God's Way or the Highway

I started this blog almost two years ago now, to tackle some of the thoughts about daily life that God has and had impressed upon my spirit. For those who know me well in person you will know all about how God has lead me on a journey from: being the son of two pastors (during childhood), to leaving them behind to stay on at one church while they left, finding a wife at this church, and then now having been lead to leave Melbourne and move to Swan Hill. Throughout this journey God has been teaching me many things and I am a huge believer that 1) I need to seek God first in everything for his will (easier said than done), 2) that God draws us to places that we need to be, 3) God speaks to me through repetition of words, ideas and occurrences and 4) that God has given me gifts to teach and write for a purpose. Part of my blogging here has always been to follow this purpose.

With that long preamble out of the way I want to discuss something that God has brought to my heart - awoken by a series of excellent messages at my new church here in Swan Hill. It is a challenge for me at times to really go out and express these thoughts, because God's ideas always completely challenge the social normalities of any era. Therefore it is a struggle for me to talk about in some ways the truths I have been reminded of across these messages.

'The Bloke 2.0' has been an incredible series of messages about what it is to be a Godly man who is bold, courageous and possesses a strength and integrity not in and of himself. The first message reminded me that ultimately it is a truth that Christians must fight against that we are to build a Godly culture which is separate from any simple or normal Earth culture. The message on Sunday then emphasised that Jesus was a perfect example of being a man: a man of steel and a man of velvet.

Christian, as it has often been pointed out, stems from a word meaning 'little Christ.' The Bible often refers to us as sons and daughters, and having Skyped friends last night in the Philippines who have a young baby son, never was the idea about being a 'little Christ' more evident. We are to mimic Christ, in the same way that parents' children will mimic them consciously and unconsciously. Therefore we must become men of steel and men of velvet: men who have a hard moral center grounded in Christ but yet have the emotional sensitivity to humble themselves before God.

Modern culture loves to confuse the concept of what a man is, or what a woman is. However, the Bible - God's word - does not have that same confusion. Modern society is confused about what a marriage is - yet again the Bible is not confused on the issue. For every single modern problem that society has invented, the solution can be found in the Bible. There may not be a specific verse about modern ethical quandaries, yet there are so many clear instructions for the Christian about how to live life to a Godly standard.

And yet of course we all 'stuff up,' as the Bible reminds: Romans 3:23-24 "23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,24 and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." 

In Australia today, in the world today, there are so many convoluted issues. Having been studying the concept of identity with my students in Year 9 it scares and confronts me that this world can be so confused about the idea of what an identity is meant to look like. And yet the only solution many can offer is to scream insults at each other with little clarity about how life truly is meant to be lived.

The Bible, the Christian lifestyle, is not one lived in opposition to scientific facts or the reality of the world. But it is a life lived to honour God first. It is a life which holds to a Biblical definition of identity. It is a life which recognises that there exists a true Biblical definition of marriage: that God officiated the first marriage in the beginning and will officiate the last marriage between Himself and His bride the church.

It is a life which offers solutions to the growing problems of terrorism, bullying, addiction, abortion etc. It is not a life which throws around sayings such as 'love is love' or 'it is my body'. It is a life which holds to a set definition of love (1 Corinthians 13) and which explains that my body is not my own but the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It is a life in which there exists true equality as in Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Many argue that the church is regressive, but if it is it is not because it is following a Biblical lifestyle - but because it holds a form of Godliness and denies its power. In relation to Biblical marriage Timothy Keller points out in his book The Meaning of Marriage: "In other words, the Biblical authors' constantly challenge their own cultures' beliefs - they were not simple a product of ancient mores and practices. We cannot, therefore write off the Biblical view of marriage as one-dimensionally regressive or culturally obsolete." Rather, more than ever, the world needs a true revelation of the fact that the Christian life is not one of backwards thinking but of radical social difference.

Jesus never held to the status quo, he challenged cultural presuppositions. He told teachers of the law to give their taxes to Caesar if it belonged to Caesar - but not to hold back from God what belonged to Him. He told rich men to give all they had to the poor in order to follow Him. He made the lame walk, the mute talk, the blind see and he healed leapers and cast out demons. No one else at the time even dared to defy their culture like that and that is the man, that is the God-Man I want to emulate.

I saw on the news this morning some more news about the Plebiscite. Bill Shorten was expressing his disappointment that both the 'Yes' and 'No' sides would get funding because he was concerned that young people might commit suicide as a result. Immediately my heart was drawn to the issue because for me, to hear that I wonder at the deeper root of such an issue in our culture of death and destruction. I need, We as Christians need, to be the solution to such loss of life. We need to offer God's love and hope to a hopeless world.

