Scotty Smith, one of my Facebook friends, posted a quote from Martin Luther the other day. It said: "How soon 'not now' becomes never." That struck a chord with me because I am a procrastinator of the highest order--though I like to tell myself it's because I work best under pressure. We can always find socially acceptable excuses for our sins and shortcomings.
Ron Blocki, one of Scotty's FB friends commented by posting this quote from C.S.Lewis' Screwtape Letters: " No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm us if we can keep it out of his will. As one of the humans has said, active habits are strengthened by repetition, but passive ones are weakened. The more often he feels without acting, the less he will ever be able to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel."
All of that reminded me of another thought that I came across somewhere a long time ago - We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions. So often we excuse our disobedience and failures by saying: "Well, I meant to..." Our intentions were good, so supposedly that makes everything okay. But it doesn't really, does it? Having the intention of getting up early in the morning to pray, read the Word, exercise, or simply have more time to get things done doesn't achieve anything at all unless we actually DO it and see the intention through to action. Having the intention of going to someone we have wronged to apologize and restore the relationship does absolutely nothing towards healing. Having the intention of going out and meeting neighbors, or helping someone in need, or reaching out to that lonely person accomplishes not a thing towards those goals. We simply must act and, to quote Nike, "Just DO it!"
The danger of being satisfied with good intentions is that, as C.S.Lewis warns, we feel without acting and eventually will be less able to even feel. At that point, we lose even the empty comfort of our good intentions.
And here's another great quote to add: "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteounsess?" (Romans 6:16,ESV) Having good intentions without following through with the necessary action simply makes us prisoners of our own inactivity, bound with chains of our own making.
May God grant each of us the will to obey.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to God. Psalm 40:2-3
Monday, July 5, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Cultural Relevance
I just read a great blog by Walt Mueller entitled Shaved Heads, Goatees, and Other Misdirected Attempts at Reaching the World... The title basically says it all. These two paragraphs are especially great:
Because I study youth culture for the sake of effective cross-cultural work with kids, many people are surprised to find out that I oftentimes try to squelch our (the church) growing love affair and obsession with relevance. I think we need to stand back and take a long, hard objective look at ourselves and our ministries to see just what this pursuit of relevance might not only be doing to us, but doing to actually hinder the advance of the Gospel message...the noble desire and calling that has made us pursue relevance so passionately in the first place. A misdirected passion for relevance has fostered the increased use of the word "reinvent" when it comes to ourselves and our ministries. We run the risk of unintentionally allowing an obsession with style to eclipse what should be a passionate obsession with substance. Sadly, when we fall into it, we don't even know that this is what's happened. Eventually, our lives and ministries become a series of extreme makeovers, with the short time between each filled not with more and more reflection on the substance of the message, but with trying to keep up with the styles so that we're ready to jump when the next change is needed...something which is happening with increased frequency as time marches on.
It's for this reason that I've been speaking more and more about the seemingly subtle yet significant differences between pursuing lives and ministries marked by being culturally relevant and lives and ministries marked by being culturally informed. Being culturally informed--regardless of my age, shape, size, or hairstyle--means that I have taken the time to listen to another and their context. It means that I know them. It means that when I open my mouth to speak--regardless of whether or not that mouth is framed by a goatee--the person I am speaking to will kinow that I have listened and cared for them. Then they will be more prone to listen to what I have to say. We call this "relationship."
Check out the entire article and his blog at learningmylines.blogspot.com
Because I study youth culture for the sake of effective cross-cultural work with kids, many people are surprised to find out that I oftentimes try to squelch our (the church) growing love affair and obsession with relevance. I think we need to stand back and take a long, hard objective look at ourselves and our ministries to see just what this pursuit of relevance might not only be doing to us, but doing to actually hinder the advance of the Gospel message...the noble desire and calling that has made us pursue relevance so passionately in the first place. A misdirected passion for relevance has fostered the increased use of the word "reinvent" when it comes to ourselves and our ministries. We run the risk of unintentionally allowing an obsession with style to eclipse what should be a passionate obsession with substance. Sadly, when we fall into it, we don't even know that this is what's happened. Eventually, our lives and ministries become a series of extreme makeovers, with the short time between each filled not with more and more reflection on the substance of the message, but with trying to keep up with the styles so that we're ready to jump when the next change is needed...something which is happening with increased frequency as time marches on.
