Explaining Jesus’ Lack of Knowledge

Here’s a question that was put to me recently about the interaction of Jesus’ divine and human natures:

Question: Since Jesus, as the Son of God and Second Person of the Trinity, is coequal with God the Father (and of course with the Holy Spirit as well) and since God is omniscient, how can the Son not know the timing of the future in Matthew 24:36? “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (ESV)

Answer: The conventional theological explanation is that because Jesus emptied himself of the right to use certain divine attributes (Philippians 2:6ff), he therefore voluntarily put himself in a position where he limited lots of things about his divine nature in order to be truly human.

For example, he was limited to being in one place at a time, he was limited in that he had to eat, sleep, etc. It is natural therefore for him to be limited in knowledge as well, though that seems to have been periodically overridden at times when he had special insight into people’s thinking, etc.

I hope this sheds some light on the issue.

Michael Bogart

Dealing with an Unforseen Change in Plan

Lessons from a familiar holiday story

Isn’t it amazing how things often don’t turn out as planned?  You think things through very carefully and get key steps set up ahead of time, with all details considered.  Finally, you are ready to go.  Then, without warning, something unforeseen changes the situation and all your effort seems for naught.  How could this happen?  Maybe it is a catastrophe affecting not only yourself, but others as well.  It may be that someone you were counting on lets you down.  Either way, your plans are no longer possible—at least in the form you intended.

For most of us, this causes frustration and depression, but it doesn’t have to be that way.  In fact, when things don’t run along smoothly according to your plans, it can be the gateway to much greater blessing that you had previously imagined.

Take for instance the case of a young carpenter.  He and his bride-to-be are making plans to settle down in a small city and begin life as a family.  They are from devoutly religious families, so their plans include a deep desire to serve God.  The wedding, the preparation of a home, their dreams for the future—all make life exciting.  But suddenly everything changes.  Before they are married, the young man’s bride becomes noticeably pregnant.  And, if this isn’t problem enough given their culture and religious upbringing, the prospective groom knows beyond any doubt that he is not the father of the child.

She has told him and her parents a far-fetched story about being visited by an angel and told that God is going to give her a supernaturally-conceived child.  But who would believe such a story?  Most people would draw the natural conclusion that she is either a liar or somehow deranged in her thinking.  So, scratch one wedding.  But then, the prospective groom is also visited by the same angel.  He is reassured that his fiancée’s story is true.  The wedding is on again, but under much different circumstances.

The plot thickens.  As the time draws near for the birth of the child, there is another drastic change of plan.  The government of the nation which has conquered and occupied their people has ordered a census.  This is to be carried out by mandating that everyone return to their ancestral towns to be counted.  So, late in Mary’s pregnancy, the couple makes a hasty and extremely arduous journey to a distant city where they have no connections.  This would be like asking all of us to return to the place where our paternal ancestors originated generations ago.  In my case, it would involve traveling back to a small town just south of Rotterdam in Holland.  Few of us would be more than outsiders in such places.

Upon arrival, the carpenter and his young wife find that Bethlehem is swamped with visitors.  This is because the family of their distant ancestor, King David, was a large and prosperous one.  Therefore, lots and lots of their remote cousins have also been forced in this journey.  That is why every available room for rent as already been taken.  We don’t know how long Joseph and Mary spent asking around and receiving no help, but it must have been a relief when some kind-hearted person offered a stable where the desperate couple could shelter.  It was in these less-than-ideal circumstances where Mary gave birth to the baby who would change the world.

Plans change; lives are dramatically affected; and yet God is sovereign.  I often wonder why God asks people to do amazing and difficult things and then, seemingly, gives few details about how the plan is to be carried out.  The Bible is full of such cases.  Undoubtedly this requires living by faith, but I’m sure that Mary and Joseph would have appreciated at least a rough outline of what they would have to face along the way.  In my study of the Bible, I have found that God typically gives the overall direction and the promises to go along with it.  But he leaves it up to us to navigate our way through the details of fulfilling that objective.  And, when it all seems impossible, he steps in at crucial moments to orchestrate circumstances and motivate people to make possible the fulfilling of his plan.

If you are experiencing a major setback in life or a significant re-arrangement of your neatly-ordered future, it may be well to remember this record of some people who experienced much the same thing.  Mary and Joseph trusted God.  They accepted his plan in their lives and believed that, if he called them to fulfill a certain purpose, he would also provide the means to do so.  In their faith and obedience, they experienced blessing themselves and were the means of unimaginable blessing for the rest of us.

