Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Turn to God As Your Study Buddy

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This is a guest post by Ian MacArthur. If you are interested in becoming a guest author, please see the guest post guidelines and use the Attempts At Honesty contact form.

StudyEducation is something that we value greatly because it is our ticket to a brighter future. We try hard to produce positive results at any challenge we go through. Learning is definitely important, but it is not easy for some individuals such as myself.  I have a hard time completing my academic responsibilities because of all the activities, stress and exhaustion that comes with academic life. Luckily, I managed to find someone who can help me in my predicament and times of need.  You can call him as a “study buddy” if you will.

For me, a study buddy is someone who can help you answer the hardest questions you’re faced with or someone who can encourage you to do something that seemed difficult at first. Everyone can find one if they look really hard. After doing my own searching, I’ve found mine and it’s none other than our lord and savior, God. Believe it or not, turning to God has helped me a lot in my studies and I consider him as the best study buddy that I’ve been with. However, I’m not asking God to help me in the way you might be thinking such as the answer to question #14 at my science exam. No, nothing like that.

Not to brag, but I’m doing pretty well in college. It’s just that I’m having problems with other things that are much more personal. I remember last year when I entered college and I was already plagued with various questions such as, can I do it? Will I be able to comply with every assignment or paperwork my teacher gives me? Am I good enough? These questions can really dishearten any person which is why I tried talking to my friends. I received a lot of advice which was good and positive, but sadly, it’s not what I was looking for. I’m grateful that they took the time to listen to me and gave me helpful suggestions. However, I was still lost and didn’t know what to do.

It all changed after I made a call at home. At the time of the call, I was also homesick. Luckily, my uncle, who is a pastor, decided to pay a visit on my parent’s house. He is one of my relatives from whom I have sought guidance in the past. When I told him about my predicament, he simply asked me why would I not turn to God for answers? He said that God will be able to give me the answers I’m looking for. Before passing the phone onto my parents, he gave me a few phrases to read on the bible. I can definitely say that it helped because I felt relieved and enlightened after reading some of it. Although I may not be able to remember the exact wording of the scriptures, I took each verse to heart. Here are those phrases.

  • “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge,  and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.”
  • “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
  • “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
  • “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”

Through these verses, I was able to overcome my doubts which has enabled me to excel not only in academics, but spiritually and emotionally as well. Like I said earlier, A study buddy is someone who will be able to help you if ever you’re stuck with a problem that you can’t solve on your own and God has been able to help me when I was buried with self-doubts. So if you’re going through the same thing I did, why not consider God to become your study buddy? I guarantee that you wouldn’t regret it.

Wanting the Real God

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This is a guest post by Zachary Schmoll. If you are interested in becoming a guest author, please see the guest post guidelines and use the Attempts At Honesty contact form.

ColaI don’t know about you, but when I want something, I don’t want a cheap imitation. If I order a Coca-Cola Classic, I would be somewhat disappointed to be given a random, private-label, store-brand generic cola.

Authenticity matters. However, it doesn’t just matter in soda. It also matters when we are talking about God.

There are many examples in the Bible where people wanted the one true God. Substitutes were not good enough.

For example, take Elijah and the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. Elijah wanted to prove who was the authentic God, so he issued a challenge. Whoever was able to light the offering on fire would indeed be the God who was listening. He didn’t care that he was opposing 450 prophets of Baal.

He wanted to prove that God was real, and that is how it worked out. Elijah’s offering was torched because God is real and is powerful.

Another good example of this happened when Paul was preaching on Mars’ Hill in Acts 17. Paul mentions that the people of Athens worship an entire pantheon of deities, but they also had a spot for the unknown god. Paul use this as a lead-in to emphasize how there was only one God over all. He might be unknown to them right now, but He is the only one that matters.

The entire group of Greek gods and goddesses was not sufficient. Paul wanted them to see the one God that was indeed real.

In both of these cases, the imitations were not good enough. These men knew that they wanted the one true God.

That should be our main priority as well. We should be constantly seeking after God himself. There are certainly plenty of distractions that can pull us away and become our own personal deities.

We may idolize money or friends or even family. None of these things are inherently bad, but if we begin to worship them, we have become idolaters.

Because of that, I would challenge all of us to keep hunting for the authentic God. If we are wrapped up in things that are taking the place of God, I hope that we can repent and re-prioritize.

God wants and deserves to be first in our lives. That is where we need to position him.

What Authentic Christian Community Looks Like

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This is a guest post by Jim McCraigh. Jim is a retired ministry director and church elder. He is also the author of The Power of Brokenness: The Language of Healing.

