Tag Archives: Spiritual Walk

Creation as a Performance

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Clark Goble| Leave a comment
By Clark Goble | November 1, 2011

3 All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. – John 1:3 (HCSB)

How did the world we live in come to be? We live in a world where many suggest it was merely a cosmic accident. The right chemicals mingled at the right time and the end result was the planet earth with its myriad of life. On the other hand, the Book of John clearly articulates that all things were created through Jesus Christ. What does the Bible mean when it speaks of creation? The word the HCSB translates as “create” is the Greek “ginomai” (ghin’-om-ahee). Strong’s Greek Dictionary defines ginomai as “to cause to be.” Thayer’s Dictionary adds that it is akin to a man who “come(s) upon the stage” and appears in public with the intention of performing. Unlike an actor, however, Thayer’s continues on to say that there is an element of “ginomai” that is miraculous.

When John writes that all things were created through Him (Christ), he is asserting that there was a point in time when God appeared on the stage of history and miraculously caused everything, as we know it, to come into existence. When we consider the word “ginomai” on this level, we begin to understand how Christ fit into Creation. Colossians 1:15 teaches that Christ is the image of the invisible God. In the context of our study it becomes evident that it was Christ, the image of the invisible God, who appeared on the stage of creation. God the Father was the director and Christ Himself was the actor providing His personal touches to the performance. And what a performance it was! Paul writes in the first chapter of Romans, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made …” (Romans 1:20 NASB). Christ’s performance was one that has provided witness to God’s existence since the beginning of time.

There is an artistry and beauty in creation. So much so that every time we act, write, or perform we are merely imitating that First Great Performance!

We may quibble over the means of Creation, but there should be no debate over the identity of that First Great Performer. Looking at the word “ginomai” at greater depth helps to clarify this important Biblical assertion.

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Walking With God

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Clark Goble| 2 Comments
By Clark Goble | August 13, 2011

Approximately ten years ago I finally heard Jesus Christ calling out to me. I suspect He had been doing it for awhile but my own arrogance and pride prevented me from hearing His voice. When I finally heard Him, His voice was loud and clear.

Just days after my conversion I dropped to my knees and asked God a very specific question, “You’ve got me, now what do you want me to do?”

I asked the question without really expecting an answer, but the response I received is, to this day, the clearest expression of God’s voice I have ever heard. God responded to my question with a simple command – Walk.

You see, at the time of my conversion I was in pretty bad shape. At thirty years old I couldn’t walk very far without getting extremely fatigued. God’s command to me made sense in light of my condition. He clearly expressed to me that He couldn’t use me in this fallen world if I died prematurely; thus, he directed me to walk. I became vigilant about my task. For a solid year I walked diligently. I walked through snow, rain, hail, and extreme heat every morning for a year without fail. When I first started I couldn’t walk a block without my left leg going numb. When I arrive back at the house I was always dragging a stump of a foot along with me. Before long, however, I was walking greater distances and even jogging up a few hills. I began to use my walking time as my prayer time and looked forward to opening up to God about the things going on in my life. As a result, my health improved dramatically. I lost weight and began to look and feel much better.

However, my conviction to walk lasted only a year. I had a problem that I didn’t understand at the time. I had accepted Christ in my head in an intellectual way. There was no doubt that the claims made by Him and His apostles were accurate. However, I had failed to allow Christ to change my heart. My heart was still living in a fallen world in a fallen state. I was only half-cooked so to speak.

It took just a year before I forgot my walking was commanded by God. I grew tired of it and began to branch out. My new found fitness allowed me to begin a serious pursuit of cycling where I racked up hundreds of miles. I began weight-lifting and playing racquet ball; all endeavors worth pursuing. The problem was that I forgot where I started. When people asked me about the sudden change in my life I was far too ready to take the credit for myself. My response for my lifestyle change should have been that God had commanded me to walk and I had obeyed. He should have gotten the credit.

In the time since I have fallen off the health band wagon. I find myself needing to lose some weight. I’m a border-line diabetic. My cholesterol and triglyceride numbers could stand to be improved. I’m in bad enough shape that I don’t really enjoy those old hobbies. I’d like to someday … and that brings me right back to where I started.

Walking.

I feel like God’s chosen people who disobeyed His commands until they found themselves in exile as a result of their of own stupidity. They forgot where they came from. They forgot it was God Almighty who led them out of slavery. I forgot it was God Almighty who told me to walk.

When the people of Judah found themselves exiled in Babylon, they discovered that God immediately began making plans for their return to the promised lands. God remained faithful despite their disobedience. God has remained faithful to me despite my disobedience and my wasted opportunity to be His witness.

