What is the meaning of life, human morality and purpose/destiny? Isn't there more than just what i know? Does Truth need our help or approval?
There is plenty of confusion to deal with today, but it is incoherent to think of one's self as the center of everything or believe that there is no such thing as exclusive truth. Many versions of truth that we have been presented with do not make any sense when you begin to dig deep and explore the full ends of their basic tenets. Some have even used ideas or sections of The Bible, corrupting them in order to make it more palatable for those who are not really interested in the truth. They only serve to try to confuse and obscure the real, original ideas of scripture.
Maybe what you have been taught does not line up with your experiences and Jesus is not who you thought He was. He is bigger than our ego's. He reveals Himself as He chooses, and no imposter even compares. Men and the gods they have created are cruel, changeable and impersonal. Jesus is the same now as He was at creation, and gave His life for those He loves to repair the damage we did there and restore us to His family. It was an unmistakable event in history and He carefully regenerates us now.
He doesn't just tell us we must be holy and pure, but actively makes us that way as we daily surrender to Him and invite Him to defeat the evil in us. That's what makes me press on boldly even though i regularly see the rancid corruption that is present inside me. It involves a commitment to sincere, consistent study and a change in the priorities and goals for your life.
You simply ask God to reveal His Truth for you and then maintain a constant and patient focus on Him, applying the principles you find in The Bible to your own life and relationships. If one is blind, it does not mean that there is no light. You can hear His call and no one who has answered Him has ever regretted it.
There is plenty of confusion to deal with today, but it is incoherent to think of one's self as the center of everything or believe that there is no such thing as exclusive truth. Many versions of truth that we have been presented with do not make any sense when you begin to dig deep and explore the full ends of their basic tenets. Some have even used ideas or sections of The Bible, corrupting them in order to make it more palatable for those who are not really interested in the truth. They only serve to try to confuse and obscure the real, original ideas of scripture.
Maybe what you have been taught does not line up with your experiences and Jesus is not who you thought He was. He is bigger than our ego's. He reveals Himself as He chooses, and no imposter even compares. Men and the gods they have created are cruel, changeable and impersonal. Jesus is the same now as He was at creation, and gave His life for those He loves to repair the damage we did there and restore us to His family. It was an unmistakable event in history and He carefully regenerates us now.
He doesn't just tell us we must be holy and pure, but actively makes us that way as we daily surrender to Him and invite Him to defeat the evil in us. That's what makes me press on boldly even though i regularly see the rancid corruption that is present inside me. It involves a commitment to sincere, consistent study and a change in the priorities and goals for your life.
You simply ask God to reveal His Truth for you and then maintain a constant and patient focus on Him, applying the principles you find in The Bible to your own life and relationships. If one is blind, it does not mean that there is no light. You can hear His call and no one who has answered Him has ever regretted it.
I want to give testimony to what The Living, Sovereign God has done in my life. My hope is for you to follow Christ Jesus to see for yourself! He gives us hope and meaning, and makes us clean. There is no excuse.
How do you know that God is real?
There is historical basis for Jesus and The Bible to be sure, but the real evidence is in the heart. Because of the desire He nurtured in me to know Him and seeking to learn about Him by reading the instructions that He gave us in The Bible, i have experienced His love and power in many ways. When i pray, i feel His presence and know that He is listening. When i have a problem, He reassures me. My life is not suddenly perfect because of Him and there is no ritual or magic formula, but He reveals Himself in ways that are gentle yet powerful.
He warns us not to worship idols such as our stuff, money, sexuality, or career and says He made us in His own image, like children. We were not made to be owners/consumers, but stewards of all He has provided for us. He is asking us to worship Him only, without having any tangible or visible representation(it is reasonable), which makes it harder to pretend to love Him.
He deserves all the adoration we can assemble as He is infinitely perfect and magnificent. He is a consuming fire which nothing can resist, but created us in conditions where we had the opportunity to. If we ignore His teaching and behave like stubborn children, we will only have ourselves to blame.
He has already made it readily apparent from all He has made that He is exactly who He says He is. If He can design and sustain such intricate and complex information systems such as this massive universe as well as give the tiniest things we can see a beauty that only we can appreciate, surely He can be trusted with my life.
