With All My Mind

I'm a grateful person who tries to see the world through God's grace | @JonathanDMedina on Twitter

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Frank Morgan and Genesis Chapter One

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

- Genesis 1:2

I'll never forget reading this passage over 10 years ago, at a small home Bible study in Vermont. As I said in my last post, I've tried to read the Bible cover-to-cover many times over the years. I'd always start in Genesis chapter one, and then run out of steam somewhere before Exodus chapter fifteen. I've read Genesis 1 more times than I can count, so I wasn't expecting to get much out of it this time. To be honest, that’s not really why I went to Bible studies anyway.

One of my main motivations for going to Bible studies was to show other people how smart I was- or at least, how smart I thought I was. I'd be lying if I said I've completely grown out of this, but God has done a lot of work in this area. Anyways, after coffee was served and everyone had a chance to warm up, Frank started to teach.

Frank Morgan was a math teacher, and the pastor (though he didn’t like to be called “pastor”), of a small church called Faith Community in Castleton Vermont. Looking back now, his humility and love for God’s word really gave me the flavor of what it looks like to be a man of the Spirit. Frank was methodical when he taught, we started in the first verse.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The whole chapter might as well have ended there. Functionally it did for me. When I would read the first chapter of Genesis it read like information – like a software license agreement, or instructions for how to assemble your new water bottle. These are things we typically parse over or skip completely. We get the gist of it, right? God did this, then He did some other things, and six days later we had the world as we know it. Thankfully, Frank didn’t see it this way. He read verse two.

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

“The earth was without form and void.” He repeated.

I’m not sure if he asked this question directly, but I remember it ringing in my head, “Why did God create a formless earth?” I’d never pondered that before. Frank when on to show how God took the formless earth, and with each day He masterfully fashioned it into something that pleased Him. First the light, then the heavens, then the seas and dry land. After that he spread vegetation over the land.

After forming the earth and the heavens, he filled them. The heavens with stars, and the sun and the moon. Then He filled the sea and the earth with animals. And finally He created man in His image to have dominion over His creation. The truth that Frank was sharing was simple, but profound.

“God does things in processes.” Frank said softly.

I don’t remember much of the Bible study after that point. My mind was already working through what this meant for me. If God created the earth formless, then he formed, and lastly he filled it. What does that mean for a life? It must mean that His work in our lives is a process. It must also mean that if something is not yet “formed” by God, there’s a good chance that it will also not yet be “filled” by God.

That night was one of many things that God did to show me, that the Bible is more than information. It’s a revelation of who God is and what He is like. I’m grateful to Him for giving us His word, and His Spirit to help us see Him in it. Thanks for reading, I hope to hear your thoughts in the comments.

<3 JM

Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

- Proverbs 3:7

P.S. - There was one other point that Frank made that night that I want to share with you before I leave. He pointed out that it was the Spirit of God who was active in the forming, and filling of His creation. It’s easy not to notice, but He’s right there in verse two, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” this truth is later realized again when the Spirit of God would fill his people. What a beautiful thing to meditate on.

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Starting 2017 in the Word

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. - Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Since the New Year is upon us, I wanted to take the opportunity to try and complete a Bible-in-a-year reading plan. I've attempted this many times before and failed, but I don't think that should stop me from trying again. Last year while discussing doctrine, my sister Danielle called me out for having not read the Bible in its entirety. I think she makes a good point. I should at least have a big-picture view of God's word before settling on any doctrine. This is important, but my sister’s challenge and the furthering of biblical knowledge are not the main motivations for me to read the Bible more this year. 

If you're close to me, then you know that in the last year, I've struggled to connect with God. My life has become a symphony of distraction. Some related to my God-given role as husband, father and even son. And some distractions much less worthy of my attention, like playing video games, or reading infinite political post on Facebook. Even though I have a desire to connect with God, it seems that some of these other desires have become greater. I dig deeper here and talk about some of the pressures that drive my day-to-day life, or fears that draw me into hiding places, but I'll leave that for another day. 

The main reason that I want to read the Bible more is for connection, or a more fitting word would be; communion. Relational time with God. Reading the Bible is an act of faith for me. Faith that time with God will serve me better than anything else I could be doing. Faith that time with God will invoke a deeper enjoyment than anything else I could set my face to. If you want to join me in reading, I’ll be using the "Read Scripture" app created by Francis Chan's ministry team. 

The app is a reading plan that allows you to "complete a session" and keep track of your progress. My hope is to stop in here and write about the scriptures that I'm reading. I'd love for you to follow along and share your own thoughts with me, either in a personal message or in the comments section. I've included links to the app below, I'll see you all in the next post. 

Apple iOS  

Android

Much Love and Blessing in 2017.

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I wish I could describe Him for you... 

The words of Dr. S.M. Lockridge will have to do.

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Auschwitz 70: BBC sends a drone through Nazi concentration camp.

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C.S. Lewis talks about Masturbation

These are C.S. Lewis' thoughts on masturbation from the book "Your, Jack" which is a compilation of letters that he wrote to different people. 