So today I walked. Sure, it was a short walk accompanied by two poorly trained dogs who kept trying to defecate in the middle of the street, but it was still a walk. The point is that today I obeyed a God who has remained faithful to me despite my flaws and disobedience.

How will you obey God today?

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How Did Christ Change You in 2010?

Posted on December 28, 2010 by Clark Goble| Leave a comment
By Clark Goble | December 28, 2010

This time of the year I inevitably find myself considering where I stand in my walk with Christ. I believe it is profitable for Christians to intentionally take an inventory of themselves and prayerfully consider if we are more like Christ than we once were. Christians call this process sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ. Too often, we take the initial step of accepting the gift Christ has offered us, but we fail to submit to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to change us. Sanctification is sometimes a painful process. Scriptures teach that our sinful nature will sometimes battle against the Spirit (Galatians 5:17); yet ultimately, it is for our own good. Sanctification prepares us to be used for God’s work (2 Timothy 2:21) and helps us to reflect Christ’s nature to a world that desperately needs more of Him.

This year has been both profitable and difficult for me.

My school studies and role as a Bible Study teacher have afforded me the opportunity to spend far more time than ever before engaging God’s Word. This time spent studying the Scriptures has changed me. I’m far more cognizant of my own sin and more forgiving of the sin found in others than ever before. I believe this change has been reflected in my writing. I am more likely to produce Bible studies or to view things in light of Scripture than ever before. Perhaps, I’ve discovered the world needs less of my commentary and more of His. My past passion for discipleship has been coupled with a high view of restoration. By restoration, I am talking about God’s desire for mankind to be restored into a full relationship with Him. Too often, we criticize the sin in  the world with no concern for the sinner’s restoration. I’ve been guilty of doing this. I’m not saying that we ignore sin or fail to label it for what it is … I’m just saying that everything we do as Christians should be done with the aim of restoring one another to God; after all, that’s why Christ died and rose again.

In the past year, I’ve also become more aware of some sin that is prevalent in my life. Mainly, selfishness and jealousy. Too often I put my needs ahead of others and resent it when the needs of my family or friends outweigh my own. This is in direct opposition to the example of sacrificial love that Christ has shown me.  Additionally, I sometimes find myself being jealous of the blogs and ministries of others. As a Christian, I need to rejoice more when God uses other people to spread His agenda to restore the lost. I need to be content with the 700 hits my blog gets every month and remain steadfast in the knowledge that God will use me as He sees fit. These are sins that I ask God to forgive and intend to fully repent for as I move forward in the new year.

I also pray that this new year will mean new opportunity. My desire is to write longer works and publish them as ebooks on Amazon.com and other outlets. Currently I am working on a comparative religion piece titled, “Why Christians Make Better Buddhists” along with a book aimed at helping divorced people claim the restoration that God is offering them through Christ. These are only my plans … my real prayer is that God will use me as He sees fit.

Please allow me to encourage you to take a similar inventory of your life. Where are you in your walk with Christ. Has He changed you? Are you willing to submit to the urges of the Holy Spirit? What will you do if Christ asks you to do something difficult? If you haven’t accepted Christ’s offer of restoration please consider making it your starting point … it might change your life next year.

Clark

----> Clark Goble is a disciple of Christ, a husband, father, student, and writer. He welcomes your comments and encourages you to leave one here or email him at cdgobleATgmail.com. You can follow his twitter updates at http://twitter.com/#!/CDGoble
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Perfect Discipleship

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Clark Goble| Leave a comment
By Clark Goble | May 28, 2010

Over the past few days I’ve found myself wondering what it really means to call myself a disciple of Jesus Christ; imperfect or otherwise. So often we Christians reduce discipleship into good behavior. I’m not suggesting that there isn’t an element of obedience within discipleship; however, I recognize that it can’t all be about behavior. An unbeliever can do nice things for other people. A pagan can be a good citizen and a wonderful parent. An atheist can be an upstanding member of the community. What is it then that separates the disciple of Christ from everyone else? If not behavior or good deeds, what is it that makes a disciple of Christ different? If Christ died for everyone, and everyone is capable of good (as well as bad) behavior, we are left with only one option; belief. It is belief that separates the disciple of Christ from the unbelievers. As His disciples, we believe, that Christ was who He claimed to be. We believe that Christ was both God and man and that He died for our sins and was powerfully resurrected three days later. We believe that Christ is currently with the Father and that someday He shall return.

If it is belief that separates the disciple from the unbeliever, what happens when we no longer live like we truly believe in Jesus?