It is arrogant to expect God to do anything for us or to reveal Himself to us without offering Him our full and constant attention based solely on who He is. He has provided our next breath and all that we need to live.
When we are focused on Him, the things we see and experience throughout the day are not as important. We become less self-absorbed and more attuned to what His Holy Spirit is showing us. He is everywhere, all the time, and doesn't miss anything.
His Art(daily captured for us by the folks at APOD), helps to remind us that there is a much greater perspective than just what we see here.
Shouldn't we persistently give Him the love and admiration here and now that we would give Him if He were visible to the world in all His magnificence? He doesn't want us to be afraid of Him, but respect and admire Him.
Faith is knowing that i am not the center of everything and trusting what He has promised us in His Word(The Bible). It has credibility, unlike much of what we see and hear otherwise. There is so much dishonesty and evil that it makes the real truth and love of God even more obvious.
Even if everyone and everything around me tells me that God's love is a lie and there is no justice, nothing can change it. I am a believer because i believe what He says and am actively listening to what He is saying rather than everything and everyone else.
What kind of background do you come from?
I grew up in Pentecostal/Holiness type churches that didn't really have useful Christian teaching. I only had the example of a grandmother who always displayed mercy, purity and peacemaking. I suffered severe mental health issues at a time when no one knew much about them. My parents verbally abused me for it. My teachers were convinced that punishment was the solution. My experience in the US Air Force was very unhealthy and i received maximum discipline and minimum clinical insight. I failed so much that it seemed as though i was not going to survive. A personality disorder is an excuse for the AF and soldiers to abandon and deride you. Even Christians would not help, since males are expected to behave a certain way and not need any emotional support. It seems that many believe people with emotional or mental disorders cannot be discipled.
It was during this time that God introduced me to my best friend and wife. I had prayed for such a companion for a long time and when i met her finally, it was tremendous. God created marriage and love, so He would know better than anyone how to love and what love really is. I have found His example helpful and there is no finer groom than Jesus. Megan and i have been married since 1997, and it has been worth all the challenges and struggles to find that i have a friend that i know and trust. It still takes a lot of patience, but because of true commitment and learning to love like Jesus, we have a satisfying relationship. God made us capable of making some fantastic mess, but He shows how sovereign and supreme He really is through it and pours out His love on us in the process.
What is the single greatest event in your life so far that has influenced your relationship with Jesus Christ?
One of our babies, Elijah, was born and seemed very healthy at first. It was soon apparent though that something was wrong with him and our lives began to change forever.
Up to that point, we both believed that God was real and active, but that was pretty much the extent of our concern with Him. We found ourselves desperately reaching for answers about why this was happening to our children and what could be done about it. I started to pray a lot and tried to reassure my wife and myself that Elijah would come out of this and be O.K. But he only got worse and we were growing weary from driving back and forth between hospitals and work and anything that would take our minds off of the pain. It got to a point where we had to make the decision to allow him to die, because his condition was so bad that there was nothing else that could be done and he was suffering. That was rough. He was swollen and discolored, had myriad tubes and gadgets, and we could rarely hold him. Nothing could have prepared us for the end of 2005. He was born on July 13th and died in our arms on the afternoon of September 30th. We wanted to give up. We were destroyed. We felt no hope for the future. We wanted to blame God, blame ourselves, escape the pain, refuse to go on.
We lost our jobs, our house and our minds. We spent months hashing out our emotions and i became an alcoholic and someone my family would not want around anymore. God, however, was not content to let me destroy myself and my family.
Because Jesus became my living water, He overcame my addiction. None of the positive changes in my life since would have been possible without the events of 2005 happening the way they did, and God's intervention in our, then, self-absorbed life.
Because God is compassionate, we take encouragement in knowing that we will see Elijah and the others again soon in the way we were supposed to live before The Fall, with no suffering and no death. (See 2 Sam. 12:13-23; Deut. 1:31-39; Job 3:11-19)
God's goodness, love and justice are defined by His own being, not by our perception of it or Him. We cannot know the beauty and magnitude of His being except through the pain and darkness.