That does not mean that we release all Biblical standards. It means we need to hold to the standards to a far greater level. Maybe the world is the way it is because we are not walking in the power that we should. Maybe life is the way it is because we are not being the culture-defining, groundbreaking little Christs that we need to be. My heart breaks for this broken world, but I know there is something I can do to make a difference. My gifts may be small compared to some, my capacity to give limited but I am striving more and more to get closer every day to becoming like Christ.

I showed my students the following poem as a great example of the power of words. I believe it is also an example of the belief we need to have in Christ - that we are not defined by the world and the issues in it. We are the world definers. We are not changed by the world. We are world changers.

Recently, Jeanille and I have been looking for houses. Modern wisdom states that if you find a house (or anything) that you like you get it if you can afford it. However, despite finding some houses that we potentially would like we have instead prayed about the issue and made offers we feel are at a God-provided level. Because in the end we do not want to live in the most wonderful house if God is not the one providing - we do not want to live in a neighbourhood surrounded by the nicest and most polite neighbours if God does not want us to be there and would rather have us in a reasonable house, surrounded by neighbours who need Him to work in their lives.

That is why I titled this blog post 'God's Way or the Highway,' because I truly believe we need to stop listening to modern wisdom and learn to live like Jesus did. Of course I struggle with this and I am far from perfect, so I am writing this as much for myself as for anyone else. But I believe this is what God wants me to say - that in the end we do have a choice, because God is a loving God. He has given us the free will to reject his decisions, yet like any loving parent, not choosing His way means that we are likely to be running along the Highway of Life at a leisurely pace and dodging cars as they come hurtling past, rather than taking the Fast Paced Way.

As Jesus Himself said in Matthew 11:28-30 "28Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” And while many might read this passage and decide that Christianity has a 'yoke' and a 'burden' and therefore it is 'not for me,' the reality is all of us have yokes and burdens in life regardless. The true choice, therefore, is whether we choose the easy yoke and the light burden or do it Frank Sinatra's way alone. I know what I would rather do, how about you?

A New Hope

There are two things I have been thinking about this past week. One is Star Wars - given how the new film has smashed box office records and is a great Star Wars film (a favourite franchise of mine) - and the other is the Miss Universe contest. The second is because of the controversy which 'stripped' Miss Colombia of a crown that was never hers to begin with.

What do these two topics have in common? They're stories of hope or hopelessness. In the case of Miss Universe, when I watched the footage of how Miss Phillipines was correctly announced following the ever more infamous blunder of crowning Miss Colombia I noticed how her happiness at placing second was then replaced with shock and joy of being crowned truly. I also saw how every woman rushed to commiserate Miss Colombia, robbing Miss Phillipines of her true victory celebration. It was a scene where no one really won for the two ladies were robbed of their moment of proper celebration and the announcer will never be able to truly live down such a great blunder (although I am glad he had the courage to do the honourable thing and announce his mistake himself rather than send someone else to do this). There was a mixture of hopelessness and hope in how this whole scenario clumsily played out.

Then there is how Star Wars VII is smashing the box office. People complain that the new film mirrors the originals too closely - despite incredibly great performances by the actors and stellar visuals. But that's the thing, no Star Wars film has ever had a jawbreaking plot of twists and turns (save potentially Episode V with it's big 'I am your father' reveal). So what is it that makes Star Wars such a massive franchise? I know Jeanille and some other friends find it silly and a touch ridiculous and I don't really mind that, because as a film series and merchandising giant it is. A story of aliens and mystic warriors in space is odd and weird. But what truly seems to set it apart is the battle of good versus evil seen in the light side versus the dark side. A thing which is appealing to a large audience. Essentially there is hope seen in these films that good can triumph over evil, no matter how far gone evil may be. And without spoiling anything I will say that the new film is all about hope: hope for a better film in the franchise, hope that good will triumph, hope that a new future can exist. And I believe it's because of this theme of hope that this film is breaking records.

We live in a dark time of war and violence. It seems that every news report is a negative story. As we celebrate Christmas is important to remember what Christmas stands for. And I'm not talking about the pagan celebrations that the date was stolen from. I'm talking about  celebration of a new hope for mankind. A hope that lives on for all who believe in Jesus and his promise that one day this world will be made anew and that the darkness in the world will be vanquished so that peace may reign. I want anyone reading this to feel that hope and remind themselves to celebrate that hope this Christmas as a reminder that joy has been brought to the world despite anything. Four weeks ago I was feeling a touch hopeless about a job situation, now I have some hope founded in Christ. Two weeks ago I had a moment of hopelessness before I proposed to Jeanille. Again Christ brought me hope. What more can Jesus Christ do for you in this season and on into eternity?

