"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:
he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great." (Luke 6:46-49 NASB)
Well, I'm done. With year #1. I just finished half of the Master's degree I'm working to obtain. There is no wild exultation, leaping for joy, or party on the beach till the break of dawn or getting jiggy with it that I'll be doing to celebrate this fact.
I do my best to remind myself that this degree is really a house built on shifting sand. Yet, many of my actions and the time I spend does not reflect this very well. A degree, a credential to your name, is very much a world thing. I have not found anywhere in Scripture where it says, to be broken and receive endless, infinite, beautiful grace, you have to be a PhD in Brokeness, or have an M.Ed in Unworthiness.
I'm finishing up re-reading CS Lewis' The Four Loves. It has been a good reminder to question myself: well, what kinds of loves are you involved with and practicing? (it's related to this degree thing)
People all around me are broken. I'm broken. That's the state of our condition. When we practice Friendship love and Charity love, rather than practicing idol love of money or stature or recognition or __________(fill it in), we encourage each other, share in our brokeness, and help each other get rid of some of it.
And it works. These past few weeks, I've witnessed more and more of Community love and Friendship love. And let me tell you, those are the kinds of things that DO get me jazzed and make me want to dance around and party till the break of dawn.
That has been my big realization at the end of this semester. I'm spending far too much time loving myself and building this degree structure thing that will easily be blown away rather than loving my friends, strangers, and the community in which I am a part. There's something about Friendship and Charity love that I'm more confident about. Maybe its because Jesus modeled those loves often and very well.
yes, I agree that I'm in the world and I should properly use my talents, intelligence, and resource to further the Lord's Kingdom. I don't dispute that at all. But there's a fine slippery line between understanding that and the way in which one's actions take shape. I think I've been slipping too much.
I want to be sold out to AND for the Gospel. COMPLETELY. and that it would be my concern for all of my days.
4.20.2009
4.15.2009
marriage - not for everyone
I think I've posted on this topic before, but I had some more thoughts about it after some conversations and James, and wanted to share. I mean James in the New Testament, not my friend James, who is cool too.
"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." (James 3:18-4:3 NIV)
Marriage is not for everyone under the banner of Christ, although I think society wants to often tell us that. On the whole, it is probably safe to say that the institution of marriage in our society has been deteriorating. I recognize this. I think however, there's still a large underlying impetus or push to get married.
Having a "cultural push" to get married is not necessarily a great thing, especially when it is based on parameters outside the sanctity of marriage as defined by God. Marriage becomes an arrangement. Or a financial benefit.
But the point of this post is not to really talk about that. I wanted to talk more about Christians and the idea of marriage. With this cultural "push" to get married, people, both Christian or non-Christian, get married based on wrong motives, and this I think then leads to conflict within marriage.
Like James mentions above, I think the selfish desires people experience definitely apply to the realm of marriage and the desire to get married.
Girls and guys both value and are subject to this "gotta get married" strong cultural suggestion. There are so many things in our society that push this. Most girls from a young age start to dream about their wedding day and who they might marry. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this, but it can overshadow a more important dream or identity to be wrapped up in.
I hope I'm wrong, but in large part, it seems that the thoughts and dreams young girls are having are NOT about what spending eternity with Jesus might look like or what being Christ's hands and feet in our world might look like. I can't really say for sure, but I think this goes on based on what I understand mass media and culture communicates.
Guys have their culture thoughts and plans for marriage too, it's not just girls. Guys too can get overshadowed by the "what's in it for me" idea of marriage that drives the cultural push to get married. They may not dream about wedding days, but they dream or think about other things.
Marriage though, I think as the Lord would have it, is based on an incredible opportunity for service. It's like a 50 year mission trip, or however long you'll be married. Marriage at its core, should be about service, self-less, service and not selfish service. Marriage should be about helping the spouse grow closer in their relationship to Christ, for that is what matters most.
I don't think that's a pervasive cultural mentality.
We're all flawed I know. I'm not saying "oh, if you recognize any selfish desire in you, stay away from marriage!" God blesses brokenness. I think He can and often does bless brokenness that is mutually shared and identified. He blesses marriages even if they had orginally been built on selfish desires of the particpants involved. There's nothing short of His grace that He can't touch.
What I'm saying is that I think we should perceive marriage differently than our culture currently does. Not as a "what can it do for me?" but "how can I act like Jesus and serve and love this person and help them grow closer to the Father?"
