Logos Set in Motion

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” -1 Corinthians 13:12

The ever-flowing grand stream of time may reflect a lot about a man’s life. For mine, glancing at the riverhead of just last spring, the beaming light of the sun revealed how shallow, murky, and dull my life had become. Over the course of attending only a semester of secular university, a river so wild and full of potential carved out a canyon of discovery then quickly sucked dry as my decent plummeted into a world I had no desire to be in nor was really ready for. I couldn’t say it took me by surprise as I failed to keep my life stream nourished and protected. I still reached a place I knew I did not want to dwell. Surrounded by darkness, my vision of helping redeem the world and myself became shrouded. Away from family and genuine and intentional relationships, it was one of those places in life where I really didn’t know where I was going (or rather forgot) but I knew where I was at the time was not right. I fell into a chasm and I wanted out desperately.  

The state of apathy and depression I fell into called for measures of renewal and truth. I needed to be reminded of my purpose and I needed better answers to life’s great questions—What is life? What is death? What is love? What does it mean to be human? It was this realization that brought me out of the chasm and into a journey away from the lowly state of the world and towards a summit of knowledge and understanding. I was not the only one with questions, a need for breaking bad habits and creating better ones, with a desire for truth and truth seekers; there were many who would go on this journey with me.

We were sojourners: young men and women sent on a spiritual journey among the majestic mountains of Colorado. Though temporary, the experience continues to resonate within us. Everything we learned and witnessed echoes throughout eternity. When asked, “Why spend 12 weeks in the mountains away from home, family, friends, and opportunity?” Many of us smiled and knew exactly what to say, some were still unsure, a few had asked themselves the same question time and time again. Yet with confidence, each and every one of us still felt a calling—an irresistible draw to know our world, our creator, and ourselves in a profound way.

The word, the Logos, was set in motion; we were drowning in it before, now we glide through streams of wisdom with an utmost passion kindled by a love for learning. Robert Frost couldn’t have said it any better; we took the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference. The memories of a community—of a family—whose lives have been changed forever: by each other and by their Lord creator I will never forget.  This experience, the individual students whom I have come to love and cherish so much, and the wisdom obtained from an amazing faculty and staff has made all the difference in the world for me. No longer do I feel apathy; my life stream flows with rapid abundance, with extreme passion, and a renewed spirit I hope to share with countless others. I will never forget and I will be forever grateful for everything and everyone but most of all to my Heavenly father who lead me here to Summit Ministries—the greatest turning point of my life.

"My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer."

Christ: The Perfect Penitent

December 20, 2011

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. “

—CS Lewis “Mere Christianity”

The above passage concluded my reading yesterday and serves as a tremendous transition into the next chapter of CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: The Perfect Penitent.

It really is indisputable when you break it down like Lewis has—Christ is a lunatic, a liar, or LORD. Given the circumstances and any logical deduction considering the historical, spiritual, and physical reality of the human condition, the latter can be most certain as Lewis goes on to explain.

“This man we are talking about was (and is) just what He said or else a lunatic, or something worse. Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God. God has landed on this enemy-occupied world in human form.”

Furthermore, Lewis teaches that,  “A man can accept what Christ has done without knowing how it works: indeed, he certainly would not know how it works until he has accepted it.” It’s this acceptance part that many individuals have the most trouble with. They can suppress, and suppress, until the pressure they’ve put on the Jesus box per se overloads in an overwhelming realization that this is the truth. Some will go on to reject it completely or fall to their knees. “We are told that Christ was killed for us,” Lewis said “that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed.”

Now being a Christian nearly all my life, I can tell you with sincerity that this is precisely what I believed. It wasn’t until I was much older that I would soon find out that this belief was not obtained by my own merit and that I wasn’t necessarily in complete acceptance of the truth. In fact, I still find it difficult sometimes saying that I am in complete surrender and submission to Christ my savior because I try so hard to be my own.

“Can we do it if God helps us? Yes, but what do we mean when we talk of God helping us? We mean God putting into us a bit of Himself, so to speak. He lends us a little of His reasoning powers and that is how we think: He puts a little of His love into us and that is how we love one another. When you teach a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters: that is, it forms the letters because you are forming them. We love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it. Now if we had not fallen, that would be all plain sailing But unfortunately we now need God’s help in order to do something which God, in His own nature, never does at all—to surrender, to suffer, to submit, to die.”

CS Lewis claims that he has “heard people complain that if Jesus was God as well as man, then His sufferings and death lose all value in their eyes, “because it must have been so easy for Him’.” Of course, how ungrateful and arrogant such a claim sounds but I have found myself thinking the same way in one manner or another. More in the sense that I desire to overly empower myself into thinking that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That if Christ could endure such pain, such suffering that surely I could do these things. The truth of the matter is I shouldn’t have to. Christ has conquered death for us and all the credit goes solely to Him. Some will complain that Christ has such an unfair advantage in being our Saviour because He’s God. Why would we argue of an unfair advantage when it is obvious enough that we desperately need the help? As Lewis put it, that would be like complaining to someone waiting on the bank of the shore  trying to help another from drowning, "That isn't fair; you're using your legs on the dry land!" Because we so desperately long to help ourselves, we lose site of the fact that we cannot. We never could. We never will.

“The perfect surrender and humiliation were undergone by Christ: perfect because He was God, surrender and humiliation because He was a man.”

