Prosperity and Poverty

By Jeremiah Smith

“…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” ~~ Philippians 4:11-13

There usually seems to be two conflicting views in Christianity today.  The first is the pressure to give away everything.  It’s a view that states, “if you have prosperity then your not giving all for the Kingdom”.  The other view seems to be that of prosperity and wealth.  It’s a view that states, “God loves to bless his children and if you’re not prosperous then you’re not walking in that blessing”.

Do you know why I love the gospel?  It’s because it never allows us to just nail it down.  When we make universal rules we don’t have to obey God anymore.  If we say, “take a vow of poverty”, it quickly becomes something done under legalism.  If we say, “you should be wealthy because you’re the King’s kid”, we have the same result.  There’s something much greater that God wants to accomplish in us through His grace.

I think Paul put’s it so beautifully.  In any circumstance I will be content.  Why? Because, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength”.  It’s not about poverty, nor prosperity.  It’s all about grace!

 

 

Patience: A Kingdom Virtue

By Jeremiah Smith

Everyday I’m confronted by a culture where “waiting” or “patience” are taboo words.  We want fulfillment of our wants and desires as fast as we can cook Kraft Dinner in the microwave.  It’s sort of ironic don’t you think?  We live in a world where I can have breakfast in Ottawa and dinner in London, England; yet we are no more patient (or happier).

God has been reminding me a lot about patience.  I find many young people, myself included, have been conditioned by a culture of the “instant”.  We want to do great things for God, we want to change the world for Him.  We want to see His Kingdom come, His will be done and we want it NOW!

We have the passion, but do we have the patience?  If we have passion, but not patience we are in very dangerous waters for when we are tired of waiting we often take matters into our own hand.  When we try to do Gods work without God it only ends badly.  However when we are patient, waiting upon God we are effective.

If my generation could focus on what Christ has done for us.  If we could listen and hear before we do.  If we could wait on the Lord, trusting in His timing.  If we could learn patience.

Cause Jesus only did what He saw You do
And He would only say what He heard You speak
And He would only move when He felt You lead
Following Your heart following Your spirit

So How could I expect to walk without You
When every move that Jesus made was in surrender
I will not begin to live without You
For You alone are worthy and You are always good

Bookstore Musings

By Jeremiah Smith

It has become habit (addiction?) to stop at Starbucks/Chapters on my way home from Parliament.  I stop for two reasons usually.  The first is my well-known addiction to coffee; the stronger and blacker the better.  The second is my addiction to books.  In fact, now that I think of it, my greatest monthly expenditure is spent on those two addictions.  As far as addictions it could be worse (and more costly). Yesterday I stopped yet again and as I browsed through the books I thought… Pondered really.  These are some of those musings.

The Christianity section is across from the Wicca/Witchcraft section.  As I read about the Holy  Spirit, a woman read about conjuring spirits.  As I read about blessings and life, she read about curses, incantations and death.

I read a brief chapter in the Art of Happiness, written by the Dalai Lama.  The chapter was about the purpose of life.  His claim is that, “the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness“.  My mind started asking questions: What is happiness?  Is what makes me Happy different from what makes you Happy?  Can purpose be found in NOT being Happy… such as grief, pain, or sorrow?

Two books caught my visual attention: Joel Osteen’s Becoming a Better You and Victoria Osteen’s  Love Your Life: Living Happy, Healthy, and Whole.  On the covers of these two books appeared a married couple who appear happy, beautiful, wealthy (and have a great dental plan).  My mind started asking questions:  Is purpose found in being happy or wealthy?  If we just got the “Christianity” thing right would we be blessed with wealth or success?  Where does picking up our cross or, “considering it all joy when you face persecution” come in? (Note: I did not read the book, so these are just personal thoughts and not an actual judgment of the Osteen’s)

Most Visited Post: Mother Teresa

By Jeremiah Smith

The most visited post on the NHOP blog is Mother Teresa’s Secret to Prayer.  It’s a humbling realization that it’s not posts by Jeremiah Smith, but prayer advice from Mother Teresa that people are attracted to.  The question is why?  Why does Mother Teresa attract such fame?  She doesn’t have that Hollywood beauty or charisma.  She is not wealthy or powerful.  Yet deep down we all know she has something far deeper and far more precious. Below are a few quotes from this woman of God.

“Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.”

“I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”

“There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”

Worship as Art

By Jeremiah Smith

The greatest aspect of living in community is the realization that everyone is absolutely, and beautifully unique.  Unity and oneness in the body of Christ does not mean that we all look (or act) the same!  When we begin to appreciate the uniqueness of other’s it creates an endless horizon of possibilities.  As an example I’ll use worship.

For me, a guitar player and vocalist, worship is expressed through music.  However it is not the only expression; a reality I was reminded of this past week.  The Nazarites have been leading our worship times in the morning.  On Friday, Laureen led us in worship.  She did not use music, instead she chose color and creativity as her expression of worship.  It was a powerful worship experience and everyone created beautiful artwork.  The beauty did not arise from excellent artistic ability, but rather from expressions of Gods love, faithfulness, strength drawn on canvas. To me it was a reminder that worship is not finite, nor one particular form.  Worship is an expression of our very being poured out for the God of the Universe.  As He is infinite so are the ways in which we can worship.

