God First, Even When You're Dead

Insignificance.

It sounds easy, right? Well, yes and no. After all, being a nobody doesn't exactly take a lot of work. I happen to know from personal experience. On the other hand, it's not easy to accept until you understand that you don't lose like the world understands losing. When you come second to God, you end up fulfilling all the backwards sayings of Jesus. You know, the first being last and all that.

But even this isn't as easy as it sounds. And why? Because we haven't added the suffering.

A good example comes in John 11 when Lazarus dies. Much has been said regarding this story and what Jesus was doing. At two different moments, Jesus says it is for their belief and for the glory of God that this happened.

Sop and let that sink in. Lazarus didn't die because he was healthy. He got sick. He suffered. He breathed his last (or so he thought). His sisters tried to help him. They even turned to Jesus for healing. When nothing changed, they mourned his death. Anyone losing a close loved one understands this was not a Sunday School lesson with fuzzy animals on a flannel graph.

This was sickness. This was death. This was insignificance experienced for the sake of the glory of God.

God comes first. We come second. When it feels good. Even when it doesn't.

Comments

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...

The Facebook Maybe

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Indescribable

Holy cow! I only thought I was amazed by our universe. But after reading Indescribable by Louie Giglio and Matt Redman, now I am seriously overwhelmed by space. From the size of stars to the immense gaps in space between objects, I am in way over my head. But why create stretches of the universe that will never be seen? Why be content for distant galaxies to go completely unnoticed for thousands and thousands of years? It is a mark of extravagance in the heart of our Creator God. God is not like us. Of course, when you start talking about how big everything is, you have to discuss how small we are. Maybe, just maybe, we’re not that big after all. But it’s not for lack of trying, is it? In the early days, people tried to build a tower that would reach the heavens. Talk about self-confidence. And, in every generation since, we have worked to elevate our names and build things as if we could really garner fame that lasts. I absolutely love that idea. Th...

Rick Nier...Woo!

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