Why Me?

Why me?  This is a simple but also a very deep question depending on what has happened to you or what someone has done for you.  In the case of our salvation, this becomes a very deep theological question. 

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:44 

I guess that answers the question doesn't it?  Why me?  Because the Father drew me to Christ.  It was nothing that I did.  It was not "a choice" that I made, contrary to a lot of popular teaching in the church today.  If it was my choice, then I would have an answer to "Why me?"  I could say that I walked the aisle, I prayed a prayer, I MADE A DECISION!  But do you see where the focus lies in all of those answers?  The focus is on what I did instead of what God has already done in Christ.  The Bible doesn't talk this way about salvation, and we should not either.
If I truly try to answer the question, "Why did God save me?"  I come up blank.   I cannot think of one good things that I did that would cause God to look at me and then decide to wipe away all of my sin.  The old sinful, selfish, and prideful man inside of me wants to give lots of reasons; but the born again man in me knows better. 

A.W. Pink tells us why in his book The Attributes of God.
"If then the reader is a real Christian, he is so because God chose him in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4), and chose not because He foresaw you would believe, but chose simply because it pleased Him to choose; chose you notwithstanding your natural unbelief.  This being so, all the glory and praise belongs alone to Him.  You have no ground for taking any credit to yourself.  You have 'believed through grace' (Acts 18:27), and that, because your very election was 'of grace' (Rom. 11:5)."

God has taken off the blinders that I willingly put over my eyes so that I could see the Son and believe (John 6:40). 

Only God can remove the ear plugs that I jammed into my ears so that I could hear and learn from Him (John 6:45).

Praise God for doing what I could never do for myself.  Praise God for changing this broken sinner, who loved his sin, into a redeemed believer, who still sins, but loves God and wants to kill the sin in his life.

A day at the Keesler Air Show

I got to spend most of the day with Landen and Lily at the Keesler AFB Air Show.  There was a ton to do, and for the most part we all had a blast.  Sitting and watching something that doesn't particularly entertain you is something that I've been working on myself, and the children.  We are all growing through God's grace in this area.

We got there early enough to get a great parking spot, and within 2 minutes we got to see the Budwiser Clydesdales march by. Lily loved it.

They had a few of the other horses in their cages.  The kids wanted to stop and see them. 



After that we walked around for a bit and looked at some airplanes (we even got to go in a few), some tanks, and even a jeep.





Standing outside the C-130

 

sitting in the C-130





I love this picture.  Lily striking a pose outside the C-17

Sitting in a C-17

I didn't get any good pictures of the planes.  They were either to far away or going to fast.  We had a great time and made some good memories though.  I hope that someday I can take all 3 of my kids to an air show and make some more memories.

I am free of Facebook

Last week Tim Challies posted a blog entitled "Facebook Makes Us Miserable", you can read the full blog here http://www.challies.com/christian-living/facebook-makes-us-miserable#more. 

My problem with Facebook is pride.  Not all people have this problem, so don't think that I'm saying everyone on FB has a pride issue. 

Every time I made a post I automatically thought that I have something important to share with my FB friends (which may be true), but then I also assume that they want to hear it.  Why is that?  Because it's from me, that's why! 

 



After I posted something, I started to notice who comments or who "liked" my post. 

I have in the past (here comes a confession) jumped to the conclusion that other peoples posts are covertly about something I have posted.  Whether it was or not doesn't matter. What matters is why am I jumping to that conclusion?  PRIDE!

Facebook let me create a persona and a world in which I got to recreate myself.  You see it all the time with people who post wonderful things about their spouse.  Why are they doing that?  I think part of it is because we want to create a persona of our spouse that is untrue.  Why do we need to brag on them, or tell our "friends" that our "spouse works so hard, or is such a great mother/father?"  Because it's all a competition.  I think that there has to be some sort of problem if your spouse (or whoever) has to get their self-esteem from something that people say about them on FB.  The people who are close to them know the truth.  That is all that matters, or it should be.  The problem is that most of the time the people that are close to them don't recognize the persona that has been created on FB. 

