David presented research and statistics on why young Christians are leaving the church. The stories are often the same–a kid attends church with his parents, and they do their best to raise him in the right Christian way. He attends youth group as a teen, and loves it. He goes on several missions trips and feels connected with the others at his church. Then a few years later, he finds himself in college, not going to church, and barely having any regard for what he’d been taught as a child.

The stories vary a little bit, but most of them contain this one element: each individual, somewhere along the line, is turned off to Christianity, and usually by other Christians. And that’s the problem. These individuals are looking to other Christians to understand their faith. They need to focus on Jesus Christ, not on other Christians.

The truth is that all of us Christians are seeking God. Some are pretty poor at it, and those people give Christianity a bad name. But those people should have no bearing on someone’s personal relationship with Christ. The facts have not changed: Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we can have eternal life with God in heaven. If someone can disbelieve that fact because they heard one-too-many fire-and-brimstone preachers, saw too many Westboro campaigns, or watched one of their role models completely botch up, maybe they never believed the gospel to begin with.

Jesus died for all of us. We’re all sinners. Don’t let someone on this earth overshadow your perspective of God and what he’s done for us. Keep your eyes on Christ and let Him guide your journey.

But what about the issues the Bible doesn’t address? Some people try to deduce answers by arranging verses in a logical statement that would conclude that _____ is wrong, or that God meant to say that we shouldn’t _____. But that is where you get into dangerous territory, especially when you start broadcasting these conclusions as fact. The fact is, they’re your conclusions, based on your logic and conviction. If you start arranging verses to make the Bible say something it doesn’t say, you really can make the Bible say a lot of things.

The Bible has given us so much to work on already. Look at Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Personally, I have a difficult time with this one verse alone. Let alone the ten commandments.

If you’re wondering about a certain issue that the Bible does not address, try to focus on what it does address. There are so many grey areas that are not in the Bible explicitly, and there are times when we wonder if something is wrong or alright. But God has given you concrete things that you can do to make Him happy. Focus on those.

Think about it like this. When Moses brought down the ten commandments, imagine the Israelites saying “but it doesn’t say anything about weed!” He probably responded with some frustration, saying “Don’t focus on _____; follow what was actually commanded of you. Stop trying to figure out what these ten commandments haven’t addressed and follow the ten commandments.”

People have this fascination with the world ending, and they think it’s predictable. It’s not. It’s just going to end, and no one is going to have any idea what’s going on. For example: 9/11. No one had any idea what was going on. Everyone in New York was running around screaming in complete terror. The rest of the country watched and tried to figure out what could possibly be happening. Okay, I’m sure some people knew what was about to happen. But I’m sure they were just as horrified, and there was obviously no way for them to stop it.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 says that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Matthew 24:36 says no one knows the day or the hour, not even Jesus himself. God will just say “go” and here He’ll come.

I do understand the benefit of logical argument and debate. I used to enjoy hearing these and occasionally participating. But you can do all your research, your Venn diagrams, your carbon-dating, your astronomy, and your calculus and physics, and you’re still not going to get an answer for God. Oh, you’ll get evidence, and you can draw conclusions that make a case for either argument. But the answer is something that can’t be deduced through human devices like science or reasoning. Anyone that thinks it can be needs to be taken down a peg. We are smarter than apes but we’re not gods.

I sure don’t understand it all, but I believe it whole-heartedly. I can look out my window and see green grass, trees, a bright blue sky, and a brilliant golden sun. I know that beyond that sun are more stars than there are grains of sand in all the beaches on this earth. I know that I can say a prayer to the God I believe in, and receive an answer that I know is from Him. Some people will call it chance, some people will call it the power of will, some people will call it self-psychology. It’s God. It is.

A space craft has, however, crashed in my backyard and used my family’s property as it’s landing strip.

Actually, there is a pipe carrying natural gas that runs through our backyard, and some company is doing maintenance on it. It’s pretty sad, but apparently they promised to put our yard back when they’re done with it.

In my spare time I have been playing a game called Minecraft. It’s a love-hate thing really, because the game is addicting and extremely fun, but sometimes I really wish I never knew it existed. It’s one of those games that can eat your time so quickly if you’re not careful to set limits.

I’ve been playing a ton of music too. I have been spreading myself a little thin, but I’m trying to fix that, and I do have one project I’m particularly excited about. I’m sure if any of you follow my twitter or facebook you’ll eventually hear about it.

I have to head to work. Hopefully I can write again soon. I do have several blog ideas tucked away in a text document somewhere. Maybe I can write one next week.

EDIT– I also wanted to recommend my current favorite blogger: Michael Hyatt, former CEO of Thomas Nelson. I started reading his blog a few weeks ago when I discoverd his free eBook “Creating Your Personal Life Plan” which you can get here. I don’t read every post, but he almost always has great inspiring content.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” -Matthew 13:44

Jesus is telling His disciples that the Kingdom of Heaven is so valuable, that a person who truly recognizes its value would sell all of his possessions (material or otherwise) to purchase the whole field in which the treasure is found. I personally felt convicted for thinking that any of my possessions have any great value in the grand scheme of things. For me, I tend to place value in immaterial things, such as my job, my abilities, or opportunities that arise for me. But Jesus is saying “if you only knew the value of the Kingdom of Heaven, you would let go of all you hold so tightly.”

