We Couldn’t Get to God, So God Came to Us

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

Christianity is the only world religion that doesn’t subscribe to the belief that followers can achieve enlightenment or some other sort of oneness with God by behaving in just the right way. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s the only belief system which recognizes that nobody can achieve the perfection required to enter God’s presence.

Of course, God Himself knows this as well.

So, instead of sitting way up in heaven beating us all back like so many intruders storming the castle, God–in the form of Jesus–climbed down from His throne to be with us (as Matthew reminded us in the first chapter of his gospel: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)—Matthew 1:23 (NIV)). This is why we celebrate Christmas, and this is what we remember in partuluar all throughout Advent (which starts today). God came to us to show us the way to heaven–to become the way to heaven. All He asks is that we follow Him. Not easy, but certainly very simple.

Which doesn’t mean you have to behave a certain way or dress a certain way or look a certain way. Satan planted those lies into our culture because he wants to keep people from going to heaven. He wants a bigger headcount in hell. Yes, it’s crowded, but he will always find a way to cram in one more just to make everyone more miserable.

I often wonder why so many people think they’re smarter than God when in fact they’re dumber than Satan. Why do they ignore the celery of God’s Truth in favor of devouring the candy of Satan’s lies?

In my morning devotional today, I came across this verse:

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Luke 19:41-44 (NIV)

Even though Jesus is lamenting Jerusalem’s (i.e., the Jewish leaders’) rejection of Him, I think the sentiment applies equally well to individuals who haven’t accepted the priceless gift of His grace. In particular, I can’t even count the number of people I know who would benefit from what would bring them peace.

For example, there are two people who I love dearly, both of whom struggle mightily with anxiety specifically and mental health in general. I pray daily that they will return to the faith, not only because I’m concerned about their eternal destination, but also because I know that Jesus will help them find true peace. To be clear, I’m not suggesting that a relationship with Jesus is a magical overnight cure for mental health challenges, but I am saying that I believe Jesus will help them process their challenges in healthier ways than they are dealing with them now, which basically amounts to self-medicating.

But instead of accepting God’s grace-filled invitation, one of these people hides behind intellectually lazy, half-baked theories he refers to as Christian agnosticism, while the other rejects the faith because she has been wounded by Christians behaving badly (which is, sadly, all too common, but which has nothing to do with Jesus Himself) and because she has bought into the lie that you have to behave a certain way to be a Christian.

My prayer for them this Advent, and for everyone else I know who thinks they’re smarter than God, is that this time around, they’ll ignore the lies and open their hearts and minds to the truth of who God is. I hope they will recognize that this baby at the center of Christmas is God coming for them, to help them and heal them. To save them by showing them the way to heaven. I pray they’ll finally realize how much God loves them and that His grace is enough to cover over everything they have ever done wrong and ever will do wrong. That would be the best gift they could get for Christmas.

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The Dependence of an Infant

Posted on November 26, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

And so it begins. With Thanksgiving behind us, we are wading–or perhaps diving head-first–into the Christmas season, the time when we commemorate God’s invasion of our planet to eventually eradicate evil. As I pondered this, an image flashed into my mind, which may or may not have been a message from God. But either way, I felt it was worth writing about today.

Here’s the picture that popped into my head: God coming to us in the form of an infant. What a delicious irony, this–the Creator of a billion stars coming to this tiny planet as a tinier, helpless baby. And since God, in the form of this Jesus, didn’t cheat the physical constraints of being a human, I have to believe that He was truly helpless.

My grandson isn’t quite 16 months old–so, much more capable than an infant–but still, he wouldn’t last very long without his parents (or other caring adults) looking after him. He’s trying to talk, but it’s still just gibberish (even though it seems like he thinks he’s saying things that make sense), so he can’t even convey what his needs or wants are. He needs people who care enough about him to try to discern what he needs.

And, of course, I remember this from my own children as well: newborn babies are even more dependent on others to survive than a toddler is.

For those of us who recognize Jesus as part of the Triune God, it’s difficult for us to think of God as ever needing anything from a human, but this truth is revealed in the Nativity story. Sure, we like to picture a cute little baby Jesus lying in a manger, but how often do we dwell on the fact that He depended on people to stay alive?

