An Easter Reflection...

If you haven't heard the song "Christ is Risen" by Matt Maher, you need to stop reading this and skip down to the video right now. I have honestly never heard a more powerful, accurate, and beautiful Easter song. Unfortunately, the importance of the resurrection is often overshadowed by the picture of the cross these days. I'd dare say that most Christians don't know how vital the resurrection is to their salvation. Listen to this song then read the segment of a 4th century sermon posted below it. Dwell on the resurrection. Meditate on the victory over death. Rejoice in the beauty of new life. 

Paschal Homily

St. John Chrysostom

Let all partake of the feast of faith. Let all receive the riches of goodness.
   Let no one lament their poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
      Let no one mourn their transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave.
         Let no one fear death, for the Saviour's death has set us free.
         

            He that was taken by death has annihilated it!
               He descended into Hell and took Hell captive!
                  He embittered it when it tasted His flesh! And anticipating this, Isaiah exclaimed: "Hell
                  was embittered when it encountered Thee in the lower regions".

                     It was embittered, for it was abolished!
                        It was embittered, for it was mocked!
                           It was embittered, for it was purged!
                              It was embittered, for it was despoiled!
                                 It was embittered, for it was bound in chains!

            It took a body and came upon God!
               It took earth and encountered Ηeaven!
                  It took what it saw, but crumbled before what it had not seen!

O death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?

   Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!
      Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
         Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
            Christ is risen, and life reigns!
               Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb!
For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the first-fruits of them that have slept.
To Him be glory and might unto the ages of ages. 

Amen.

My Trip to South Africa

Check out the video I made of my trip to South Africa this summer. 

Definitely the highlight of 2011 for me!

Why not make supporting Bethesda's ministry to South African AIDS orphans part of your resolutions this New Year?

For more information on Bethesda Outreach Ministries, Bethesda Children's Village, and how you too can help this vital ministry, visit www.bethesdaoutreach.org.

Real Talk

Reality. What a word. What a concept! I've been thinking about all of this for the past couple days without success. So I'm hoping that writing it out might help make clear the jumbled mess going through my head. (Don't worry, the "jumbled mess" isn't due to dire circumstances or a plunge into insanity. It's simply how life inside my head usually progresses: without stopping. I'm sure many of you know of what I'm speaking.) Anyway, reality. A concept like this could hardly be tackled in my little blog. Heck, they've been fighting over the very reality of reality since the ancient Greeks! So if you're hoping for answers here, sorry. My answers may be lacking, but my thoughts are quite the contrary, especially when it concerns my walk with God.

When it comes to God and me, I talk about real love, real faith, and real relationship all the time. But how much of it is real? I mean, I totally agree with the whole "perseverance of the saints" stuff. I'm not questioning the reality of my salvation as far as its existence is concerned. But how much of what I say, what I think, and what I do is really real? Like, even down to the very title of my blog. How much of that is real?
I am average: more-or-less a fact.
I am living: fact.
My emotional state is "excited": more often than not a fact.
My biblical status under Christ is "slave": a hard fact.
To that extent, the title of my blog is a 100% true description of myself. But reality, in this case, is more than mere existence. In my Christian life, reality must be verbal, not simply adjectival. In other words, "average, living, excited slave" can't just describe me, it must be me. This might sound like a total over-analysis of reality, but think of it like art. Before Vincent van Gogh sat down in 1887 and painted his eternally famous Self Portrait, he thought about characteristics of himself. Maybe he looked in a mirror and verbally described what he saw, or maybe he asked some friends to help describe himself. I don't know. But either way, he took characteristics of himself and accurately portrayed them on a canvas. Van Gogh's brush strokes describe him in the same way that the words in the heading of this web-page describe me. And we can say that they are accurate because they mimic truth or existence. But what if after painting this portrait, van Gogh shaved his beard? Can we still call his painting accurate enough to be considered a "self-portrait"? Yes, of course it is. It is still a description of van Gogh, except now, the beardless van Gogh fails to actively be his description. So when I fail to actively live for Christ, when I fail to be excited in my Christian life, when I fail to treat Jesus as my Lord and Master, its like I shaved my beard.