It's for this reason that I've been speaking more and more about the seemingly subtle yet significant differences between pursuing lives and ministries marked by being culturally relevant and lives and ministries marked by being culturally informed. Being culturally informed--regardless of my age, shape, size, or hairstyle--means that I have taken the time to listen to another and their context. It means that I know them. It means that when I open my mouth to speak--regardless of whether or not that mouth is framed by a goatee--the person I am speaking to will kinow that I have listened and cared for them. Then they will be more prone to listen to what I have to say. We call this "relationship."
Check out the entire article and his blog at learningmylines.blogspot.com
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Idol of Safety vs the God of Safety
Years ago my sister was a high school AP Political Science teacher. After 9/11 she asked her supposedly intelligent, thoughtful students this question: “Would you rather be safe or free?” Every single one of them said they valued safety over freedom.
Now on one hand that is perhaps because having grown up in the U.S. and never experiencing the absence of freedom, they don’t really understand the value of it. On the other hand, I think that every one of us has, to some extent, made “being safe” an idol in our lives.
Just think about how fear dominates and controls your life. Each of us is different, so different fears control or, at the very least, influence us, but think about just a couple that are very common:
• Fear of physical injury – results in avoiding risky activities where we might get hurt.
• Fear of being alone – results in becoming involved in relationships and with people that we shouldn’t simply in order to “be with” someone, anyone.
• Fear of emotional injury – results in lots of casual relationships without becoming deeply involved with anyone in order to avoid getting hurt.
• Fear of what others think of us - results in living lives of pretense or hiding in order to make ourselves acceptable.
• Fear of not having what we need – results in workaholic, miser, or hoarder tendencies.
I first started thinking about how various fears dominate our lives after watching the movie “Big Fish.” Kind of a weird and wonderful movie, but basically, a dying father and his grown son are at odds because the father continues—even on his death bed—to tell the fantastic, unbelievable tales of his life and to insist that they are true. At the funeral, the son meets some of the weird and wonderful people from his dad’s tall tales and begins to realize that all the stories were true! But how could his dad have lived such a life? Well, when he was a young boy, the dad and a couple of friends had gone to the edge of town to see the “witch-woman” because if you looked into her glass eye, you would see the manner of your death. All the friends fled in panic when the woman appeared, but he stayed and saw how he was going to die--presumably as an old man in his bed. Knowing that, he lived his life taking incredible risks, trying the craziest things and experiencing the strange and unusual without fear.
In reality, not one of us can know the number of our days and we have no guarantee of our safety when we do risky, crazy, or strange things. None of us can know for certain when we say “I do” whether we’ll be celebrating a 50th anniversary, caring for a disabled husband, laying the body of a wife in the ground, or standing before a judge in divorce court. None of us can be sure how our lives will turn out despite all our intentions and machinations to determine our course and our destination. Life is uncertain and full of risks and no matter how desperately or diligently we try, we can never be completely safe from the things that would harm us physically or emotionally.
This “fear of life” consumes us--even, unfortunately, as believers. How many prayers have you heard--or prayed yourself--for safety, for health or healing, for desired or deteriorating relationships, for provision, for blessing and comfort? Asking God for those things certainly is not wrong, but what about boldly praying for the advancement of His Kingdom? praying for justice and mercy for the poor and downtrodden? praying that our hearts would be aligned with His, that our lives would reflect Him before the world, no matter what it takes? Ouch, the answers to those prayers might really hurt and they might put us in places that are decidedly NOT safe.
