A Walk of Faith.

This weekend, I visited my Brother in his apartment in downtown Toronto. As I left the bus station, I was instantly swarmed with countless advertisements, pamphlets, and men of all ages asking for spare change - anything they could get. As I continued walking, billboards promoting every possible new and must-have item of the season were plastered on any wall space available. One of these billboards read - “Tis’ the Season for Pleasin’ and Teasin’. In reading this I cringed at the sight of the promotion of sin, the promotion of sex, and the promotion of an overall hedonistic lifestyle. And as I continued to walk, that hedonism was just a part of life. I continually thought to myself, if only these people knew God; if only they knew that they have a saviour who loves them, who will forgive them, and who has the best intentions for them. It would be a better place, all of these people could do so much good if working for the highest good. As I looked up at these flashy and exciting billboards, back to the true poverty covering the streets, I remembered an article that I had just recently read. 

“The city is not to be regarded as an evil invention of ungodly fallen man… The ultimate goal set before humanity at the very beginning was that human-culture should take city-form… there should be an urban structuring of human historical existence… The cultural mandate given at creation was a mandate to build the city. Now, after the fall, the city is still a benefit, serving humankind as refuge from the howling wilderness condition into which the fallen human race, exiled from paradise, has been driven… The common grace city has remedial benefits even in a fallen world. It becomes the drawing together of resources, strength and talent no longer just for mutual complementation in the task of developing the resources of the created world, but now a pooling of power for defence against attack, and as an administrative community of welfare for the relief of those destitute by reason of the cursing of the ground’ (Meredith G. Kline, ‘Kingdom Prologue’).

In this quote, I truly understood the fact that God created this city. That God is still present in this city that is full of sin. That even though Satan seemingly roams the streets, he is just a pawn in Jesus’ hand. This was clearly seen in the story of Job, when Satan had to ask permission to treat Job the way he did. Without God’s consent, he couldn’t act as he did. Satan has no power, but the Lord Jesus Christ does. He has power not only over these somewhat fallen cities, but over the cosmos and the universe. 

The next place within the city I found myself was The Eaton Centre. As it was around Christmas time, I am pretty sure there were 10 million people running up and down those halls to buy gifts for their families. The amount of money flowing in and out of that mall must have been incredible. As I walked up and down the lit halls of the beautiful centre, I couldn’t help but think about other countries in the world and how they are ‘preparing’ for Christmas. The fact that children in Africa were most likely looking through garbage patches to find material they could sell, the fact that places like Vietnam most likely had children workers being forced to work 12 hour days to support their families, and our North American kids sit at home on their xbox’s while their parents spend thousands of dollars on gifts. I couldn’t help but feel like, there is something wrong here.

I felt so strongly as I left that Toronto is a city that needs God. A city where people need to hear the message of an ever powerful, loving, and encompassing Saviour who died for their sins. I saw the poverty, I saw the immense amounts of money, and I saw the sinful nature that seemed to be everywhere. I know whole heartedly that Toronto is a city where God is trying to make His way in being the focus, but we are Christians need to be His advocates and deliverers of this message. This doesn’t necessarily mean stand at Young and Dundas Square with a megaphone - yelling out the contents of Acts 2:38, but I do feel that it means we need to become an evident force within the streets and alleyways of a city created by God, for God - Toronto.

Today, I learned one of the most valuable things in my faith as I ever have. The fact that my Father, Jesus Christ, the LORD Almighty, loves me. He actually loves me. A skinny, lanky, 18 year old, wealthy, Canadian, male. What have I ever done to deserve his love? What have I ever done for God to actually love me? I am a sinner, I am a man who in no way follows God completely faithfully. I continually fall off of the path, I veer down the wrong path, and I truly let the enemy take me away from what God wants and needs me to do. Yet He is jealous for me, He loves like a hurricane. Although at times His love may seem aggressive, overpowering, and even somewhat torturous. He truly loves me. He has the best intentions for me in all things. He never wants to hurt me, He always knows what is best; even when we feel that it is seemingly a useless and terrible happening. Yet God works through His love in mysterious ways, He works through suffering. He refines our rough edges, he refines us from dirty rocks to shinning gold. God calls us to recognize this love, He wants us to know that He is constantly looking out for us, attempting to steer us the right way. Now the first way for us to actually start making those right choices among the controversy, is by acknowledging that they exist. I feel that this is our calling by a God who loves us unconditionally, to come to a clear understanding that He loves us more than anything. He loves each and every single one of us. So we need to acknowledge this, we need to understand that because He loves us, He always gives us the choice which will be the best for us. He gives us the choice that may look like a hurricane, but in the end a clear reward will prevail. God knows what we are capable of, He knows that suffering brings meaning. Yet, we too need to acknowledge this for us as Christians to fully grow in Him. To fully grow in our faith.

“God is the biggest tool in this world, that we never use.”

In reflection of Goheen and Bartholomew’s book entitled Living at the Crossroads, I clearly came to an evident understanding of one thing - we are, just as Israel was, at the crossroads of the world today. Just as God placed Israel in the middle of two immense trade highways of their time - the Via Maris and the Jericho Road - so does He place us at the highways of our time, also known as North America. God has given us countless resources, unbelievable blessings, and a perfect place to allow us to literally use them. God chose Israel as His holy nation, set apart to do His work in all they do. He placed them in a place of utmost influence, an area of the world where it was literally impossible for them to not be heard! God in every way possible,  set them up for an evangelists dream. However, rather than taking advantage of God`s blessing, they continually ignored it. Their ignorance of God and His gifts proved to be a costly falter for the Israelite’s, and a celebration for Satan himself. However, God in no way gave up on His people, even though the clearly gave up on Him. 

Now believe it or not, this same God is still pursuing us. We are his holy people, we are the Israelite’s. God placed us so clearly in an area of influence, with mass media just a click away. Yet, we chose the easy way out. We find ourselves becoming caught up inexorably with materialism, consumerism, and a spiral of postmodernism. Where each and every one of us has our own understanding of what faith or belief means to us. In this sense, distractions are everywhere. We too have our golden calves. We too find ourselves becoming ignorant to our God who is screaming out to us each and everyday. He has blessed our North American culture in every fathomable way, yet we squander these gifts. We toss them out for our materialistic gain. Satan is laughing at this, he knows that his temptations are constantly winning over victims. Yet during this time, we must know that GOD WINS. In every sense of the word. Satan is trying to take as many down with him, he knows that his end is near. 

We need to get back to the fact that we are at the Via Maris and Jericho Road. Christians are in the centre of the marketplace. We are in business, media, physical labour, and missions. Just because we may not find ourselves in a clearly mission related role in life, God will make that role mission related. We need to truly acknowledge the fact that we can be used by God in all ways, and He has blessed us with this opportunity as North Americans today. I feel that today, God is the biggest tool that we never use. So today, go out into this war. Step out of your comfort zone that you may have yourself confined. Use each and every God given breath to proclaim His name. Use each and every thing you do as worship. This is how we can clearly and evidently, live at the Crossroads.