Awareness

Last Thursday, I was sitting at my desk. As they often do, students came in to my classroom during lunch to eat and visit. I was eating my own lunch and trying to finish some time sensitive work. At one point, a student looked up from talking to one of her friends, and asked me what I thought about what they had just said. "To be perfectly honest," I responded, "I wasn't listening. I'm trying to finish some work; if I need to be in on a conversation, you need to let me know beforehand."

I enjoy having students in my classroom at lunch. Some of the most interesting conversations happen at this time. However, there are times where we just get busy, to the detriment of our relationships.

This is something that has always impressed me about Jesus. Throughout His earthly ministry, He stayed busy and on the move; even in the midst of this, He was always aware of what was going on around Him. He was aware of people and their needs, and He never missed an opportunity to invest in others.

Take a look with me at Luke 8:40-56. 

And as Jesus returned, the multitude welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him. And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was an official of the synagogue; and he fell at Jesus' feet, and began to entreat Him to come to his house; for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes were pressing against Him.

And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him, and touched the fringe of His cloak; and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. And Jesus said, "Who is the one who touched Me?" And while they were all denying it, Peter said, "Master, the multitudes are crowding and pressing upon You." But Jesus said, "Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me." And when the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."

While He was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, "Your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher anymore." But when Jesus heard this, He answered Him, "Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well." And when He had come to the house, He did not allow anyone to enter with Him, except Peter and John and James, and the girl's father and mother. Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, "Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died. He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, "Child, arise!" And her spirit returned, and she rose immediately; and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened.

Notice a few specific details from this passage:

1. In the midst of the multitude, Jesus heard the cry of the individuals.
2. He was aware of something as simple as touch.
3. He sympathized with the woman. He even addressed her as "daughter," a term of endearment that comes from the same Greek word which Jairus, the synagogue official, used to describe his biological daughter.
4. The first thing He did after bringing Jairus' daughter back to life was to order food for her.

Throughout the Gospels, we can find many passages like this one. The point is this: Jesus was aware of the needs of those around Him, and He sought to meet those needs according to the will of His Father.

Next week, we will take a closer look at meeting needs, but for us this challenge is great enough: we need to be aware of what is going on around us. No matter how busy we are, there is opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. God has put us in these times and these circumstances for a reason; let's not waste it.

Bibliography

Goodrick, Edward W., John R. Kohlenberger, and James A. Swanson.Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1999. Print.

New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.

Called to Pray

by Joshua Bland

Last Thursday we remembered an event that forever shaped our nation: September 11, 2001. I know that there were many memorials occurring throughout the nation; we will always remember those that were lost, the shock that was felt as the smoke rose, the brave men and women who responded, and the terrifying, humiliating feeling that we were not as safe as once thought.

At Little Rock Christian Academy, where I teach, our weekly Chapel service was the time which we used to remember. The student body sat in silence watching the footage from that fateful day thirteen years ago. After the footage, there were still photos from each of the impacted sites as one of our students sang. As her song ended, the lights went down, and this video began playing:

Throughout the video, students and faculty came onto the stage and began praying for some of the crises which plague our world today. The message was simple: God works in what appears to us as chaos. We, His people, are called to respond: we are called to pray.

As citizens of the world who have, through the shed blood of Christ, become citizens of the Kingdom of God, we are called throughout Scripture to pray for the world. We are also called to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Most importantly, however, we pray so that we may better know God.

As he begins a chapter on the topic of prayer, Richard Foster offers us this: "Real prayer is life creating and life changing" (33). Take a look at what David says in Psalm 40:1-4:

"I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear, and will trust in the Lord. How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood."

Where does the change come from? Notice the beginning: "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry" (emphasis mine). As we cry out to God, He will hear, and He will use those moments to work His will and power in us. 

To be completely honest, I struggled as I was writing this post. Prayer, you see, is a big topic, and there is so much to say. Beginning in October, we will weekly take a look at prayer here at The Landing: we will study the Scriptures, we will see what men and women of God had to say throughout history on the subject, and we will work to better understand the spiritual discipline that is prayer. I cannot say for sure how long this will be our topic. As we seek after God through this study, I am excited to see just how He will move.