I decided to read this whole chapter because I found that verse so insightful. Matthew 13 is a number of parables that Jesus divulged to a large group of people while standing in a boat. A few of these parables have Jesus’ personal explanations that he gave to His disciples in private.

“Then the disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered them, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” -Matthew 13:10-13

People of this world claim that Scripture has no relevance to their lives, and we respond by saying “but it does!” and then trying to convince them. There are parts of our Bible that some people are simply not going to understand. Even the gospel, which is the most pertinent thing for all humanity, will not be understood by everyone.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” -1 Corinthians 1:18

I’m thinking that Jesus spoke in parables because he knew that some people (probably many people) would simply not get it, even if He would have spoken in literal modes of expression. I do appreciate when pastors apply scripture to our everyday lives, and it’s very tempting to want to translate our “manual for life” into something applicable to our modern lives. But the Bible is solid and does not change. We are the ones who change, and we should change ourselves for scripture, not the other way around.

And as Jesus was aware, some people are just not going to get that.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” -John 10:10

If we’re all honest, sometimes it feels like God doesn’t want us to have fun. I mean, when people around us are living for the moment, it sure does look appealing. And of course it’s appealing, otherwise people wouldn’t be doing it.

But then there’s this verse, John 10:10, where Jesus claims that He brings an abundant life. And John 15:7, where He tells us that if we’re truly walking with God, he’ll give us “anything we want.” And when we read that, we sit back and say… “um God, a little bit of [insert your favorite thing here] would be nice.”

So God claims that through Him, our lives can be full. That’s something that we all want; no one looks forward to being on their deathbed and realizing that their life was boring (well, not counting Peter Gibbons). We all want to say that we had a full life. And here comes Jesus, saying that he brings exactly what we’ve been wanting.

The difference is in how we define “full.” Full of what? Money? Pleasure? Success? I’m pretty sure that’s not what Jesus means. But these types of things are almost always what we think a “full” life is.

So what did Jesus mean when He says that he brings life to the fullest? For one, he’s talking about our eternal life, not just life on this earth. But I also think it means something for our life here as well. Think about when you meet an older person who has lived a full life. Usually what that means is that they’ve been through a lot. They’ve seen a lot of things. They’ve had experiences in their life that you can’t even begin to count.

Experiences, whether we like them or not, are the biggest thing God can give us. It’s that whole idea of giving a man a fish vs. teaching him to fish. He gives us good experiences so we have hope through the bad times. He gives us the bad experiences to make the good times that much better.

I’m not really talking about experiences like skydiving, although I’m sure that’s great. I’m talking about those unavoidable things that come along in most lives: losing a job, getting married, a heartbreak, a first child, losing a loved one, and countless other things like that. These are the things that make up the stories of our lives.

Without a relationship with God, these experiences can really mess you up–especially the bad things. They can turn your soul into a bitter and angry one. But with the Lord on your side, these things are “added to you” and you become a better and fuller person.

This ancient Indian teacher had a beef with human desire. He felt it should be totally purged, and that if someone could somehow let go of everything that they wanted, they’d reach a state of enlightenment or awakening called “Nirvana.” Achieving Nirvana, according to the teachings of Buddha, is to become free of all craving and ignorance, and in turn, suffering. (source)

Now, before you jump down my throat, I don’t subscribe to the teachings of Buddha. I don’t think that Nirvana is heaven, or that meditation is the same as prayer. I’ll take it one step further, and say that incorporating Eastern religious practices into the Christian faith is, I believe, very dangerous.

But this idea of getting rid of desire, now that’s something Biblical. I find it fascinating that Buddha built one of the world’s largest religions on an idea that was explicitly written 500 years earlier by King David in the Psalms. And while King David may have been one of the first to put it in words, this is all throughout the Bible.

“Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.” -Psalm 34:9

Selfish desire is the direct opposite of worshiping God. It means valuing your own desires more than God’s. It secularizes our perspective on life; if we don’t get what we want, we’re worse off. If we do get we want, we’ve “succeeded.” The Bible, however, clearly says that we should view our victories and our pitfalls exactly the same: as blessings from God (James 1:2-3, Hebrews 12:6). It’s feels awkward to look at life this way, but it helps to remember that this is not our home. This world is not the way it’s supposed to be.

Let go of what you really want. You know what it is: it’s in the back of your mind all day. You turn it over in your mind often. Maybe it’s one thing, maybe it’s many things. You have one life to live. Instead of looking at it as one chance to have a good time and get what you want, look at it as one chance to make it count.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” -Psalm 119:105, KJV

This verse has been one of my favorites ever since I heard Dr. James Dobson explain it in one of his messages (I do not remember the exact source). I heard the message when I was preparing to enter college as a senior in high school. Dr. Dobson was speaking to those people who were trying to figure out what to do with their lives.

Dr. Dobson encouraged us by explaining this verse. He said something like (paraphrasing) “this verse doesn’t say that God’s word is a headlight, shining way down the path of your life to show you what will happen. It’s a lamp–just enough light to see the next step.”

Lately I have been challenged by this verse and this interpretation, and I see God working in an even more frightening way than I thought. I expected to be going through life, holding the “lamp” and able to see exactly one step in front of me. Many times, this is case. But not always.

Instead I feel more like I am crossing some sort of body of water on stepping stones. I have the lamp, and it shines around me, but I cannot always see the next stone that I’m going to step on. I feel as if God is saying “Take a step. Trust Me, the stone will be there when your foot comes down.”