Brian Olson Devotional, Hymns, Worship

How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Refrain

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

Refrain

And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Refrain

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, My God, how great thou art!

Written by Carl Gustav Boberg, 1885
Music traditional Swedish melody

 

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.
Psalm 95:1-7

 

There are certain hymns that everyone knows, often whether you are a Christian or not. This is one of them. How Great Thou Art seems as though it has been around forever, but the reality this hymn, as we know it, has only been around for 60 years. While the original swedish poem was written in 1885, the english version we now know was published in 1954.

But it is the words of this song, set to a traditional swedish melody, that stir people’s hearts to make what is in many ways a relatively recent addition to hymnals one of everyone’s favorites.

It starts with words that set the stage. “Oh Lord my God.” These words say it all. To often today we get caught up in the mentality that Jesus is my buddy. While it is true that He is described as one who is closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24), he is more. He is the almighty creator of the universe. We are not simply talking about our good, or even best, friend. We are talking about God. And so these words stir me every time I sing them, “Oh Lord My God.”

But this is again, just the beginning, for the next line opens the door for all that is to come, “when I in awesome wonder.” I am astounded by the size and majesty of the universe that He has created. I see His awesome power revealed in the powers of the storms. And the power and beauty of his creation is further developed in verse two.

In verse three I am moved from considering the awesomeness and beauty of his creation, to considering the unfathomable gift of forgiveness that He has given through Jesus. He sent His very son to die on the cross that I might be forgiven of my sins.

This is the truth that we to often forget. God is to be revered and worshiped above all. He is worthy of this worship both because of who He is and what He has done. It is before this God that we can not even stand, but in awe of His greatness we are driven to our knees in worship.

This is where we find ourselves in verse four. “When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, And there proclaim, My God, how great thou art!”

And so, in a powerful voice, I declare with so many others, “Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art!

 

 

Read more about the history of “How Great Thou Art.”

Brian Olson Devotional, Hymns, Worship

Prone to Wander, Lord I Feel It

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Written by Robert Robinson, 1758
Music by John Wyeth, 1813

 

Of the many hymns I have known and sung over the years, this is one that routinely comes to mind. I will often find myself singing these words, sometimes without even knowing it.

But as I sing these words, it is the third stanza that makes me stop and think.

“O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.”

I have been a christian for as long a I can remember. I was raised in a Christian home. I attended church regularly. I accepted Christ as my personal savior when I was very young. I studied youth ministry in college and earned a Masters of Divinity degree. But that is in the past and means little to nothing when it comes to living my life now on a daily basis.

You see, when I rest in these events of the past, when I trust in my own strength I find myself doing exactly this. I find myself “prone to leave the God I love.” As Paul writes in Romans 7:19 “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” I am a Christian, how can this be the case?

I remember a few years ago when I was thinking about the phrase “there, but for the grace of God, go I” that it suddenly hit me what that meant. I, like all of us, am a sinful being and my nature is to seek after that. To seek those things that simply serve me, to seek after my own pleasure, and to not care about anyone else. Yes, left to my own devices, I fear to think where I would be.

But thanks be to God that I do not have to face this alone. For I can find strength in the words of Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” It is in Christ that I can find the strength to stand firm. It is because of this that I find the deepest meaning in the first part of this stanza:

“O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.”

My debt is to Christ and the grace of God. And , O how great a debt. A debt, I can not repay, but a debt I freely owe. It is not a debt that God lords over me. Rather, it is a debt he gives in love and so, it is this love that binds me to Him. It is because of this that I joyfully declare the last phrase of this stanza, “Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.”

So, “here I raise my ebenezer” (helper stone). A reference to a monument that stands as a reminder to God’s help. (I Samuel 7:12). And I stand fixed on the “mount of God’s redeeming love.”

You can read the full text of Robert Robinson’s poem by clicking “Come Thou Fount.”

Brian Olson Community, Devotional

Overstaying Our Welcome

Proverbs 25:17 NIV

“Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house— too much of you, and they will hate you.”

It seems an odd proverb, but we have all been there. We have experienced people who overstay their welcome. That person who just seems to always be there. Perhaps sometimes we are those people. But our parent advise still stands, “Don’t overstay your welcome.” because as Benjamin Franklin said, “Fish and houseguests smell after three days.”

