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Farsight Book

God's Will

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Human Beings as Guests in God’s World

We have our house on Airbnb and offer it for rent when we go on long trips to Honduras. It’s an odd feeling, having people renting and making our home their own for a time. Thank goodness it has gone well so far, but it’s still odd. And I have learned an interesting lesson from this experience and I believe it has shown me a bit of God’s perspective of us inhabiting this earth that he is renting us for a time.

We typically go overboard preparing for guests. We clean more than we ever would for ourselves. We organize things that we normally leave in disarray. We stock the cabinets and the fridge. We leave instructions on paper and make videos to show them around. We give them a way to check themselves in and get into the house. Everything is provided because we want the best for our guests. And we genuinely hope everything will work well for them, but if anything at all is not working, we truly hope they will reach out to us and let us help them. If they can’t find where things are, we can help them find them. If they don’t know how to use the equipment in the kitchen, we hope they will ask us to instruct them.

Side note, do we respect rentals? There’s a saying, “it’s a rental,” that basically means we don’t really care much about the thing and don’t really plan on caring for it. In fact, abuse is expected. Do we like to buy cars that were previously rentals? I was taught to steer clear. As I think of this life kind of like a rental, I am aware that there’s a temptation to use it like I might a rental car… not caring too much about it, just looking for a joy ride, not really expecting to take good care of it.

Imagine we have an airbnb guest coming today. They’re in the house and we have offered to help if they need anything, but we also respect their privacy.

I’m thinking of an Airbnb guest in my house welcoming me into my own house, giving me a tour and telling me about why things are placed where they are, all the while knowing I am actually the owner and the person who would really know why everything is where it is. But imagine another Airbnb guest who is using my kitchen equipment incorrectly, seeing that it’s not working and humbly asking me to help them use it correctly and ultimately help them understand how to cook a meal in my kitchen.

This sounds like the pharasees trying to tell Jesus how the law works. Jesus made the law, do it’s ridiculous. (Mark 3) This much is commonly accepted amongst christians. But there’s a nuance that we miss. Jesus was not adding correctness to the law. He was removing what they had added incorrectly.

There’s something wrong with some of my previous attitudes and ideas about God and his interaction with me. I thought of it like I was adding God to my life, inviting him in and welcoming Him, as if this is my life in the first place. But it’s actually the reverse. God is inviting me into his life, because I don’t have a life of my own (whether I think I do or not).

We are not adding God to “our lives.” God desires us to recognize our incompetence and dependence on God because it’s US who is the guest here. God is adding US to “his life.” We are the ones invited, not God. How might that change our reactions when things don’t go out way? How might that change our attitudes when things are going well? How much do we deserve? How much do we appreciate? How dependent are we? Or are we planning on squatting in this house and never leaving? (good luck with that, by the way)

Humility comes from being a guest in someone else’s house.

We say that God is sovereign almost like we are putting God on the throne. But the truth is that God is on the throne whether we choose to recognize it or not. And when we ignore Gods innate sovereignty, we are like kids who act like owners of the house and the parents are their servants.

OT Sacrifice

What’s god’s perspective on “dealing with Sin” as in the old testament (animal sacrifice, roll sins forward)?

What was God seeing in humanity through sacrifices? What did he hope we would get from it, since God clearly didn’t get anything from it?

Sin Management

We feel responsible to clean ourselves up if we’re trying to be faithful to Jesus. That “obligation” we feel is natural, but I think it gets in god’s way. We don’t act as if we realize that God is taking charge of fixing us. We act as though, if we don’t focus on removing that sin, no one else will. So, there’s a puzzle here (for me).

I encountered this In prison ministry a lot. The guys would talk about how they need to get clean and somehow maintain their sin at bay, but how it almost never works and relapse feels like a sure thing… So why try? There’s something there!! Maybe we shouldn’t “try”. The extreme would be to stop trying, let go of all inhibitions and just wait for God to magically zap sin out of us. Can God do that? Yes. Does God do that? Not in my experience and not really what the Bible describes as his normal behavior.