Until then, brothers and sisters, I offer the same challenge to each of us that was given last week to the students: let us seek after God in prayer. Let us wait patiently and cry out, knowing that the Sovereign God will hear.

Bibliography

Foster, Richard J. "The Discipline of Prayer." Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. 20th Anniversary Edition ed. San Francisco: Harper-Collins ebooks, 1998. 33-47. Kindle.

New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.

Time to Grow

by Joshua Bland

While preparing to write this article, I decided to Google the following phrase: "time it takes to become an expert." Take a look at some of the results from the first page:

I remember hearing the 10,000 hour "rule" growing up. It was discussed periodically in school, and was mentioned specifically in relation to artistic expertise in music, theatre, or visual arts. However, as I read through a number of these results, what I found was relatively consistent: it takes time, yes, but time alone may not be enough; expertise, according to these writers, relies also on intelligence, personality, and natural talent.

In college, I was taking a class that I was not particularly excited about. It ended up being a great experience. I remember the teacher, an instructor I had for many other classes, one day telling us that many of the big names in music entertainment did not necessarily have tons of talent. I, along with the other four students in the class, chuckled when he said this. Instead, he said, what they had was decent musical ability combined with opportunity; they were the right musicians with the right skills in the right place at the right time.

Paul writes to the church at Ephesus, saying "For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him" (Ephesians 1:15-17). In the early portion of this letter, Paul starts by acknowledging the accomplishments of these believers (i.e. their faith and love); he then follows that by showing them, in a remarkably loving way, that there is still room to grow.

As we look briefly into this passage, there are a couple of words that I want us to look at more in depth. Paul prays that God would give a spirit of wisdom. This particular word for wisdom, sophia, can be used to convey either secular or divine wisdom. The word for revelation, apokalypsis, in the New Testament refers "to God making information known, especially to His close associates" (Goodrick), directly implying divine wisdom. As such, Paul's prayer for these believers is that God would give them wisdom for life in general and, more specifically, for their relationship to Himself.

Then we come to the final phrase, much connected to the preceding discussion of apokalypsis: "in the knowledge of Him." The NIV renders it a little bit differently: "so that you may know Him better." This, my friends, is my prayer for each of us. God has given to us a remarkable opportunity, and we have the chance to work at it every moment of every day. Each choice that we make contributes to accomplish this end.

You see, I know that there will always be something new for me to learn. Even after 10,000 hours, even despite my intelligence or talent, there is still room to grow, both in fields of academia and in my relationship with Christ. May God give to each one of us that same spirit of wisdom and revelation that Paul wanted for the Ephesians. As we daily come to better know God, the overflow of this relationship will further influence every aspect of our lives.

Bibliography

Goodrick, Edward W., John R. Kohlenberger, and James A. Swanson.Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1999. Print.

"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Sept. 2014.

New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.

NIV Archaeological Study Bible: An Illustrated Walk Through Biblical History and Culture. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005. Print.

The Ground and The Deer

by Joshua Bland

Sicut areola praeparata ad inrigationes aquarum sic anima mea praeparata est ad Te Deus.

This verse comes from the Latin Vulgate. It is, according to its numbering system, Psalm 41:2. Translated into English, it reads: "As the ground is prepared for the irrigation of water, so my soul is prepared for You, God." In our modern translations, this is Psalm 42:1: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God."

My wife and I have a cat named Buttercup. Sunday morning, as I was getting up, she was making constant, obnoxious noise. Upon inspection, I found the reason for her whining: she was out of water. I picked up her water bowl; she was at my feet meowing with every step I took. As the faucet ran, her cries continued. She found no relief until her water bowl was back in its rightful place filled with fresh, cool water.

Not having water was a source of distress for Buttercup. She thirsted for it. Hers is a more domesticated image, but the message is the same. Without water, the animal withers. Even after getting a drink, eventually the thirst comes back. Water is necessary for life and growth. God is the same for our souls.