My concluding thoughts of today’s study rest in a recurring theme of ‘waiting on the Lord.’ I read in another devotional this morning about how we tend to think we’re running out of time while waiting on God to fulfill our lives; how desperate, determined and defiled we can become by taking matters into our own hands. I remember talking with a friend about how just finishing up college a good quarter of our lives will be spent up and that is assuming we’ll even make it to 80. My thoughts when pondering this exact subject always tends to lead me into realizing that life starts now. We’re not trying to get through obstacles of youth, parents, education, job fairs, and bad economy for life to simply start. We’re not waiting for the perfect man or women to enter our lives to start living a life that’s already half spent. No, we’re living right now—never, never, never take that for granted.

Also, never forget to realize that God intends to take good care of His children. Living in the expediency of our microwave generation has caused a great many of us to forget the importance of waiting, watching, and listening to everything God has given us right now. He is our great provider. All we have to do is obey and follow Him. “God doesn’t love us because we are good, but God will make us good because He loves us” Lewis said. And that’s what life is really all about and Christ expects us to do that together through Him all of the time. Ask a fellow minister friend of mine how to spell love and he will tell you, “T-I-M-E.”

"My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer."

YAHWEH: The LORD Provides

December 19, 2011


 “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”

—Proverbs 16:33

     This morning’s devotional brought exactly what I needed to hear. With a strict confidence, I can honestly say my Lord creator is watching out for me, my heart, and the things and people I care about. I read the above proverb particularly through Charles Surgeon’s Morning and Evening devotional, which you can read for yourself down below. Proverbs 16 is by far one of my favorites because it deals a lot with man planning his ways but the LORD establishing his steps—Proverbs 16:9. It then ends with the truth of every chance coincidence such as the tossing of a dice being predetermined by the LORD, “its every decision is from [Him].”

     There is no reason to be anxious. We could all do so much better to walk in patience, quiet, and cheerfulness . . . Every single hair on our head is numbered and not even a single sparrow will fall without our Saviour knowing. Some would ague that God exists but doesn’t particularly want to be involved. I tell you, He is so involved in our lives and on such a personal level, believing otherwise would be taking a very serious matter for granted. Which I must admit I have done on too many occasions.

     “When a man is anxious, he cannot pray with faith. When he is troubled about the world, he cannot serve his Master, his thoughts are serving himself.” This struck me. I have always had the most difficulty praying; I have tried most diligently to pray frequently but a conversation with God is no easy task when one is so distracted. The weariness of self-preservation, provision, and the unfairness of any inconvenient circumstance leads me quite easily into praying over triviality.  My “meddling with Christ’s business” has caused me to neglect my own in allowing Him to be my all mighty provider and realizing that it is my business to be obedient.


Spurgeon’s final thoughts are most encouraging,

“Come and survey your Father's storehouse, and ask whether He will let you starve while He has laid up so great an abundance in His garner? Look at His heart of mercy; see if that can ever prove unkind! Look at His inscrutable wisdom; see if that will ever be at fault. Above all, look up to Jesus Christ your Intercessor, and ask yourself, while He pleads, can your Father deal ungraciously with you? If He remembers even sparrows, will He forget one of the least of His poor children? "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee. He will never suffer the righteous to be moved."

     After my morning devotional I go on to eat breakfast—an extremely important part of the day and I have not the slightest why I have been ignoring it for so long—get a hot cup of Earl Gray and then go back on up to my room to study CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity. I read something today that really complimented what I read earlier that morning and wanted to share it as well.

“Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing”

-CS Lewis from Mere Christianity

     The ideas gleamed from this short paragraph from an incredible book also struck me deeply. Despite all the things I desire and long for in life, God is the only entity that can bring me true happiness—everything else is either a distraction or complimentary. The happiness and peace I seek lies only in Him and through Him are wonderful gifts received such as my beautiful family and wonderful friends. May I never take for granted all the things my heavenly Father has given me. My God is my great sustainer, satisfactory in all things, and wonderful savior. Amen.

"My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer."

From C.H. Spurgeon

"The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord."—Proverbs 16:33.

     If the disposal of the lot is the Lord's whose is the arrangement of our whole life? If the simple casting of a lot is guided by Him, how much more the events of our entire life—especially when we are told by our blessed Saviour: "The very hairs of your head are all numbered: not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father." It would bring a holy calm over your mind, dear friend, if you were always to remember this. It would so relieve your mind from anxiety, that you would be the better able to walk in patience, quiet, and cheerfulness as a Christian should. When a man is anxious he cannot pray with faith; when he is troubled about the world, he cannot serve his Master, his thoughts are serving himself. If you would "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," all things would then be added unto you. You are meddling with Christ's business, and neglecting your own when you fret about your lot and circumstances. You have been trying "providing" work and forgetting that it is yours to obey. Be wise and attend to the obeying, and let Christ manage the providing. Come and survey your Father's storehouse, and ask whether He will let you starve while He has laid up so great an abundance in His garner? Look at His heart of mercy; see if that can ever prove unkind! Look at His inscrutable wisdom; see if that will ever be at fault. Above all, look up to Jesus Christ your Intercessor, and ask yourself, while He pleads, can your Father deal ungraciously with you? If He remembers even sparrows, will He forget one of the least of His poor children? "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee. He will never suffer the righteous to be moved."

     My soul, rest happy in thy low estate, Nor hope nor wish to be esteem'd or great; To take the impress of the Will Divine, Be that thy glory, and those riches thine.