What is this I hear about you?

One of the speakers at Winterfest talked about the parable of the dishonest manager in Luke 16 starting in verse one. This was the question posed by the master to his servant. "What is this I hear about you?" The point was made that God is extremely interested in knowing how our lives are going, about our struggles, our victories, our failures. The point was also made that just as the master already knew the answer, God of course already knows the answer as well. God still wants to hear it from us firsthand. I wonder if God just wants to see how honest we will be with Him and in the end with our own selves about our struggles. I look at the honesty of Job in his sufferings, the honesty of Jesus on the cross. God defended Job's integrity to Satan and Job's words to his friends. No need to defend Jesus' words.

The next question highlighted in the parable was the question the servant asked himself.

What shall I do now?

The theme of Winterfest this year was "The Prize" and how society encourages us to think about the present and worry about the past, while the message of Christ contained in Philippians 3.13-14 emphasizes the need to forget about the past and strain toward the future we have been promised through Christ.

Winterfest 2007

Wow! Winterfest Gatlinburg was awesome as usual. I wish I were more familiar with the music of Jars of Clay. We've got some pictures posted at our other website here . I'll start posting some of the messages that stuck in my mind as time permits.

Seeing is Believing ... or is it?

This post is somewhat removed from a few posts ago about wise sayings that are not true. This may be the strongest wise saying or at least look like a very sound wise saying. After all, if I saw something with my own two eyes how can I possibly deny the truth of reality. I have in the past condemned those who lived during the times recorded in the Bible who witnessed so many miracles as being either wretchedly hard headed or hard hearted. Then of course the other viable option is to question the intelligence or lack thereof of any person who could have witnessed undeniable miracles and yet STILL not put their faith in Christ.

I still sometimes foolishly think that if I, like Paul, before his conversion had been struck blind for three days and then had my sight restored, I would and would have lived a more righteous life and would have unquestionably made better decisions than I have over the years. I believe the scriptures stand in direct opposition to this kind of thinking. In Matthew 23.30 Jesus points out how the religious leaders of the day thought like this. "If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets."

This kind of reasoning, as Jesus judges it, does not aquit those leaders, but instead condemns them as guilty of not only the blood of the prophets their forefathers had killed, but also even the guilt as far back as the murder of Abel by Cain will be laid at the feet of that generation.

Luke 16.19 begins the story of the rich man and Lazarus where both die and the rich man is in torment as Lazarus is at Abraham's side being comforted. After the rich man's request for relief with water from the tip of Lazarus' finger is denied, the rich man's thoughts turn to his five brothers. The rich man asks that Abraham allow Lazarus to go to them to warn and prevent them from suffering the same end as he has. Abraham tells the rich man that his brothers can listen to Moses and the prophets to gain salvation.

Here the rich man, I think, makes the case for the wise saying, "Seeing is Believing" when he suggests to Abraham that Moses and the prophets won't be nearly as convincing as seeing someone from the dead testify about eternity. Abraham obliterates this type of reasoning in Luke 16.31 in the conclusion of the story when he says, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."