We can, however, pray and live like that and still be ultimately, completely and eternally safe. We can live our lives like the hero of “Big Fish”--passionately and completely without fear. It is said of Jonathan Edwards that “he was so totally committed to what appeared to him to be the will of God; he was not cramped by the tiny fears that make another kind of man cautious.” 1
In our Father’s hands, we are safe, we are secure. He is the God of safety. No, we do not know the future details of our lives and, realistically, some of them may be pretty horrific. No, we cannot control who likes us, who hates us, or what people think of us. No, we have no assurance that we will live out our lives in health, comfort and prosperity. No, we do not know when or how we will die. But, in the big picture, those are simply tiny fears that make us live cautiously when instead we should be living bold, brave, fervent, and passionate lives, safely held in the hands of our Father--the God of safety.
1) Taken from the letter of Dr. William Shippen to Mrs. Sarah Edwards describing her husband’s last thoughts in her absence, March 22, 1758.
Now on one hand that is perhaps because having grown up in the U.S. and never experiencing the absence of freedom, they don’t really understand the value of it. On the other hand, I think that every one of us has, to some extent, made “being safe” an idol in our lives.
Just think about how fear dominates and controls your life. Each of us is different, so different fears control or, at the very least, influence us, but think about just a couple that are very common:
• Fear of physical injury – results in avoiding risky activities where we might get hurt.
• Fear of being alone – results in becoming involved in relationships and with people that we shouldn’t simply in order to “be with” someone, anyone.
• Fear of emotional injury – results in lots of casual relationships without becoming deeply involved with anyone in order to avoid getting hurt.
• Fear of what others think of us - results in living lives of pretense or hiding in order to make ourselves acceptable.
• Fear of not having what we need – results in workaholic, miser, or hoarder tendencies.
I first started thinking about how various fears dominate our lives after watching the movie “Big Fish.” Kind of a weird and wonderful movie, but basically, a dying father and his grown son are at odds because the father continues—even on his death bed—to tell the fantastic, unbelievable tales of his life and to insist that they are true. At the funeral, the son meets some of the weird and wonderful people from his dad’s tall tales and begins to realize that all the stories were true! But how could his dad have lived such a life? Well, when he was a young boy, the dad and a couple of friends had gone to the edge of town to see the “witch-woman” because if you looked into her glass eye, you would see the manner of your death. All the friends fled in panic when the woman appeared, but he stayed and saw how he was going to die--presumably as an old man in his bed. Knowing that, he lived his life taking incredible risks, trying the craziest things and experiencing the strange and unusual without fear.
In reality, not one of us can know the number of our days and we have no guarantee of our safety when we do risky, crazy, or strange things. None of us can know for certain when we say “I do” whether we’ll be celebrating a 50th anniversary, caring for a disabled husband, laying the body of a wife in the ground, or standing before a judge in divorce court. None of us can be sure how our lives will turn out despite all our intentions and machinations to determine our course and our destination. Life is uncertain and full of risks and no matter how desperately or diligently we try, we can never be completely safe from the things that would harm us physically or emotionally.
This “fear of life” consumes us--even, unfortunately, as believers. How many prayers have you heard--or prayed yourself--for safety, for health or healing, for desired or deteriorating relationships, for provision, for blessing and comfort? Asking God for those things certainly is not wrong, but what about boldly praying for the advancement of His Kingdom? praying for justice and mercy for the poor and downtrodden? praying that our hearts would be aligned with His, that our lives would reflect Him before the world, no matter what it takes? Ouch, the answers to those prayers might really hurt and they might put us in places that are decidedly NOT safe.
