Unshakeable Faith
Written by: Jeremy Vanderloop
In the past couple months we have had an interesting amount of tests and challenges to our ministry, both good and bad. As we come across challenges and complications there are two things we can do. The first and most natural is that we simply get down in a type of pity party and start blaming someone else for every bad thing that happens in our lives, wether a person or God. This makes sense, due to the fact that the very first thing we do in our human nature is to try and blame shift the sources of our problems and struggles to others. For example, the very first thing Adam did in the garden after the fall, was blame God and Eve. "The man said, 'The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.'" Genesis 3:12. Adam totally put it on God and Eve for a decision he made. Rather than looking inwardly to see if there might be an issue in our hearts, we tend to look outwardly to blame others.
Based on the situation, sometimes it is others who are causing us trials and hardships. For example, when someone is persecuted for their faith, or maybe raped or murdered without cause. These type of things are sometimes hard to address or explain why they happen. The only explanation I have is that it is due to the sin and selfishness of a fallen and deprived world.
This brings me to the second and most Christlike response to these hardships that all so often plague our lives. When we come across challenges and complications as believers, we are called to look to the future and past the trial. We are called to put our trust in Christ and him alone. It is putting full trust and faith in Jesus, that he is able and will deliver us from our struggles at the appointed time. With this truth, we are made unshakeable. James put it in such a beautiful and elegant way in James 1:2-4 where he is quoted saying, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." In all reality these struggles push us to a more mature walk with Christ, if we embrace them and rejoice in Christ through them. As Christians, we were never granted a life filled with cup cakes and rainbows, on the other hand we are actually promised to suffer and be persecuted for Christ's sake. (John 15:18-20)
So my question is, what does it look like to "count it all joy" and live a life of unshakable faith? With this question I am continually reminded of one of our great church fathers, the Apostle Paul. Who in his letter to the Philippian church wrote, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith." Phil. 3:7-9
In order for Paul to write such an intense statement as "counting all things as rubbish," which in the Greek can literally mean animal excrement, his faith was not based on things of this world, but on Christ and him alone.
Paul had come from a back ground of great social status and wealth. We know he had dual citizenship, as a Jew and also a Roman citizen, which was not common for most jews. We also know that Paul studied under Gamaliel, a well known teacher of his time. If anyone had anything going for him, it would have been Paul. He was well respected, a pharisee of pharisee's, and was moving his way up the social latter of his time.
Paul underwent severe persecution for Christ. From being stoned, beaten and flogged, ship wrecked, arrested falsely numerous times, and finally being executed for the Gospel in Rome. Paul had found the meaning of true joy and having unshakable faith in what he believed. He knew that Jesus would always take care of him. He never looked to his circumstances, but rather to Christ, who through and for him all things were made. Paul knew what God had called him to do, and that He would work all things out. Paul’s life and purpose, as is our own, was to bring glory to Christ.
In Pauls letter to the Roman church in chapter 8 verse 18 he is quoted saying, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Paul’s point, as is mine, is that anything we are going through compared to Jesus and what he has planned for us, does not even come close to the joy that Christ brings to our lives.
The key to living a life of unshakable faith is this,you must have a working understanding of who Jesus is, know what He has called you to do, and fully understand that He is going to provide for you no matter what your circumstances are telling you. Even if your struggles and challenges result in death, Christ has still provided for you with his blood and in that has given you eternal life. Unshakable faith is understanding how much larger our God is, compared to our problems. Faith produces actions according to its strength. When you push through your struggles, fully trusting and being obedient to to God’s voice, you will see God do some amazing things through your life, but only if you endure and push through your trials.
In closing, I pray that this blog has encouraged you to keep pushing through your struggles. That you would fully understand how special you are to Jesus and he has you in His arms. You have nothing to be afraid of for God knows the plans He has for you and He is never surprised when you come across something hard in your life. The harder it gets, I encourage you to dig your heels deeper into intimacy with God and not be swept away by the cares of this world. I encourage you to read Matthew 10:26-31, for you are more valuable than many sparrows.
-Jeremy Vanderloop
Friday, September 23, 2011
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
What does love look like? Blog
What does love look like?
What is love and what does it look like? Have you ever asked yourself this question? It is definitely an intriguing question, isn’t it? We can answer what love is easily. All we have to do is read the bible and it is as simple as the text on the page. But “what does love look like,” is a whole deeper subject.
Love looks different with every culture. To the Rich it may look like buying an extravagant gift, but to the poor it maybe something as simple as sitting down and spending time with them. To some Africans it may look like someone coming to drill a well for them. To some Americans and westerners, it looks like a big diamond ring or Rolex watch. To the Haitians it probably looks like someone digging through a pile of rubble to save their life. The point that I am trying to make is this. We must study one’s culture to properly know how to love and preach the Gospel to them. Not everyone receives love in the same manner. So we must take the time to sit, observe, and study a person’s culture, before we can show them the practical love of Jesus. This process can also be referred to as anthropology. In order to completely fulfill this process, you must be relational. Your goal as a believer, if you are a believer reading this, is to fuse Gods culture with mans culture, whatever it might look like. Not God’s culture, your culture, and another person’s culture. That’s just you building your own kingdom and making little mini-me’s of yourself. We are suppose to be followers of Christ, not followers of certain persons, pastors, teachers, musicians, etc.
I believe that love can be summed up in two words, selflessness and forgiveness. Jesus said himself in
John 15:12-13
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. There’s no Greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.”
We do know that within every culture, love has the same fragrance and texture. That is, selflessness and forgiveness, that’s the whole point of Christ, His coming, and resurrection.
The real struggle is figuring out how to show that selflessness and forgiveness in different cultures.
Even the Apostle Paul had the same views of preaching the Gospel.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 states.