Luke 1: 30-38

30And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

34And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

35And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

For nothing will be impossible with God. Let that be your new hope this Christmas and into the new year. Have a great holiday celebrating this great new hope!

Between Dream and Desire, God Moves

All of us have dreams. Dreams fascinate us while we lie awake - and are as such the topic of poetry such as when Edgar Allan Poe writes 'is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream' - or when we sleep we become enthralled in them. Some of us remember those dreams better than others (I rarely remember mine). Either way the point of the matter is that we all do dream and we use the term 'dreams' for our goals and visions of our life and what we want it to be. Some of us, like with dreaming in sleep, have greater clarity with our life and our goals. Others have far less clarity and are more content to drift through life - a goal in mind but not necessarily a set way to get there.

I am more of the latter, whereas Jeanille as I have come to realise, is more of the former. She also happens to remember her dreams unlike myself and has a greater picture and concept of what she wants from life. I of course, was not necessarily a part of that plan at first. I say this to make a point that all of us dream and plan very differently. My dream is to become an author - or rather my dream is to have a voice in writing that can reach a variety of people. My dream differs from some of the desires I have though: desires to become the best man I can be, the desires to become the best teacher I can be, the desires to marry and have a family etc. But sometimes the desire and the dreams do meet - I desire to write for a large audience and to be a leader of them for example.

The following are two verses highlighting a little of what God says about our dreams:

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (The context being about worrying about what we will eat or what we will wear - worrying about tomorrow)

Proverbs 16:3 Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

God wants us to surrender up our work, our very selves to him. Sometimes it hurts because we look at our dreams and we think we have to kill some of our desires in order to obtain the dream we treasure the most and want to prioritise. Sometimes it hurts because we have to kill our dreams to gain the things we desire out of life. Ultimately though, what needs to happen most with any dream and desire you have is for God to be in the middle of the two - to be in between your dreams and desires. Because in between our dreams and desires - in the middle of our lives - there it is that God moves for us.

If you surrender up your dreams and desires to him ultimately you will find your truest desires - what your heart really needs. My dream to become an author might never be met on Earth - but ultimately that dream is connected to the desire to have an audience with whom I can show off the creative gifts that God has given me and therefore find fulfilment. As Psalm 37:4 states, "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

So today my encouragement is for you to trust first and foremost in God with any dream or desire that you have that is not being met. If it hurts because you feel that there is some separation between your desires and your dreams then let God come into the middle of it all. There you will find peace and true fulfilment. Even if your dream here on Earth isn't met maybe you will see that the dream or desires that live within that dream will be met in eternity. Because after all, eternity is such a long time for the greater fulfilment of dreams!

The God Who Doesn't Come As Called...

I was having a discussion with Dad and Jeanille the other day and a concept was dropped that made me think about a particular idea: that being just how much we want everything to go our way when we want it. It's a concept that extends to God and how we think our life should be and comes from the story of Lazarus.

Let's start looking at this story from John 11: 1-6

1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 

4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

 The first point that arose from this conversation was the fact that there is an implication in the words of the sisters, "Lord the one that you love is sick." The implication being that there are other people that Jesus did not love so much as Lazarus and that it was important for Jesus to drop everything and come to see Lazarus because of his love for Lazarus. If we move on we see this idea reinforced a little again:

17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

If you had been here, my brother would not have died. These are words full of blame and feel like they're designed to guilt trip Jesus as we read them. A blaming of Jesus for not having dropped everything and rushed straight to Lazarus' side. Yet Martha still knew that God would give Jesus whatever he asked of Him and admits that at the end.

If we move to verse 37 it says 'But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”' Here we have many people who openly admit that Jesus has the power to cease death and cause healing but that Jesus had to have come earlier at a time appropriate for them. Yet all this clearly has an impact upon Jesus because verse 38 onwards talks about how Jesus was "once more deeply moved."

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

You see, here is my conclusion to this story and why it is so important for us today still. So many of us are content in our lives for Jesus to come and prevent us from dying. In other words, to stop the little problem that's bad for our health (physical or spiritual) and killing us in that moment but we aren't always content to fix the problem before it leads to something killing us. I'm not fully sure whether Lazarus had a lifestyle that contributed to his death but the moment that he was sick it's apparent that Mary and Martha wanted him to come immediately to heal the man that he loves. But Jesus didn't come immediately, or the day after, no - he came when Lazarus had lain in his tomb for days.