So, trust God: he will never let you down.  He may not give you the detailed road map you desire as you follow him through the twists and turns of your journey, but he will see to it that you arrive at the destination.  Of course, ultimately, the true destination is home, not to the inadequate city of a remote ancestor, but to the eternal and unspeakably wonderful city of God our Father!

Michael Bogart

Holidays or Holy Days?

Are you ready for the holidays? There is shopping to be done, cards to send, meals to plan and a thousand preparations to make this time of year. The month of December is usually a very happy time of year. But amid all the flurry of activity, what exactly is this thing we blithely refer to as the holiday season?

With just a little examination, the term holiday itself reveals much of its own meaning: holidays are holy days. These seasons are times we have set aside for certain sacred purposes. For instance:

Family. God has ordained the family as the basic unit of society. Families exist for the purposes of loving, nurturing, encouraging and accepting their members. Because they were created by God, for these vital functions, families are sacred, and therefore figure heavily into any holiday celebration.

Rest. What is holy about rest? In the Old Testament portion of the Bible, God himself prescribes regular times and seasons for the cessation of labor and the keeping of festivals. Because God designed human society for both productive labor and restful celebration, to stop our working and spend a few days in relaxation and enjoyment is a sacred activity.

Worship. Obviously, holy days imply a renewal of our contact with God in some way. Many churches hold special services during the holiday season. Family worship is also a highly appropriate way to express our devotion and gratitude to our Creator. Personal worship, including a time of Bible study, reflection and prayer can go a long way in this regard.

So, let’s enjoy the holiday season! Spend time with family if you can. Relax and change the pace of life for a few days. By all means make it a point to come into God’s presence through worship. May your holiday season be bright and joyous.

Michael Bogart

The Christmas Focus

(Santa is No Substitute)

I am not one of those people who are opposed to Santa Claus, the Christmas tree or the yuletide spirit. Personally, I think that it can be a wonderful thing when families and friends enjoy the American and European traditions of Christmas at this time of year. Our family has always had a tree in the house in the weeks before Christmas Day, and it would be a yearly event to decorate it and the rest of the house with all sorts of festive nick-nacks. Over the years, my kids enjoyed waiting for the coming of Santa on Christmas Eve and, on Christmas morning, opening the gifts left under the tree in his name. It is my belief that traditions are hard enough to come by as it is in early Twenty-first Century America.  It would be a pity to lose these types of happy memories and excitement during the Christmas season.

However, it should be remembered that, for followers of Jesus, the focus of the season has always been the incarnation of the Son of God. The Christmas season is meant to be a strong object-lesson in God’s personal care and love for each of us since he made the unfathomable sacrifice and took the immense trouble to take on flesh and blood and live on this globe just as we do. The manger, not the fir tree, is the central symbol of what we celebrate.

Though the mixing of Christian and traditional elements in the same holiday is confusing to some, many people can maintain this dual celebration without much effort. The trick is to enjoy the trimmings without losing the focal point. So, let’s sing Jolly Old Saint Nick and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Let’s feast, send cards and decorate the house. But let us never forget to bow our knees in awe and with a deep sense of gratitude for the birth of God’s Son into the world. Without that, we would indeed be lost and hopeless. No amount of Yuletide cheer could ever substitute for the birth of the baby in Bethlehem!

Michael Bogart

Living in Fast Forward

If I have any regrets related to the years in which my wife and I were raising our four children, the biggest would be that I was not paying attention. Melinda has asked me several times in the past couple of years if I remember one incident or another in the lives of our children when they were small. My answer has sometimes been, “No, not really.”

Of course, she was much more focused on their day-to-day upbringing than I was. I was a busy solo pastor of a smaller church, trying to care for and build a congregation in the midst of acquiring property and constructing buildings. The truth is, I do remember many things about my kids from those days. They were cute and funny and we had some amazing and sometimes hilarious times. But my memories are in the form of snapshots, not video, and it is difficult for me to reconstruct some of what went on more than twenty years ago.

I was always focused on the future–the next Sunday’s sermon, the upcoming business meeting, the next step in the building program, dealing with someone’s urgent concerns, etc. The actual “now” was almost always sacrificed on the altar of the near or distant future. I suspect that my situation as a pastor is not all that different from many people whose lives are goal-oriented.

