Eternally Minded

Acing a test. Writing a book. Finishing your homework. Coordinating an event. Cooking a meal. Graduating from high school or college. Completing a good workout. Cleaning the bathroom. Finishing a Bible study workbook. Doing the dishes. Figuring out a new dance routine. What do all of these things have in common? Think about it for a minute. They’re all hard. Or at least, require some amount of work. Why am I talking to you about hard things? Well, I think that we (teenagers, that is) should do more hard stuff. That’s because they push us persevere in doing the next hard thing. Hard things are good for us. But guess what: there aren’t a lot of young people doing hard things anymore. We’re not getting much encouragement from today’s culture to do things that are actually worth doing. Because doing those things is for older people with the expertise, the education, the resources, and the stubborn perseverance to do so. . . Right? Wrong! Those people aren’t the only ones who are capabl...

Most of us in Christian circles have heard something about perseverance (also referred to Biblically as endurance). We know that 2 Peter 1:6 says that perseverance brings godliness and that it's an important quality to have. We know or have heard of someone who seems to have mastered perseverance, like Paul, William Tyndale, or even the persecuted church. Sometimes we think that perseverance is this big thing that only super Christians can do. But how do we actually develop perseverance? I think the answer lies in 2 Peter 1:3: "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence." Because Christ gave us life, we have a knowledge of Him that only He can reveal to us. And it's through that knowledge that He enables us to escape corruption that comes from evil desires as He makes us more like Him. So, Paul tells us to strive to supplement our faith with certa...

We have a tendency to try to fit God into a box. The problem is that an infinite God cannot fit into the finite boxes we create. One way we try to limit God is by limiting His sovereignty in our lives. What I mean by that is that we try to make God do what we want Him to or expect him to act in the way we think He should act. We expect God to bless those who do good and curse those who do wrong; which isn’t against God’s nature except that we look for these blessings and curses in our physical day to day. The result of this type of thinking is disastrous, because God rarely gives us what we think we deserve. When we see a good person lose a loved one, struggle financially, or suffer an illness, we think God is either cruel; that the person had some secret sin, or they didn’t have enough faith. When we see a wicked person thrive in his evil doings, we think that God isn’t fair, God delights in evil, or God doesn’t see or chooses to ignore their sin (Psalm 73). We can easily think t...