Quarter of a Century Reflections

Well, today is the day. The Lord has granted me 25 years. And as I'm sitting here sipping on a glass of Laphroaig 10 year, I'm contemplating where I am now after these years.

I'm reminded, first, of the graciousness of God. He has been so gracious to me over these past 25 years. He blessed me to be born into the family of parents who believe that Jesus Christ is the only way for salvation. He is our only hope for redemption. He has been gracious to provide me siblings to encourage me, challenge me, and love me. He has blessed me time and time again with faithful brothers and sisters in Christ to sharpen me and encourage me in the faith. He has granted me the opportunity to go to college and pursue multiple degrees. He blessed me with the opportunity to go to Germany for 6 months. He has blessed me with a great job with wonderful coworkers and bosses. And beyond all of this, all of these material blessings, the Lord has granted me faith in Jesus Christ the righteous. The Savior of sinners.

Another thing I'm reminded of is the faithfulness of God. There have been many times over these years that I have been unfaithful to Him, but He has always been faithful to me. While I was finishing my master's degree, there was a long time where I did not have results that depicted the theory that I claimed. I knew in my heart that if I presented the results I had at my defense, I would be lying. This was on my mind daily. I did not want to lie and, sadly, I did not want to tell the truth that my theory wasn't matching my results. This was a great point of prayer for me for the whole summer. Two weeks before the end of my master's degree, the Lord granted me results which matched the theory in my research. Thanks be to God! What great mercy and faithfulness He showed me in the answering of my prayers. Again, He was also faithful in providing me a good job that doesn't require me to work 60-70 hours per week. Most of all, He has been faithful to forgive me of sin and to grant me continued faith in His promises. Over my 25 years, there have been many things I've struggled with. Up until the end of my teenage years, I struggled with anger. It is still something I have to be on guard against lest I fall. I have struggled with comparing myself to my siblings and their accomplishments. I have struggled with lust. And these are only a few of the sins I've struggled with. However, in the midst of my sin, I remember that it has been paid for by the blood of Christ. His righteousness has become my own. I also know that I will not struggle with these sins forever; for God is faithful to complete the work He has began in me (Philippians 1:6).

I'm also reminded of the wrath of God. Just as real as the love of God is, so is His wrath against sin. The Lord hates sin. The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished (Exodus 34:6-7). If you do not confess your sins before the Lord (in other words, say the same things about your sin that God says about your sin) and look to Christ as your Savior, you will pay the penalty for your sins in Hell. There is no other way by which we can be rescued from the punishment we deserve.

Friends, if I could offer up one thought for you all, it is this: I pray that those of you who claim to be believers in Christ that you would examine you're own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) because there are many who will call on the name of the Lord on judgment day to whom He will tell to depart from him because he never knew them (Matthew 7:21-23). My heart breaks because there are those I know from childhood who would claim to be believers who have no desire to pursue Christ. Also for those of you who openly do not believe in Christ, I pray that you would consider the purpose of life. I pray that you would see there is no job or education or success that will earn you eternity with God. There is no one who does good, not even one (Psalm 14:3, Psalm 53:3, Romans 3:12). All are deserving of hell and punishment, and the Lord's wrath will fall on the unrighteous. But there is one, Jesus Christ the Righteous, who bore the sins of His people. The past, present, and future sins of His people are paid for. They are nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14). Christ's perfect righteousness has become the righteousness of His people.

There is more to life than getting a job, a wife, a family, and accumulating possessions. And that "more" is found in Jesus Christ. For there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12).

Thanks be to God for the days He has given me, and may the rest of my days be spent giving glory to His great name. For He alone is worthy.

Sláinte.

#GoSmall

Earn a chance to win a smart car by buying Craig Gross's (XXX Church Pastor) new book #GoSmall. Talks about how God uses the ordinary moments in life to do amazing things. You can visit http://gosmallbook.com/ to learn more about the gosmall book and the chance to win a car. You can buy the book at http://tinyurl.com/gosmallbookcraig 

Also listen to the BadChristian podcast featuring Craig Gross

http://badchristian.com/podcasts/

Tornado Time

I don't know how it is for you, but, for me, whenever life threatening situations come around I really begin to think about the value of things in my life. What really matters in life? What really has value? What can actually benefit you when you are on the brink of death?