Recently, I have been in a minor crisis about God’s will for my life. For the past several years I have made my living as a part time adult ministries pastor, part time missions executive and part time college instructor. Talk about fragmentation! In all of this multi-tasking, I have begun to seek God’s will for a more focused future. I have prayed, “Father, which direction should I pursue? Where should I be five years from now (if you permit me to remain on earth that long)? What is the best use of my training, talents and experience?” Through months of prayer, I have received the same types of answers most sincere believers receive: impressions and difficult-to-interpret circumstances. This has led me to ponder the bigger question of what it means to live by faith in a providential God.

In this quest for personal direction, it has dawned on me that my need for more specific guidance is heavily influenced by my American culture. We Americans and other Westerners have come to believe that we have a certain right to know what is happening to us so that we can make informed choices affecting the outcome of our lives. After all, if we are going to be pursuing life, liberty and happiness it is important that we have at our disposal as much information as possible about what may lie ahead.

But as I have thought about it, there is really nothing in scripture which supports this assumption. On the one hand, in several places Proverbs teaches the wisdom of at least tentative planning. Yet on the other, James 4:13-16 plainly says that we are not to be presumptuous about either the ultimate wisdom of our plans or our ability to carry them out,“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”

Scripture teaches that, though the making of goals is wise, goals should be made with enough flexibility so that God may direct us in ways we do not have the wisdom to plan for. Practically, this means that thinking about the future should never overshadow living in the present. The truth is, we do not know enough about God’s specific purposes for our lives to do that much advance planning. But we do know enough about God’s will to live full and abundant lives. Some things the Bible teaches very plainly and simply: we must honor God with the “now” each of us is given. We must love and bless people around us. We must fully enjoy God’s good gifts–family, friends, experiences, possessions. And any planning we may legitimately do for the future should be done with these very types of things in mind. In other words, we should get our neurotic fingers off the fast forward button and hit play.

Michael Bogart

The Dangers of Missing Out

If there is something which is almost guaranteed to horrify people in contemporary society, it might be the fear of missing out on some significant life-experience.  The thought of going through one’s years without something which many others enjoy is a highly disagreeable one to most North Americans and Europeans.  As a result, there is a frantic rush in our society to do all those things which are commonly accepted as making life worth living.

Parents, for example, are concerned that their children not miss out on the commonly accepted activities of childhood.  As a parent myself (and now grandparent as well), I have always wanted my kids to have as many positive experiences and helpful tools as can be provided.  Many parents share this seemingly legitimate desire.  Hence we enroll our children in a myriad of sporting events, music lessons, clubs and enrichment activities.  We take them to fairs and outings and spend a significant amount of money on vacations and educational events.

Or what about all the material possessions on the “must have list”?  The newer car, the larger home, the more fashionable clothing, the more exotic vacation are always topics of conversation and comparison.  For many people these things truly dominate mental activity.  I also have experienced the gravitational pull of things on lists like this.  I certainly wouldn’t make the claim that the things on such a list are necessarily wrong.  Nice things are just that: nice things.  To acquire some of them can be quite legitimate pursuits.

Even so, I am wondering whether this fear of missing out on something is in itself the cause of losing other, more lasting benefits.  In our frenzy to acquire a chunk of the “good life” we may have lost sight of some of the things, which make life truly good.  Consider this:  The generations now coming into their own such as GenX (born after 1965) and the Millenials (born after 1985) have clearly had more advantages than any previous groups.  At the same time, they are also the generations with the least amount of religious training of any kind.  I should know: I have taught young people from these generational groups on a college-level for the past two decades in courses such as philosophy, world religion and western civilization.  These younger people certainly have plenty of opinions.  It is just that many times, they lack the factual framework and formal religious training on which to base a valid opinion.

I have also wondered whether there is any link between the trend away from religious training and the rising rates of teen suicide, drug use, sexual activity and alcohol abuse by these same generations.  Or what about the broken marriages and disjointed lives, which are so common? How about the staggering numbers of lawsuits and the flood of recent legislation designed to ensure that people get what they believe they rightfully deserve?

Now contrast this picture with the profound inner peace, simplicity of lifestyle, and clarity of life-focus which are promised in the New Testament to those who fully put their trust in God.  There is also the sense of relaxation about having the things needed for daily living, the ability to weather the storms of interpersonal relationships and the ability to bravely face the uncertainties of life.  All of these things are offered to those who take up their crosses and follow Jesus.

