Rob Bell is wrong

I have to chuckle a bit as I begin.  When I was a few weeks into this blog, someone asked me, “Are you going to tackle controversial topics in your blog?”  I answered that I didn’t know.  Well, as you see from the title, I have tackled a controversial topic: Rob Bell’s new book: “Love Wins.”  Let me tell you that I don’t particularly relish the thought of tackling what I’m going to tackle today.  This content today is difficult and unpopular.  So put your seat belts on.

First of all, here's a fascinating link from ABC news talking about Bell's new book: 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/controversial-book-debunk-concept-hell/story?id=13070964

Notice the title: “Controversial new book looks to debunk concept of Hell.”  This was news to me. Initially, I thought Bell was only saying that everyone was going to ultimately get a free pass to Heaven, and that Hell was going to be dedicated exclusively to Satan and his demons.

The fact of the matter is this: Hell does exist.  Someone has said that Jesus talked more about Hell than He did about Heaven.  Just read through the gospels and you will see that this is a fair statement.

Furthermore, with sadness, I state that Hell is the destination for those who reject God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  But it can be avoided.  Paul was asked in Acts 16, “What must I do to be saved?”  And his answer was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (verse 31).  Pastor Gino Geraci has said that before he became a Christian, people would repeatedly ask him, “Are you saved?”  He was confused.  "Saved from what?" He would wonder.  In time, he discovered the answer is God’s wrath.

God is holy and sin must be punished.  We are sinners; but because of Jesus’ substitutionary atoning death on the cross, we can be saved from God’s righteous anger against our sin.  Charles Stanley says that Jesus “paid our sin debt.”  Now we can simply believe on the Lord Jesus.  That is, put our faith, trust, and confidence in Christ alone to forgive us.

I know some of you don’t like me talking this way.  Some of you don’t want me to be a “heresy hunter.”  Honestly, I am really not a combative, argumentative person.  Once again, to share this today isn’t easy or fun for me.  But someone needs to speak up and say, “This is the truth that the Bible declares.”  I for one will speak up, no matter how unpopular it is.

Kevin Bauer

Happy "3:16 day"

Today, a DJ duo team on a Christian radio station kept wishing the listener a “happy 3:16 day.”  They explained that March 16, or 3/16, put them in mind of John 3:16.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”  I could spent several paragraphs talking about the richness of this verse, but I won’t.  Rather, I want to encourage and challenge you to ponder this verse as if this is the first time you've ever read it.

Let me attempt to help get you started: “For God so loved...” contemplate with me again what it means that the Creator of the entire universe loves us.  Isaiah 40 declares that God “sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers” (verse 22).  We live on a small speck of the universe, a tiny planet called Earth, and yet God loves us, even though we are like tiny grasshoppers to Him.  This is astounding to me!

Another verse in Isaiah always blows my mind.  “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (62:5).  How’s that for an analogy?

Kevin

God is still in control

Like many of you, I've been shocked and saddened by the news of the huge loss of life because of an earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  I think the death toll is something like 10,000 if I heard correctly.

In this midst of such horrible circumstances, the normal question we want to ask is why do such horrible things happen?  There are no easy answers.  In Isaiah 55, God says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways...As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."  In other words, God is saying that He will allow things that are beyond our human comprehension.  God is under no obligation to explain why things happen the way that they do.  Furthermore, if He did explain it, we wouldn't understand.  It's simply beyond us.

But I do know this: God is still in absolute control.  Nothing takes Him by surprise.  I was recently comforted by an excerpt from Edward B. Pusey.  I think this will be helpful for any of us going through painful circumstances:

"Whatever befalls us, however it befalls us, we must receive as the will of God.  If it befalls us through man's negligence, or ill-will, or anger, still it is, in even the least circumstance, to us the will of God.  For if the least thing could happen to us without God's permission it would be something out of God's control.  God's providence or His love would not be what they are."

Kevin Bauer

(Ephesians 1:11)

Two heroes contrasted

After watching some episodes on DVD of both Batman and Spider-Man, a contrast between the two became obvious to me.  While Batman is typically considered to be a loner, I'd say this is really kind of an unfair label that is put on him.  Cary Friedman in his great book "Wisdom from the Batcave" writes of Batman, "Where would Bruce Wayne/the Batman be without Dick Grayson and Alfred Pennyworth?  They have saved his life and his sanity over the years...The Batman could not do what he does without the assistance of his friends" (that's a quote from chapter 14).  I agree with Friedman.

On the other hand, if you want to talk about someone who I believe is a better candidate to be called a loner, I would suggest Spider-Man.  Think about it.  He does everything alone.  Yes, he has his Aunt May, Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborn, but none of these people know that he is Spider-man (usually that's the case, but in some versions Mary Jane knows).  Spider-Man doesn't have a Robin or an Alfred to bounce things off of.  He can't say, "I just tangled with this villain who did this.  What do you think I should do about this?"  He has to figure it all out on his own.  He is a loner.

Why does Spider-man choose to live this way?  He doesn't want to share his secret life to his close friends and family to protect them.  While this is admirable, he also suffers for it.  Speaking for myself, when I have to keep my problems and difficulties to myself they seem twice as bad as they really are.  Whenever I've shared an issue I'm facing, the burden of it is lessened (and of course my challenges are nothing compared to Spider-Man's).

Because of today's blog thought, I've been inspired anew to share my life with my friends and my family - like Batman does - and not keep everything bottled up like Spider-Man.

Kevin Bauer

(Galatians 6:2) 

Happy birthday, Mom!

For many years I have loved to write, but anytime I try to write something regarding some of my mother's wonderful qualities, words don't come easy; not because there is little to say but because there is too much!  Here's a picture of her...

Mom's birthday is today and so, in honor of this day, let me attempt to divulge a few traits.

1) She is a woman of prayer.  I can't tell you the number of times that a negative situation has resolved itself only to have Mom reply, "That's an answer to prayer."

2) She is a woman of boldness.  What I mean here is if someone were to declare a falsehood, she will set you straight with the truth.  You may not always like it, but she will tell you the truth.

3) She is a woman of generosity.  She is always giving of herself.  That may mean giving of her time, her money, or her energy.  She lives out Jesus' maxim, "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

In short, if I had to boil it down to one sentence, I would say this: I thank God for my mother!

Kevin Bauer
(Philippians 1:3)