Author Archives: freespiritseedcompany

As a scientist, the idea of miracles has puzzled me for a long time.   

The scientist in me always wants better explanations for miracles than, “He’s God. He can do whatever he wants.”

I mean, that’s true and all, but I still wished for something a little deeper.

And now I have found it.

“He [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Hebrews 1:3a.

He upholds the universe by his word.

I think what the author is saying is God owns all the molecules in the universe.  He owns all the laws of gravity, positive particles attracting negative, and so forth.  He is the one who makes all that stuff keep doing what it does.  Which means he can change it up, too.  Consider the following example.  

You are in charge of the furniture in your living room.  You can put the couch there, the chairs right here, and the TV against that wall.  You can leave them there forever, move them around just for a party, or rearrange every weekend.  You may keep them or replace them if you like.

That is what God does with all of his molecules and all his laws of science.

God is to the laws of nature as you are to the arrangement of furniture in your living room.  He can leave them where he put them, rearrange them, and put them back.  Like your couch and La-Z-Boy, they stay wherever you choose.

Or to say it in a slightly more “science-y” way, dark matter, protons and electrons, the Laws of Thermodynamics, light waves — all of it — behaves how it does because Jesus holds the laws of science in place by his word.  He wills them to remain in motion each second.  If he stopped, they would go out of existence.

You and I, our cars and homes, our puppy dogs and blue jeans, all exist because Jesus keeps holding them in existence.  If he ever paused, we would stop existing immediately.

Miracles are not when God violates the laws of science.  They are his laws.  Miracles are when he rearranges his molecules.  He can do that, just like you can rearrange your TV and entertainment center.

When he rearranges his molecules, it may mean he turns cancer molecules into healthy liver molecules.  Or frees someone from an addiction.  Or makes a broken truck start.

So why not ask him to!  Remember he says, “You do not have, because you do not ask,” James 4:2.   Ask fervently and ask a lot!

Make sure your motives are to honor him.  “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”  James 4:3

Some people enjoy rearranging their furniture and would be quite delighted if someone they love asked them to do it.  I think God is kind of like that.  “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” He is searching for people to show himself strong for.  2 Chronicles 16:9, Psalm 37:4, Jer 33:3.

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‘Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant… And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. ‘ Luke 7:2-3,10

The centurion would have been a Roman officer, a commander over 100 other Roman soldiers.  They oppressed the Jewish people harshly, bankrupting them, murdering them, etc.  But Jesus showed compassion on this officer.

I am thinking that would have been like a Jewish person having mercy on the Nazi commander of his concentration camp. 

Then there were the Roman (think: Nazi-like) soldiers who beat those metal nails through his hands and feet.

How did Jesus respond to them?  He asked his Father to forgive them because they didn’t understand what they were doing.

I am trying to imagine how it would feel if the German SS came at my family and me with a bunch of big hammers and railroad spikes.  I pray to God I am never in that type of situation, but if I ever am, I doubt I would feel any compassion toward their commanding officer, nor would I ask God to forgive them.  That would be psycho.

My point is that the kind of love Jesus showed (shows) is not like mine.  At all.

It is not human.  I’m not being cliché to say it is other-worldly.  

Meanwhile I struggle with not getting upset when my kids leave the milk and cereal out again.

I don’t know where you are on your spiritual journey or if you even have one. I just want to say that if Jesus is anywhere on your radar screen, he wants to be for you something a lot bigger than a Really Nice Person. I want to invite you to dig a little deeper. He may be worth taking another look at.

I don’t want to be “the king of my castle” per se. I am not a Type A, I-have-to-be-in-front, kind of guy. I do want to dominate my home but not in the way one football team dominates another.

I want people to ask my kids or my wife, “What is the dominant spirit in your home?” And they would say things like, “Love. Unconditional love. Believe me, I know, because I have done some terrible things.  But I am always loved, no matter what happens.  That is one thing has never changed, even for five minutes.” 

Or, “Peace.” 

Or, “I think the one word that best describes how I feel in my parents’ house is wanted.  That’s how everyone seems to feel there, now that I think about it. Everybody has a place. There’s no us/them mentality. My parents brought in some people I might not have, and even the odd ones and the rejects felt very warmly welcomed there.” 