But why would this be included in the Bible. Doesn’t God call us to be involved in one another’s lives? Doesn’t the Bible tell us to show hospitality? Of course it does. Jesus spoke of those who invited strangers in as doing it to him when he gave the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. The writer of Hebrews tells us that through hospitality some have entertained angels. (Hebrews 13:2) This is how we are to be involved in one another’s lives. Then how does this fit?

After some thought, I have been struck by three clear situations where this happens. The first example comes from a friends experience.  She was friends with someone for years. As the years went on, her friend would need help here or there, and she would readily extend the needed help. After some time the request slowly would become more demanding both financially and time-consuming. She would still do what she could, but was not able to help with everything her friend wanted as she would try to explain, usually to no avail. Finally it seemed that she would only be contacted by her friend when something was needed, and that seemed the constant situation. It made things worse that her friend did not seem to make any effort to accomplish things on her own or to seem to turn to anyone else. Eventually she just found herself run down, frustrated and resenting her friend. She would not answer the phone when the caller ID said it was her friend. She went out of her way too avoid her friend. Her friend had overstayed her welcome.

For the second and third situations I reference the television show “Everybody Loves Raymond.” In the show we have our title character, Ray Barone, living with his wife and children. Across the street lives his parents and his older brother. Now at initial view this seems convenient, but as the story plays out we begin to see it is not such a wonderful idea. You see, his family does not understand the concept of boundaries. Every time Ray and his wife, Debra, turn around his family is there. It is in the characters of his father and mother that we find the second and third examples of those who overstay their welcome.

In the first of these two cases, it was not unusual for the family to come down stairs or to come home and find Ray’s father, Frank, sitting on the couch watching TV and eating something he found in the refrigerator. You see Frank simply viewed their house as an extension of his own. If he was frustrated at home with something he could let himself into their house as though it was simply going into another room in his own house.  He made himself at home without any consideration of Ray and Debra.

The second of these two cases is demonstrated in his Mother, Marie, who simply believes that she always knows what is best for everyone else. We always find her showing Debra how to really be a good wife and mother. It may be comments about how clean (or unclean) she believes her house to be. It may be critiques of Debra’s cooking. Other times she openly shares her advise and disapproval on how Ray or Debra are raising the children.  She feels that her advise and input is always needed and wanted.  In each of these we have people who have made themselves so comfortable at the other persons house that they have overstayed their welcome.

So we have three types of people who set foot in their neighbor’s house one too many times.  The first being the person who is always needy.  The second being the person who treats everyone else’s belongings as their own.  The third being the person who always thinks they know best and insist on sharing their advise with others.

So what Solomon is telling us in this proverb is that we are not to behave this way.  That is to say, we are not to drive others to hate us by overstaying our welcome.  So why is this found in the Bible.  First, it is simply good advise.  If people hate you, they certainly aren’t going to be there if you genuinely need help.

But the message to believers goes beyond this.  We are Christ witnesses in this world.  But what good is a witness if no one wants to be around them.  So we read this proverb along with 1 Peter 2:12 where we read, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” You see what others think of us as believers will reflect on what we believe.  If we have become someone who is hated, then can we really be surprised when people have no time for what we believe.  Overstaying our welcome undermines our witness.

So the proverb is a lesson to each of us, but before I leave, I need to be reminded that this proverb is not a license for me to simply dismiss people because they overstay their welcome.  While we are reminded to not overstay our welcome with others, we are called to show patience with others, including those who may overstay their welcome with us.

Brian Olson is a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ having worked with both youth and adults.

Brian Olson Devotional

Knowing Your Weaknesses, Strengths and Where to Turn

Luke 4:1-13

New International Version (NIV)

4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

This passage is very familiar to many of us. Christ temptation in the wilderness. I, in fact, have preached on it and wrote a blog on it a couple years ago. (An Opportune Time)

But as I reflect on it today I am struck by two things. First, temptation can come through our weaknesses.  As much as we may think we have it all together, the Devil knows better.  He knows what our weaknesses are. Of course most of us have not gone 40 days without food, but we all have those desires within us that are as strong as any craving for food can be. Acceptance, greed, lust, whatever our point of weakness is, the Devil knows it. The question is, do we. Jesus knew he was hungry. But he was prepared for the temptation he would face.