There are so many competing ideas about God and varying world-views. How do you know you are doing it right?
I read and study The Bible(which stands out from other 'holy books' as self-evident and has a reliable history and purpose focusing on Jesus) and use it as my measure for living. I no longer have to feel my way around in the dark. The people that Jesus entrusted His message to were not a large group of egalitarians nor a single individual. His goal was deliberate. No other belief provides the hope and confidence that one in Christ does, and the realness is experienced through applying it. You will not know if you only listen to your own voice, influenced by the depravity and selfish pride that is common to us all.
I've been to lots of different kinds of churches since i was a kid, but many seemed more like social clubs or inspirational meetings than real-life applicators. Emphasis was usually put on appearances or emotional experience, rather than the heart change that makes you the man or woman that you were intended to be. You must have trusted relationships where you can be open and receive help.
I have met a lot of people i would call 'good', but my standard is useless. Merely having a religion just requires you to earn or perform but does not change your heart, so there will be lots of 'good' people who will have chosen permanent separation from God because they did not want to know the real Jesus Christ.
He was The Son Of God Himself wrapped in a mortal body for a time as an example for us and sacrificed Himself for us. Following Jesus is not being religious, it is recognizing who He is and devoting your life to bringing Him glory. If we belong to Him and remain in (communion with) Him, we allow ourselves to be broken like the bread(His body) and poured out like the wine(His blood) so that His glory is seen and His good purposes are realized. His followers are not perfect, but that is no excuse to take advantage of the grace He has given. It isn't complicated but it does require a genuine commitment.
What are some issues that you see today that are particularly important to you?
People are going to unintentionally let me down or willfully hurt me sometimes. I am going to do the same because i am nowhere near perfect yet and must continue the struggle to conform to the example of Christ despite my sinful nature. If God did not have mercy on us, we would have long ago become monsters and there would be no good left in the world anywhere, like in the time of Noah. It would be easy to focus on the faults of others while minimizing my own, but openly confessing my sin makes it less likely to continue and gives us the conviction to change. Avoiding trusting relationships or repaying evil with evil will only lead to more misery instead of peace.
We are all messed up somehow, but bearing with each other helps us all get the best out of this short and frequently painful life. If we can forgive and love no matter what someone does or says, it will improve the lives of everyone but especially the person doing the forgiving. The happiest people are those who focus on the well-being of others and show unconditional love for them, rather than being self-centered.
We were not meant to live life alone or figure it out on our own. Men need the fraternal fellowship and push to overcome that they only get in tough experiences with other men, some of whom are older and wiser. This is how real character is created and mutual trust is gained. There will always be fighting as long as everyone is so proud of themselves, but at times it will stop because someone chose to love and help instead. That compassion for other human beings has a legacy that transcends our mortal life and is felt in places we do not comprehend. It is incoherent to begin a relationship but not value it more than your own inconstant desires. These relationships will be the measure of our life when it is over. It won't matter what they thought, but rather what we chose.
I strive to follow the example of Christ in being that loving and forgiving to my family and all those that i meet in my daily life. Sometimes it takes some time to really forgive, but nothing can bring us greater pleasure and satisfaction than being able to reveal the love that Christ has shown us. No one deserves it, but we are required to show it to everyone.
I don't always display the joy that comes from having Christ. I don't stay the same but keep pressing forward, still desperately and consistently in need of God’s grace and his power for change. Sometimes i feel like i will fail at everything and there is no use, but He tells me that is a lie every time and that i should trust Him. He is capable of anything, which includes making me a better man than i was yesterday, and i don't run from His discipline. I'm still here because i have more work to do in bringing Him glory and serving my community.
Yahweh Journal is a reminder and study tool firstly for me, before i ever hope in it's message being read by others. I need to hold fast to these truths, preaching to my own soul as well as making Him known to others. Half of the planet still doesn't know about Jesus and there are a lot of people that could use some loving friendship and a helping hand today.