The churchy extreme is to get organized and systematically eliminate sin. Like it’s project plan or backlog, prioritize by value or impact and start knocking it out. Go to counselors or shrinks to psych it out of us (or hypnotize). One by one, sin by sin, becoming more and more perfect. If you think That’s actually working for you, I’d say you are in danger of replacing Jesus

Could this be one of the major problems for the American church? We are so focused on self help and self development.

If I’m right? How can Christians practically put this into practice.. it probably doesn’t have to do with doing more… It has to do with reframing and doing less, but how?

Patience and Wisdom

I’ve always thought of patience as something that could help me in this life, but I think there ismore passed into God’s perspective.

Really patience is not so I can make better decisions general but to help me hold on and resist sin.

In the same way, wisdom is not so that I can get more of what I want but so that I can be more attentive to God’s perspective. Maybe God’s adopting God’s eternal perspective is akin to growing in wisdom.

Considering Solomon was someone who had a ton of wisdom, how does his treatment of wisdom interact with God’s eternal perspective. He said a lot of things were meaningless under the sun. It seems like as he was adopting God eternal perspective, he was struggling with the realization that a lot of his previous urgency was not really that important after all.

Walking in the Light

What does it mean that Jesus was walking in the light? Does that mean he was enlightened or that he had clarity of vision? It seems like it could mean that he had a grasp on the father’s perspective that it gave an incredible clarity and light to his motives, decisions footsteps and everything he did have thought.

Being a part of the trinity, it makes complete sense that he had this perspective. To me this is what it means to be walking in the light. And so, if we want to walk in the light as he is in the light, then we should also try to discover and adopt is the same perspective so that we can have clarity like he had clarity.

Sacrificial Generosity

What was it what about her that called jesus’s attention so much? Was it because she was demonstrating her dependence on God, did she truly trust that God was going to provide her next meal or that it didn’t matter whether God get exactly that or not but that God would still be glorified in the end?

Humans Acting Like They Own the Place

Christians make comments about God and the gospel as if we are the owners of something with rights. But in reality I we are guests and we have the opportunity to interact with something that gives us access to the presence of God.

Wanting Good for Our Enemies

If someone killed my child and then God asked me to take the gospel to them, what are my options?

Jonah hated the Samaritans so much he repeatedly rebelled against God and denied his orders.

In Jonah’s complaint near the end of the story, Jonah said he didn’t want to preach to them because he knew they would change and God would “change his mind” and not destroy their city.

So, I would have the same options as Jonah, and perhaps the same mindset. If this person killed my child, could I honestly desire to see them in heaven? What’s gods’perspective on that?

Many times we are so wrapped up in one earthly, carnal experience and we miss the mission that God has for us. This carnal experience is not the only experience we will have, even though we often act and think that way. God’s mission for us is to choose to love him and help others do the same.

This is easier to say from this moment in my life when I don’t have to confront the murder of my child or some “horrible tragedy” (carnally speaking). But imagine having access to God’s eternal perspective while in the middle of such a tragedy. Knowing that my child is just as precious to God as the murderer, realizing how short this carnal life is, knowing how real heaven is, and being aware of how little any of this tragedy will matter in eternity, I should be ready to roll up my sleeves and show gods love to that murderer in honest hopes to help him to also choose to love God and join my child and I in eternity!

I should ask John mark hicks about this. He lost someone in his family.

I should speak with the author of the shack, since he was definitely trying to illustrate gods perspective AND gods way of loving us through problems like the loss of a child.

Miracles

Jesus did miracles, but it wasn’t his purpose. He came to show the human race what God wants with them, which is not learned through fanfare and showy stuff. Jesus did miracles to get attention or to care for people, but he preferred that they learned about god more than oohs and ahh’s.