The second thing that strikes me is that it is not just our weaknesses, but also our strengths through which temptation can come.   You see the Devil offers Jesus everything. And this may seem odd at first glance, after all isn’t everything rightfully Jesus’ anyway? But that’s my point. Everything was rightfully Jesus’.  He had willingly given up his right to everything by becoming obedient to the father (Phil 2). The Devil new this and played off the deep down desire to be all that he truly was.  Jesus more than had the right to everything, He knew he would have it all again, after completing his mission.  It is to this that the Devil played.  The Devil say’s, “You know that it is all yours anyway, so why go through all of this.   I’ll tell you what, I’ll just give it to you.  You only need to do one little thing.”  But again Jesus was prepared.

So I am reminded that I need to know my weaknesses and my strengths.  What are those things I want but do not have?  What are those things that I have and do not want to let go of?  But knowing is not enough.  I have to ask, am I prepared?  Jesus did not rely on his own strength to resist but relied on the word of the Lord.  His strength was found in His knowledge of God’s word and His relationship with the Father.  These things can only be reached by spending time in God’s word and in prayer.

Lord help me to know you.  I pray that I would not rely on my own strength but in you alone.

Brian Olson Devotional

The Real Message of Christmas

Can you believe that there is less than a week until Christmas, and I just began Christmas shopping yesterday.  It seem that each year Christmas comes faster and faster.  Of course we have our tree up, we have been to see two different light shows and our youngest has had her Sunday School Christmas program, but am I really ready for Christmas.

It is so easy this time of year to get caught up in all the hustle and bustle.  In the midst of all this business we need to take time to focus on God.  We need to remember the words of Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In light of this, I decided to read through an advent devotional this year to help me remember the true message of Christmas.

As I consider the real message of Christmas, I am reminded of A Charlie Brown Christmas when Charlie ask, “Isn’t there anyone, who knows what Christmas is all about?”  Linus then proceeds to quote Luke 2:8 – 14;

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Linus is, of course correct, this is what Christmas is all about.  But the more I have thought about it, I have realized that if we leave the message of Christmas at this, we may feel good, but the real message is lost.  “CHRIST IS BORN!”, the end.  If this is the end, then it is us Paul is speaking about in 1 Corinthians 15:19 when He says, “And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.”  You see, as miraculous as it is, that God Himself was born a baby that day, if that is all there is, then the message has no point.  There must be, and there is, more to the message of Christmas.  But what is this message.

When people meet me and I am wearing my normal jacket, one of the first things that people notice is that my left lapel is full of different pins.  These include boy scout pins, railroad pins and even my FFA Chapter Farmer pin.  But the next thing they notice is that there are only two pins on my right lapel.  Here you will find one pin that is golden star with a nativity scene placed in front of it.  I wear this year around to remind me and those I meet, that God became a man and was born .  The second pin is a small hilltop with three crosses.  A reminder to me and those I meet that Christ gave up his life on the Cross for each of us.

Jesus was born, flesh and blood like us, and He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  This is the full message of Christmas.  Not simply that Christ was born, but that He was born to die on the Cross.  That He came into this world to take on the sins of the world.  That He dwelt among people to lead them to God.

The message is not simply that a baby was born, but that God provided a way for man to come before Him.  This true message of Christmas can be found in Philippians 2:6 – 11

“6 Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”

Without the cross, the birth has no point, but at the same time, without the birth, the cross has no meaning.  Christ birth does not provide salvation, and were He not born a human being, then his death would not have been a sufficient sacrifice.

So as we celebrate this Christmas with family and friends, as we enjoy the gifts and the Christmas dinner, letter us take time to remember the real message of Christmas, that he was born to pay the price for our sins.

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted.”  John 3:16 – 17 (The Message)

Brian Olson Devotional

A Divided Heart

It is easy for us to see a blatant opposition to God and to call it what it is. It is not, however,  so easy to see a divided heart. A heart that seeks God, but also seeks other desires.  A heart that, in reality, places God as simply one of many things being pursued.  In I Kings 11 verses 4 and 6 we see that this was Solomon’s issues.  It says “his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD” and “he did not follow the LORD completely.”  So we must ask ourselves, “Do we seek after God while pursuing our other desires?”  “Do we find that we are following God, but not ‘fully?'”