I agree that that the stuff about ‘wastage of vital fluids’ is rubbish. For me the real evil of masturbation would be that it takes an appetite which, in lawful use, leads the individual out of himself to complete (and correct) his own personality in that of another (and finally in children and even grandchildren) and turns it back: sending the man back into the prison of himself, there to keep a harem of imaginary brides.

And this harem, once admitted, works against his ever getting out and really uniting with a real woman. For the harem is always accessible, always subservient, calls for no sacrifice or adjustments, and can be endowed with erotic and psychological attractions which no real woman can rival.

Among these shadowy brides he is always adored, always the perfect lover: no demand is made on his unselfishness, no mortification is ever imposed on his vanity. In the end, they become merely the medium through which he increasingly adores himself.

Do read Charles Williams’ Descent into Hell, and study the character of Mr. Wentworth. And it is not only the faculty of love which is thus sterilized, forced back on itself, but also the faculty of imagination.

The true exercise of imagination, in my view, is (a) To help us to understand other people (b) To respond to, and, some of us, to produce art. But it has also a bad use: to provide for us, in shadowy form, a substitute for virtues, successes, distinctions, et cetera which ought to be soughtoutside in the real world — e.g., picturing all I’d do if I were rich instead of earning and saving.

Masturbation involves this abuse of imagination in erotic matters (which I think bad in itself) and thereby encourages a similar abuse of it in all spheres.

After all, almost the main work of life is to come out of our selves, out of the little, dark prison we are all born in. Masturbation is be avoided as allthings are to be avoided which retard this process. The danger is that of coming to love the prison (Lewis, Yours, Jack, 292-293).

He continued to talk about his own struggle later in the book.

The evidence seems to be that God sometimes works such a complete metamorphosis and sometimes not. We don’t know why: God forbid we should presume it went my merit.

He never in my unmarried days did it for me. He gave me–at least and after many ups and down, the power to resist the temptation so far as the actwas concerned. He never stopped the recurrent temptations, nor was I guarded from the sin of mental consent. I don’t mean I wasn’t given sufficient grace. I mean that I sometimes fell into it, grace or no.

One may, I suppose, regard this as partly penal. One is paying for the physical (and still more the imaginative) sins of one’s earlier life. One my also regard it as a tribulation, like any other. The great discovery for me was that the attack does not last forever. It is the devil’s lie that the only escape from the tension is through yielding.

… Disgust, self-contempt, self-hatred–rhetoric against the sin and (still more) vilification of sexuality or the body in themselves–are emphaticallynot the weapons for this warfare. We must be relieved, not horrified, by the fact that the whole thing is humiliating, undignified, ridiculous; the loftyvices would be far worse.

Nor must we exaggerate our suffering. We talk of ‘torture': five minutes of really acute toothache would restore our sense of proportion! In a word, no melodrama. The sin, if we fall into it, must be repented, like all our others. God will forgive. The temptation is a darn nuisance, to be born with patience as long as God wills.

On the purely physical side (but people no doubt differ) I’ve always found that tea and bodily weariness are the two great disposing factors, and therefore the great dangers. Sadness is also a danger: lust in my experience follows disgruntlement nearly always. Love of every sort is a guard against lust, by a divine paradox, sexual love is a guard against lust. No woman is more easily and painlessly abstained from from, if need be, than the woman one loves. And I’m pretty sure purely male society is an enemy to chastity. I don’t mean a temptation to homosexuality: I mean that the absence of ordinary female society provokes the normal appetite (Lewis,Yours, Jack, 307-308).

I took this from a post on this website, but I wanted to keep a copy here ad free for my friends. 

What are your thoughts about masturbation? Leave them in the comments! 

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Lecrae, John Piper, & John Ensor discuss abortion and it’s connection to race.

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Is Christianity a Solo Pursuit?

I received this question today and I decided to write a post on it, since posting my answer into a Facebook chat would be messy. Here’s the question, my thoughts will follow:

Can we survive spiritually, without our brothers and sisters in Christ?

When I was younger, I thought Christianity was solely about my relationship with God. This seemingly innocuous view corrupted my mindset. It encouraged me to isolate myself into a personal-relationship-bubble that hardened with apathy for the people around me.  My thoughts about God were only related to things and people that were relevant to my life.

The future of Christianity is much bigger and more glorious than, me sitting in the presence of God, alone. I cherish the intimate times when I feel a close communion of God on earth, but that’s only a glimpse on heaven. Imagine this:

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 19:6-10

This is not a picture of solitude faith. These are rich images of a togetherness both in the idea of the Bride being one, and in the picture of the wedding feast where we’ll all be together in communion with each other, and with Christ. If it’s going to be like this in heaven, why would we neglect it on earth?

I’ll leave that last thought for your consideration, while we dig a little deeper on the topic.

Love God is dependent on loving people.

When I say this, I’m not only referring to believers. The love of all people is how we love God.  Let’s go to the word.