Many people are missing these very things because of their desperate desire not to miss out on the “good things of life”.  It would seem that the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:24 turn out to be right: A person cannot serve both God and mammon (riches).  He or she will end up loving and serving one or the other, but not both (my paraphrase).

Missing out?  The comparison of these conflicting pursuits begs an important question: Who is really missing out on things which are of true importance?

Michael Bogart

Look in the Bible for Basic Answers

The last book of the Bible was written 1,900 years ago. In that time, empires have risen and fallen: Rome is gone; Charlemagne’s empire has vanished; mighty Britannia has given her children their freedom. Major wars have been fought. New philosophies have come into vogue and have declined. Electronic technology has improved and become common place. In light of all this, the Bible may seem like a quaint but archaic book, good only for gathering dust on the shelf or for analyzing in a classroom.

What could the Bible possibly have to say that would be relevant to us and our particular needs in the Twenty-first Century? Surprisingly, it has a lot to say! This is partly because fundamental human needs haven’t changed at all in 2,000 years and partly because God inspired scripture to speak to people in every age. So, the Bible we have today continues to answer the basic questions people are asking. You can look up the scripture references yourself and see what you think. For example:

• Is there a God, and if so, what is He like? (See Psalm 14:1, Romans 1:19-20, John 3:16, etc).
• How did the universe come into being? (See Hebrews 11:3, Genesis chapters 1 and 2, etc.)
• Why do humans have a strong tendency to hurt others, break widely accepted rules and live for themselves? Is there some basic flaw in us? (See Genesis chapter 3, Romans 1: 18ff, 3:9-18, etc.)
• Is there some way to correct this flaw and have acceptance with God? (See John 14:6, Romans 3:22-23, Galatians 5:24).
• Is there any basis for real brotherhood among people? (See Genesis 1:27-28, 10:32, Romans 10:12, etc.)
• Does life have any meaning or purpose? (See John 10:10, John 17:3).
• Is there life after death? (See Revelation 20:11-15, Luke 23:40-43, John 14:2, Revelation 7:9).

These questions and many others are answered in the book of books, known as the Bible. I challenge you to search for its answers yourself. You might just be delighted by what you find!

Michael Bogart

What is it With Those Christians?

An Appeal to Those Who Prize Tolerance

It has occurred to me as a Christian that, in some ways, secular people don’t really “get” us. When I refer to “secular” people I include both those who have no use for religion at all as well as those who may have private religious beliefs, but who feel that such beliefs have no place in the public forum. To the secular mindset, God and religion are often seen as irrelevant to the routines of everyday life and inappropriate for public discourse. With such an outlook, it is no surprise that these folks don’t understand those of us whose lives are focused on God and his will as we understand these things.

I have often heard people say words to this effect: “You Christians are totally free to believe and practice your faith as you please, just keep it to yourselves.” They are uncomfortable when followers of Jesus speak out on social issues or apply their faith in the arena of politics. They bristle at the least hint that religion as practiced and acted on by others, might infringe on their lives in the slightest way. Their attitude toward Christians who bring their faith with them into the public sphere ranges from puzzlement to outrage.

Secular people may be confused when Christians make an issue out of something which seems to them to have already been decided through some legal ruling or political maneuvering in the past. They are puzzled when we don’t just “lighten up” and go with the flow of our times. They cannot visualize why anyone would care about ideas and values which come from an ancient book, representing the teachings of a religion which they consider to be fit only as an item in a museum or a topic for historical discussion.

When these religious ideas become the motivation for actions which actually affect business decisions, political choices or personal relationships, the confusion can turn to anger on the part of secularists. The question is often asked, “Why should your religious views affect the rest of us?”. On the surface this sounds like a valid concern. After all, why should religious people be allowed to make choices which affect others? A little further thinking will show the fallacy of this objection. The public sphere of life is, by definition, the very place where decisions are made by all sorts of people, impacting all sorts of other people.

In the public arena, a decision might be made to expand or close down a business. As a consequence, jobs are created or lost and people’s lives are affected. Laws can be made by elected officials who may clearly have a particular agenda in mind affecting religious people and secular people alike. Such laws will inevitably determine whether people are free to make one choice or another. The opportunity for any group of people to exert influence over others is what makes a pluralistic society what it is. It is part of the give-and-take which, when accompanied by a sense of fairness and mutual respect, ensures that all groups may live out their beliefs with a certain reasonable measure of freedom.

