a2f newsletter.

i wanted to wish all of you a happy new years again.

back here at west lafayette, we had quite an incredible week. most of us went to our headquarters in elgin to attend acts2 winter conference (awc for short).

we had a packed time with all our churches across our network. over a thousand students and post-grad in attendance. and we were gifted with such a treat.

amazing guest speakers (dhati lewis, jd greear, cliffe knechtle, trace hamiter). incredible times of worship from our guest praise band, reverb. even a time where we got to reconnect with roy / kaitlyn. and, of course, no acts2 retreat would be complete without some silly dancing, stand-up comedy bit, and rhythm 101.

thankful for awc. it was a stirring time and a lot of people ended up making salvation and lordship decisions or significant recommitments to follow christ.

spring semester is upon us.

on that note, we’ll start up a2f sunday service again this sunday, 1/11, at walc 1018. 12p. lunch afterwards.

looking forward to seeing all of you again soon and hearing all the different stories and updates of how your winter break has been.

dj.

i was a little confused while reading from a recent dt passage this week.

here’s paul’s highest prayer for the ephesians. paul is on his knees before the father and he prays that these beloved disciples of his would be strengthened by the power of his spirit in the very depths of their heart and souls to do… what? what would you expect him to pray for? greater sacrifice? or a love and burden for the lost that leads to incredible zeal? all good things to be sure. but what paul prays for is this “strength to comprehend” the expanses of god’s love.

this struck me as odd. his highest wish is for comprehension? and why do i need “strength” in order to comprehend? is it like god’s love is akin to my experience of organic chemistry? an incredibly difficult concept that requires unpacking and the discipline and prolonged effort to unfold and understand? no i don’t think so. god’s love is simple. so simple that even a child could understand.

so again why do i need strength… to comprehend?

as i thought about it, one thing that struck me is there’s a difference between knowing something and really knowing something. i can comprehend how to bake an applie pie if i read a recipe but i really know and really comprehend how to bake an apple pie only if i actually try to follow the recipe and make it and then taste what we’ve made.

i think the same is true when it comes to our faith. our faith is, on one level, a collection of belief statements. god is real. god is creator. god died on the cross for us. god loves us. god calls us to life abundant. and we can know this at a basic comprehension level. hear it in a bible study. have the apologetics explained.

but, like the apple pie, do we really know it? i don’t think we do until we try and obey and try to do things like confess things we feel ashamed about to god in prayer and with a close group of brothers and sisters or go out on campus or on a mission trip and try to love people and share the gospel with people or spend a quiet hour in the morning to invest time into reading god’s word and praying.

it’s in this context of obedience that we’re able to really comprehend and understand truths like god is good, god is for us, god wants to bless us, god loves us, god wants what’s best for our lives.

but there’s a problem isn’t there? when the rubber has to meet the road and there’s a call to some step of obedience, there’s some friction against a desire or personal comfort. there can be fear. or often there’s the inevitable grind of school and life that can crowd our lives and schedules and push these things out as secondary.

but in so doing, we can continue to miss out on truly comprehending the incredible height, breadth and depth of god’s love and the so-much-more to discover and experience of christian life. and i think, at our best, we want to experience this but it’s tough which is why i think we can understand why paul’s prayer is for strength. strength to carry out commitments formed in moments of conviction. maybe even like what some of you experienced at awc this past week. but, at the same time, if we’re honest, we understand that we don’t have the strength within ourselves. willpower has its limits.

so what’s the solution? the text gives us a hint. strength to comprehend with all the saints. it’s people. it’s the church and the encouragement, accountability, and “doing it together that gives us the strength to continue to hang on, to hold on, to keep to convictions and commitments, and to carry out steps of obedience even when we’re scared, or feeling lazy, or when we run into the inevitable moment when we run out of willpower to carry out our commitments. it’s like that moment when you’re about to go on a long run. it helps when you have a friend with you in the beginning because, let’s face it, who wants to go out and run especially when its cold? but when you have a friend who says let’s do it. it becomes easier. or in the middle slog of the run when you want to give up. it becomes bearable and there’s strength when there’s a friend running right beside you.

christian life wasn’t meant to be lived alone. and, in some ways, the only way to access deeper comprehension of the expanses of the love of god is only possible through being embedded in community.

and so i wanted to encourage all of you as we begin a new semester. find a community. join our family. and let’s experience the height and breadth and depth and length of god’s love together.

until next time.

dj.