A divided heart occurs when we let other things crowd in, keeping us from focusing on God alone.  In the full passage we see that Solomon allowed his desire for women, for political alliances and other things to enter in and that these led to his divided heart.  But how do we avoid this?  Ironically, Solomon himself warns of this in Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else guard your heart, for it is the well spring of life.” Our heart is the source of all that we do.  As the heart goes, so goes the person.  So we must ask ourselves, “What do we let into our hearts?”

Take time to examine your heart.  What things are cluttering it up?  (popular culture, music, fashion, television, friends, etc.)  Are these things drawing our attention away from God and dividing our hearts.  Solomon’s life shows us that such divisions lead to disaster.  Ask God to help you clear the clutter from your heart and to keep him first and foremost.  When you do this, you will be reminded of the words of the old hymn.  “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face.  And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.”

Let me acknowledge that much of my source for this article can be attributed to a sermon given by Dr. Steve Mathewson of the Evangelical free Church of Libertyville.
Brian Olson Devotional

When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

I can not count the number of times that I have heard sermons and lessons on Christ being tempted in the wilderness. We learn how Christ was tempted in every way that we are, so He understands. (Lust of the flesh – bread from stones, Lust of the eyes – Satan would give him the wealth of the world and the pride of life – if he was the Son of God he deserved to be treated as such) We hear about how Christ used scripture to resist the devil and how this shows us how important it is to memorize scripture. (Which of course it is, but I digress.) But as I was reading through the passage in Luke this week, my mind began to ponder the final sentence of this passage. “When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.” Luke 4:13

I realize that all to often we, . . . I, fail to see that Christ temptation was not a one time thing. Too often this passage is breezed through and the cliche answers are given. And while these answers may be valid and helpful in our lives, temptation does not end that simply for us, and it did not end that simply for Christ. While scripture does not specifically tell us of these other temptation, we can see them between the lines. When he became angry with the money changers, I am sure the temptation was there to do more than simply overturn their tables. When in the garden, the temptation to run away could not be more clear. While hanging on the cross, can any of us doubt that the devil whispered in His ear, “Are they really worth it?” No the temptation surely did not end with the three described in Luke 4.

I know that we give people comfort as we teach that Jesus has been tempted in every way that we have. We give people strength when we teach them that God has given us the scriptures that we can call upon to resist the devil. But we do a grave injustice if we fail to remind people that the devil is not so easily discouraged. I Peter 5:8 tells us that “the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking those that he might devour.” He may leave, but he waits “until an opportune time” to return. While these opportune times may come at any moment, sometimes out of the blue and often when we least expect them, we must always be on guard. (“Self controlled and alert” 1 Peter 5:8) We can not think that once we have resisted the devil and he has fled (James 4:7) that it is over. This is the very opportune time that the devil is looking for, when we let our guard down, when we say to ourselves, “I have stood up to that temptation and it is behind me. I do not need to worry about it anymore.”

Only when we stand in glory, before our Lord and Savior will all temptations finally be set behind us once and for all. Until then, we must always stand on guard because temptation is not a one time thing. But we need not fear these temptations for we have our victory in Christ. He has given word to keep in our hearts so we do not sin against him. He has faced every temptation faced by man, and emerged victorious. Most importantly, he has not left us alone. He has granted to those who believe in Him, the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. So while we may continue to face temptations in this life, we know that we already have victory in Christ Jesus.

Brian Olson Devotional

Already, But Not Yet!

“I was brought to the conviction that mine was only an intellectual belief – a belief in which there was no life. It looked for salvation in the future after death; and consequently my soul had not ‘Passed from death unto life.'” Pandita Ramabai (India, 1858-1922)

Last week I had the privilege of hearing Dr. D.A. Carson, a man I have known and respected for many years, speak on Ephesians 1. As I was reading through my personal devotions for later that week I found the above listed quote. As I read this my mind was drawn back to the message on Ephesians and one particular phrase used. Already, but not yet. While this phrase was not new to me, I was compelled to examine it more closely and in so doing examine my own belief.

