Agabus (mark adams)

From Tortured for Christ, by Richard Wurmbrand,

Once I saw a Russian lady officer on the street. I approached her and apologized, “I know that it is impolite to accost an unknown lady on the street, but I am a pastor and my intentions are earnest. I wish to speak to you about Christ.”

She asked me, “Do you love Christ?” I said, “Yes! From all my heart.” She fell into my arms and kissed me again and again. It was a very embarrassing situation for a pastor, so I kissed her back, hoping people would think we were relatives. She exclaimed to me, “I love Christ, too!” I took her to our home. I discovered to my amazement that she nothing about Christ – absolutely nothing – except the name. And yet she loved Him. She did not know that He is the Saviour, nor what salvation means. She did not know where and how He lived and died. She did not know His teachings, His life or ministry. She was for me a psychological curiosity. How can you love somebody if you know only his name?

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© 2010, Mark Adams. All rights reserved. For inquiries press here.

Originally posted 2008-10-29 23:13:39.

Professor Thomas Pratt, formerly of Bethany College, once asked in chapel: “Is God in everything or is everything in God?” He noted that the question was not original to him, but that he felt it was appropriate for the devotions that day.

I am reminded of St. Augustine’s quest for the knowledge of God: “Do heaven and earth, then, contain the whole of you, since you fill them? Or, when once you have filled them, is some part of you left over because they are too small to hold you?” (Confessions).

The answer is somewhere between Pratt’s two propositions.

© 2010, Mark Adams. All rights reserved. For inquiries press here.

Originally posted 2008-09-11 01:16:07.

Paul says knowledge is a gift:

With all this before my mind, then, I bow my knees before the Father, “father” being a title borrowed by every family of beings, earthly or heavenly. And this is my prayer to him, that, in accordance with the wealth of his glorious majesty, he may grant it to you to be mightily strengthened by his Spirit in your inmost being, that Christ may indwell you hearts through the faith, that, being rooted and grounded in love, you may, along with all those who are dedicated to God, have the power to fathom the breadth, the length, the height, the depth of whatever there is, and to come to know that which surpasses all knowledge, the love of Christ, so as to be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Knowledge is a quantity of things known, but to know Christ is to know “that which surpasses all knowledge.” This is not to say that intellectual pursuits are unimportant, but that human knowledge is finite, it has limits, and God is infinite. To know God infinitely is to be filled with the “fullness of God” through Christ, and such knowledge, while it can be examined intellectually, can only be obtained through faith.

Let it not be assumed that faith and reason are incompatible. Knowledge shows us what we are not (cf. Romans 3:20); faith changes us into what God would have us be (cf. 1 John 3:2). In modern society the tendency is to believe that faith and reason are antithetical, but that is because their functions are different. Knowledge brings us to a limit; faith beyond the limit.

© 2010, Mark Adams. All rights reserved. For inquiries press here.

Originally posted 2007-03-16 21:12:04.

What beautiful sounds we will make in the eternal ages, praising God and singing, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord almighty.” Consider the sound we now make. When we praise God, we are preparing our hearts for his return. So let us lift up our hearts to him.

© 2010, Mark Adams. All rights reserved. For inquiries press here.

Originally posted 2009-01-16 03:07:42.

In college I read a piece about ecstatic worship in which the author noted that such worship, or jubilation, is not the abandonment of reason, but succession beyond it. Attaining knowledge in a universe where God is requires something beyond ourselves: faith. I gleaned the following from The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence:

God alone is capable of making himself known as he really is: we search in reasoning and in the sciences, as in a poor copy, for what we neglect in an excellent original. God himself paints himself in the depths of our soul. We must enliven our faith and elevate ourselves by the means of that faith above all our feelings, to adore God the Father and Jesus Christ in all their divine perfections, such as they are in themselves (p. 87).

That faith is greater than reason does not negate the necessity of knowledge, but rather expands it. Truly knowing, we will be known.

© 2010, admin. All rights reserved. For inquiries press here.

Originally posted 2008-08-18 16:33:35.

Making up a shopping list has become a strange phenomenon. First, I began making lists to avoid impulse shopping. In this economy, I really can’t afford to overspend. But then, after making the list, I whittle away at it. Nah, I don’t need paper towels… Hmmm, if I’m conservative, I can go another week or two before I run out of toilet paper… Oh, I can squeeze that tube of toothpaste a little more… Actually, I’m blessed financially. My job is secure, and my income is adequate. Two things, however, persuade me to hold back: one, my situation could change; and, two, as I am able, I might be able to help others. There’s not much one can do about the first, except to live contently in any situation (cf. Philippians 4:11-12 — notice, this has to be learned). The second is a moral imperative. “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17). In these hard times, Christians will be tested severely — these will not be good times — but the opportunity to learn will be great. As we worship a God who gives everything, we can trust that God will also give us patience and forbearance. I am not excited about the future, but I am about the opportunities.

© 2010, Mark Adams. All rights reserved. For inquiries press here.

Originally posted 2009-03-11 15:51:21.

January 1, 2000 — I had no remarkable plans. Days earlier, I had celebrated my 30th birthday in a monastery in Big Sur, praying and reflecting on my future. I had given no consideration as to how I would spend the New Year, how I would ring in the new millennium. Ultimately, my plans included a trip to Seattle to visit my folks.

At midnight, I was standing on a deck overlooking Interbay, a massive rail yard, listening to the wail of a dozen or so horns from trains ringing in the New Year. Afterwards, I drove aimlessly through Seattle, picking up four or five party goers and driving them across town. One of them offered to pay, but I declined. He tossed fifty or sixty dollars, nevertheless, on the dash, shouting, “Happy New Year!”

That was 2000.

At that time in my life, I had just begun my career as a teacher — I still work at James Lick High School in East San Jose. A few years earlier, I had begun my service at Mountain Bible Church, serving as the youth pastor. I am still there. Although not much has changed these last ten years, much has changed.

Over the years, I’ve grown less concerned about developing the correct theological perspective, than about growing in my relationship with the Lord. I do not say the former is unimportant, but it is entirely dependent on the latter. Apart from knowing God, one cannot know of God.

Last year I declared I would write more about knowing God at Agabus.com, that that would be my dominant concern. To that end, I have reflected considerably on the essentials of Christian faith, what they are, and how to incorporate them into ones life. It’s a difficult subject to write on, for one either becomes dogmatic, constructing massively complicated systems of theology, or one becomes entirely passive, surrendering all intentions, and allowing God to permeate every thought and every idea. The former is easy, because it is within ones control, the latter is like death, for it involves making oneself entirely vulnerable to God.

The words of the poet ring in my ear: “I should be glad of another death.”

© 2009, Mark Adams. All rights reserved. For inquiries press here.