Seven Days of Einstein: Day 7

"Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing." -- Albert Einstein

Seven Days of Einstein: Day 6

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." -- Albert Einstein

C.S. Lewis on Prayer (from Shadowlands)

This is an excerpt from the dialogue between Harry Harrington and C.S. Lewis from the movie Shadowlands...

“Christopher can scoff, but I know how hard you’ve been praying. And now God is answering your prayer.”

“That’s not why I pray, Harry. I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because… I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping... It doesn’t change God. It changes me.”

Seven Days of Einstein: Day 5

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -- Albert Einstein

Seven Days of Einstein: Day 4

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity." -- Albert Einstein

Seven Days of Einstein: Day 3

"The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible." -- Albert Einstein

Seven Days of Einstein: Day 2

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." -- Albert Einstein

Seven Days of Einstein: Day 1

"Two things inspire me to awe -- the starry heavens above and the moral universe within." -- Albert Einstein

Are you creating your own god?

(Hebrews 10:7-10)
THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.' After saying above, "SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them" (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, "BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL." He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The last sentence is the key as it states that no other sacrifice is necessary for our sanctification. That’s what I’d like to talk about…

It is extremely easy for Christians to fall into the trap of offering our sacrifices instead of accepting the perfect one. Do you find yourself thinking that if you only pray more or “do good” or fast more or ______ that God would become to you what you want Him to be? That He would love you more? That He would favor you more?

That’s garbage in its pure form. God is already everything to us that we ever needed. He doesn’t change: He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He loves you unconditionally and His love does not change based on what you do (or don’t do). He cannot change because He cannot become any more or less perfect – He is the perfection itself.

If we find ourselves trying to "change" God, we must repent at once. God never, never needs anything from us as if He lacked something... It is we who need everything from Him. We are to open our mouths wide that He may fill us. We are strictly God's beneficiaries -- never benefactors.

What is God's will for your and my lives?

I might be wrong but it appears to me that the most (or at least one of the most) frequently asked questions by Christians is, "What is God's will for my life?" Even if the question is never voiced, I am certain most Christians want the answer.

There is a lot of literature on the subject but, unfortunately, none seem to give a simple and definitive answer (and it has to be simple because not all of us are intellectuals). From my experience, the answers given usually go like this: "study the Bible, then pray a lot -- you will know God's will for your life." I have nothing against this statement per se but I do doubt its applicability to the question. The answer implies that God's will is something very illusive and only after much study and prayer you may know what His will is. I don't think it is true (although I am all for vigorous Bible study and genuine prayer). Before setting off on a quest to answer this question in the miriad of books and articles, let's ask the Savior Himself. "O Lord, Maker of heavens and earth and all within them, what is the Father's will for my life?" Here's the Lord's reply, "believe in Him [the Son] whom He [the Father] sent" (John 6:29). Indeed, the reply is to a slightly different question, "What shall we do so that we may work the works of God?" However, the difference between our and their question is only superficial. We, too, ask the question so that we may do God's work.

So, the answer is simple, "Believe in and trust Jesus." This is God's will for your and my lives.