Every Knee Will Bow

The great hope of all Christian labor and perseverance is that one day every knee will bow before our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the king of the universe and the rightful ruler of the world.  If I didn’t believe this — and if God wasn’t faithful to remind me of it often — I would honestly give up.  I would give up right now.

Anything less than eternal, world-wide, universal, face-to-the-ground acknowledgement of Christ as the grand, supreme Lord of all is not worth the toil of Christian service.  If your motivation sinks below this high-as-the-heavens standard, I can guarantee that you will soon begin to suffer painful disillusionment and lingering discouragement.

You can work 18-hour days doing kingdom work — “night and day,” as Paul said — and you can do it out of a concrete conviction that it’s right and biblical, but if you do not have the guarantee that a day is coming when the glory of God will cover the earth like the water fills the sea, your spirit will soon expire beneath the suffocating weight of exhausting earthly realities.

Even if I were the pastor of a 20,000-member church that taught and obeyed the Bible, enjoyed biblical fellowship, supported suffering saints, stood firm for the truth in the winds of doctrinal compromise, cared nothing about the values of the world, showed compassion towards outcasts, and gave 50% of its budget to world missions, I would still look out at the dark, needy idolatry of the Muslim world and the plight of innumerable AIDS orphans in Africa and the audacity of Benny Hinn in deceiving desperate millions in India and the spinelessness of American Christianity when it comes to truth and I would simply despair.

Lived properly, the Christian life is simply too hard to bear without the promise of reward.  To live as (and feel like) an alien and stranger in a foreign land your whole life is hard.  To carry the burden of love for truth in the midst of an evil and adulterous generation is hard.  To fight sin tooth and nail and still feel like you’re making no progress is hard.  To love your enemies is hard.  To swirl in mental confusion over where to ration your time and energy and resources because there is simply so much kingdom work to do is hard.  To press on is hard.  So hard that Paul said, “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

But there are no pity parties in the Christian life, because we are awaiting the great and glorious celebration of the king’s return.  We will shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father because of the bright love that has been rained down upon us from the beautiful and bloodied face of Christ.  We will live forever in mansions of glory and endless delight, giving restful service to a joyful, overflowing God.  We will lift our voices and clap our hands to Him who has forgiven all our sins and wiped away all our iniquities at the price of the only Son He had.  And we will finally see King Jesus on His throne, ruling without end over a stunning new world where justice rules, harmony prevails, lions lie down with lambs, and tears and sorrow are wiped away.

There is coming a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  On that day all wrongs will be made right and all weariness will be replaced with rest.  And I can find no better reason — I can find no other reason — to get back up and persevere until that day.

“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” – Galatians 6:9

What Is Judah Like?

I have never been a parent before, so I don’t know what it’s like to watch your son grow up through the newborn and baby stages.  I’m becoming an adoptive parent, though, so I’m learning what it’s like to watch your son grow up through pictures and brief descriptions.  It’s hard.  But its difficulty is due to parental love, not fleshly frustration.  There is an impatience in love that can be glorious.  Painfully glorious, but glorious nonetheless.  Just ask Judah’s mother.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words.  In the case of the thousand words you’re about to read, though, there are very few pictures that equal their worth.  One of the volunteers at the Amani Baby Cottage was incredibly thoughtful to take the time to write us this email.  If you’ve ever wondered (along with us) “What is Judah like?” wonder no more:

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Hi Gunner and Cindi,

It was so fun to see both of your comments on my blog!  I think of you guys whenever I see Judah and remember to tell him how loved he is.  I guess I will just try to tell you a little bit about what he does and what he’s like at this point in his life… some of this you may already know.

He has the cutest crawl of all the babies and only uses his feet and hands.  He sticks his little butt up in the air and can really get going fast!  I have never seen him use his knees while crawling.  He loves to pull himself up on the little table that is in his room and grabs toys off of it.

He can usually be seen sucking his index and middle finger together.  He does it when he’s happy, sad, playing, all the time.

He is the happiest baby in Baby room 1, and I’m not just saying that because you are his parents.  He is always smiling and laughing and when he laughs he will get excited and snort through his nose a little and shake his head back and forth.

He loves to fall asleep on people and can’t make it until his naptime at 1:00.  When he’s tired he will crawl over to your lap and just lay down and sleep.  A few days ago he was playing next to me and crawled over but didn’t even make it onto my lap.  He put his head down on my knee with his butt in the air, with his legs still kind of standing.  He was falling asleep and his legs would keep bending and popping up, kind of like a head would knod off and pop back up.  It was sooo funny and cute, we took pictures of it!

He has been wandering over to baby room 2 lately to play with the bigger babies.  He gets along really well with them and now even eats dinner with them.  If you look earlier on the blog there is a picture of some kids eating and that’s baby room 2, so now he sits at the little table with them and feeds himself.  When it is time for his drink of water he usually dumps the whole cup on himself.  I have been helping him learn to pour slowly into his mouth.  He is one of the messiest ones, but so cute!

I can’t help picking favorite kids and although I truly love them all, your Judah is completely irresistable and is one of my very favorites.  Some of the mamas here laugh because they tell me I am brave to take him to town because he is heavy!  He is so beautiful and happy and content though, that I love to spend time with him.  I have taken some pictures of him that I will try to send soon.

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But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Luke 18:16-17).

Thinking about Thanksgiving

I think there are at least a couple different ways to think about holidays like Thanksgiving.  On the one hand, I’m grateful for the reminder to give thanks for the immeasurable blessings that God has poured into my life.  On the other hand, I wish I weren’t so oblivious to God’s grace and so consistently negligent in the happy duty of gratitude.

However, while these two ways of thinking contrast each other, they are also related.  The second is the reason for the first, and the first is part of the strategy for fighting the second.

My inexcusable thanklessness and my relentless forgetfulness when it comes to God’s mercy and provision stand as the horrid but real reasons why traditions like Thanksgiving are so helpful.  Ingrates like me desperately need reminders and wake-up calls and traditions to help stir us back into thanksgiving and to stoke the coals of gratitude that never lack fuel but often lack fire.

Likewise, having and keeping and celebrating an annual day of gratitude is a welcome weapon in the battle against God-indifference.  Thanksgiving is a day to sharpen and wield the weapon that bears its name.

I think that I could easily tend to be the holiday-basher who says, “Thanksgiving isn’t special!  We should give thanks every day!”  But I don’t think that’s a biblical perspective.  The second half of the objection is biblical — we should give thanks every day.  But the first half neglects to take into account things like biblical festivals which God set in place in order that His people might remember and celebrate historical events and miraculous acts and thelogical realities, all of which are worthy of remembrance on any day of the year.  For instance, there must be something about Passover that honors God and stimulates His people in a unique way, a way that could not have been accomplished if the OT people had simply said, “We don’t need to celebrate Passover; we’ll just generally celebrate our deliverance from Egypt throughout the year.”  I realize that Thanksgiving is not a biblical tradition or a scriptural holiday, but the connection is clear.  Furthermore, I think that I would be ignorant and not just a bit prideful to say that I don’t need a traditional holiday to help me be grateful.  Quite frankly, when it comes to greasing the gears of gratitude, I need all the help I can get.

Perhaps one of the few things worse than an outright enemy is an ungrateful friend.  In relationship to God I used to be the first and I am now the second.  And God has been eternally merciful to me both times.  May I see many more Thanksgivings here, may I praise Him through all of them, and may the dawn of Christ’s return cause me to shine with the glorious reflection of gratitude so that all may see that God is great and that God is good.

“In everything give thanks.” — the Apostle Paul, 1st century Christian martyr

What’s up.