God painted the picture of what I am to look like in Scripture and called it "Christ." That's where I got the title of this blog. Jesus, when it came to living an every day life, was the epitome of average growing up. He was definitely living. The Gospels make it obvious to how excited he was to be on mission here on earth. And Scripture also talks about how Jesus was a servant. Because of God's grace on the cross and in my life, when he looks at me he sees that description. He sees the perfect portrayal of Christ. But that doesn't mean that I am the perfect portrayal of Christ.

Hopefully one day, the title of my blog will be a reality when it comes to what I say, think, and do. That's what I need to work toward via the help of the church and the Spirit. But thankfully, I can struggle through these points in my life that seem absent of life, excitement, and surrender, without fear, knowing that God sees me as the perfect portrait of his Son. And in that sense, I can still, and always will, be able to say that He is my Lord and I am His slave.


An excited servant of God,
Cameron Francis

Raised Right: How I Untangled My Faith from Politics (Review)

When I ordered this book to review, I had pretty big expectations. I had read reviews on Raised Right before ordering it, and, to me, the story Alisa Harris had to tell sounded quite similar to my own. Alisa's memoir begins with the riveting remembrance of a childhood dominated by abortion clinic picketing and Republican campaigning followed by a young-adulthood of questions. Questions we all should ask:
If war involves killing, how can it be moral?
Is an economy based on self-reliance or community-dependence more biblical?
Is Women's Rights possible within a Pro-Life society?
What should a Christian's response be toward the Gay-Rights movement?

Though still surrounded by an overwhelmingly conservative setting, she refused to seek answers in traditions or politics. Rather, Alisa writes of how she searched Scripture and experience from human relationships for her answers. She doesn't impose her conclusions on the reader; however, she does write in the attitude of a cry for a biblical response toward these questions. She cries for Christians to quit buying into the worldly proposal that answers are found in politics.

"Our primary job as Christians is to love people, and we can't love from behind a barricade. But we have other God-given responsibilities too--to fight against those who make unjust decrees, rob the needy, and deprive the poor of their rights. . . . Sin and pain are spiritual--we treat them in a spiritual way. Pray for the sinner. Speak to the sinner. . . . But when injustice, robbery, and inequity are not just individual but institutional, it's time to take a political stand. The government can't sure sin or heal pain; it can stop robbery and create laws that treat the poor justly. And it's our to demand that our leaders do so." (p.210)

This book is convicting. It's real. It's raw. It's refreshing. And it's a much needed cry for revolution in Christianity's response toward the heavy-hitting questions of today's American culture.

Click Here For More

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

So... What Do You Think?

This past Sunday, my pastor gave me the opportunity to preach out of Psalm 107. This was the first time I had ever preached or spoken in front of a crowd for a decent amount of time. All that to say, this was a pretty big step for me. Looking back at my sermon, I am pleased with the amount of clarity God gave me, but I recognize many areas that I need to tune in my delivery. That being said, here's a link to my sermon. Let me know what you think! :) 

CLICK HERE

He is my Lord. I am His slave.


An excited servant of God,
Cameron Francis

I Can't Get No...

What's one thing everyone on the face of this earth wants no matter where they live, what language they speak, or when they exist in history? The answer's simple. Satisfaction. We see this and experience this everyday as we make decisions that bring us pleasure. From simple things (items on the menu, degrees on the thermostat, etc.) to important things (what guy or girl to pursue, what career path to go into, and the like), every decision we make is a sign of what we desire. But no matter what we do, we're never satisfied. Isn't that strange? We spend our whole lives consciously and subconsciously seeking satisfaction, yet we never find it. So what's our motivation supposed to be? What keeps pushing us to seek pleasure? For many, the answer is to turn the small glimpses of satisfaction God gives them into the ultimate satisfaction itself. C.S. Lewis wrote a ton of stuff on true satisfaction. In his book Mere Christianity, he wrote, "All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy." The truth is that we are made in God's image, so we have the longing to be worshiped, glorified, and satisfied. But just like God is satisfied only in himself, we can only find full satisfaction in Him. In spite of that, man has been seeking pleasure in everything but God since Eden. That's the problem.

If you don't quite get it yet, I don't blame you. Honestly, I am not skilled enough in rhetoric to fully explain this concept. So check out what else good ole Clive Staples has to say about it:

Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evaded us.