In America, we are taught to work towards the "American Dream." A nice house, a nice car, a family, retire by 55, and all the other wants. When a storm comes, how assuring is placing hope in a house, car, family, retirement, movie collection, a boat, or any other relics or heirlooms. A house could help in the case of a smaller tornado or hurricane. But what about a F5 tornado? We're sunk in that case.

We can't place hope in these material things. We can't trust that they will keep we safe. The only one to place hope in that will actually sustain is in Jesus Christ.

As Paul says in Philippians 3:7-11, we need to count it all loss in comparison to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. We shouldn't store up any treasures here on earth because they will be destroyed. 

Without Jesus, there is no hope for hope.

"Hold up, dude, I got this log in my eye."

"Witness with actions. When necessary, use words." I heard that cliché a lot growing up, and I did my best to live by it. However, I did it wrongly. I did my best to appear like a "good" Christian. I tried to appear as though I didn't sin very much because a "good" Christian doesn't sin very much. I wanted people to think that I had it all together because (I thought) that would lead them to Jesus. I may not have done this consciously, but subconsciously I made this relationship:

Jesus lived a perfect life → I need to be like Jesus → I'm not perfect, but I can appear to have it all together

I figured people would see how put together and awesome my life was, and they'd think, "Man, that Stephen Geiger, he's got it going on. I want a life like that." I thought that I would be doing that for the glory of God, but in all reality the only one that would receive glory for it was myself. There is another word for the life I was portraying, self-righteousness.

Throughout the New Testament of the Bible, there are some people that are very much related to the idea of self-righteousness, the Pharisees. Now, from growing up in church, I always knew the Pharisees weren't the good guys. But in the past year or so, I've actually looked at who the pharisees were. The Pharisees were men that were very committed to the temple. They tithed, they memorized the first five books of the Bible, they followed the law, they even followed extra laws that were supposedly passed down orally by Moses. As I learned these things, I realized the Pharisees weren't that bad of guys. They were actually more like churchgoers or deacons, if not better. They were most likely a better "Christian" than I have ever been. I mean, I don't even have 3 John memorized (shortest book in the Bible). I have found that many of us are guilty of being a pharisee in some situation, if not in many situations. Jesus, in Matthew 23:27, calls the Pharisees whitewashed tombs,which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So basically, they appeared to have it all together outwardly, but inwardly they were a mess. Sound familiar?

When we try to appear "holier than thou," we are actually taking glory away from God. In Luke 7:36-50, there is an account of an encounter between Jesus, a Pharisee, and a prostitute. Jesus ends up telling the Pharisee, "...I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven--for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." By trying to mask our sins, we are trying to make it seem like Jesus didn't save us from much. And I know for a fact that I am royally screwed up. Without His grace and mercy, I'd be on a crash-course headed straight for hell.

Now, I'm not saying that we should wear a t-shirt that has our deepest, darkest sins on display for all to see. However, I do believe that each of us should have a group of people that we can share our deepest, darkest sins with. James 5:16 says, "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other, that you may be healed." I don't think James is just talking about a physical healing here. Each time we share tell others about our screw ups, a spiritual healing occurs inside ourselves. Also, by confessing our sins, we give glory to God because we are saying how awesome He is that even though we are severely screwed up, He still loves us and He still saved us!! In John 1:14, it is said that Jesus is "full of grace and truth." This means that He knows everything about us. every. last. thought. Yet, He still loved us so much that he died for us AND rose again! Thank God for His grace.

I believe that by sharing our sins with others, we understand more Romans 8:1 where it says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." No condemnation?! Praise God! And by telling each other, we can rejoice together that we are no longer condemned!!! Jesus also says in Matthew 18:20, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there too." So when you and your buddies are rejoicing in no condemnation for the sins you just confessed, Jesus is there with you receiving glory!!! It's a win-win-win. So tell people what you're going through, it sucks to keep it bottled up. I know I usually end up feeling guilty rather than feeling the reality of no condemnation. As my friend, Travis Chase, would say, "Sharing is caring."

For more on this topic:
"Jesus is Grace" - Judah Smith
"I Don't Know What To Name An Article About My Masturbation Habits" - Matt Carter (Emery)
"Better Together" - Judah Smith

-I was dead, now I'm alive

The Problem With Being Better.