(The picture above is of artwork created by Becky Docksteader)

Homo Incurvatus In Se

By Jeremiah Smith

I had the opportunity this past week to attend an evening lecture by Matt Jenson.  He is the author of The Gravity of Sin: Augustine, Luther and Barth on ‘Homo Incurvatus In Se’ and also Assistant Professor of Theology in the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University, USA.

It was an excellent lecture which I quite enjoyed.  His basic premise was that humanity was created for relationship.  When Sin entered the world it created our sinful human condition.  Matt Jenson terms this condition as Homo Incurvatus In Se (humanity being curved in on oneself).  He says, “If human personhood is constituted by relationships, than sin can be understood as a violation, perversion and refusal of those relationships.”  Sin is essentially self-seeking, self-exaltation;  the essence of narcissism.

If we look at Sin from this perspective, that of an extreme isolated introspection, then the remedy is for us to look beyond ourselves.  That is why our redemption comes not from within, but from an external source which is Christ.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3

Would we open our hearts?  Will we turn our eyes to the cross?  May we set our hearts on the risen King, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Love The Sinner, Hate Your Own Sin

By Jeremiah Smith

I’ve often heard the expression, “Love the sinner, but hate the sin”, and it’s never quite sat well.  You know that feeling that something just isn’t quite right.  The uneasiness comes out of the question, how do I walk the fine balance between love (loving) and judge (judging)?

One of the Nazarites wrote this recently on their blog:

I can be so quick to judge, so quick to criticize. I’m praying that God would really open my eyes and open my heart to see what He sees. To feel what He feels when He looks at these broken ones. That I would be able to see ‘Destiny’ written over their heads and not ‘Addict’, ‘Victorious’ and not “Defeated, ‘Reachable’ and not ‘Lost Cause’.

If Jesus were here today what would he say?  Tony Campolo answers this question quite well.  He says, “Jesus never said, love the sinner, but hate his sin… He said, love the sinner and hate your own sin.”

You can find Tony Campolo’s statement here.

PM Harper and the Beatles

By Jeremiah Smith

It’s been often said, especially by the media, that our Prime Minister isn’t open enough. He doesn’t hold press conferences nearly as much as they’d like, and keeps a rather low social profile. These critiques have not fazed his term in office, nor changed his approach. Perhaps, as I would guess, his opinion may be that he’s here to lead our country, not be everyone’s friend or socialite. Whatever the case may be it is nice change to see the other side of the Prime Minister. We can sometimes forget that our politicians are indeed in positions of authority, but are no less human.

Take a moment today to pray for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. You don’t have to vote Conservative, or agree with his leadership. But realize that he is a real man in need of great wisdom. He is a man who has weaknesses which only God can overcome. Pray for strength and integrity as he leads his party and Canada’s Government.

The Cross Before Me

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” ~ Mark 8:34-35

I wrote this in an email to a friend today:

Of course we both know that being a follower of Christ means that “normal” isn’t for us.  Normal people don’t pick up crosses and carry them, willingly.

Over the past week or so I’ve been thinking about the extraordinary call of Christ.  I don’t think we emphasize that enough today.  I think part of that reason is because we’ve been desensitized to the statement, “pick up your cross”.  Do we see the cross as a Jewish believer would have seen it at that time?  I highly doubt it.

The cross at the time of Christ wasn’t a symbol of victory, but of subjection and death.  It was a device of extreme torture used by the Romans in their oppression of the Jews and others.  Jesus’ statement would have been radical and extreme.  Who would willfully do such a thing?  Surely only those whose hope is in Christ.

The Cross before me, the world behind me.

No turning back, No turning back .

A Lecture with Dr. John Stackhouse

By Jeremiah Smith

This past week many of us at NHOP had the opportunity to attend a lecture by Dr. John Stackhouse.    He is a distinguished Canadian theologian and writer.  He teaches at Regent College and also travels as a professional speaker.

I enjoyed his approach, which was intelligent and extremely honest.  He was not afraid to address issues that some in Christianity would deem “untouchable”.  He not only asks, “what do you believe?”, but also, “is that a correct or legitimate belief? And, why?”  For instance he brings into question the WWJD (what would Jesus do?) fad.  Read an excerpt from his book, Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World:

“What would Jesus do?” therefore is the wrong question for Christian ethics. If we keep asking it, moreover, we will keep making the perennial mistakes many have made, such as prioritizing church work over daily trades (“because Jesus gave up carpentry for preaching the gospel”); valorizing singleness, at least for clergy (“because Jesus didn’t marry”); and denigrating all involvement in the arts, politics, or sports (“because we never read of Jesus painting a picture or participating in political discussions, much less kicking a ball”). Instead, “What would Jesus want me or us to do, here and now?” is the right question—or, if I may, Who are we, for Jesus Christ, today?

Check out Dr. John Stackhouse’s blog here.