"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." (James 3:18-4:3 NIV)
Marriage is not for everyone under the banner of Christ, although I think society wants to often tell us that. On the whole, it is probably safe to say that the institution of marriage in our society has been deteriorating. I recognize this. I think however, there's still a large underlying impetus or push to get married.
Having a "cultural push" to get married is not necessarily a great thing, especially when it is based on parameters outside the sanctity of marriage as defined by God. Marriage becomes an arrangement. Or a financial benefit.
But the point of this post is not to really talk about that. I wanted to talk more about Christians and the idea of marriage. With this cultural "push" to get married, people, both Christian or non-Christian, get married based on wrong motives, and this I think then leads to conflict within marriage.
Like James mentions above, I think the selfish desires people experience definitely apply to the realm of marriage and the desire to get married.
Girls and guys both value and are subject to this "gotta get married" strong cultural suggestion. There are so many things in our society that push this. Most girls from a young age start to dream about their wedding day and who they might marry. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this, but it can overshadow a more important dream or identity to be wrapped up in.
I hope I'm wrong, but in large part, it seems that the thoughts and dreams young girls are having are NOT about what spending eternity with Jesus might look like or what being Christ's hands and feet in our world might look like. I can't really say for sure, but I think this goes on based on what I understand mass media and culture communicates.
Guys have their culture thoughts and plans for marriage too, it's not just girls. Guys too can get overshadowed by the "what's in it for me" idea of marriage that drives the cultural push to get married. They may not dream about wedding days, but they dream or think about other things.
Marriage though, I think as the Lord would have it, is based on an incredible opportunity for service. It's like a 50 year mission trip, or however long you'll be married. Marriage at its core, should be about service, self-less, service and not selfish service. Marriage should be about helping the spouse grow closer in their relationship to Christ, for that is what matters most.
I don't think that's a pervasive cultural mentality.
We're all flawed I know. I'm not saying "oh, if you recognize any selfish desire in you, stay away from marriage!" God blesses brokenness. I think He can and often does bless brokenness that is mutually shared and identified. He blesses marriages even if they had orginally been built on selfish desires of the particpants involved. There's nothing short of His grace that He can't touch.
What I'm saying is that I think we should perceive marriage differently than our culture currently does. Not as a "what can it do for me?" but "how can I act like Jesus and serve and love this person and help them grow closer to the Father?"
4.10.2009
GOOD Friday from Scripture...
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:23-27 NIV)
We are to deny ourselves and bear our cross each day...
"Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:16-17, 28-30)
Jesus didn't just TELL us to take up our cross, He DID it, changing our lives and the world forever...
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (1 John 1:8-10 NIV)
And still today, Jesus wants nothing more than to purify us and make us holy. The meaning of the cross becomes greater and greater as we recognize more and more our own depravity.
4.09.2009
Maundy Thursday in pictures...
this sequence of events seems to happen regularly in our modern day,
not just once 2000 years ago...
What grace that we can share in fellowship with Jesus and that He offers to wash us clean again and again, despite the gravity of our sin in which we betray Him over and over again. How often we're just like Judas, in it for personal gain at the expense of the Lord.
We have an incredible Lord VERY WORTHY of all our PRAISE and DEVOTION!!
We have an incredible Lord VERY WORTHY of all our PRAISE and DEVOTION!!
4.07.2009
something the poor have that the rich (us) want
So I need to qualify a few things for this post.
1. For all intensive purposes, if you read this post, you're rich. Comparatively speaking, I figure if you have access to a computer to read a blog, you're in the top quartile of the world's most prosperous people. Born in the USA or other developed nation sort of does that to you if you asked for it or not. I use "poor" generally in this post to refer to monetary status, but I believe a true definition of poverty really includes much more than that -- which involves social relations, political access and rights, human rights, but for this post, "poor" means without money...
2. What I'm going to write on some of us already have here in the US, but I think all of us could stand to gain more of it or have it be a more intentional and regular part of our everyday life...
So what is it that the poor have that we rich are missing in large quantities, but deep down inside really want? To the point that we envy this aspect of the poor?
I was thinking about the times when people come back from short-term missions trips, or even vacations for that matter, in a developing country with more acute poverty. The general reaction or feeling to the trip is very positive. The experience was great!, very fulfilling!, and even post-trip people are wanting to back and relive the experience again. I seem to notice that experiences with the homeless in our own country, our poor, is a bit different. It's filled with more sadness and empathy it seems. Why this difference?