What’s the point? Well, of course, there are lots of lessons to be learned from walking with Jesus through His earthly ministry. We can certainly learn a lot from things He said–His many wise and challenging teachings. But we can also learn many things simply by examining His life–the things He did, the way He acted and reacted.

In this case, I can’t help but wonder if God sent Jesus to us as a baby instead of a fully grown man so He could show us that it’s OK–even necessary–to depend on other people.

In our culture, we prize rugged individualism–I did it my way, I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, look what I did.

But those are all examples of our pride talking, and pride is one of the most clever and insidious weapons of the evil one. He enjoys helping us think we don’t need anyone else. And he’s the father of lies.

Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with working hard, as though success depends solely on our own efforts. But it’s foolishness to think we can actually achieve anything worthwhile without the help of others. Oh yeah, and without God’s help.

So, maybe as we slide into the Christmas season, every time we see images of the baby Jesus or sing about an infant so tender and mild, we should reflect on our own dependence on others, and on God. Perhaps this would be a good way to help us eliminate Satan’s foothold of pride in our lives and turn instead to a posture of gratitude toward God and–<gasp!>–other people. Who knows, maybe it’s the path toward sleeping in heavenly peace.

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What’s There To Be Thankful For?

Posted on November 19, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

Thanksgiving is coming this week here in the US. With everything going on in the world, it’s easy to wonder what there is to be thankful for. On a personal level, I’ve learned that my consulting engagement is ending early due to financial mismanagement at my client. I’m not feeling especially thankful for that.

And yet, there is still plenty to be thankful for.

We had a family reunion yesterday for my wife’s family. Our young dog hasn’t gotten used to being around people she doesn’t know, especially large groups of them. So the get-together was definitely not her favorite thing. She spent most of the day leaning into me, trying to disappear into me.

One of the best reasons to be thankful is that we have a God who cares deeply for us, who wants us to lean into Him. He wants us to hand over all our fear and uncertainty to Him. We can find safety and comfort in Him.

That’s a great reason to be thankful.

I wish you a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

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An Alternative to Prayer

Posted on November 12, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

Lately, I’ve noticed another insidious way secular culture has tried to replace religious notions with “safe”, watered-down (and therefore meaningless) imitations. The attempt to replace “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays” is a classic example. Another is one I’ve written about previously regarding Thanksgiving–the idea of having a posture of gratitude toward “the universe” for the blessings in our lives instead of giving thanks to our Creator, the true source of all our blessings.

The concern I’m addressing today is the attempt to replace “I’m praying for you” with “I’m sending good thoughts your way”. While it may be a nice gesture to tell someone you’re sending good thoughts their way, it actually does nothing to change that person’s situation.

Of course, non-believers and believers alike would be able to cite countless examples where someone prayed for something and that something did not work out the way they wanted. So, it could be argued that praying also does nothing to change that person’s situation.

But that’s only true if you have the wrong understanding of God, as many people do, that He is a sort of cosmic vending machine. You put in your prayer-dollar and get your bag of Cheez-Its or your illness is cured.

If that’s your view of God, I have some bad news for you: God is not here to grant all your wishes, nor mine.

But there’s good news–great news!–regardless of your opinion about God: He is here to help us lead abundant earthly lives and even more abundant eternal lives in heaven.

You might at this point accuse me of contradicting myself. On one hand, I said God is not here to grant all our wishes, but on the other, I said God will help us lead abundant earthly lives. Which is it?

Both can be true because God’s abundance is not the same as our definition of abundance. Our definition may focus on material possessions–a nice house, a vacation home, a late-model car, and all the latest gadgets. There’s certainly nothing wrong with these things, but God may define abundance in terms of deep, loving relationships, or laughter and smiles, or an inner peace that baffles everyone around you because they see how your world is falling apart.

God often offers us what we need, but how many times do we miss that because we’re consumed with begging for what we want?

What Is Prayer? What Does It Do?

Anyway, to address the topic at hand–sending good thoughts vs. praying–it might be worth reflecting for a moment on what prayer is and what it does.