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

There are two things that matter: Loving God, Loving People. If we isolate ourselves from other people then we're not able to do what Jesus commands here. I would even go further and say if we don’t love people, then we don’t love God. Let’s look at Galatians:

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14

My first thought is, "Why did he cut out loving God?!" but then I realized that by loving our neighbors we are loving God. That’s what the following scriptures say:

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 4:20-21

This whole passage vs 7 to 21 is pretty awesome for seeing how the nature of God is Love, and how that should affect our relationship with others. Again, in this passage there’s an assumption that we will be loving other people. Loving your brother is actually a prerequisite for honesty. One more then I’ll move on:

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:40

How we treat the least, is how we treat Jesus. This is why Christianity cannot be a solo pursuit, we need to be loving people and in order to do that we need people.

There’s no “I” in team, but there is an “us”.

God expects believers to pursue Him together. This togetherness is essential for: individual spiritual growth (Proverbs 27:17 Iron Sharpening Iron), the health of the church (1 Corinthians 14:40 "so that the church may be built up”, and the spread of the gospel (John 13:35 “will know that you are my disciples because of your love”). More on togetherness below.

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:5-15

"Give us", "Forgive us", and "Lead us", who is the “us”? Jesus assumes that there's an “us” when we pray. He also reinforces some of the thoughts above by adding, "as we also have forgiven our debtors", this points to the idea that we need to treat people a certain way if we’re praying to God. Also echoed in Matt 5:23-24 "leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person."  There’s a relational integrity that is connected to prayer. We can’t break all our relationships and then expect that our relationship with God is going to be OK.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25

We need to meet with brothers and sisters to "stir" each other up and encourage each other. This desire to meet should also heighten as time progresses and the “the Day” draws near. Our trajectory shouldn’t be less togetherness, it should be more fervor for it. There are many more scriptures, but I think that some specific lines from this passage strike at the heart of the question.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 1 Corinthians 12:12-26

These two lines really stand out to me.

"For the body does not consist of one member but of many."

"The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.””

We need each other to love God, to pray rightly, and to be the body that Christ purchased. Let’s go back to the end of time in the Revelation account. What a glorious picture of our future, we should do our best on earth to look forward to that day in our actions here.  

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Devious people don't lie. It's too risky. They deceive with the truth.

John Piper

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My drive into work today brought two messages about thirsting for God and being rooted in Him. If I'm honest, my roots lack the depth to fully understand this or to drink with any lasting satisfaction. My prayer is that God will cause deep growth and bless my efforts to draw near. 

Jesus' Aggressive, Relentless, Surgical Love | John Piper 

Fiending For God | Eric Mason 

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Samuel L. Jackson vs. The Bible

Movie Speech

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee. - (Jules from Pulp Fiction)

The Bible

I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon them.” - (‭Ezekiel‬ ‭25‬:‭17‬ ESV)

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One Thing Have I Asked of the Lord...

I’ve always thought that David was asking for a future closeness with God. Like his request was a far-off dream. Then it hit me during prayer, that Psalm 27:4 is how David was living his life, and in that moment, how I was also living my life. :)

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4 ESV)

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A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.

C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

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Take away free will and there will be nothing to save; take away grace and there will be no means left of salvation.

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

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Sad but true.

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Spurgeon on Biblical Authority

This quote is taken from the sermon "Salvation by Knowing the Truth" by Charles Spurgeon. He's preaching on 1 Timothy 2:3-4 about whether or not God desires all men to be saved. I think it's a great commentary on how we should view the Bible when forming beliefs. 

"God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."—1 Timothy 2:3, 4.

What then? Shall we try to put another meaning into the text than that which it fairly bears? I trow not. You must, most of you, be acquainted with the general method in which our older Calvinistic friends deal with this text. "All men," say they,—"that is, some men": as if the Holy Ghost could not have said "some men" if he had meant some men. "All men," say they; "that is, some of all sorts of men": as if the Lord could not have said "all sorts of men" if he had meant that. The Holy Ghost by the apostle has written "all men," and unquestionably he means all men. I know how to get rid of the force of the "alls" according to that critical method which some time ago was very current, but I do not see how it can be applied here with due regard to truth. I was reading just now the exposition of a very able doctor who explains the text so as to explain it away; he applies grammatical gunpowder to it, and explodes it by way of expounding it. I thought when I read his exposition that it would have been a very capital comment upon the text if it had read, "Who will not have all men to be saved, nor come to a knowledge of the truth." Had such been the inspired language every remark of the learned doctor would have been exactly in keeping, but as it happens to say, "Who will have all men to be saved," his observations are more than a little out of place. My love of consistency with my own doctrinal views is not great enough to allow me knowingly to alter a single text of Scripture. I have great respect for orthodoxy, but my reverence for inspiration is far greater. I would sooner a hundred times over appear to be inconsistent with myself than be inconsistent with the word of God. I never thought it to be any very great crime to seem to be inconsistent with myself; for who am I that I should everlastingly be consistent? But I do think it a great crime to be so inconsistent with the word of God that I should want to lop away a bough or even a twig from so much as a single tree of the forest of Scripture. God forbid that I should cut or shape, even in the least degree, any divine expression. So runs the text, and so we must read it, "God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." - Charles Spurgeon

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Taken from The Visual Communication Guy's Blog I know the suffocating desperation of addiction. Thanks to Jesus I also know what it is like to breath as a free man.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. - Galatians 5:1