That empty space in our hearts that we all have felt can't be filled with human love, nature's beauty, or a crazy adrenaline rush. If you are truly seeking satisfaction in God alone, that space won't feel empty. Only God can rescue you from that endless longing for answers and peace. Only God can lead you to a place of safety and consistency.

I've been studying through Psalm 107 recently. This idea of a satisfying God is one of 4 attributes explained in this Psalm. So to finish this post, just dwell on the original text and see just one reason why we are to praise God for his steadfast love.

                                    4   Some wandered in desert wastelands,

                                         finding no way to a city where they could settle.

                                    5   They were hungry and thirsty,

                                         and their lives ebbed away.

                                    6   Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,

                                         and he delivered them from their distress.

                                    7   He led them by a straight way

                                         to a city where they could settle.

                                    8   Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love

                                         and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

                                    9   for he satisfies the thirsty

                                         and fills the hungry with good things.

This week my goal is to consistently cry to God for His satisfaction. Why? It's simple. He is my Lord. I am His slave.

An Excited Servant of God,
Cameron Francis 

A Good Chunk of Change

"You need to be in the Word. It's where every principle, standard, and belief you have needs to be drawn from. Don't fall into the sin of pleasing man. Just strive to please God by following His Word." You ever hear that growing up? I sure did! But I never cared to do any of it before I was truly saved. I saw my goodness in direct comparison to how little or how much trouble I got into with my parents, school, or church. As long as I followed their rules, I'd be just as good of a Christian as the next person in the pew. And the cool thing was, these rules weren't just for kids like me! I could spend my whole life obeying them, and no one would even consider me to be an unbeliever. I wasn't basing my beliefs on Scripture. I was basing them on religious expectations. I was basing them on pleasing man.

Then God saved me right before my Senior year of high school. Talk about falling in love! Wow, I was a new creature, that's for sure. All I wanted to do was please God. I desired change in my life so badly! It was my new passion. But what does this change look like? Because of my upbringing, my focus was solely on the externals. Christians are separate because they dress differently, and they listen to different music, and they hang out with different people. This caused a problem for me. I wanted to please God by being different than I was before He saved me, but how? Before I was saved, my Christian school still made me dress differently than the world. My church still made me listen to different music than the world. My parents still made me hang out with kids that were part of our Christian bubble. So if that's what Christianity is all about, how could I change? So, I did what I was always told to do, but had always neglected. I searched the Scriptures.

Along with the quest I had begun through the Bible, I decided that I might as well just go all out and study about what Scripture says concerning how I should live my life as a child of God. That's when I picked up my first book, Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. That took me about a month to get through, and I haven't stopped studying theology and doctrine since. I'll admit, I think reading that book did distract me from my initial endeavor to discover how I was supposed to be different than before, but in many ways it didn't. In my studying of theology I think I stumbled on (unknowingly being shoved by God's invisible hand) exactly what I was searching for! My new life wasn't about how differently I acted on the outside. It was about my new passion on the inside. In his rescuing me, God "renewed my mind". Check this out:

I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:1-2 NIV

When God renewed my mind, He transformed me into a life of true worship. All that jazz I did before wasn't worship. It was religion in the "pattern of this world". Look at all the other religions around the world. What's the one thing they have in common? They all say that in one way or another, we have to do some series of actions to gain the favor of some higher being so that after we die we end up in some sort of paradise. To them, it's all about what we do. Sadly, to many Christians it's the same way. But not according to Scriptures. And that's a fact that I cling onto to this day. When I'm bombarded with guilt and shame over my sin, I can still look back and say, there's nothing I did do, nothing I can do, or nothing I will do that will fix this. But thankfully I have a God who "was and is and is to come", and He transformed me through His death and resurrection.

I'm gonna be real. This week I've been struggling with this. I know what Scripture says. I know what I believe. I'm doing my best to live it out. But for some people, that's just not enough. If it's not what they're used to, and it's not what has traditionally been done, they're automatically against it. I normally would just let this run right off my back, but I'm struggling cause I really look up to the man who's questioning my beliefs. I see him as a spiritual giant. I want to please and appease him. Actually, there's the potential for some pretty high fall out if I don't. But I can't change because of what he says. I gotta go to Scripture alone. I gotta go to Christ alone. He's my Lord. I'm his slave.

If you're reading this. Lift me up in prayer. I sure need it.

An excited servant of God,

Cameron Francis