Being a follower of Christ will not make your life perfect. There will always be struggles to overcome, and we must strive to do it gracefully rather than trying to demand something of God. As much as it hurts, we must do what is required to further God's purposes for our life and those around us. If you face those circumstances with your focus on Him, it will make His glory apparent to those around you and strengthen your bond with Him.
Suffering makes us a potent example of Christ to those around us as we travel hard roads with joy despite and endure pain for the sake of others. In the end, it will be glorious and perfect. Prayer helps us deal with it in the meantime, and He does love every one of us. He wouldn't be God if we could fit His agenda in our head.
Though He does provide rest, He didn't command us to lie down in green pastures and be spiritually lazy or use our study time as a retreat to personal enjoyment. His Word is a sword and He said 'Go'. We should be applying what we read instead of focusing on what Jesus can do for me. We are His body and must function as one. I don't know everything, but God continues to give me wisdom and guidance for every area of my life.
He has kept all of His promises and never fails me. I trust Him and will continue to listen. I won't stop speaking what is true.
How do you know that God is real?
There is historical basis for Jesus and The Bible to be sure, but the real evidence is in the heart. Because of the desire He nurtured in me to know Him and seeking to learn about Him by reading the instructions that He gave us in The Bible, i have experienced His love and power in many ways. When i pray, i feel His presence and know that He is listening. When i have a problem, He reassures me. My life is not suddenly perfect because of Him and there is no ritual or magic formula, but He reveals Himself in ways that are gentle yet powerful.
He warns us not to worship idols such as our stuff, money, sexuality, or career and says He made us in His own image, like children. We were not made to be owners/consumers, but stewards of all He has provided for us. He is asking us to worship Him only, without having any tangible or visible representation(it is reasonable), which makes it harder to pretend to love Him.
He deserves all the adoration we can assemble as He is infinitely perfect and magnificent. He is a consuming fire which nothing can resist, but created us in conditions where we had the opportunity to. If we ignore His teaching and behave like stubborn children, we will only have ourselves to blame.
He has already made it readily apparent from all He has made that He is exactly who He says He is. If He can design and sustain such intricate and complex information systems such as this massive universe as well as give the tiniest things we can see a beauty that only we can appreciate, surely He can be trusted with my life.
It is arrogant to expect God to do anything for us or to reveal Himself to us without offering Him our full and constant attention based solely on who He is. He has provided our next breath and all that we need to live.
When we are focused on Him, the things we see and experience throughout the day are not as important. We become less self-absorbed and more attuned to what His Holy Spirit is showing us. He is everywhere, all the time, and doesn't miss anything.
Shouldn't we persistently give Him the love and admiration here and now that we would give Him if He were visible to the world in all His magnificence? He doesn't want us to be afraid of Him, but respect and admire Him.
Faith is knowing that i am not the center of everything and trusting what He has promised us in His Word(The Bible). It has credibility, unlike much of what we see and hear otherwise. There is so much dishonesty and evil that it makes the real truth and love of God even more obvious.
Even if everyone and everything around me tells me that God's love is a lie and there is no justice, nothing can change it. I am a believer because i believe what He says and am actively listening to what He is saying rather than everything and everyone else.
What kind of background do you come from?
I grew up in Pentecostal/Holiness type churches that didn't really have useful Christian teaching. I only had the example of a grandmother who always displayed mercy, purity and peacemaking. I suffered severe mental health issues at a time when no one knew much about them. My parents verbally abused me for it. My teachers were convinced that punishment was the solution. My experience in the US Air Force was very unhealthy and i received maximum discipline and minimum clinical insight. I failed so much that it seemed as though i was not going to survive. A personality disorder is an excuse for the AF and soldiers to abandon and deride you. Even Christians would not help, since males are expected to behave a certain way and not need any emotional support. It seems that many believe people with emotional or mental disorders cannot be discipled.
It was during this time that God introduced me to my best friend and wife. I had prayed for such a companion for a long time and when i met her finally, it was tremendous. God created marriage and love, so He would know better than anyone how to love and what love really is. I have found His example helpful and there is no finer groom than Jesus. Megan and i have been married since 1997, and it has been worth all the challenges and struggles to find that i have a friend that i know and trust. It still takes a lot of patience, but because of true commitment and learning to love like Jesus, we have a satisfying relationship. God made us capable of making some fantastic mess, but He shows how sovereign and supreme He really is through it and pours out His love on us in the process.