We can, however, pray and live like that and still be ultimately, completely and eternally safe. We can live our lives like the hero of “Big Fish”--passionately and completely without fear. It is said of Jonathan Edwards that “he was so totally committed to what appeared to him to be the will of God; he was not cramped by the tiny fears that make another kind of man cautious.” 1
In our Father’s hands, we are safe, we are secure. He is the God of safety. No, we do not know the future details of our lives and, realistically, some of them may be pretty horrific. No, we cannot control who likes us, who hates us, or what people think of us. No, we have no assurance that we will live out our lives in health, comfort and prosperity. No, we do not know when or how we will die. But, in the big picture, those are simply tiny fears that make us live cautiously when instead we should be living bold, brave, fervent, and passionate lives, safely held in the hands of our Father--the God of safety.
1) Taken from the letter of Dr. William Shippen to Mrs. Sarah Edwards describing her husband’s last thoughts in her absence, March 22, 1758.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Ten Ways to Tame the Worry Habit
We all love the "Top Ten" Lists and here's one that's not very entertaining, but it is eminently useful. I would love to be able to take the credit for this, but it comes from Joanna Weaver's book entitled Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World.
10. Separate toxic worry from genuine concern. Determine if you can do anything about your situation. If so, sketch a plan to handle it. Proverbs 16:3
9. Don't worry alone. Share your concerns with a friend or a counselor. You may receive helpful advice. Talking your fears out with someone often reveals solutions that were invisible before. Proverbs 27:9
8. Take care of your physical body. Regular exercise and adequate rest can defuse a lot of worry. When our bodies are healthy, our minds can handle stress better and react more appropriately. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
7. Do what is right. A guilty conscience can cause more anxiety than a world of problems. Do your best to live above reproach. Take care of mistakes quickly by confessing and seeking forgiveness. Acts 24:16
6. Look on the bright side. Consciously focus on what is good around you. Don't let yourself speak negatively, even about yourself. Ephesians 4:29
5. Control your imagination. Be realistic about the problems you face. Try to live in the "here and now" not in the "what might be." Isaiah 35:3-4
4. Prepare for the unexpected. Put aside a cash reserve and take sensible measures so you'll be ready if difficulties arise. Proverbs 21:20
3. Trust God. Keep reminding yourself to put God in your equation. Then, when fear knocks, you can send faith to answer the door. Psalm 112:7
2. Meditate on God's promises. Scripture has the power to transform our minds. Look for Scriptures that deal with your particular areas of anxiety. Answer life's difficulties with God's Word. 1 Peter 1:4
1. And the number one way to tame a worry habit? Pray! Joseph M. Scriven's hymn says it all: "O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer." Colossians 4:2
Now if we could actually put this into practice!
10. Separate toxic worry from genuine concern. Determine if you can do anything about your situation. If so, sketch a plan to handle it. Proverbs 16:3
9. Don't worry alone. Share your concerns with a friend or a counselor. You may receive helpful advice. Talking your fears out with someone often reveals solutions that were invisible before. Proverbs 27:9
8. Take care of your physical body. Regular exercise and adequate rest can defuse a lot of worry. When our bodies are healthy, our minds can handle stress better and react more appropriately. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
7. Do what is right. A guilty conscience can cause more anxiety than a world of problems. Do your best to live above reproach. Take care of mistakes quickly by confessing and seeking forgiveness. Acts 24:16
6. Look on the bright side. Consciously focus on what is good around you. Don't let yourself speak negatively, even about yourself. Ephesians 4:29
5. Control your imagination. Be realistic about the problems you face. Try to live in the "here and now" not in the "what might be." Isaiah 35:3-4
4. Prepare for the unexpected. Put aside a cash reserve and take sensible measures so you'll be ready if difficulties arise. Proverbs 21:20
3. Trust God. Keep reminding yourself to put God in your equation. Then, when fear knocks, you can send faith to answer the door. Psalm 112:7
2. Meditate on God's promises. Scripture has the power to transform our minds. Look for Scriptures that deal with your particular areas of anxiety. Answer life's difficulties with God's Word. 1 Peter 1:4
1. And the number one way to tame a worry habit? Pray! Joseph M. Scriven's hymn says it all: "O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer." Colossians 4:2
Now if we could actually put this into practice!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
What if it were your last day?