Ultimately here's the lesson: Jesus/God/The Holy Spirit - all three aspects of God - don't act just because you want them to. Our God is not some genie in a bottle. Some people want to flip everything on their head and make God their doG to come when called and do whatever trick they want Him to. Here's the thing though, when God does act? It's with real power - it's not just the power to prevent you from dying, it's the power to completely resurrect you. So my challenge is for us to be people who don't just treat our awesome God as someone who will do whatever we want but to recognise that every answer to prayer is a blessing of grace. We don't deserve it, but it's because his heart breaks for us that God pours out his love in true abundance. We simply need to receive it truly.

What Is A Christian To Do In a World That Rejects Their Beliefs?

I read an interesting article just before which connects to all the different ideas I wish to talk about in this blog. Apologies for not having written a blog post for a while again however, I just started my five week placement and have been exceptionally busy organising everything so that I am not working or too involved in activities that I cannot reschedule during this period. Anyway, onto the post which I just read:  http://bit.ly/1MB4SnO

The post talks about a push to refer to children with non-gender specific terms. I have no issue with this, however what I have an issue with is the concept of 'banning' the terms boy and girl or other terms which are specific. The article talks about not doing things and doing things in case people are offended, however this worries me. I'm worried that we as a society are going to reach a point where it becomes offensive to speak the truth and therefore the truth is hushed away. It's not the article itself, so much as the idea behind it, the idea of censorship and of getting rid of ideas which have biological backing without even questioning whether the idea behind this is as positive as believed.

The byword of the age is 'bigot', and it's a word which is unswervingly thrown at an individual whenever they express a belief contrary to the rest of society - particularly if that belief has Christian values connected to it. Ironically, those who use the term in such a way are themselves bigoted, given that by currency of the dictionary the term bigot is anyone who is intolerant to those holding different opinions. So guess what: we are all bigoted in some way, shape or form because at some point in our lives we hold to a truth unswervingly and we are intolerant of those who stand opposed to that truth.

Either way there is one common mistake I believe that Christians make in a world that calls us bigoted and denies our truths. That is, we attempt to impose our truths on this very same world. We condemn the world with our actions, calling out their sin and their every action as moral bankruptcy. Yet this is not what Jesus told us to do in the Great Commission whatsoever he didn't tell us to change the world from the outside, he told us to change it from the inside "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," Matthew 28:19.

Brian Houston said it well in a blog post of his own, "If God had wanted to condemn the world He would have sent a condemner. But He didn’t, He wanted to save the world so He sent a Saviour. John 3:17." However, it's because of this that sometimes Christians go the other way. We adopt everyone and endorse their worldviews and lifestyles when they enter the Church as perfectly acceptable Christian lifestyles. But again, the Church is not called to be the same as everyone else. We are called to be holy - righteous - sanctified. We are called to be set apart, to preach truths from the pulpit that aren't accepted by the rest of the world because deep down I believe everyone knows that they are not righteous, that they need salvation, that they aren't good enough on their own.

So here is what a Christian is to do in a world that rejects our beliefs: we endorse people but not their beliefs. We love people, but not their every action. We do not condemn a world that doesn't want our opinion or want us to meddle with their ways of life (would you tell your neighbour how to raise their children?) but rather we must stand out as holding onto a different truth and not just going along with the political correctness and lifestyles of the world. After all, we are here to guide people to salvation with love: we all need a saviour and how can we do that if we are as lost as everyone else?

A Faith Of One's Own

My girlfriend, Jeanille, is a big fan of the messages of Joel Osteen and as I mentioned yesterday that I was watching one of his messages that she shared: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtwX3xJl-pI

It struck me today that there is more I wish to talk about to do with the idea of Christians who judge him and other famous pastors or preachers. First let me bring to you the idea of how you truly recognise false prophets which Joel Osteen has been accused of being. It's found in Matthew 7:16 "By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" Now I don't know about you, but a church full of people coming to God in one form or another and worshipping Him seems like the fruit of someone serving God. Someone else said it better in this post about why Joel Osteen has been successful: http://www.charismanews.com/us/40377-the-joel-osteen-most-people-don-t-know

Now I'm not standing here to write a defence of Joel Osteen, or any famous pastor for that matter, in fact I'm actually sitting down as I type this. But I am typing an argument to Christians and exhorting them to stop judging fellow believers because you don't believe they are, essentially, Christian enough. William Booth said this: "The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, heaven without hell." However, I would also say that another danger is that we as the Church become so distracted by our bickering over differences and 'who is right or wrong' that we forget what our real call is to do: go and make disciples. Essentially, making disciples - teaching others about the good news of salvation and following Jesus as Lord is really a part of the essential reason we were created; to worship God. 