In giving us the sample prayer known as “The Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4), Jesus shows us clearly that prayer is meant to be an intimate conversation with a dad who loves us very much. Prayers do not need to be long or full of flowery language. They simply need to be sincere, spoken from the heart. And they need to be directed to God (Father, Son, or Holy Spirit–take your pick).

There’s also the question of what prayer does. Having said that God doesn’t grant our wishes, I should point out that there are examples in the Bible where that’s exactly what He does. In Isaiah chapter 38, we see the story of Hezekiah. Through the prophet Isaiah, God told Hezekiah that he was going to die. Hezekiah prayed and wept bitterly, so God told Isaiah to turn around and go back to Hezekiah to give him the good news that he was going to live another 15 years.

But generally, it seems that God does not answer prayers so quickly or directly–he usually seems to answer prayers in His time and in His way. So what does prayer do and why bother doing it?

I think one of the many blessings we get from praying is that we can develop our relationship with God. I mean, it would be ridiculous for me to rarely speak to my wife but then expect our relationship to grow and flourish. Further, since God is the only source of true peace–shalom–praying helps us to lean into and lean on Him, and reminds us that since our (believers’) eternal destination is already decided to be paradise, what happens tomorrow or next week might not be as painful or earth-shattering as we might be imagining.

So, hopefully, you can see now that there is no alternative to prayer. “Sending good thoughts” for someone does nothing for them, whereas praying for them can lead to immeasurable blessings for you and the other person as well. Praying is talking to the God of endless power, the Creator of the universe. Sending good thoughts is like talking to yourself. I’m sure you’re a swell person and that you mean well, but when was the last time you performed a miracle? It’s been a while (never) for me, too!

So why not choose to talk to God?

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Is it Too Early to Celebrate Christmas?

Posted on November 5, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

On my morning walk a couple of days ago, I saw that one of my neighbors has started putting up their outdoor Christmas decorations. This got me wondering if it’s too early to start celebrating Christmas.

Of course, there’s no definitive answer to this question, so I wanted to offer my opinion. I think that from a commercial aspect, it does seem too early. Many stores are already having their “Black Friday” sales, and we’re already seeing Christmas-themed TV advertisements. That’s a bit much.

But on the other hand, for those of us who celebrate the birth of Christ as the world- and life-changing event that it was and is, is it ever too early to start celebrating the day God came to us in human form? Advent is a season of hope, joy, love, peace. It’s the time of year more than any other when we catch little glimpses of light breaking into the darkness of this world.

And it’s all because of Jesus.

Why wouldn’t we want to celebrate that for as long as we can?

I’m going to go put on some Christmas music, even if my wife rolls her eyes at me.

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What’s in a Name?

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

There are some Christian praise songs I really like that talk about the power in the name of Jesus. Thinking about them, though, got me wondering: how can there be power in a name? I mean, the thought of there being actual power in a name seems almost mystical to me.

So, let’s unpack a couple verses from the Bible to see if there’s anything to this.

In Exodus 3, Moses first encounters God from a burning bush. This is when God calls Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. Moses clearly does not want to answer this calling (it’s clear because Moses offers several excuses why he’s not the guy for the job). One thing Moses asks God is who he should say sent him to the Isrealites to lead them from bondage. This is God’s response:

“This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

Exodus 3:14 (NIV)

Fast forward to the New Testament. In Matthew 18, right after the Last Supper, Jesus and 11 of His disciples are in the Garden of Gethsemane later that night. Jesus’ other disciple, Judas Iscariot, brings Jewish soldiers and officials to show them where Jesus is so they can arrest Him. Jesus asks them who they are looking for, and they respond that they are seeking “Jesus the Nazarene.” And here is how Jesus identifies Himself:

He said to them, “I Am.” (Judas, his betrayer, was standing with them.) When he said, “I Am,” they shrank back and fell to the ground.

John 18:5-6 (CEB, emphasis added)

I realize that sometimes the way they talked in the Bible seems strange to us, so it’s possible to chalk this phrasing up to that and miss this entirely. But “this “I AM” is not some archaic phrase that everyone used to say, like “thee” and “thou”. On the contrary, it was phrasing that God had reserved for referring to Himself.