It is disappointing and counter-productive when a lack of understanding toward religious points of view is followed by demands that a certain segment of the citizenry be excluded from the debate and blocked from any opportunities to affect society. It is even worse when it degenerates into mere name-calling. In my own involvements where my religious views have been expressed in public, I have occasionally been called “bigot”, “dinosaur”, “naïve”, “narrow-minded” (and a few worse things) by offended secularists. I understand that sometimes it has been Christians who have hurled the insults. That is regrettable. Our job is to confidently and graciously speak the truth as we see it, not insult people out of fear and hatred. Insulting people only reveals the smallness of the one making the comments.

But this is also true for the secularist who may claim to have a more enlightened point of view just as much as for the Christian who is supposedly stuck in the confines of an outmoded superstition. Surely an angry secularist who accuses Christian believers of all sorts of preposterous motives and attitudes, shows that they are bigoted, narrow-minded and backward as well, since they disdain us without bothering to really understand us. Given the current social climate, it is a wonder that people who slur followers of Jesus so frequently are not held legally accountable. No other racial or religious group in the country would stand for such slander.

So what is it that really motivates Christians? It is simply our faith in Jesus and our commitment to the Bible as God’s revelation. We believe that Jesus is the incarnation of God himself. We believe the New Testament when it says that the purpose for God taking on humanity was to suffer on the behalf of those who have offended him. We believe that the gospels are recording true happenings when they assert Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead. We look forward to the time when he will return to judge and rule the earth. Because of these things, we owe him our very beings. Life now is lived differently because of him. Jesus for us and in us, means new eyes to see reality and new power to live as we may have always wished to. It means new values, new attitudes, new loyalties and new relationships.

It is very simply, Jesus. Not conservative politics; not the traditional values of our society; not religious experiences, spiritual encounters or strong feelings. It is just Jesus of Nazareth, God’s Son, who has come into the world to save us and make us new. It is his almost unbelievable love which compels us to live differently and to invite others to a new and better life. It is Jesus we live to honor and whose pleasure we look for when the end of all things comes. Perhaps these insights into the motivation behind the bulk of those who call themselves Christians will enlighten those who put such emphasis on enlightenment, empathy and tolerance.

Michael Bogart

Dealing With “Dark” Feelings

Have you ever had the experience of going through a very difficult time in your life and after struggling through that period you began to wonder whether God was really there at all?  Maybe you may have had very few doubts about your faith before this time of uncertainty.  Although your relationship to God has been secure in your mind for years, during this trial, you have begun to wonder, “Is God really there?  Am I still OK with Him?  Have I somehow gotten off-track in my Christian life?”  If that is or recently has been your experience, then you can take some comfort in the fact that you are in good company.  Practically every Christian goes through something of this kind at one time or another.  But how should you deal with these feelings?  Allow me suggest a couple of possibilities:

First, this may be a good opportunity to do some serious spiritual self-evaluation.  It is possible that there really may be something amiss in your faith.  For example, sin which has not been repented of always blocks fellowship with God, and should be taken care of immediately.  Prayerful examination of your life in light of scripture will reveal whether this is the case.

It could also be that the problem is more far-reaching.  Perhaps you have never really turned from a self-oriented life and trusted completely in Jesus Christ.  In that case, in order to be right with God there must first be that basic step of faith in Christ.  This is neither as mysterious nor as complicated as you might think.  All God is asking is that you admit your need for him (“Lord, I am a sinner who has lost my way.”) and put your fundamental trust in him to save you from yourself and the judgment for your wrongdoings.  Then you make up your mind to allow him to teach you through the Bible how to live for him in this new life you have chosen.

Another possibility is that you may not be out of fellowship with God at all.   You may be quite sure of your faith in Christ and there may be no known sin to turn away from.  What then?  The problem most likely is in your feelings.  Feelings sometimes are not related to reality.  For example, in a marriage affectionate feelings may come and go with surprising regularity.  However, this usually has little to do with the actual love given by both partners, based on their commitment to one another.  As in a marriage, a relationship with God is based on a commitment, rather than on feelings which can change due to temporary circumstances.