Community

Years ago, when I first started attending church, I thought I had to “look good and be good”. I believed that I needed to appear as if I had my act together and never messed up… and if I did, no one need ever find out

about it. The good news is that I was dead wrong. I’ve since come to learn that the truth lies in the biblical definition of what authentic community really is.

Here’s the thing, when we make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, we do it for good reason. He created the entire earth and everything on it, parted seas, defeated armies, calmed storms and breathed life into all living things. Most importantly, He defeated death so that we might live eternally and so that the Holy Spirit could be with us in community with others. Consider 1 John 4:7-11:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (NIV)

Picture a group of everyday people who get together and don’t gossip about or judge one another… but who honestly love, support and pray for each other. To get even more specific about what this looks like, let’s look at James 5:16:

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (NIV)

Confess our sins to one another? That involves a safe place of sharing, support and fellowship where we can listen and share our experience, strength and hope with others as we help each other heal in God’s power. Do such places exist? They do, usually in Biblically-based small groups in churches where it is understood that we are all fighting a spiritual battle because…

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12) NIV

and…

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8) NIV

Satan knows this and uses lies and deception to try to isolate us permanently from authentic community.

But, when we can set our differences aside, ask for and receive forgiveness using God’s healing power and not our own, that is authentic Christian community. When we experience that type of community, we can be in relationship with others where we can be real, honest and embrace our own brokenness.

No man, Lord – Reflections on John 8

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This is a guest post by Michael Andrzejewski who serves the Lord in Portugal and whose biographical information appears below.

Hand on Stone - John 8

With so much disdain, they shoved her down before him, the one that they called Master in public, but the Threat, in private. They hated him more than her. They hated him more than what they caught her doing.

They had just dragged her away, hastily ripping the two lovers apart from each other. From that first moment when they burst in, fear and remorse engulfed her.

Nothing made sense. She wanted to explain. What were they going to do with her lover? Why wasn’t he being taken too? She fought hard to put her thoughts in order. Where were they taking her?

Wave after wave of regret crashed down upon her fragile soul.

Still indecent and disheveled they threw her down at his feet and spat the words. At him.

Master, we caught her. We walked right in on her cheating. She’s supposed to be stoned. What do you think we should do? (John 8:4-5)

She dare not speak, but within, she begged for mercy. She longed to be forgiven. She longed to be free.

She never considered the consequences when the flirting began. She never thought about the other lives that would be ruined. All she saw was her lover’s attention.

The desire for immediate satisfaction shouted down all caution about what might happen if they were caught.

The law says that she’s got to be put to death. Judge her. Tell us what do.

Silence. Slow and deliberate. He knelt, ignoring them. He wanted to know about her. In her eyes he saw fear and pain. Sorrow. Shame.

Through the tears, she noticed him writing something in the dirt, as they insisted…

Should we stone her? Should we?

Accusers are always persistent, but Mercy is patient. Long-suffering.

Finally, he rose, looked at the mob and spoke.

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. (John 8:7)

He was ready to answer. He was ready to give them his mind about the matter, but he asked one thing first: let all of those without sin rare back and let her have it. Then he would answer.

The leader, the oldest and wisest of the group, looked at Jesus, looked at the ground and opened his hand to let the jagged stone fall to the dust. He couldn’t. He knew that his heart was just as filthy.

The memory of our own sins should be a sufficient deterrent against judgment of others.

If it’s not, we better start remembering before we start casting stones. If it’s not, we should begin to question our understanding of grace. If it’s not, we should begin to question our understanding of forgiveness.

So, he turned and walked off. His conscience cutting far deeper than any stone possibly could.

But his conscience didn’t bring him to grace. Rather than bring him to the Lord, it stopped short.

Man’s conscience is able to convict of sin. But it’s not able to transform him into the image of Christ. Neither is it able to liberate him from the present or future power of sin. Without the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the conviction of conscience is incomplete.

The thud of rocks falling to the ground grew louder as the mob grew smaller and smaller until the last one, the youngest among them, finally let go of his anger and walked away in shame.

There she remained, alone with the man that had just saved her life. Before she could thank him, the question came.

Where did they all go? Did not at least one of them condemn you?
No man, Lord.
Neither do I. Go and sin no more. (John 8:10-11)

When there is no condemnation of sin, there is the presence of a command to live a holy life.

By mercy, the Lord spared her life. Through grace, he gave her a new one.

“Thank you, Lord for not condemning me when for so long I deserved it. Thank you, Lord for giving me a new life in You. Thank you for power to walk in that new life with You. I praise you today because I know that my life is no longer defined by sin, but by your grace and your love for me. Thank you for becoming my sin on the cross, even when you knew no sin. Let me ever remember that I have no condemnation in you. Help me to ever walk after Your Spirit. Amen.”

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