Graduation is an exciting time for young Christians

by Barrett Vanlandingham

May 3, 2016

            As if most parents of high school seniors don’t mope around enough over the fact their child is quickly checking off that “list of lasts” characterized by their long awaited senior year, we have finally hit the month of May. That’s when days feel like months to the students, and a month feels like no time at all to parents who will soon see their kids move on to their next chapter in life. 

            For many young Christians getting ready to graduate, the coming months and years will bring new kinds of trials. It will be the first time they will go through situations without the immediate help of parents to advise them on what to do. This is when they find out if they really were listening to their parents, trusted friends and relatives, and Bible class teachers.

            This time of year, churches everywhere pray that the young people they send out into the world after high school will not only be prepared to represent Jesus Christ in all aspects of their lives, but will have the confidence, courage, and strength it takes to follow through with what they know is right. Applying that knowledge is usually the hardest part of living the Christian life, whether you’re a teen or an adult. That’s why it is so important to remember to pray about it.

            The apostle Paul penned the following verses in a letter to the church in Philippi about 2000 years ago. But his inspired message means just as much today just as much as it did back then:

            “8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you (Philippians 4:8-9).”

            Those words from Paul are some of my favorites. In just two verses, Paul manages to sum up the answers to any truly important questions a graduate could have. In fact, no matter what time of life we’re in, those two verses will point our attitudes away from the wrong, and into the right direction. He even gives us a way to know if we’re on the right track. Peace of mind is a short checklist that most of us can figure out pretty quickly.

            So in reality, whether you’re a parent or a student, the emphasis of a quickly dwindling senior year should not be on a “list of lasts”, but instead on exciting and new beginnings, and opportunities for faith building, and bringing others to Jesus.  Have a blessed week!

Getting the big picture in your Christian walk is important

by Barrett Vanlandingham

April 26, 2016

            Did you ever get yourself into a situation of responsibility that made you think, “How did I get into this?”  Well, my mother in law volunteered me to be the photographer for her brother’s wedding last week. In her defense, she knows I have a very nice camera I use for this and that.  The problem is, until last Friday, I had never been a wedding photographer.  The pressure was on for me to do a really good job.

            The problem with photography in general is that each time the lighting conditions change, you have to change the settings on your camera, unless you have it set to automatic. The problem with “auto” is that the camera doesn’t always get it right, so the photographer has to manually switch the settings. That was the part I was stressed about since even though I am not a beginner, I am also far from professional level. But after I started doing a little research, asking questions of experienced photographers, and practicing what I had learned, I found the challenge of doing a wedding wouldn’t be nearly as bad as I thought.

            As a minister, I couldn’t help but equate this scenario with the Christian life which is also challenging, to say the least. But I have found when I research and study the issues I have questions about, seek advice from more mature Christians or maybe Christians who have more experience in a particular area, and then apply that knowledge to my life, I find my spiritual battles don’t always have to feel so lopsided against me.

            One major difference between photography and Christianity is the “automatic” and “manual” settings. With photography, you have to adjust the camera’s setting to fit your environment. But with Christianity, you have only one setting, “LOVE.” So, in general, you have to choose in which environments or situations you are willing to put yourself. With a camera, you make decisions on the spot, depending on how your situation changes. But with Christianity, your setting is always on “love.” 

            Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” and “Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31).”

            Someone who loves God will strive to not put themselves in a position that forces them into having to make the decision of how to react. You know, questions like, “Should I, or shouldn’t I? But even if you do find yourself in a bad situation, it is never too late to do the right thing. Just remember, the correct setting in the Christian life is always to show that you “love God” by obeying His commands (ref: John 14:15,23).”   You may still wind up suffering consequences in this lifetime for a bad decision, but turning your dial back to “love” for God will have eternal rewards.  Have a blessed week!         

Evidence and logic can help build your faith

by Barrett Vanlandingham

April 17, 2016

            “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge (2 Peter 1:5).”

            The other day a campus minister friend told me about a strange conversation he had with a young man who has started attending his church. When asked about his faith, the young man said, “I’m an atheist.”  Obviously, this stunned my friend since most people you meet at church believe in God.  So, my friend asked the young man why he comes to church if he doesn’t believe in God. The answer? “I’m bored.”  This didn’t really surprise me since I’d heard it years before from a friend who attended church three times a week because of the “nice people there” even though he said he didn’t believe in God. Well, I thought, at least they know what they do not believe in, and why they do what they do.

            This thought process made me think about my answers to faith-related questions such as “Why do I do what I do, and exactly what do I believe, and why?”  How about you? If someone asked you why you go to church, or why you believe in God, would you have a good answer? For me, I am continually sculpting my answers to these kinds of questions, not so much in the area of Bible doctrine, but in areas of evidence and logic that help me give answers that maybe someone hasn’t thought about.

