I think that we think we know.

I think that we think we know. We know all about that Jesus guy. We know what he did. We know some of what he said. We know he died and rose again. We know some about his disciples. We know about some of those confusing parables that Jesus speaks of and we are familiar with some of what Paul says in his letters. We know the bible stories of Noah, David & Goliath, Jonah & and the whale, etc., etc., etc. Some of us even have tangible evidence to support our knowledge.

However there seems to be something in all of us that takes a hit and misses the boat. Why is it that somewhere deep inside we all know that the story and the message that the Holy Spirit wrote in the Bible is completely contrary to how we as conformists to society do life. This is what separates Christians and religious folk. I don't think I could possibly be the only one who sees this.

Religiously we really are fine. But Biblically ... it seems like we're worlds apart. With each day I live, the more I see the same thing that occurred at the Fall in Genesis 3. Humankind is so simple that it's brutally funny?

The thing I intended to point out was the word "belief." Aside from all charades and excuses for how hard our life is (and how pride tells us we have it sooo much harder than everyone else), if we were to be real with ourselves and each other, I'd wonder if we even believe the claims that Christianity (hence Christ) makes. If we took the stories as they were, with no buttering up, we would be demanded and commanded into humble, obedient, God-glorifying, selfless action. It's that simple and I think that perhaps that's why we refuse to read the Bible carefully and see what it actually says, lest we even read the Bible at all. Mark Hall of Casting Crowns echoes that "We'll live what we believe" ... Everyone has their own belief and theology of God. I wonder what it'd look like for that to flesh out at in our religious settings ... Does it line up with the Jesus of which the Bible acclaims, or is it the Jesus we want to fabricate to center around our own lives? This is what separates Christianity and religion. I fear that a lot of us live life on the latter ... Only problem with that is ... If we all we did was religion, Christ died for nothing!

The pride in me always wants to say "psh, you're past that fool" but the Spirit living in me is telling me to really search and flesh out the center of our faith. I've got a lot of studying to do.

Got one more test, 2 more papers, and finals left to go before I'm officially done with my first year of college.
-Help us Father.

Galatians 6:14

"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
-Galatians 6:14

Don't normally do this.

Since I just started this blog, you wouldn't know that this isn't normal of me. But I'd like to ask and plead for prayer. Between struggling to rush out all that's on this mind (rather in a complaining/self-pitying way) and deciding to not voice anything at all, I think in obedience I'm going to do neither and instead ask for prayer. And I'd ask for you to believe in the power and effectiveness of prayer while you do so.

Would you pray for God to reveal to me what is at fault in me? Fault in how I live, how I speak, how I act, how I do what I do, how I think. Fault in doctrine, assumptions, loving others, and fault on my view of who God is.

I'm convinced that I'm not totally wrong in some areas but I don't want pride and self-confidence override truth. Pray for the daily battle I face in this fight against the flesh, and this fight of comfort. Pray for courage. Pray for God to grow me more into a man. Pray for boldness as God knows there isn't enough of it in today's American church. Pray that I battle for truth and not to just be right. Pray that I rebuke/correct out of love and not pride. Pray that I wouldn't isolate myself the way I have been. Pray that I would stop neglecting. Pray that I would unapologetically and fearlessly say what God has put on my heart to say. Pray for me at those times when I couldn't feel any more on an island by myself ... as the only person fighting this battle. Pray against selfishness.

I'm going to also ask for prayer for certain individuals that I'll only name by first name: Luke, Jorge, Chris, Jodie, Adrian, Justin, Jason, Sean, Christine, James, Amelia, Michael, Josh, Taylor, Devin, Paul. If I kept typing, it would really never end but for some reason in this moment, God's put these people on my heart to ask for intercession for. I know it's hard to pray for people and situations that are as ambiguous and wide-ranging as these, but pray that God would help each of these people in whatever situations they're in and draw them ever closer to Him ... That the gospel would sink and ruin them ... That it would keep them up at night, wake them up in the middle of the night, make them wrestle over things, make them uncomfortable, make them feel like an alien in this world. Pray for brokenness to reveal the need and the clinging to the Savior. It sounds weird. Trust me I know, but I too often forget/neglect to pray for these people.

Pray for you. Pray for brokenness, vulnerability. Pray that God would lovingly and rebukingly show you and me that we can't fix ourselves ... That we never could and never can. Pray that God would start to unnerve you and 180 some things in your life that you're holding too dearly instead of Him. Pray that we'd stop whoring around with idols. Pray that we'd turn away from those things and turn to Jesus.

