I would like to share the following quotation from Forgotten God
, by Francis Chan:
“I don’t want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit. I want people to look at my life and know that I couldn’t be doing this by my own power. I want to live in such a way that I am desperate for Him to come through. That if He doesn’t come through, I am screwed.”
Convicted? Encouraged? Challenged? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I was given an opportunity to obtain a review copy of The Heart of the Story, by Randy Frazee. The title and description of the book interested me so I took advantage of the offer.
The author nearly lost me right from the get-go when he tried to provide perspective on how large the universe is:
“Think about this for a moment, If our solar system was reduced in size by a factor of a billion, the earth would be the size of a grape. The moon would be slightly larger than a basketball.” (p. 26)
I’m not an astrophysicist, but the last time I studied the solar system, the Earth was larger than our Moon. If that has changed, then I missed the press release. Perhaps the author lives in an area of the country where grapes are larger than basketballs?
I’m glad, however, that I pressed on and continued reading. I found the book worth while and the author does a good job of summarizing the movement of God behind the stories in the Bible.
Throughout the book, Mr. Frazee compares the lower story (what we see) with the upper story (the view from God’s perspective). The author reinforces the idea that God is the mover behind all the activities that are recorded in Scripture.
To illustrate the way Randy Frazee uses the upper/lower story idea, I quote from the book where the author discusses the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac:
As we will see later, God was also foreshadowing, in the Lower Story of Abraham and Isaac, the big climax of his Upper Story – the sacrifice of his own Son. As a matter of fact, the hill of Moriah just happens to be the hill of Jerusalem where Jesus will be crucified nearly two thousand years later.” (p. 39)
The book follows the order of the stories in the Bible so someone who is not familiar with the Bible can get a feel for the flow of Biblical history.
This book would be especially helpful to a new believer or someone who is interested in obtaining an overview of the Bible. Mr. Frazee does an excellent job of summarizing some of the major stories / themes in Scripture and setting them in context.
This would be an excellent resource for a discipleship class, the way Mr. Frazee presents the material stimulates thought and would be a good catalyst for discussion. An adult fellowship or small group Bible study would also benefit from working through this book. To work through the chapters in this book in parallel with the Scripture on which each chapter is based would be a profitable study.
The publisher was kind enough to provide a copy of this book for me to give away. Please leave a comment below indicating why you would like to win the copy and I will select a winner at random.
Genesis 41 records the story of how how Joseph responded when he was presented to Pharaoh. Even though Joseph was sold out by his brothers and falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, even though he spent years in slavery and prison, even though he had good reason to think that God had abandoned him, Joseph wastes no breath in self pity or bitterness.
In Genesis 37 we read that Joseph was 17 when he had his first dream. We are not told how much time goes by before he was sold into slavery, but it seems to be a fairly short time. In Genesis 41, we read that Joseph was 30 when he stood before Pharaoh. From this we can conclude that Joseph spent at least 10 years in slavery and prison. Ten years is a long time to suffer for no good reason.
Joseph emerges from prison confident in his God and in position to be God’s man in that situation. I wonder how Joseph could have endured the hardship of slavery and prison with such a good attitude.
As a slave, he was given responsibility for Potiphar’s household. As a prisoner, Joseph was given responsibility for the the other prisoners. Responsibility is not given to people who have a negative outlook on life. Responsibility is not given to people who are bitter and revengeful. Responsibility is given to those whose attitude is such that it lifts up the attitudes of the people around them.
Joseph was the kind that lifted up those around him. This is evidence that something was going on in Joseph’s thinking that allowed him to avoid self-pity and bitterness.
While the text does not specifically say so, I think that the answer has something to do with gratitude. It is hard to be thankful and whiny at the same time. It is hard to display gratitude and bitterness at the same time. Gratitude displaces bitterness and whining.
At the end of Genesis, following the death of Israel, Joseph sums up his experience at the hand of his brothers by saying, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” (Genesis 50:20) I get the sense that this is not something that Joseph learned in the palace. This is a lesson that Joseph had to have learned in the prison in order to maintain such a positive outlook on life.
The knowledge that God was in control and that God meant it for good could be the only explanation as to why Joseph was not bitter when he became elevated. While in prison, he did not have a full understanding of what God was doing, but he must have had some sense of God’s presence and love.
My take-away is that while I have nothing in my life which compares to the hardship that Joseph endured, the petty trials that I endure often reveal me as a little bit whiny and prone to frustration and bitterness.
Since today is the day of Thanksgiving, what better time is there to start practicing thankfulness? I have much for which I should be thankful. If Joseph could go through his trials without bitterness or complaint, surely my petty issues are not insurmountable. I choose to be thankful.
I find John 12:10-11 very informative on how I should respond to death:
10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.
Perhaps it is only my warped sense of humor, but this strikes me as funny. The Pharisees preferred Lazarus dead rather than have him there to challenge their beliefs. The Pharisees, who thought themselves a light to the nation, could not tolerate the presence of one whose very existence was a critique of their life and practice.
The comedy comes in when you consider that the Pharisees are threatening to kill a man who has already experienced death and came back to tell about it. He could wear a tee shirt saying, “Death . . . been there, done that.” Lazarus’ life validated the words that the Apostle Paul wrote years later in Philippians 1:21, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Lazarus had experienced what happens after death and come back to tell about it. As a result, the Pharisees wanted to kill Lazarus for the effect he was having on the people who heard his story. His experience validated Jesus’ claims of divinity and lordship and many believed.
I learn two things from the example of Lazarus.
First, while I do not know in great detail what it will be like following death, I have enough evidence to know that I should not fear it. Jesus promised to prepare a place for me. Paul, who experienced Heaven in a vision, tells me that what follows death is better than life. Therefore I should live a life free of the fear of death.
If death is not to be feared, what else could be worse? Should I fear rejection, poverty, disrespect or insignificance? Certainly if death is not to be feared, these others should hold no power over me. Yet often they do.
It is not enough to put away the fear of death, I should also live a resurrected life. If I believe with Paul that I have been crucified and raised with Christ (Galatians 2:20), my life should reflect the changes that resurrection brings. Like the Apostle Paul, my life should be lived differently following my encounter with the risen Christ.
My guess is that Lazarus lived life differently than he did before his experience. Were I to have Lazarus’ experience, I suppose the trivialities that now trip me up would have a greatly reduced effect on me, if any effect at all.
Perhaps a good gauge of how well my life reflects the resurrection is whether my impact on others draws them closer to Jesus. As a result of his experience of death and resurrection, Lazarus was used by God to bring people to right belief in Jesus. God wants to do the same with me. I simply need to choose to prevent my fears from getting in the way and live the resurrected life that is promised me.