We have hit critical mass in the western Christian world. Study the news for a few days to see what kind of impression Christ’s “disciples” are leaving on the world. Televangelists are hitting everyone up for money. Priests are abusing children. Preachers are turning away from the Gospel of Christ to preach a gospel of the world. In our attempt to make Scripture palatable to the unbeliever, we have turned our backs on the Bible. We live in a world that values pluralism and relativity and we have sought that world’s opinion over the approval of our Master. There is so much popular culture within the church that they are virtually indistinguishable. The church is like the small child who underestimates the ocean’s tide and finds himself dangerously far from the beach. We have drifted so far out that we can barely see our Father. At this distance, the face of our Lord and Savior blurs in with the crowd.

What then can we do? First, we must ask ourselves if we truly believe. Are we Christians because we truly believe or do we just go to church because that’s what Americans are supposed to do? Does Christ really reign supreme in our lives or do we use Him to support our pet causes or our favorite politician? Have you sought out a pastor who uses Scripture as the basis of his sermons? I’m not asking if your pastor mentions the Bible. Rather, does he begin with the Bible and throughout his sermon teach it in a way that reproves, rebukes, and encourages? Or does he preach a different gospel and occasionally use Scripture to back up what he is saying?

Many of have fallen into a snare that we can’t even see. We call ourselves disciples yet we have no clue what it means to truly disciple Christ; however, it isn’t too late. We have a gracious God who has communicated to us through Scripture. There is still time for us to study the Bible and press the global reset button on our discipleship. But to learn what discipleship truly is we must go to the Word.

The word discipleship(s) occurs in the New Testament over two hundred times. It comes from the Greek word mathetes. It is defined as a learner or pupil. It can be argued that we are all disciples of someone. We have all learned how to live our lives from someone. It may be our parents, our school teachers, our friends, or even reality television. We all disciple someone.

In the case of Christians, we have chosen to learn from Jesus Christ. We have chosen Christ as out Master because He is worthy. This choice is of vital importance. Matthew 10:25 says that if your master is called Beezlebub, those who follow him will be called even worse. Not only was the name Beezlebub another name for Satan, it was also the name of the Chaldean dung god. Roughly translated this means that if the master you choose is a piece of crap, you’ll be an even bigger piece of crap! Jesus is worthy of our discipleship. We can rest assured that our choice of Jesus as Master is well placed.

Once we’ve chosen Jesus, the Bible also teaches us how that choice should be demonstrated in our lives. Based on Scripture, we can create a profile of the perfect disciple of Christ:

  • First, the perfect disciple recognizes that he is not above his master (Mat 10:24). The perfect disciple must maintain a humble spirit and continually recognize his master’s authority over his life.
  • The perfect disciple must love his master above all other things including his wife, parents, children, brothers, sisters, and even himself (Luke 14:26). If one of these people is standing between us and Christ, we must hate them as compared to our feelings for Christ. Many people have a problem with the prospect of loving Christ more than their family. I can relate. I love my wife more than I love oxygen. There have been times in my life when my children were what inspired me to keep going. However, if I truly believe in Jesus, than I have to believe that He will teach me the best way to relate to and love my family. The perfect disciple puts Christ first and allows all other relationships to fall into order.
  • The perfect disciple must be willing to carry heavy burdens in her pursuit of Christ (Luke 14:27). The perfect disciple isn’t perfect because she has never suffered. Rather, she is perfect because she follows Christ in the midst of her storm regardless of how difficult it is. She carries her own cross in pursuit of Christ.
  • The perfect disciple is willing to give up all that he has to follow Christ (Luke 14:33). Discipleship to Christ is the most valuable part of the perfect disciple’s life. Think of your most valued possession or relationship. Imagine what it is that you treasure the most in your life. The perfect disciple would give that treasured item up in a heartbeat to continue in discipleship to Christ.

This concept of the perfect disciple seems a little daunting. After all, if any of us were capable of being the “perfect” disciple to Christ we probably wouldn’t be visiting a blog titled “The Imperfect Disciples!” We can take heart, however, in that we serve a gracious and merciful God. The apostle Paul likened our discipleship to a marathon. I’m going to liken it to something a little different. In southern Ohio there is an annual bicycle event called the Tour of the Scioto River Valley (TOSRV). Every year, on Mother’s Day weekend, cyclist set out from Columbus in central Ohio and pedal all the way to the Ohio River. The next day, these crazy cyclists make the return trip totaling over two miles by the end of the weekend. All of us that live along the TOSRV’s route find great amusement in those cyclists that get lost along the way. They may all set out from the same point and with the same destination, but there are always a few that get lost along the way and find themselves way off course. This is how our discipleship works. We all begin with a belief that Christ is a Master worthy of discipleship. Along the way, some of us get lost. We may not pedal as fast as the other disciples. We may not all be prepared physically and emotionally for the trip, however, we all have to cross the same hills. It takes effort. We may even have to get off of the bike and walk. However, if we strive to keep Christ as our master and to make our discipleship to Him our most important relationship, we will all reach the river!