The fact is that dark times of doubt and despair may come upon us for a variety of reasons, some of which may be beyond our control.  They can be an annoyance or even a trial in the lives of very strong believers.  When these periods occur, we need to remember the words of David in Psalm 23 when he says, “…though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because you are with me…”.  No matter what you may be facing or how you are feeling at the moment, you can trust that God is actually walking with you through these things.  So, don’t rely on your feelings for your sense of what is real or true.  Instead, trust the Lord and his sure promises to those who through belong to him through faith.

Michael Bogart

Praying for People Bibically

A Remedy for Routine Prayer

Is anyone besides me tired of the standard prayers typically prayed by Christians? Perhaps you can relate to what I am talking about: “Dear God, please bless so-and-so with (health, a job, salvation, a renewed spiritual interest, an easier life, etc).” Not that there is anything particularly wrong with these things. They may indeed be legitimate matters for prayer. It does strike me, though, that we Christians often settle for so little when we make requests of God.

Maybe the problem is that we don’t really understand what is permissible to ask God for. Maybe we just get caught up in responding to the urgent felt-needs of those around us. Maybe we have become creatures of habit, falling into the set patterns of our particular circle of friends and church associates. Whatever the reason, I sometimes find typical evangelical prayer sessions to be insipid and all-too predictable: the same categories of prayer; the same focus on immediate physical and material needs; the same salvation requests.

Prayer sessions can easily be dominated by two or three people who don’t mind being either the center of attention or the perpetually needy ones. Maybe you can relate to feeling like this at a prayer gathering, “Here we go again. Brother Sam has been feeling upset again this week. He is requesting that God will remove the source of his frustration. Beside him, brother Ned needs a job for the third time in the past six months. Sister Sue is asking for her son’s salvation just as she has since we have first known her. Another sister has urgent health issues and can hardly function in her daily routines. (But, if so, how is she well enough to come to this prayer-gathering?) Across the circle, sister Mary is sharing another compelling story she came across on the internet this week. She wants prayer for an individual a continent away who has been “on her heart” for days but whom none of us has ever met. So we bow our heads and ask God to intervene.

Let me be clear: I am not condemning such prayers or the people who pray them. In my experience, the motives of those who make these kinds of requests are usually good. They care about people and they want God to bless them. Yet I have become increasingly discontent with prayer requests which go no further than this. It is entirely possible that, as a pastor, I am simply jaded by attending many dozens of these prayer sessions. Maybe I am also frustrated by the lack of discernible growth in these dear folks whose prayers seem to be on the same level year after year. It could be argued that these types of prayers simply reflect poor biblical teaching on the part of their leaders, including me. What I do know is that we ought to be asking God for much more than this.

So, I have put together a collection of prayer requests, which I believe are more in line with those modeled in scripture. I am urging that, along with praying for jobs and protection and the solving of various problems (all of which may be valid) that my fellow believers should consider praying “outside the routine box”. But what does a biblical, yet edgy prayer request look like? Let me give some examples. Try praying that people:

• Develop a deep love for God
• Have thoughts, words and actions controlled by the Holy Spirit
• Become willing to accept a life-changing direction from God
• Experience a sacrificial attitude in marriages, families and other relationships
• Come to genuine repentance
• Be a voice for Christ’s Kingdom when one is needed
• Develop the mental commitment and toughness to resist temptation
• Become competent in applying the truths of scripture to their own lives
• Desire personal excellence as a visible result of honoring God in all they do
• Be known as models of tolerance in situations in which tolerance pleases God
• Model godly family living
• Face their own blind spots
• Decide to be content with what cannot be changed
• Develop consistency and skill in their work
• Respond to conflict with truth, righteousness and mercy
• Acquire the ability to persevere through hardship and failure
• Learn true forgiveness
• Grow in their ability to speak about their faith in ways which ring true with the unchurched and unbelieving people around them
• Discover joy in giving to others
• Commit themselves to basic spiritual disciplines
• Develop healthy eating and exercise routines
• Stop judging others’ motives
• Learn the difference between explicit biblical teachings and their own inferences based on certain verses of scripture
• Become amazed at God’s care and provision in their lives
• Find God to be the beauty and acceptance they have been looking for
• Find God to be tougher and smarter than themselves
• Desire to become more than they have dreamed possible for God’s glory
• Find deep enjoyment in the life God has blessed them with
• At all times show themselves as models of the grace of God

I could add many more requests, which seem biblically true and yet relevant to the society we are currently living in. It could be that if we consistently prayed for ourselves and others like this, we might indeed turn the world upside down!

Michael Bogart

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