“How so?” you may ask. Let me begin by reading Ephesians 1:3 – 14:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

The Bible is very clear, every blessing I have, and I must stop to realize that I am truly blessed, comes from God. But I must realize that his greatest blessing is not found in material “blessings” but in a spiritual blessing. What is this blessing? This blessing is that despite my selfishness, despite my sin, despite my nature to turn away from God, He has chosen to reach out to me. He chose to send His Son, Jesus Christ, who carried the punishment I deserved for my rejection of a holy God, so that I would not have too. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us.” This is the greatest blessing of all, but what does it mean? We may stand before God legally and relationally justified if we have put our trust in the “riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us.” Simply put, by recognizing our sinfulness, accepting the forgiveness that Jesus Christ provided in our place and putting our trust in God, we are forgiven.

But not only forgiven, we are made part of God’s family. We had an “adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.” And this is not simply the adoption of a newborn child into a family, this is the adoption of one who has lived a life on their own being made part of a family with all the rights and privileges, and “In Him we have obtained an inheritance.” What is this inheritance? The truth is that it is many fold, it is the forgiveness of sins, it is the freedom to choose to follow Christ, it is being united with Christ, it is the right to stand in the presence of God, it is eternal life, it is being identified as part of God’s family. I could continue, but for the sake of this writing this will do. The point is that the blessings bestowed on us by God are but the beginning of our inheritance, and it is all “to the praise of His glory.”

So how does this bring me back to Already, but not yet. “In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.” To often I find myself, as many Christians do, looking forward to What God will do. We look for his coming again. We look forward to eternity with him. We look to be made holy. We look to find ourselves in the heavenly places.

And while we should look forward to these, we miss what God is doing in our lives and the world around us today. We miss that he has sent the Holy Spirit: John 16:7 “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go I will send him to you.” We miss that we are already in his presence: Matthew 28:20 “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” We miss that we have already been made Holy (set apart): Hebrews 10:10 “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” We miss that we have already been placed in the heavenly places: Ephesians 2:6 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

Yes it is true that we do not yet possess our full inheritance in Christ – we do not see him face to face, we are still surrounded by sin and death, we still face temptations, – we have, however, already obtained our inheritance in Christ, and it is guaranteed through the Holy Spirit. So I must ask myself, is this only intellectual and academic to me and I continue to live in the defeat of sin seeing only the “not yet”, or does this truth permeate my entire being and I live in the victory of Christ declaring “Already, but not yet.”

Brian Olson Devotional

Trusting in God’s Will – An Act of Faith


I recently received a note of encouragement and sound advice from a friend. My friend served in ministry for 1 ½ years before the position came to an end. He began searching for a new position but eventually realized that nothing was forthcoming and so needed to find a job to support his family. He has since done so. I am glad to hear that he has a means to support his family and pray that God will continue to bless him in all that he does. In his message he said, “May I suggest you get a non-ministry job, anywhere, pronto just to feed your family while you are looking.” This is, of course, sound practical advice, and I am not one to ignore the practical. But I have been contemplating God’s call and my response. Most notably, how do faith based and practical decisions interact and/or conflict with one another.

I realize I have responsibilities to care for and provide for my family. This is, of course my first and greatest responsibility. What is further, I do not believe that God would ask me to follow him to the detriment of my family. Having said this, I also realize that my vision is limited by my experience and by what I see around me. What I mean by this is that what to me, may initially seem to be detrimental to my family, in the long run may, in fact, be the greater good and glorifying to God. For example, in the short run, God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac was clearly detrimental to his family. But Abraham saw past this, for he knew God’s promise to him and in the long run, God’s request and Abraham’s faith proved to be glorifying to God.

But let’s be honest, the first thing through my mind is “I am not Abraham and Abraham was a special case.” Is it not self-serving for me to try to justify an impractical decision by claiming that God will use it to his glory? Here in lies the dilemma. When does making practical decisions equal a lack of faith and when does a leap of faith become a foolish venture?

I cannot speak for every person and every situation, but I can share my thoughts. God gave me a brain and expects me to use it. At the same time, God sometimes ask people to do things that seem foolish.

So how do we know which one to follow? How do we discern God’s will? Discerning God’s will has been a problem for all people from the very beginning. (Okay, not from the beginning, it was pretty clear for Adam and Eve, but even when they clearly knew it, they had trouble following it.)

For me, it has not been easy, as those whose advice I have sought will testify too. But that is one of the keys I have found in discerning God’s will. It is to seek the insight of those around you, those who can look at things objectively and those will be completely honest with you. It is from these people I have felt confirmation and support of my calling and the direction in my life.