What is the single greatest event in your life so far that has influenced your relationship with Jesus Christ?
 |
| Elijah James Chavis, July 13th-September 30th, 2005 |
Up to that point, we both believed that God was real and active, but that was pretty much the extent of our concern with Him. We found ourselves desperately reaching for answers about why this was happening to our children and what could be done about it. I started to pray a lot and tried to reassure my wife and myself that Elijah would come out of this and be O.K. But he only got worse and we were growing weary from driving back and forth between hospitals and work and anything that would take our minds off of the pain. It got to a point where we had to make the decision to allow him to die, because his condition was so bad that there was nothing else that could be done and he was suffering. That was rough. He was swollen and discolored, had myriad tubes and gadgets, and we could rarely hold him. Nothing could have prepared us for the end of 2005. He was born on July 13th and died in our arms on the afternoon of September 30th. We wanted to give up. We were destroyed. We felt no hope for the future. We wanted to blame God, blame ourselves, escape the pain, refuse to go on.
We lost our jobs, our house and our minds. We spent months hashing out our emotions and i became an alcoholic and someone my family would not want around anymore. God, however, was not content to let me destroy myself and my family.
Because Jesus became my living water, He overcame my addiction. None of the positive changes in my life since would have been possible without the events of 2005 happening the way they did, and God's intervention in our, then, self-absorbed life.
Because God is compassionate, we take encouragement in knowing that we will see Elijah and the others again soon in the way we were supposed to live before The Fall, with no suffering and no death. (See 2 Sam. 12:13-23; Deut. 1:31-39; Job 3:11-19)
God's goodness, love and justice are defined by His own being, not by our perception of it or Him. We cannot know the beauty and magnitude of His being except through the pain and darkness.
There are so many competing ideas about God and varying world-views. How do you know you are doing it right?
I read and study The Bible(which stands out from other 'holy books' as self-evident and has a reliable history and purpose focusing on Jesus) and use it as my measure for living. I no longer have to feel my way around in the dark. The people that Jesus entrusted His message to were not a large group of egalitarians nor a single individual. His goal was deliberate. No other belief provides the hope and confidence that one in Christ does, and the realness is experienced through applying it. You will not know if you only listen to your own voice, influenced by the depravity and selfish pride that is common to us all.
I've been to lots of different kinds of churches since i was a kid, but many seemed more like social clubs or inspirational meetings than real-life applicators. Emphasis was usually put on appearances or emotional experience, rather than the heart change that makes you the man or woman that you were intended to be. You must have trusted relationships where you can be open and receive help.
I have met a lot of people i would call 'good', but my standard is useless. Merely having a religion just requires you to earn or perform but does not change your heart, so there will be lots of 'good' people who will have chosen permanent separation from God because they did not want to know the real Jesus Christ.
What are some issues that you see today that are particularly important to you?
People are going to unintentionally let me down or willfully hurt me sometimes. I am going to do the same because i am nowhere near perfect yet and must continue the struggle to conform to the example of Christ despite my sinful nature. If God did not have mercy on us, we would have long ago become monsters and there would be no good left in the world anywhere, like in the time of Noah. It would be easy to focus on the faults of others while minimizing my own, but openly confessing my sin makes it less likely to continue and gives us the conviction to change. Avoiding trusting relationships or repaying evil with evil will only lead to more misery instead of peace.
We are all messed up somehow, but bearing with each other helps us all get the best out of this short and frequently painful life. If we can forgive and love no matter what someone does or says, it will improve the lives of everyone but especially the person doing the forgiving. The happiest people are those who focus on the well-being of others and show unconditional love for them, rather than being self-centered.