There may never be a “perfect” disciple to Jesus Christ. Peter’s belief faltered. Thomas doubted. Paul referred to himself as the chief of all sinners. The point is that even Lance Armstrong crashes his bike every once in awhile! Thankfully, Scripture teaches that discipleship to Christ is a process.  Luke 6:40 says that when we are fully trained we will look like our master. We are all still in training, however, if we all profess to believe that discipleship is a journey worth taking, we must begin by making the right decisions now. We must begin by evaluating ourselves and living as if we truly believe Christ is our Lord.

For without belief we are no different than anyone else.

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Majesty in the Manure

Posted on December 25, 2009 by Todd French| 3 Comments
By Todd French | December 25, 2009

Just over two millennia ago, a member of the trinity took on the robe of flesh, set aside his right to be God, and became fully mortal.  He entered the flow of events and our world in the way every being has entered it since Adam and Eve.  An obscure teenage virgin gave birth to God in the most humble of circumstances.  She gave birth to God amongst the livestock, because there was absolutely no room anywhere in the entire city for them.  The spirit that was there at the moment of creation that participated in the founding of the world was relegated to being born amongst the animals.  The God that participated in Genesis 1:1 was relegated to a place of poverty at his birth.

The first smells that entered God’s nostrils of flesh were most likely the stench of manure.  The prince of peace was subjected to a stink that we modern humans avoid at all costs.  He was wrapped in rags of cloth and laid in the place from which the livestock fed.  The co-owner of creation, at his birth, was left among the marginalized and the dispossessed.  It is important in viewing this scene not to view it with rose-colored glasses.  It is important not to see this in soft fuzzy lighting with an eye toward some nostalgic perspective.

God entered the world into squalor.  The scene at his birth was likely a chaotic one.  It is unlikely that Mary and Joseph were alone in the cave that functioned as a stable.  This place was likely filled with other poor travelers that couldn’t find lodging anywhere in Bethlehem. It is unlikely that this place had been cleared of animals.  And so it was that God came into the world among a crowded cave filled with the flotsam and jetsam that made up the bottom rungs of Jewish society at that time.   The stench of sweaty, unwashed people most likely mixed with the foul odor of the livestock and their decaying offal to create an overwhelming odor that I honestly cannot begin to imagine.

This moment at God’s birth was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah regarding, “A great light” and “Unto us a son is given”.  Our modern minds tend to focus on the great chorus of angels that heralded the birth of the Messiah and the Magi that came from the east.  We tend to try and avoid focusing on the stable in which the Christ was born.  And yet it is in this humble cave that an amazing event occurred.  A teenage virgin, engaged to a carpenter, gave birth to the prince of peace there.  And the miracle of this season took place.  The miracle that affirmed God’s will for his creation was brought to fruition there.

It is puzzling that the creator of the universe chose such a lowly place to enter the world he created.  The God that parted the Red Sea, gave Daniel comfort in the lion’s den, provided the support for Meshack, Shadrack, and Abednigo; entered the world in a place, and a time that none would have expected.  God confounded the expectations of his people as he began fulfilling his promise of a messiah.  The birth of the Messiah was primarily witnessed by livestock, the unlucky, the dispossessed, and a small band of shepherds. Not exactly a proper court for the King of Kings, but it is what God selected.

The moment of the birth of the Messiah was an amazing moment in time.  It was a majestic event that happened in the midst of manure.  I cannot help but be awed by it.  I cannot help but be left speechless when I consider it.  The march to the cross began in a stable filled with the fragrant aroma of decaying fecal matter.  The nostrils of the Messiah were filled with the stench of this life from His very first breath.  The stench of our sin, and degradation was in his nose from the very beginning.  And God didn’t run from it, or select a different place to avoid it.  God chose to step into this life in the most humble of circumstances and be exposed from the very beginning to the stench of our existence.  He chose to seek out his creation at its most raw and basal level.  He didn’t shrink from the appointment with us.  He welcomed it, he invited it, and he took it squarely head on, beginning with the moment of his birth.

In a lowly cave in Bethlehem, God came near to us two millennia ago.  He has chosen to abide with his creation.  He has chosen through substitutional sacrifice to impute value into his own, to impute his value into his own.  He chose to draw near to those capable of hearing his voice.  And he has never left us since.

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