Another important aspect of discerning God’s will is prayer. Prayer has been my opportunity to seek God’s guidance, to ask for His blessing on my life. It is, however, important to remember that prayer is not a onetime thing, but it is on going. I have prayed daily over this with the only result being a growing commitment to the call.

Another important part has been to take time away from distraction and other activities. This is a time when I can hear God’s voice, when I can cry out to Him and I can sit in silence before Him. I can describe the times of joy and the tear filled moments that have helped me to grow.

The answers are seldom 100% clear. Sometimes the act of faith may well be the practical route, but other times the act of faith may be what seems impractical to the world. In either case, the dependence must be placed on God and not in our own abilities.

I cannot say, what the answers are for others. Each of us must seek God’s will for our own lives. each of us must learn to listen as much with our heart as we do with our mind. In my case, I can say with confidence that I have placed my trust in God and I am seeking his guidance. I do not question any decision I have made to date in this matter and will continue to seek his guidance in seeking His direction.

I thank my friend for His advice and will take it under consideration, but either way, I will seek God’s guidance.

“Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you.”
Exodus 34:10

Brian Olson Devotional

New Year’s Resolutions


I have been pondering the idea of New Years resolutions. They have a long history going back to the early Roman Empire and continuing though today as detailed in the article “Resolutions Worth Keeping” by Chris Armstrong, found in Christian History magazine.

Now if we are all honest, at some point in our lives we have probably taken part in making New Year’s resolutions. These resolutions often include such things as loosing weight, exercising more, eating healthier, spending time with family and friends and being nicer to people.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with these resolutions. But how do our resolutions usually work out. If we chooses to loose weight, odds are we binge on food through December 31 under the idea that we will suddenly change on January 1. And what happens after January 1. We may do well for a day, for a week or even a little longer, but then comes that day when it slips our mind and without thinking we eat that thing we shouldn’t have. We then see ourselves as having failed. Often we say, well, since I have already eaten this, I will just take the rest of the day off and start up again tomorrow. We continue this way for a while, slipping here or there and restarting each time until we finally say, “what’s the point?” “I keep stumbling.” So we end out pitching the whole resolution.

So what is the problem. First we treat January 1 as though it has some kind of magical powers. We think we can do whatever up until midnight and then we will magically gain the ability to resist what we have been indulging in. This is like deciding that we are going run a marathon without having prepared and trained for it. It is not just the date or even our decision that will make the difference, but we must also change our habits and this is something that is not done over night. It takes time. We can not realistically think that we are going to change overnight, even if it is a “New Year.”

Second, we to quickly see a stumble as a failure and give up. But stumbling is not a failure, it is a chance to grow. It is from these experiences that we better learn to deal with temptations and bad habits. How do we grow, by correcting the error immediately. When we say, well I will continue this for the rest of the day and start again tomorrow, we are actually rewarding our stumbling, making it easier and easier each time we stumble to just let it slide. Soon it even becomes easy to justify a conscience decision to violate our resolution. We need to realize that stumbling only becomes failure when we do not pick ourselves back up and continue on.

It is the same way with the sin in our lives. We live a life indulging in our personal sins (over eating, drunkenness, pornography, sexual sins, etc.) and then think we can just put these things behind us the day we make a commitment to God that we are going to change. (Yes, I have heard the stories of the life changing conversions. The heroin addict who came to faith and the addiction was miraculously cured. I also believe that while this can happen, it is the exception and not the rule.) We need to accept that change is going to be a process and that it may take a long time. There is no magic pill that will make it all go away overnight. There will be times that we stumble, but what do we do with those stumblings? Do we make excuses? Do we use it as an opportunity to indulge? Or do we correct the behavior immediately? Do we pick ourselves up and move on?

You see, a resolution is not a one time thing. It is an ongoing commitment. In a world were we want, and to often get, things instantly, we need to slow down and accept that things take time. That changes will not just happen, but rather that we will need to work for them.

But remember this, we do not need to do this alone. We find accountability and support in friends and family. And for those of us who know Jesus as our personal Savior, we find our strength in him alone.

So as you take time to make your resolutions, think about those things that really matter. Think about those things that will not only improve your life, but improve your relationship with God as well as others. And realize that you are setting out on a journey that may well last the rest of your life.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”
I Corinthians 10:31