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
Often I see people who are passionate and zealous about Christ (though that passion and zeal is a wonderful thing and I do not wish to stifle it) who end up doing more harm to the Gospel than good. They simply lack knowledge, and I do blame this lack of knowledge on two parts, lack of studying and lack of discipleship. Zeal without knowledge is mentioned in
Proverbs 19:2,
“Zeal without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet
misses his way.”
You also have
2 Timothy 2:15
“Study to show yourself approved to God, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
And there are several more verses to back up what I’m saying. So study and tell me what they are.
My encouragement to those that are showing and sharing the love of Jesus is to continue doing so, but grow in knowledge. Not just knowledge of the Bible, though that is the most important knowledge, but knowledge of people and their cultures. Take the time to learn someone before you try “saving” them. Your job is to love and be and example, God’s job is to save them.
I hope you were encouraged while reading this blog. I love you guys and I am so grateful for all you and your support! Keep in touch and come and hang out with me when I am in an area near you.
Love ya guys,
Jeremy Vanderloop
What is love and what does it look like? Have you ever asked yourself this question? It is definitely an intriguing question, isn’t it? We can answer what love is easily. All we have to do is read the bible and it is as simple as the text on the page. But “what does love look like,” is a whole deeper subject.
Love looks different with every culture. To the Rich it may look like buying an extravagant gift, but to the poor it maybe something as simple as sitting down and spending time with them. To some Africans it may look like someone coming to drill a well for them. To some Americans and westerners, it looks like a big diamond ring or Rolex watch. To the Haitians it probably looks like someone digging through a pile of rubble to save their life. The point that I am trying to make is this. We must study one’s culture to properly know how to love and preach the Gospel to them. Not everyone receives love in the same manner. So we must take the time to sit, observe, and study a person’s culture, before we can show them the practical love of Jesus. This process can also be referred to as anthropology. In order to completely fulfill this process, you must be relational. Your goal as a believer, if you are a believer reading this, is to fuse Gods culture with mans culture, whatever it might look like. Not God’s culture, your culture, and another person’s culture. That’s just you building your own kingdom and making little mini-me’s of yourself. We are suppose to be followers of Christ, not followers of certain persons, pastors, teachers, musicians, etc.
I believe that love can be summed up in two words, selflessness and forgiveness. Jesus said himself in
John 15:12-13
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. There’s no Greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.”
We do know that within every culture, love has the same fragrance and texture. That is, selflessness and forgiveness, that’s the whole point of Christ, His coming, and resurrection.
The real struggle is figuring out how to show that selflessness and forgiveness in different cultures.
Even the Apostle Paul had the same views of preaching the Gospel.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 states.
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
Often I see people who are passionate and zealous about Christ (though that passion and zeal is a wonderful thing and I do not wish to stifle it) who end up doing more harm to the Gospel than good. They simply lack knowledge, and I do blame this lack of knowledge on two parts, lack of studying and lack of discipleship. Zeal without knowledge is mentioned in
Proverbs 19:2,
“Zeal without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet
misses his way.”
You also have
2 Timothy 2:15
“Study to show yourself approved to God, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
And there are several more verses to back up what I’m saying. So study and tell me what they are.
My encouragement to those that are showing and sharing the love of Jesus is to continue doing so, but grow in knowledge. Not just knowledge of the Bible, though that is the most important knowledge, but knowledge of people and their cultures. Take the time to learn someone before you try “saving” them. Your job is to love and be and example, God’s job is to save them.
I hope you were encouraged while reading this blog. I love you guys and I am so grateful for all you and your support! Keep in touch and come and hang out with me when I am in an area near you.
Love ya guys,
Jeremy Vanderloop
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Self-Controlled Choice
This is an entry I wrote in my journal today and decided that it is so profound. That I should share it with you all.
9/12/2009 (1:33 P.M.)
I also had another revelation this week, and that is that every morning when I wake up I won’t feel like praying, I would rather curse God. Also in the same effect, I would rather burn the bible instead of read it, and when I do feel like reading the Bible or praying, then it is simply by His grace and mercy that I have the feeling of desire to read that day.
What I am saying is that, in my flesh, I am so wicked that I would not want to spend close, quiet time with God. But rather, I would want to do the exact opposite. Therefore, I must make a self-controlled choice and decision to wake up and spend time with the Lord, no matter what I feel! Paul explained this struggle like this: “I die daily.” I must choose to put to death my selfish sin nature and walk out His Divine Holy nature that dwells inside of me. (Read 2 Peter 1:3-8)
This revelation and understanding came about when I heard a dear friend of mine saying, “if you don’t have the desire to read the Bible then there is something wrong with you and you must repent.” The truth is that there is something wrong with all of us…it is called SIN! We have something called GRACE which enables us to chose to either walk in our sin selfish nature or our new divine holy nature, which is given through the sacrifice of Jesus.
My brothers and sisters, do not fall into condemnation or self-righteousness, but know this, that our desire is not based on our feelings, but our choice. We must live a lifestyle of repentance and learn to dwell in His grace. Romans 5:20-21 says: “The law came in so that the transgression (sin) would increase; But where sin increase, grace abound all the more. So that as sin reigned in death even so grace would reign through righteousness in Jesus Christ which leads to eternal life.” This is basically saying that we cannot out sin God’s grace. In proper context this is not saying that we have a pass to continue on sinning. Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue on in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be!!! For how can we who have died to sin still live in it?”
In closing, let us be encouraged to rest in the grace of Jesus Christ our King and God. The choice is yours. Please choose to walk out His divine nature that is in you and not the selfish sin nature that is also in you.
MAKE THE CHOICE AND REST IN GRACE!!!!
Love,
Jeremy Vanderloop
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