And we can see in the passage from John that when Jesus referred to Himself this way, everyone around Him was knocked to the ground.

To me, this is a great example of there being actual power in God’s name.

For an example that I’ve experienced in my own life, I’ll tell you that in times when I’ve felt darkness closing in all around me and I’ve thought to whisper, “Jesus, help me,” I have physically experienced the darkness running away from me. Simply by calling on the name of Jesus, I’ve been suddenly overcome by a peace that defies explanation. Of course, this begs the question why I don’t always call on His name when I’m under attack–my best guess is that it’s probably because I think I can handle it on my own. That seems ridiculous now as I write this, and I wish I could give a better explanation, but I’m trying to be honest with you so maybe you can learn from my dumb choices.

My suggestion to you (and to me) is that the next time you feel under attack–overwhelmed, tempted, stressed, greedy, etc.–simply call out the name of Jesus and see what happens. This isn’t an incantation, though. It’s an invitation.

When you invite Jesus into your heart, He will protect you. He fights our spiritual battles for us, and He knows how to win.

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No More Goodbyes

Posted on October 22, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

This past week, we were blessed to have our 2 daughters and their significant others visit us. This included my grandson. Our time together was certainly one for the scrapbook of our lives, but the sad aspect of it is that our delightful time together had to come to an end. Unfortunately, we had to end the visit with tearful goodbyes, which are definitely terrible. I’m grateful for the blessing of our time together, but now I’m sad that it ended too quickly.

After dropping our older daughter and grandson off at the airport this morning, I turned to the Bible for consolation. This verse came to my mind:

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)

The good news that my Good Shepherd is always with me and will never leave nor forsake me–so I’ll never have to say goodbye to Him–gave me comfort for sure, but it didn’t alleviate my sadness as much as I had hoped.

So then I started wondering if we would ever get to a time when we no longer have to say goodbye to loved ones. The only time I could speculate about was once we are all in heaven, which unfortunately will be after even more painful goodbyes than what we went through with the departure of our daughters.

Even then, I’m not sure that there won’t tearful goodbyes in heaven. I mean, for my wife and me, our ideal heaven would include having our 3 kids and their families living in our neighborhood, but what if that’s not the case for them? What if heaven for us means that we have the mountains on one side of our neighborhood and the beach on the other side, but that’s not their idea of heaven?

The Bible surprisingly does not speak much about heaven, so we are left to wonder and, to some extent, fantasize about it. Maybe heaven will be so awesome that everyone will lead the life of their dreams together, even if their dreams are different. So even if it’s not what heaven looks like for my loved ones, perhaps we will get to experience eternity not only with Jesus living on our block, but also in close proximity to our loved ones from many generations past and future, What if, in this way, we’ll never have to say goodbye again?

We can always hope, right?

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Raise Shields

Posted on October 15, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

I have to admit that I’m a fan of Star Trek and most of its children and grandchildren. One consistent thing across all variants of the show is that as soon as any sort of bad guy started attacking the Enterprise (or other starship), the first thing Captain Kirk (or other captain) would do is order, “Raise shields.” One thing I always wondered, though, is why they would wait until they were under attack before they’d raise their shields. I mean, if I were flying through space that could be inhabited by Romulans or Klingons (when they’re bad) or the Borg, I think I’d raise my shields before I did anything else, not wait until someone was trying to blow me out of the sky.

This made me think of the following admonition from Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ:

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Paul, in Ephesians 6:13-17 (NIV)

Since we never know when flaming arrows from the evil one will be flying towards us, why would we ever go anywhere or do anything without raising our shields? There’s a lot more I could say here about the defensive tools Paul mentions or the single offensive weapon he refers to (sword of the Spirit), but instead, I thought it would be better to suggest that you think and pray through what these things mean to you.

Also, remember how I had mentioned in a previous post that I learned from my pastor to start each day, before I even get out of bed, with a simple prayer: “Holy Spirit, come”?

With these things in mind, I have one further suggestion. Why don’t we try amending that simple morning prayer like this: “Holy Spirit, come. Raise shields!”