            My campus minister friend (who also happens to be a math teacher) brought up a very good point. If he waded through a creek, tipped over a rock, and found a Rolex watch with its tiny intricate 220 parts all still intact or not, most people would agree the watch, at some point, had been manufactured. In other words, the watch did not just appear there over billions of years because the stream needed it to appear or manufacture itself from elements found in the creek bed. Most rational thinking people would say the watch obviously had a designer.

            Oddly enough, the human body has thousands of living parts of varying sizes from the cell on up, all working perfectly to keep our bodies going, and yet, many people think the human body is just an accident that formed over billions of years, without God’s help. No Designer. Wow! You talk about a belief system that requires a lot of faith! That would be one. It makes no sense, but that’s exactly where a lot of people stand. As for evolution, not even one piece of evidence has ever been discovered showing that one kind of animal has ever turned into another.

            I even have a few Christian friends who believe that God created the process of evolution in order to create us. That doesn’t work either, since so many of the tiny parts of our bodies such as protein, DNA, and cell’s energy producer known as ATP had to be in existence, fully formed at the same time, in order for each to play crucial roles in the manufacture of the other. Similarly, the human eye, the cell’s locomotion device known as flagellum, and blood clotting are also examples of things that could not have come about through evolution since in order for them to work at all, the entire unit or process had to have existed in full form at the start, not evolved.

            For me, the fact that the Bible has proven to be the most accurate and oldest history book is a really good tool to add to my faith box. Also, the Bible has been very helpful in discoveries related to all areas of science. This lends huge amounts of convincing evidence supporting the Bible’s claims of how the universe was created by the God. Also, the Bible has never been proven wrong, on anything. Yes, it still takes faith to believe in God. But one day, faith and hope will not be necessary. Only love will remain, forever. Have a blessed week!

Singing like an angel may not be a compliment

by Barrett Vanlandingham

April 12, 2016

            I always enjoy the singing part of worship, when the voices of my church family blend the “fruit of lips” (Hebrews 13:15) in praise to God. Singing as worship holds a special place in scripture that surfaces in times of celebration and in times of stress and sorrow, and is not limited to an activity that takes place inside a church building. In addition to Sunday, worship, including singing, can take place anywhere, anytime, everywhere, all the time.

            We can only assume, since so much is written in the Bible about singing to God, that He appreciates the songs we sing to Him, provided we are sincere in the words we offer to God. If our walk doesn’t match our talk (or our worship), then God rejects our offerings (Isaiah 1:10-15, Amos 5:21-23). Our acts of worship are a very important part of our relationship with God. Singing is a big part of that. In fact, we may not be the only ones singing. Zephaniah 3:17 makes mention of God rejoicing over His people with singing. What a beautiful thought. Just imagine, God singing over us!

            Traditionally, we often talk about angels singing. But do they really sing? In the Bible, we read about angels speaking, shouting, and praising, but we never hear about them singing. Even in Luke’s account of the birth of the Christ child, the angels praised God “saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest (ref: Luke 2:10-14).’”

            Revelation 5:8-9 speaks of four living creatures and 24 elders singing a new song to Christ, the Lamb of God. But angels are not included in the reference to singing. In verse 2, angels “proclaimed”, and in verses 11-12, thousands of angels in a loud voice were “saying”. But still, no mention of singing.

            Yes, I know, this is a difficult pill to swallow if you’re like me, and have always imagined angels singing. After all, dozens, possibly even hundreds of songs have been written about singing angels and their harps, which the Bible doesn’t mention either. Just people and those same four living creatures previously mentioned have harps. The trumpet seems to be the instrument preferred by God for His angels (ref: Revelation 8-9).

            It may just be that singing is something God has reserved only for His most special creation of humans, either as our offering to Him, or when He sings over us (and those four living creatures). Whatever the case, there is no doubt that when Christians come together to sing praises to God, the love and joy that God blesses us with in return is very real. Personally, I think those feelings may very well be the result of God singing over us, because He loves us.

            Having said all of that, the idea of angels singing is not out of the realm of possibility. Psalm 47:6-7 and James 5:13 would seem to make a close connection between praising and singing. Still, for all the mention of people and even heavenly creatures singing, there is no reference to singing angels.

   Nevertheless, being told you sing like an angel may not be a compliment after all, even though praising, proclaiming, and shouting can take place within the context of singing. But even if angels are not capable of singing, we can be joyful that the Creator of all things (including angels) is capable of singing over us, with us, and even sometimes in spite of us.  Have a blessed week!