Categories
godhead Meditations

God Has Rights

The news is buzzing about rights. Religious right. Speech rights. Expanded marriage rights. Human rights. Pre-born rights. All of us have an innate understanding of what it means to have our rights ignored, squandered, or taken away.

Did you know God has rights? Here are only a few:

  • The right to give eternal life (John 17:2)
  • The right to judge (John 5:27)
  • The right to everything created (Deut. 10:14)
  • The right, as head of the church, to gift how he wills (1 Cor 11:3; 12:28)

God gives us the freedom to act but we should consider at least four things:

  • Am I honoring the Lord?
  • Am I properly representing the Lord?
  • Am I giving the Lord his due glory?
  • Am I respecting God’s rights? (Said another way: am I taking any of God’s rights away from him?)

Notice that I didn’t include “am I sinning?”. It’s easy to look for “thou shalt” and “thou shalt not” but it’s much harder to stop and consider if what we’re doing (1) honors him, (2) represents him properly, (3) glorifies him, (4) respects his rights to judge, rule, gift, and own.

Here’s an easy example with money. God owns all money and shares it with us granting the freedom to use it. When have you last used it to honor, represent, and glorify Him? Now, when have you stopped and said “wait, this isn’t mine, this is God’s!” and given it back to Him? 

That’s just with money. What about our lips? Our hands? Our day-to-day? How are you respecting the Lord’s rights today?

Categories
apologetics

Aunt Matilda, Cake, And Theology

Quiet now, everyone. Take your seats. Let’s give a warm round of applause to Aunt Matilda and the cake she has walked out on stage with. Thank you for being with us today Aunt Matilda; what a delicious looking cake next to you! One must wonder what is under that icing, or even why it’s there! But as it were, the reason for Aunt Matilda and the cake being on stage has very little to do with the taste of the cake but everything to do with you, Audience.

This is all about you.

You see, as Aunt Matilda entered the stage pushing that cart with the delectable treat, you made several conclusions: that Aunt Matilda is important for our discussion; that the cake is too; but also, that Aunt Matilda and the cake have some sort of relationship. Perhaps she baked the cake. Perhaps it is Aunt Matilda’s birthday. Perhaps it’s the birthday of someone in the audience—maybe Aunt Matilda’s nephew . Even as I “speak”, you are searching for clues as to the connection.

Categories
church human religion

Perfect Pitch in a Relative Group

In D.C, a small choral group got together to practice. They were classically trained voice musicians excelling in chamber music and using this to minister to churches up and down the East coast. One young man in particular was exceptional in the group because of his perfect (or absolute) pitch; and yet this young man had to lower the volume of his voice when he sang.