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God Wants You to Know that He Loves You Anyway

Posted on October 8, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

I don’t know what your “anyway” is, but God pours His grace all over it. I don’ know what your past is like, but God has poured His grace all over that, too. Same thing with your sinful behavior and thought patterns. God has tossed us headlong into His ocean of grace.

If you’re anything like me, this is the best news you’ll ever hear.

I have plenty of baggage in my past–things I wish I hadn’t done or said, but I can’t undo or unsay them. And even though I feel like God has helped me grow and made me a better person, I am, unfortunately, still shocked sometimes by something I do or say or think. I get so disappointed in myself and wonder how I can ever think I’ve grown at all. I’ve failed God, or maybe God has failed me.

Maybe this is you, too, my friend?

But here’s the thing: this is shame. And it is the tool of the evil one, who would do anything to separate us from God.

But, thankfully, God has done everything to bring us back into His arms. The moment we ask for forgiveness, He picks us up, dunks us into His river of mercy to wash off the filth, and sends us on our way (but not before reminding us to go forth and sin no more, even while knowing that won’t be possible for us).

The Bible is God’s love letter to you and to me. Here’s one of the reasons I believe that to be true: because He shows by one example after another that He loves us anyway. Here are just a few:

  • God still loved Adam and Eve, even after they deliberately disobeyed a directive from God because they had believed Satan’s lies.
  • God still loved Moses, even after he killed a man and despite Moses telling God he didn’t want the assignment God had for him.
  • God still loved David, even after he committed adultery and then had that woman’s (Bathsheba’s) husband killed to try to cover it up.
  • God (in the form of Jesus) still loved the Samaritan woman at the well, even though she had cast aside 5 husbands and was not married to the man she was currently living with.
  • God (Jesus) still loved Peter, even after Peter swore that he didn’t know Jesus because he was afraid for his life.
  • God (Jesus) still loved Thomas, even after Thomas doubted that Jesus had really been rasied to life after His execution.
  • God (Jesus) still love Paul, even after Saul (Paul) had tried to eradicate His church by persecuting His followers.

So, you see, it doesn’t matter what your or my “anyway” is. God loves you no matter what, and He loves me despite all the ways I’ve let Him down. For that, I am and will be forever grateful.

How about you?

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Carriers of Hope, Even When It Makes No Sense

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Writing & Photography by David K. Carpenter

At New Life Church (my Colorado Springs church) today, the insightful Pastor Brady Boyd preached from 1 Kings 17. He taught about the story of the prophet Elijah and the widow at Zarephath (1 Kings 17:7-16). Due to a 3-year drought that Elijah had announced, this poor widow and her son had lost all hope.

In fact, when she encounters Elijah, she is preparing her last meal for her and her son before they starve to death. Talk about hopeless.

Then came Elijah, who initially appears to make things worse for her. Upon hearing what she was doing, Elijah–seemingly callously–tells her to make bread for him before feeding her son or having anything herself. He tells her, “Don’t be afraid” (v 13), which seems to be another strange demand. However, he offers her a small glimmer of hope when he follows up with this promise:

“For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ”

1 King 17:14 (NIV)

Still, this is a tough situation for this woman. She is asked to trust God not only with her life, but also her son’s. On my best days, I like to think that I would trust God with my life, but honestly, I don’t know if I could say that I would trust Him so completely with my child’s life.

But here’s the thing: God blesses them because she is willing to hold on loosely to her and her son’s lives. He keeps His promise, and the flour and olive oil never run out.

So as it turns out, Elijah brought this woman hope in the form of a promise from God. This becomes an example for us, not only as another lesson that God keeps His promises, but also to remind us that we are to be carriers of hope to the people we meet. And just as Elijah faithfully delivered a message that initially made no sense (“feed me before you or your son eat, even though you’re about to starve to death”), so we are also called to convey hope to our friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and everyone else, even if what we say is nonsensical to them.

Hope does not always make sense. But it carries us through the darkest of days.

This is what Jesus did. He spoke hope into a hopeless world, even if what He said didn’t make sense to most people who heard Him. His message lit up the darkness, chased it away. His life and death showed us once again that God keeps His promises.

That’s the message of hope that we are to carry with us everywhere we go, and share freely.

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