And they would say “My husband / dad really set that tone for our home. And of course, he gets all of it from Jesus. It’s not dad’s love that dominates. It’s God’s love.” And, “My dad also loves nature, and simplicity, and his plants, like the garden and the woods. He’s earthy, if you know what I mean. He would have probably been a hippie if he was born in the right decade, so he’s whatever the modern day version of that is. Except no LSD, and a high value for scripture and intellect. It’s a free spirited kind of home. But it’s not chaos, you know. I don’t know, it’s like orderly and structured in some ways, but it still feels wild and happy. Like an English garden. Sort of. I mean, he’s not feminine, so maybe he’s like, well, being around him you feel like you would if you went to a giant, old, English mansion (although he would live much more simply – it’s just an analogy) all austere and with ornate stonework and a ten foot tall fireplace and a hundred rooms, with everything in its place, and then you went out to the gardens. It would be like magnificent and majestic and serious but also playful and warm in a way that made you want to be there and stay there. You wouldn’t feel rigid and stiff like you couldn’t touch anything. You would somehow know that he wanted you to sprawl on the couch and smack your gum. If you walked in with muddy boots and tracked it around on the floor, you never know what he might do. He might ask you to clean it up in a nice way. He might get down on his hands and knees and clean it up himself without you knowing about it. Or he might just leave it for a few days. He always said he wanted to live in a house with dirt floors.”

To my friends who want to be famous, or ever dreamed it might be wonderful,

I did, too. When I was a youth I got honest with myself once and admitted, “You know, what I really wish? I wish I could have a ticker tape parade in honor of me.”

Then I grew up and saw that fame would be awful. People would bug you everywhere. The best life is in simplicity. Walking your dog. Playing with kids. Mowing your grass.

But I think that old craving probably meant something.

Fame wasn’t what I desired. What I wanted was to be made much of, in a healthy way. To know that I mattered. It’s a basic human need, I’d say. We all have our different ways of looking for it.

My faith teaches me to be humble, not to seek my own glory, though. So I did a double take when I read, “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” ‭‭John‬ ‭12:43‬. Seriously? We can seek to be praised by people, or praised by God? I thought I was the one who’s supposed to praise him. Am I missing something??

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:” (‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5:6‬). There it is again. It says if we humble ourselves, God will exalt us someday. It sounds kind of crazy, but it’s right there in the Bible.

So maybe I will just end with the question — that desire we all have to feel important or to feel loved, or whatever your version of the ticker tape parade is, maybe God put it in you to draw you to himself. Maybe he wants to give you even more praise and attention than you or a lover (which is a good thing) or a thousand people ever could. Could it be?

When the twin towers fell, it seemed only fitting to demand, “This a tragedy of epic proportions!!  How could God let this great evil happen??” We blamed him when 3000-4000 of us died.  We were angry, appalled, outraged.

When he lets good things happen, like a vaccine, or we have no wars on our own soil for 1.5 centuries, do we as a nation give him any credit?

If we blame him for bad things but don’t thank him when 300,000,000 lives are spared, who has the greater right to be angry, appalled, outraged?

Opinion poll!

I was looking up a book to buy on Amazon.  A reviewer gave it a bad rating.  She seemed very offended that the book talked about “sin,” ranted, “#fundamentalist,” and so on.

Personal disclaimer:
One of my favorite speakers, Graham Cooke, likes to say, “God is SO not an evangelical because he is not obsessed by sin.  He is consumed with life.”  That’s like saying a good surgeon is obsessed with healing, not wounding, even though a wound may be necessary.  Or a good gardener is obsessed with harvesting fruit, not with pulling weeds (even though that may required).

What is your opinion of the idea that some things are sins?  I don’t mean, ‘are you offended by fundamentalists?’  (I often am.)  I just mean the sort of philosophical idea that something could be sinful.  Do you agree with that?

If you disagree, what about rape? Racism? homophobic hate crimes? Are those sins?

Christian,

Let your health problems increase your hunger for the next life when you will have a new body that always works right and never wears out.

Let your frustrations with the government make you long for Heaven, where the Governor – Jesus – rules everything the way it was always supposed to be.

Let your difficulties in relationships, finances, work/leisure, etc., increase your passion to see Father face to face.

Life is a vapor. Heaven is not very far in the future. It will be here before you know it.

Christian,

This is long but it’s pure gold.

“On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they remained in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they set out. And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning. And when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they set out. Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out. At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.”
‭‭Numbers‬ ‭9:15-23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

When the Lord moved, they moved. When he stood still, they stood still. They followed his lead exactly. That is what Jesus did. That is what we must do do.

Christian,

We can think of our sufferings as deposits into a bank account that bears profits, not 2% per year, but 1000% per day.

2 Corinthians 4:17, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

Your affliction is preparing glory for you. That’s what the Bible says.

That does not diminish the anguish of today. But it does mean the pain is not meaningless. The end of it is coming. It has a purpose. And you will be MASSIVELY overcompensated for all you have suffered.

I urge us to live in light of the coming judgment , NOT IN TERROR, but soberly and methodically.

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭20:12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Amazingly, it is not necessary to be afraid of this day.

“By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

A nice clue is given to us about to how to plan ahead for the judgment.

“Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:12-14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

His commands are not always easy, but they are often pretty simple to understand.  “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”
‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭12:13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

If we seek him first, if we do what he has called us to do, if we enjoy fun things as gifts from him, we probably don’t need to be scared of Judgment Day.