I'm not saying that you should go the other way and essentially believe everything that people like Joel Osteen say. In fact I would discourage it. I simply believe that he, as part of the body, has his own way of spreading the gospel. Maybe we should spend less time looking at and judging the faith of others and more time on what we ourselves believe. 

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:10-12 " ..10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

When I was a child my faith was based on what my parents believed. As I grew up into a man I developed my own faith and relationship with Jesus Christ and that gives me revelations on particular topics and ideas that others may not see. Not better revelations or more perfect revelations (I still only know in part) but they are my own revelations. My encouragement is that we can all continue to grow up and think like adults, developing our own faith and relationships with Christ. And while that happens let's not judge what God is doing through someone else, unless the fruit of that is opposite to what God's word states. 

Superheroic Grace

I watched Ant Man the other day. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge fan of fictional works: particularly science fiction or fantasy fiction and I have a huge love for superhero fiction. So to that end I really loved the quirky humour and action of Ant Man and how well Paul Rudd played Scott Lang as a character. But that said, this is not an advertisement or a review of Ant Man. Instead, I simply want to use something I saw in the film to explain a point in this latest blog post of mine.

When I watch a movie I love to look for the positive themes in it. Those themes that link back to the idea of the gospel. I'm not saying I get my doctrine from films because that would be ridiculous. What I am saying is that the God inspired world view I already possess leads me to go into films to dig out the positive themes that portray an idea or belief better than I had seen it before. So with that in mind I love superhero films for the ideas of how you get ordinary or extraordinary people struggling with their newfound or long-held powers or abilities and the responsibilities that come with them.

I won't spoil the film for those who still want to see it (it's good and I will probably see it again!) but there was one moment in the film I want to touch on. In this moment, the main character is being offered the chance to seize the Ant Man role and become a hero, but he rejects that idea and tries to run from it. To that end his mentor, the one offering this chance, points out the type of man he is. He reveals how the protagonist is someone who, when the going gets tough and the money runs out, turns back to crime.

I was thinking about this and it hit me that we as people are exactly like that. God offers us the chance to be heroes and walk a life of power with Him. But often when the going gets tough, when we face the annual persecutions of life we turn back to a life of crime: a life of sin. The truth is that sin is a crime against God, anything we do that is a rebellion against God. God stands there and offers us a brand new 'born again' life (2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.") but so often we turn it away to slip back into old habits and ways of thinking because it seems easier.

One of these ways of thinking is criticism. I was watching a video from Joel Osteen recently and comparing it with the hate and mistrust that some Christians proclaim against him. I know many who claim he doesn't preach the gospel or God, but then watching that video I saw exactly the opposite multiple times. What I did see is someone who is a success because he is seizing the offer of God to be a born again hero of faith. I'm not saying that we should raise the famous pastors and Christian leaders on pedestals, I'm simply saying that we shouldn't judge how one person follows God's plan according to the specific plan God has for us.

Just as there are multiple different superheroes in the Marvel universe, so too are we all called to a life of power with God - but not necessarily to do the same thing. Romans 1:16 states that "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." 1 Corinthians 4:20 says that "For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power." You can say all that you want, but the real sign of living according to God's design is in how we live our lives according to the belief in God's power for us. I'm not talking about living as if we're invincible (to use my metaphor maybe that's not our superpower) but it's about living according to the faith we have and the knowledge we have in God.

The moral of Ant Man was essentially that every person gets a second-chance. We too have been offered a second-chance by God's great love. Romans 5:8 says this "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." God wants you so much. Isn't it humbling that the greatest and most powerful being in all the universe and all time wants to be with you? Wants you to be with Him? Don't we, in a sense, owe Him a response to His humility and grace? If you want to respond to Him appropriately then what He wants is for you to truly accept that his son, Jesus Christ is Lord and died and rose again for you. Believe it, confess it and accept it. You will see that you will turn your life from being someone who always slips into the easy way out of turning away from God to someone living a life with the power to follow His will and plans.

I'm not saying that life is easy or will be. Don't get me wrong. I know many Christians who go through struggle and tough times. I do too from time to time. The question is: do you want to go through struggle separated from and antagonistic to the creator of the universe or do you want to walk hand in hand with his favour and power? I know what side I'm choosing.