OT Law

The ot law was given to provide guardrails to the human race, incapable of determining their own limits. Like children, the human race didn’t have the capacity to have fuzzy limits, so God gave them clear limits.

The NT law provides fuzzy limits. Does that mean the human race is ready to determine its own guardrails?

I make rules or give chores sometimes because I want to teach obedience. Does God do that with us? Does he give us rules to follow even when it doesn’t actually matter, other than to teach us to obey him no matter what?

Providing For Our Needs

We often talk about how God will provide in various situations. We pray for God to give us a job, fill out bank accounts, give us what we need. Jesus modeled this in his prayer, asking God to provide today’s bread.

I suspect most Christians, when asking for things in prayer, are mostly asking for help with their present situation or part of their human existence.

God has the power to provide, but does the Bible really teach that we should trust that God will provide what we need in this earth? I think a lot of atheists have a good point when they point to “faithful Christians” asking for things but, in the end, work to provide those things for themselves. God can provide it, and may do that more than I can see… but I’m not convinced that God’s favorite way to work with us is through providing for earthly things,

When I read about “God providing for our needs,” I feel a lot more confident leaving room for God to provide for those needs in the next life, if that’s what God’s plan is. I don’t hold it against God for times when I had to pick myself up off my knees and work to provide for my own needs.

Our Management of Sin

Is our sin management just our maintaining some sins on the side?

Or is it more nefarious than that? I think sin management is much more widespread because we often act as if we are the only ones who can or should work on reducing or removing sin. We don’t act as if we truly believe God has a part in changing our hearts, so we don’t expect any activity from God.

Blessings

1 Peter 4:12-19 if you’re ridiculed, you’re blessed. How so? Is a blessing something I can enjoy? I don’t enjoy ridicule. So is a blessing something I get, like a car or some money? Or is a blessing more about God’s approval, as in a father blessing a guy to marry his daughter?

I’m not comfortable claiming blessings when I know I don’t deserve God’s approval.

My Being Content in Singleness.

If I were God, I’d say “well, that’s nice!” But really I’m sure God is proud because he knows we are available to his service.

The spiritusl high from youth camp… is there a connection between that feeling and adopting God’s eternal perspective?

Human Fear and Hysteria

Rulers He Has Put On the Throne

They’re not always “good” from our perspective, but God uses them to advance His kingdom regardless.

A ruler might do things that seems to hurt Christian ideals (allowing gay marriage or abortions), but God is definitely working and all we have to do is trust that. It’s not that “God might be working.” It is that “God is definitely working.”

A ruler can do things that kill the economy or give more money to the “wrong people” and we can still see that, through the lense of eternity, God uses that to teach people humility and to advance His kingdom.

The Dead Burying the Dead

Whats gods perspective on the situation when a person wanted to “bury his father” before following Jesus?

What does he mean “bury?” Let the dead bury the dead

Following Jesus Because of Fanfare, Populatiry or Miracles

Jesus questioned people’s motives when they followed him

The Gospel of John focuses on this a LOT!

Dependence on God

Consequences

Consequences are a form of grace. They prepare us for eternity.

Us Studying the Bible

What’s gods perspective on our resistance to reading the Bible? 1 Peter 5

Our Role in the Advancement of His Kingdom

  • God doesn’t need us - the rocks could do it
  • God knows we need to serve in order to form us spiritually
  • Maybe God wants the human race to take responsibility (to a point) for the human race?

Spiritual Triage

Prioritizing Those Who Will Listen

God’s perspective on shaking the dust form your feet.

Jesus said to do it

Is this giving up on those people?

Or is this more about the disciple who needs to let go of the responsibility and let God handle it?

Men as Leaders, Women as Submissive

Spiritual Obesity

Some Christians do nothing but learn, listen, worship, and stay fat-and-happy in the church.

How We See Jesus

Our Desire to Control our Lives

People Who Say They’re Okay with Going to Hell

Out Minimal Effort to Stay Out of Hell