This is one of the reasons why I asked my wife not to ever post anything like that about me. Why create this awesome looking FB persona (or let my spouse do it) so that people get disappointed when they meet me in person?  Why doesn't the bad stuff ever get put up there?  Have you ever wondered that.  "Brian came home today and yelled at the kids and then at me for no reason.  I wish he would've just stayed at work."   In the words of Adrian Rogers, "I can't get mad when somebody says something bad about me.  I'm just thankful that he doesn't know anything else." 

I will miss the connection that FB offers, but it's not worth the sin that it causes in my life.  Goodbye FB.  I wish I could say that it was for good, but with the new FB policy, your stuff can never really be deleted.  It's always there for you to dive back into if you want it.  Maybe one day, after God matures me some, I will be back. 

UPDATE - as of 9 May
Well........I've been back on FB now for a few weeks.  I really think that ready Tim Challies book helped me see that getting rid of FB altogether is definitely a good option, and one that may happen again, but there is also another down side to it.  This is a major means of communication with people that I am really close to.  My extended family and my church being just a few.  Should I cut communications with them, or should I work to control the problems that I have with FB? 
I have come to realize that I tend to get rid of things in my life that may cause me to stumble or sin, which is a good thing, but there is also another option too.  I can grow in my faith and maturity and learn to control myself.  I think when it comes to FB and other technology, I need to gain more self control.  Doing away with it completely will not slow down the way that technology is becoming more and more of an everyday reality in our everyday lives. 
So, to all of the FB friends that I de-friended and/or offended, I'm sorry.  

A powerful video by Grace Gems

We often look at power "natural disasters" and think about the wrath of God.  Maybe you don't, but I do.  I wonder, "Is God justly pouring out His wrath on mankind?"  All of us our deserving of God's wrath.  That is the starting point we should have whenever we look at pictures of earthquakes and tsunami's.

As you watch this video, remember that the ark was a type and shadow of the Messiah to come.  Jesus is the ark.  Jesus is the way of salvation for us, just like the ark was the way of salvation for man in the day of Noah.  If we are in Him, we will be saved from the wrath of God.

Is Faith a work?

Just to give some background.  I am currently going through the book of John in my personal Bible study.  I have RC Sproul's commentary, and I recently started using Calvin's commentary (which you can find for free online at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin?show=worksBy).  I love the way RC has laid his commentary out.  Each section of verses is covered in one short chapter.  This gives me plenty of time to read the whole chapter, then read the Bible verses again, and then take my own notes.  Calvin goes into more depth, which is wonderful and greatly needed in some sections of John. 
I am currently in Romans 6 in the area of verses 25-34.  Whend I came accross Calvin's commentary on verse 29, it struck a chord with me.  I understand that we are not justified by our works or anything in us, but how does faith fit into all of this?  I do understand that faith is a gift of God, Ephesians 2:8, but it is something that we must do to be saved.  I know that I've probably heard this before many many times, but God used this commentary to open my mind a little more on the topic of faith this morning. 

That you believe in him whom he hath sent. What is the import of the word believe, we have explained under the Third Chapter. It ought always to be remembered that, in order to have a full perception of the power of faith, we must understand what Christ is, in whom we believe, and why he was given to us by the Father. It is idle sophistry, under the pretext of this passage, to maintain that we are justified by works, if faith justifies, because it is likewise called a work First, it is plain enough that Christ does not speak with strict accuracy, when he calls faith a work, just as Paul makes a comparison between the law of faith and the law of works, (Romans 3:27.) Secondly, when we affirm that men are not justified by works, we mean works by the merit of which men may obtain favor with God. Now faith brings nothing to God, but, on the contrary, places man before God as empty and poor, that he may be filled with Christ and with his grace. It is, therefore, if we may be allowed the expression, a passive work, to which no reward can be paid, and it bestows on man no other righteousness than that which he receives from Christ. - From John Calvin's commentary on John 6:29