"Everything in life is a competition," "If you aren't first, you're last," and "Second place is just first loser" are only a few of the sayings I heard throughout high school. So much so, that they became ingrained in my mind. I was already very competitive, not to mention a perfectionist, growing up so hearing these things didn't help. I "played" (I was a courtesy runner) baseball in high school, but there were people that were better than me so I didn't play much. One reason this angered me was because my brother, Daniel, and one of my sisters, Elizabeth, played baseball/softball when they were younger and quit at 13/14, then started playing in high school, and became starters for their teams. I was so frustrated because I never quit playing and I rode the bench in high school. Something else about me, I started playing piano when I was little. I played at my sister's wedding a few years back, and in my mind, my playing didn't just not meet my expectations, it was appalling. I always felt I needed to be good at something, like that one thing that I would be known for. My mom loves tennis, so, naturally, I grew up watching tennis. Whenever I'd watch Roger Federer and see that "1" next to his name, I'd think: "Man, how awesome would it be to be known as the very best in the world at something." Some nights I'd cry myself to sleep wondering why there wasn't anything I was really good at. I eventually understood that one thing I had going for me was that I was pretty smart.

Going into college, I set goals for my intelligence. Now, my competition was no longer only fellow classmates, it was my siblings as well. Both Daniel and Rachel, another sister, had received the math award ESCC. Rachel went on to become the Alabama All-Academic Representative winner at ESCC, she also won the President's cup. So I had some steep competition. Finishing up at ESCC I was SGA President, I won the math award, I was the All-Academic Representative, and I even finished with a 4.0 gpa. I was pretty satisfied with those results. I had to be just as good or better, and I had accomplished that. I then moved off to Auburn for, initially, Aerospace Engineering. I knew school would be harder, but I knew how smart I was, and I was ready. I was gonna make a 4.0 gpa at Auburn, too. My motivation? A teacher at ESCC told me that people don't make 4.0's in  engineering. I was like, "Well, everyone you know isn't Stephen Geiger because Stephen Geiger is going to throw down up there and pull out that 4.0." Then school started...It basically threw me into some kind of mess. I wouldn't say I was depressed, but the mixture of homework, studying, and trying to be just as good or better threw me for a loop. I knew my parents were proud of me and that no matter what I did at Auburn, they would still love me. But for some reason I still felt that if I didn't do just as good or better than Daniel (He graduated undergrad magna cum laude, already had his masters, and was working on getting his PhD), then I wasn't smart, I wasn't good enough. It sucked. I even told Daniel once, "Man, why couldn't you have flunked out of college so that anything I do would be just as good or better?" But that wasn't the case. I would try to tell myself, "It doesn't matter in the end, Stephen. God isn't  going to be disappointed in you because you made a C in Numerical Analysis." But that still didn't really help.

But God. Two of the greatest words, back to back, in the bible. But God has, recently, really been hammering this home, I am made in His image (Genesis 1:27). I have worth because I am made in His image. I don't have worth because of my athletic ability, my musical talents, my intelligence, not even in good things I do for others. God says that our good deeds are as filthy rags to Him (Isaiah 64:6). Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Woah, His masterpiece? How awesome is that?! Jesus even put a mathematical expression of our worth in Luke 15. A Shepherd loses 1 of 100 sheep, and leaves the 99 to find the one. Upon finding the one he rejoices and throws a party. A woman loses 1 of 10 coins, and turns over her house in search of the one. Upon finding the one she rejoices and throws a party. A father's son comes to him and wants his half of the inheritance (which implies that his father was dead to him). He takes it, blows it all, then returns home ashamed and empty-handed. But, upon returning home, while he was still a long way off, his father sees him, runs to him rejoicing, and throws a party. What does this mean? How much our we worth in God's eyes? We are of infinite worth and value in God's eyes. We are no longer required to try to impress. Our value has already been decided. My pastor, Paul Stith, made this fantastic point, "Christianity is the only religion in which the verdict has already been decided." We don't have to work to achieve our salvation or our worth. Isaiah 61:10 says that God has covered us in a robe of righteousness. You are of infinite value, no matter who you are, what you've done, or what you've thought. You are not too far from God's love, you are never out of His reach.


-Life is Short, Death is Certain, Jesus is the Answer.