We thirst for what only God can give. Jesus said that He would give water and that whoever drank from this supply would never thirst again (John 4:13-14). He spoke not of the literal water which could be drawn from the well; instead, His parable gave an image of the source and hope of life with God, a life that has both present and future implications. In the next verse, the woman to whom He spoke eagerly asked for this water. We have the same opportunity. There is, however, a flip side to this: we can choose not to drink. Our rational minds, to our detriment, can convince us that we will be fine without the water.

This brings us back to Jerome's Latin interpretation. When I read this several weeks ago, it struck me as incredible. You see, when we know we are thirsty, we often choose to go for other things. I am a fan of Dr. Pepper, as well as a variety of hot teas. I choose them, knowing that they may not always be the best drink for me. The imagery which Jerome uses is striking because of its implications: as the farmer prepares the ground to receive water, so our souls must be prepared. The ground can only prepare itself to a certain extent, and it has no control over how much water the rain provides. The farmer takes all things into account and gives the necessary water source and supply for growth.

The amazing thing is that God does just that. Whether you prefer the illustration of the deer to that of the soil, the point is the same. God is the source of growth and hope. Without the water, the deer cannot survive. Without the water, the ground cannot produce.

We need to thirst daily for this water which Christ gives, water which will become "a well of water springing up to eternal life."

Bibliography

Biblia Sacra Vulgata: The Latin Vulgate Bible. Kindle.

New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.

No Excuses

by Joshua Bland

We have all made excuses.

I teach high school. Periodically, my students will come to me having had some issues completing their homework assignments. Some favorite examples are: "My computer was not working," "I forgot," "I left it at home," or "You never said that..." (this last despite the fact that everyone else in the class heard me say it). I have even been given the classic "My dog at my homework" on several occasions. One student was wise enough to bring me the demolished shreds of said homework as proof.

While only one student was wise enough to bring evidence, it is quite possible that some of these other excuses were legitimate. The computer may actually have not been working, or perhaps in the busy-ness of the day you actually forgot about the assignment. What is common, regardless of the truth of the excuse or not, is our tendency as humans to make excuses when we find ourselves in trouble.

We use excuses to try and ease up the trouble or burden which we have to carry. This is a learned trait which we can trace all the way back to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Making excuses is not strictly an individual phenomenon: we can see it present everywhere from a group of kids on the elementary school playground to the highest levels of government.

With this abundance of excuses, it should not surprise us that we do the same thing with God. We think that we are too ill-equipped or unworthy to answer the call of God. We tell God that He could not use us because of what we have done; that our past is too dirty. We challenge God when He calls us to something hard because we do not like what it will cost us (financially, socially, or in any number of other ways).

A classic example of this can be found in Exodus 3-4. God was calling Moses to be His servant, to go "to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt" (3:10). This was a very specific purpose. If you read through the rest of these chapters, you will find Moses doing the same thing that we so often do: he made excuses based on his insufficiency. Each time, God challenged Moses with a divine response.

Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 writes that he was given a thorn in the flesh. He begged God that it would be taken away from Him. God's response can be found in verse 9: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."

Here's the point: those things which we use as our excuses may be the very things which God wants to use for His glory. The call which He places on our lives may seem scary, and often we will not be good enough to fulfill it on our own, and that is fine- He wants to make us good enough. He wants to use our lives as examples through which to demonstrate His own strength.

Our challenge this week is quite simple: NO EXCUSES. Let's have courage to trust God as He leads, not relying on our strength but His.

Bibliography

New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.

The Next Steps

by Joshua Bland

Life involves change. While most of the details of life are somewhat inconstant, that particular fact is not. Everything changes: we grow, our families grow, our jobs change, our interests and hobbies change, and we move.

It is amazing to me to think that God is working change in each of our lives. He is the sovereign Lord of all creation, and He knows every detail long before we do. David writes: "O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, and art intimately acquainted with all my ways" (Psalm 139:1-3). A few verses later he notes that "Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them" (Psalm 139:16).