Pray that God would get the glory in all of this. Pray for strength against self. Pray for God to have mercy on us. Pray for repentance. Pray for obedience.
Awesome Father, thank You for law, for it shows us the necessity and unlimited power of the cross. Thank You for grace. Thank You for You.
We love You God. We want to be humbled enough to love You more. We need You more than we want to believe. Help and forgive us for our unbelief. Help us with our view of who You are, who Your Word speaks of. I fear our view of You is far too small.
-Jon, brother in Christ

Okay, here's to Blogspot. My first "official" post I guess.

Preface: The other 3 previous entries I don't consider official because I posted them from certain times and certain experiences while not really making this blogspot public to those I know that use it. So this post is "officially" the first post. That's not to take away from those first 3 posts. They pretty much show what kinda blogger I am. But the thing I love about blogging is it shows progress ... not so much in my writing (though I think it does actually), but in my growth as a follower of Christ ... to see year after year how crappy/disgusting/poop like! I am and how awesomely/fearfully/lovingly big our God is. Anyway, enough with this "preface." I think I'm going to steal Justin's idea and kinda sub heading/title each paragraph.

Blah: Hello, my name is Jon Lau. I guess that's my official name here at Baylor University (according to my ID card). I think blogspot (at least this particular one) will serve as a good tool for recapping my college experience ... all the highs, lows, confusions, joys, hurts, sorrows, laughter, etc. I'll try to keep it up to date as I don't know if I'll ever stop using xanga ... After all it has posts ranging from my high school year to this point. I value those posts very highly as it shows growth that only God can take credit for. I hope that I will be able to use this in the same way ... So that when I am a confused 22-23 year old college graduate, I will be able to look back on this site for encouragement, recanting of memories, preaching to self ... who knows. Btw, I'm very very verbose/wordy. I like to use the parenthesis to paraphrase what I mean and I like to do run-on sentences to further express what is meant.

As of today: I am about 8/10 done with my first year of college. God has growed me quite a bit here in ways that still confuse me into laughter. Whether it be His 180ing of pretty much everything, His comforting/instill peace/rebuking/showing his mercy through busting me from His word, or the people He has brought into my life, I do thank Him. Some days are tough. Some nights I feel like I'm the only one fighting this battle for truth (namely the truth that Bible tells of). I am confused on quite a bit of things. I still ramble/rant/preach way too much on such blogging posts. But it's who I am. I'm very much concerned where I'm headed with this life given to me, but I more often than not go with the "do your best with the opportunities given you and whatever happens happens" philosophy. After all, God will get done what He in His timelessness intends to get done. I honestly fail at the first part of my statement though. I should deeper into that.

Life's gotten a lot worse ... since becoming a Christian. Worse only in the sense of circumstantially/wordly. But I wouldn't trade the nights of despair and angst, the days of sorrow, or the moments of all my pride getting destroyed for anything. In the end, it's these moments that have grown me and led to the cross and repentance. I wouldn't understand joy without such experiences. I look forward to the awesome things God will continue to do.

The thing I struggle with most with: Pride. Once the Holy Spirit convicts me of it and busts me when dwelling in it, I find myself completely broken for I see the true state of the wicked heart of man (when I look in the mirror). And once I repent and God forgives, I find it incredibly frustrating to find myself back at the barren land of pride shortly after (if not the day or 2 after). It's a sick cycle. I believe it happens to all in some way or other and I believe it's what ultimately is what the entire Bible shows humanity to be ... A rebellious, adulterous, broken people whoring around with man-made gods. We'll run from God even though He's the only one who proves to be good, the Holy Spirit will convict us of our sin, point us back to the cross and we'll either repent and humiliatingly run back to God only to become self-righteous and repeat the whole process again or we'll prove that our hearing of the Word had no root ... expressed through the telling of ourselves that we're good enough without God, and thus reject Him. Pride I believe is universal and Luke 1:51 fearfully explains why there are some who don't even see their own pride. All struggle with pride. And the tricky thing about pride is that the moment you say you're humble/not prideful, John 3:20 nails humanity to the tee.

Vindicated: Thank God for Jesus ... Or shall I say ... Thank God the Father for sending His Son, Jesus ... haha. I'll make a separate post on this word "Vindicated."

Concluding Thoughts: I believe this post summarizes me fairly well. I'll go into an entry trying not to type too much and end up ranting what I've been learning.

Grace and Peace: I doubt I'll continue with this sub heading/title thing but I figured it'd make this first post look nice and neat. Anyway ... Here's to the glory of God through the teaching/reproofing/correcting/training ... rebuking/loving/ from God to college Jon Lau.

The heart of the gospel.