I had a very interesting conversation with a friend today. She told me how, upon the very strange and unexpected deaths of two young women in their twenties, she had descended into a very dark place spiritually. These two young women were not related or connected in any way (other than my friend and I happen to know both of their parents) but, in the space of just a couple of months, both of these very healthy, vital women contracted very mysterious illnesses and were dead within a matter of days.
Oh, it was a dark and painful time for many of us who mourned along with the parents and families. These two young women were very close to my friend's own age and the effect upon her was profound. She didn't say this in our conversation, but I think that perhaps this was the first time she had been truly, blatantly confronted with the fact of her own mortality. Oh sure, we're all going to die someday, but we really expect that it won't be until we're old and gray, after having lived a full and fruitful life. But young? vital? healthy? Unexplained, unexpected, unmerciful death in the prime of life? How can hearts be guarded against the uncertainty and fear of that?
She told me how she had become consumed with fear. Almost every moment she thought of death and wondered what she would do if suddenly she were to discover that today would be her last day on earth. She said that the fear almost literally paralysed her, making it difficult for her to even function. Her husband could certainly tell that something dreadful was wrong with her, but she found it extremely difficult to articulate what she felt. How does one explain the feelings and dread when it seems as though a dark battle for the soul is occurring in the depths of the heart?
She said that she had to come to point where she was able to say, "Lord, if today is the last day of my life, that's okay. You are in control." And that is the point we all must come to. Just saying it doesn't change any of the facts. The fact is, God is already in control. He is in control of our every breath--we just forget that. By admitting it to Him and to ourselves, it frees us from the fear of our lives--and our deaths--being out of our own control. It also frees us to live!
Tim McGraw sings a country song called "live Like You Were Dying." It starts off with a friend asking his buddy what he did, how he reacted, when he got a diagnosis of cancer. His answer?
I went sky divin',
I went Rocky Mountain climbin',
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I've been denying,
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.
He said I was finally the husband,
That most the time I wasn't.
And I became a friend a friend would like to have.
And all a sudden goin' fishing,
Wasn't such an imposition.
And I went three times that year I lost my dad.
Well I finally read the Good Book,
And I took a good long hard look at what I'd do
If I could do it all again.
And then....
I went sky divin',
I went rocky mountain climbin',
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I've been denying,
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.
I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying? We all have that chance. We're all dying, we just don't like to think about it, and it gets pushed back to the dark corners of our minds where we think we can ignore it. It takes something like a diagnosis of cancer or the sudden, unexplained death of someone to refocus us on the preciousness of life and the value of limited time.
So, what if you knew today was your last day? Would it affect the things you were planning to do? Would it cause you to reorganize some priorities? Would it make you look at things differently? I'm sure that every one of us would live that day very differently and with much greater attention and purpose.
Death IS coming, but God is in control. Let's all live like we are dying with purpose, focus, and intentionality during every day of life that God grants us.
Oh, it was a dark and painful time for many of us who mourned along with the parents and families. These two young women were very close to my friend's own age and the effect upon her was profound. She didn't say this in our conversation, but I think that perhaps this was the first time she had been truly, blatantly confronted with the fact of her own mortality. Oh sure, we're all going to die someday, but we really expect that it won't be until we're old and gray, after having lived a full and fruitful life. But young? vital? healthy? Unexplained, unexpected, unmerciful death in the prime of life? How can hearts be guarded against the uncertainty and fear of that?
She told me how she had become consumed with fear. Almost every moment she thought of death and wondered what she would do if suddenly she were to discover that today would be her last day on earth. She said that the fear almost literally paralysed her, making it difficult for her to even function. Her husband could certainly tell that something dreadful was wrong with her, but she found it extremely difficult to articulate what she felt. How does one explain the feelings and dread when it seems as though a dark battle for the soul is occurring in the depths of the heart?