As I am writing, my wife and I have been discussing what we are going to have for supper. In the big picture, this dilemma seems to me to be quite trivial. Since God knows all of my days before one of them came to be, He knows our present discussion, both its debate and its outcome. He has long known of the passions and opportunities which He has set before us, and is intimate with the details of my life. This becomes even more incredible when I realize that I am not the center of God's attention: the same way He saw the life of David, He sees and knows each one of ours. He knows all of our meal dilemmas, as well as everything else about us.

Recently, the Landing underwent an address change. This has occurred for several reasons. For quite some time, God has been guiding my heart and passion more and more towards educational ministry. This meant balancing time between family, school, and pastoral responsibilities. In recent months, He has affirmed and reaffirmed my calling to teach. After much prayer and consideration, I have resigned from my pastoral duties at Ouachita River Fellowship.

This change brings about much opportunity. For myself, my family, and my scholastic roles/responsibilities, this will open up many doors to serve and grow. However, it also offers a new dynamic to ministry. While I will no longer be a pastor at ORF, I will continue to write here at The Landing along with Thomy and Wade. Though the situation has necessarily changed according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, my commitment to sharing the Gospel and helping the Church grow in faith and ministry has not.

Knowing that God is omniscient, that He sees our every step and so much more, we are faced with an interesting question: will we trust Him as He leads? Will we step out in faith to answer His call in our lives? I can honestly say that I am no perfect example in this, but that I am eager to see how God will work in the days ahead. I pray for each of us that God would give us both discernment to hear His voice and courage to follow wherever He leads.

Bibliography

New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

by Joshua Bland

"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."

2 Corinthians 5:17-19

We have all been hurt by somebody. Perhaps it was intentional, perhaps not. Regardless, throughout the course of our lives, we get hurt and we are changed by that hurt. We may not always recognize the last part of this, but it is true. Sometimes this hurt leads to drastic changes in our character or behavior; at other times, all it does is cause what relationship existed to erode away bit by bit.

When I was younger, I was occasionally picked on. Even as I sit here writing now, I can remember their faces. I remember the names, the taunts, and the laughter. I remember how much it hurt. I remember trying to solve it by taunting back, by pushing them the way I was being pushed. It never worked. I also remember the first day of high school, several years later, when some guys tried to start it up again. We were standing in the lunch line as our freshman year began and I heard them in line behind me. I remember turning around, laughing with them, and asking how their summer had been. I did not know then the importance of that single moment, but it was the catalyst that God would use over the next few years to lead to mutual respect through reconciliation.

The Bible has much to say on this topic. Murray J. Harris defines reconciliation as "not some polite ignoring or reduction of hostility but rather its total and objective removal" (353). As Paul writes to the Corinthian church, he describes how divine reconciliation works: though we had committed the offense, God, through Christ, reconciled us to Himself. God then calls us to the ministry of reconciliation. We are made, as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5:20, "ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

We, as disciples of Jesus Christ, are called to reconcile others to God. We are His agents of reconciliation, seeking to help all mankind return to a right relationship with our Creator. We represent Him.

In the fourteen years since the story I told you earlier, I have both hurt others and been hurt by them. Though we are Christ's representatives, there are still things in our lives that we need to work on, and these works can only be accomplished by His power. Reconciliation, as Harris notes, "is a continuing process as well as an accomplished fact" (354). Paul writes in other passages of the ongoing struggle between our flesh and the Spirit. Daily we must allow our spirits and minds to be reconciled and renewed in Christ Jesus.

Something interesting happens in the midst of this. If I am being reconciled to God and you are being reconciled to God, we are inherently being reconciled to each other. Whatever our differences, we are being made one in the body of Christ. This does not mean that we are perfect or that we are not going to have our differences, but by the example of Christ we are reconciled also to each other. Our relationships with one another are redefined and we can begin to challenge each other positively towards growth in Christ.

Just as God, despite our offenses, sought to reconcile us to Himself, we should strive for reconciliation with those who have offended us and with those we have offended.

Bibliography

Harris, Murray J. "2 Corinthians." The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. By Arthur A. Rupprecht. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1981. Print.

New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.