Well, I think some of the desire to go back or relive the overseas experience or short term mission trip isn't self-sacrificial, it's actually selfish. I'm going out on a limb here, but yes, I am saying that humans are selfish, even after the context of something like a mission trip, where they went out to serve.
Call me crazy, but I think what people envy about the poor is that the poor have each other.
In the US, I feel that there is an association of loneliness with our poor, maybe that corresponds to our individualism, and so interactions with our homeless, our poor, tend to produce a different response. More of a sadness.
When people go to developing countries, yes social and cultural norms are different, and that plays into it I'm sure, but we recognize the poor to be mostly happy and very content with what they have. We are always amazed at that - "they have so little, but yet are so happy"
But they don't have a little of community. They have a lot of it. A lot more than us "rich" folk back here in the USA. I think that's part of the reason we so readily want to go back on those mission trips. We want that community association and living. It's something that we envy and selfishly desire.
I don't think it's a bad thing to desire community, I think it's quite natural and fundamental for our being.
Simply put, I think the poor demonstrate that better than our rich society does. Again, money isn't the only factor I'm implying makes the difference, social and cultural norms surely play a part. Part of being poor is often not having a job, and so maybe it's that community happens involuntarily. I'm sure many people who are poor would rather have a job and an ability to support themselves or their family better. I also think the poor use community as a defense mechanism against poverty. Whatever the reason, we see that the poor live more often and deeper in community.
That contrasts largely with what we're used to and live here in the US. For the most part, we work as indivduals. We earn money as individuals. We work out as individuals. We tend to pray as individuals.
There's nothing wrong with working hard. There's nothing wrong with making money. None of those things are wrong, but I think it stands to say that we "rich" people could become more like the poor and have a greater engagement into community.
1. For all intensive purposes, if you read this post, you're rich. Comparatively speaking, I figure if you have access to a computer to read a blog, you're in the top quartile of the world's most prosperous people. Born in the USA or other developed nation sort of does that to you if you asked for it or not. I use "poor" generally in this post to refer to monetary status, but I believe a true definition of poverty really includes much more than that -- which involves social relations, political access and rights, human rights, but for this post, "poor" means without money...
2. What I'm going to write on some of us already have here in the US, but I think all of us could stand to gain more of it or have it be a more intentional and regular part of our everyday life...
So what is it that the poor have that we rich are missing in large quantities, but deep down inside really want? To the point that we envy this aspect of the poor?
I was thinking about the times when people come back from short-term missions trips, or even vacations for that matter, in a developing country with more acute poverty. The general reaction or feeling to the trip is very positive. The experience was great!, very fulfilling!, and even post-trip people are wanting to back and relive the experience again. I seem to notice that experiences with the homeless in our own country, our poor, is a bit different. It's filled with more sadness and empathy it seems. Why this difference?
Well, I think some of the desire to go back or relive the overseas experience or short term mission trip isn't self-sacrificial, it's actually selfish. I'm going out on a limb here, but yes, I am saying that humans are selfish, even after the context of something like a mission trip, where they went out to serve.
Call me crazy, but I think what people envy about the poor is that the poor have each other.
In the US, I feel that there is an association of loneliness with our poor, maybe that corresponds to our individualism, and so interactions with our homeless, our poor, tend to produce a different response. More of a sadness.
When people go to developing countries, yes social and cultural norms are different, and that plays into it I'm sure, but we recognize the poor to be mostly happy and very content with what they have. We are always amazed at that - "they have so little, but yet are so happy"
But they don't have a little of community. They have a lot of it. A lot more than us "rich" folk back here in the USA. I think that's part of the reason we so readily want to go back on those mission trips. We want that community association and living. It's something that we envy and selfishly desire.
I don't think it's a bad thing to desire community, I think it's quite natural and fundamental for our being.
Simply put, I think the poor demonstrate that better than our rich society does. Again, money isn't the only factor I'm implying makes the difference, social and cultural norms surely play a part. Part of being poor is often not having a job, and so maybe it's that community happens involuntarily. I'm sure many people who are poor would rather have a job and an ability to support themselves or their family better. I also think the poor use community as a defense mechanism against poverty. Whatever the reason, we see that the poor live more often and deeper in community.
That contrasts largely with what we're used to and live here in the US. For the most part, we work as indivduals. We earn money as individuals. We work out as individuals. We tend to pray as individuals.
There's nothing wrong with working hard. There's nothing wrong with making money. None of those things are wrong, but I think it stands to say that we "rich" people could become more like the poor and have a greater engagement into community.
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