She said that she had to come to point where she was able to say, "Lord, if today is the last day of my life, that's okay. You are in control." And that is the point we all must come to. Just saying it doesn't change any of the facts. The fact is, God is already in control. He is in control of our every breath--we just forget that. By admitting it to Him and to ourselves, it frees us from the fear of our lives--and our deaths--being out of our own control. It also frees us to live!
Tim McGraw sings a country song called "live Like You Were Dying." It starts off with a friend asking his buddy what he did, how he reacted, when he got a diagnosis of cancer. His answer?
I went sky divin',
I went Rocky Mountain climbin',
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I've been denying,
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.
He said I was finally the husband,
That most the time I wasn't.
And I became a friend a friend would like to have.
And all a sudden goin' fishing,
Wasn't such an imposition.
And I went three times that year I lost my dad.
Well I finally read the Good Book,
And I took a good long hard look at what I'd do
If I could do it all again.
And then....
I went sky divin',
I went rocky mountain climbin',
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I've been denying,
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.
I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying? We all have that chance. We're all dying, we just don't like to think about it, and it gets pushed back to the dark corners of our minds where we think we can ignore it. It takes something like a diagnosis of cancer or the sudden, unexplained death of someone to refocus us on the preciousness of life and the value of limited time.
So, what if you knew today was your last day? Would it affect the things you were planning to do? Would it cause you to reorganize some priorities? Would it make you look at things differently? I'm sure that every one of us would live that day very differently and with much greater attention and purpose.
Death IS coming, but God is in control. Let's all live like we are dying with purpose, focus, and intentionality during every day of life that God grants us.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Something Amazing Happened at our Church!
Something truly amazing happened at our church yesterday. Our pastor actually told us that he wants some of us to leave! (He jokingly added that he had a list.) But why would he do such a thing? In this day and age of doing anything for church growth and where numbers are everything, why on earth would he say he wanted some of his people to leave?
Well, we had a guest preacher yesterday. He is the fairly new pastor of a church that our church planted fourteen years ago. That church has had many ups and downs and a lot of struggling to stay alive. Our pastor was asking some of us to prayerfully consider going to that church to strengthen it and help it grow.
What an incredible and rare attitude that displays! Are we really one body? Do we really care when part of the body is struggling or hurting? Do we really want Christ's kingdom to be extended?
Since the service yesterday I've thought quite a bit about this and the dynamics involved. What keeps us from launching out on great adventures, to put our shoulder to the wheel, for the sake of God's kingdom? What keeps us from heading out to the mission field to serve the lost and point them to Christ? Is it the same thing that would keep us from driving across town to another excellent church to lend a hand in building it up? I very much fear that it might be. I think it might just be that we're too comfortable where we are and couldn't be bothered.
How different that is from the attitude of our Savior!
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant...and humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8
Thank God that Christ bothered to leave the comfort [read: glorious, worshipful perfection] of heaven for our sakes! Can we not, as His people, follow His example?
Well, we had a guest preacher yesterday. He is the fairly new pastor of a church that our church planted fourteen years ago. That church has had many ups and downs and a lot of struggling to stay alive. Our pastor was asking some of us to prayerfully consider going to that church to strengthen it and help it grow.
What an incredible and rare attitude that displays! Are we really one body? Do we really care when part of the body is struggling or hurting? Do we really want Christ's kingdom to be extended?
Since the service yesterday I've thought quite a bit about this and the dynamics involved. What keeps us from launching out on great adventures, to put our shoulder to the wheel, for the sake of God's kingdom? What keeps us from heading out to the mission field to serve the lost and point them to Christ? Is it the same thing that would keep us from driving across town to another excellent church to lend a hand in building it up? I very much fear that it might be. I think it might just be that we're too comfortable where we are and couldn't be bothered.
How different that is from the attitude of our Savior!
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant...and humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8
Thank God that Christ bothered to leave the comfort [read: glorious, worshipful perfection] of heaven for our sakes! Can we not, as His people, follow His example?
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