We were not meant to live life alone or figure it out on our own. Men need the fraternal fellowship and push to overcome that they only get in tough experiences with other men, some of whom are older and wiser. This is how real character is created and mutual trust is gained. There will always be fighting as long as everyone is so proud of themselves, but at times it will stop because someone chose to love and help instead. That compassion for other human beings has a legacy that transcends our mortal life and is felt in places we do not comprehend. It is incoherent to begin a relationship but not value it more than your own inconstant desires. These relationships will be the measure of our life when it is over. It won't matter what they thought, but rather what we chose.
I strive to follow the example of Christ in being that loving and forgiving to my family and all those that i meet in my daily life. Sometimes it takes some time to really forgive, but nothing can bring us greater pleasure and satisfaction than being able to reveal the love that Christ has shown us. No one deserves it, but we are required to show it to everyone.
I don't always display the joy that comes from having Christ. I don't stay the same but keep pressing forward, still desperately and consistently in need of God’s grace and his power for change. Sometimes i feel like i will fail at everything and there is no use, but He tells me that is a lie every time and that i should trust Him. He is capable of anything, which includes making me a better man than i was yesterday, and i don't run from His discipline. I'm still here because i have more work to do in bringing Him glory and serving my community.
Yahweh Journal is a reminder and study tool firstly for me, before i ever hope in it's message being read by others. I need to hold fast to these truths, preaching to my own soul as well as making Him known to others. Half of the planet still doesn't know about Jesus and there are a lot of people that could use some loving friendship and a helping hand today.
Being a follower of Christ will not make your life perfect. There will always be struggles to overcome, and we must strive to do it gracefully rather than trying to demand something of God. As much as it hurts, we must do what is required to further God's purposes for our life and those around us. If you face those circumstances with your focus on Him, it will make His glory apparent to those around you and strengthen your bond with Him.
Suffering makes us a potent example of Christ to those around us as we travel hard roads with joy despite and endure pain for the sake of others. In the end, it will be glorious and perfect. Prayer helps us deal with it in the meantime, and He does love every one of us. He wouldn't be God if we could fit His agenda in our head.
Though He does provide rest, He didn't command us to lie down in green pastures and be spiritually lazy or use our study time as a retreat to personal enjoyment. His Word is a sword and He said 'Go'. We should be applying what we read instead of focusing on what Jesus can do for me. We are His body and must function as one. I don't know everything, but God continues to give me wisdom and guidance for every area of my life.
He has kept all of His promises and never fails me. I trust Him and will continue to listen. I won't stop speaking what is true.
Comment from my wonderful wife, Megan:
I've come to realize that after all the loss and hardships we've experienced together as a couple, the only way we survived was by surrendering to God's perfect will and purpose for us. I admit that during those experiences, i wanted to turn away from him. I constantly asked him "Why?" But i soon found that God was the only one who could completely understand what we were going through and the only one that could comfort us. He was the only one who could light our way out of the darkness. He brought us peace. He even knew the answer to my "Why?" Although i have not received the answer to every question, i have come to accept His will and purpose for our lives.
He really loves us and knows us more personally than we will ever know each other. I understand now that my "Why's" were simply an agonizing part of the loss. I had to let them go so we could both heal and find peace in God's purpose. I could not question God any longer. I could only trust Him and thank him every day for the experiences we've had that have brought us closer to each other and to Him. I feel blessed to have had this experience because it helps me overcome the hardships i face today and the pain i will feel tomorrow. I know God will be there for me.
I've come to realize that after all the loss and hardships we've experienced together as a couple, the only way we survived was by surrendering to God's perfect will and purpose for us. I admit that during those experiences, i wanted to turn away from him. I constantly asked him "Why?" But i soon found that God was the only one who could completely understand what we were going through and the only one that could comfort us. He was the only one who could light our way out of the darkness. He brought us peace. He even knew the answer to my "Why?" Although i have not received the answer to every question, i have come to accept His will and purpose for our lives.
He really loves us and knows us more personally than we will ever know each other. I understand now that my "Why's" were simply an agonizing part of the loss. I had to let them go so we could both heal and find peace in God's purpose. I could not question God any longer. I could only trust Him and thank him every day for the experiences we've had that have brought us closer to each other and to Him. I feel blessed to have had this experience because it helps me overcome the hardships i face today and the pain i will feel tomorrow. I know God will be there for me.
