How do you mobilize people to do things that they don’t believe are as important as you do?
I haven’t ever really vied for your comments, but I really-really want to get some feedback on this one. I am asking every reader to drop a clue.
Monthly Archives: March 2009
The Miraculous Grace of Being a Dad… and I Don’t Even Know
Elizabeth didn’t sleep well last night. For the first time since she was a little tiny infant, her sporadic crying during the night interrupted her parents’ sleep.
Her new teeth breaking through is painful. So she whimpers and just plain cries because it hurts her little mouth. In the midst of her crying the grace of gratitude resonated through my thoughts… being a Dad in seminary is amazing. Being a Dad is amazing. You don’t want your kid to hurt, ever. Her crying became music to me sounding forth in the night like an ambient tune. It celebrated the grace of God through Jesus Christ that redeemed me from Hell and also makes me a Dad.
I know so little about dadhood. There are other dads whose children have gone through or are in much more pain than sore gums. I get this mysterious frog in my throat for them, I hurt with them, pray for them, am encouraged by them. They know more about this grace than I do. I admire these redeemed brothers who possess the valiant glow of having tasted the faithfulness of God. Go talk to them.
Play the Man
Now, Faithful, play the man, speak for thy God:
Fear not the wickeds’ malice; nor their rod!
Speak boldly, man, the truth is on thy side:
Die for it, and to life in triumph ride.
This is one of my favorite scenes in Pilgrim’s Progress. Christian and Faithful are at Vanity Fair and are being indicted by Lord Hategood. This preface to Faithful’s answer could be the motto for a dude’s life. Play the man…
I look forward to telling this to my sons and grandsons. Play the man, hope in God, speak His truth, give your life.
I encourage you to tell it to yours.
Appreciation by Interpretation: Why Science Can Make Me Sing
I like good science. And while science tells us what is, it does not tell us what it means. We are creatures who long to know both. To see and not to know is incompatible. We see and interpret in one big swallow. Science tells me that the big orange ball in the sky is a flaming sphere of gas that is something like 92,960,000 miles away. But I want to ask more. I want to digest what it means to walk in its heat and be lead by its light. We live on a revolving planet that is heliocentric. Therefore, everyone on the earth can see the sun rise. It comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber and like a strong man run his course with joy (Psalm 19). Why does a big ball of dominant hydrogen do that? Because it declares the glory of the LORD. It expresses the sensational beauty of the God who created it in wisdom.
Let science tell me what it is and its mileage from the earth, but let God tell me what it means. And by His grace I want to bask in its wonder.
Jesus Christ Saved Me From Religion
I used to be a religious guy. In fact, most people who knew me before 3 years ago would remember me that way.
“Religion”–now the etymology of the word didn’t carry all the baggage that the word has today. The universal definition would go something like “a set of beliefs.” But really, religion has a man-centeredness about it. It is made by man, performed by man. It smacks of a certain goodness and morality. Religion is man being ‘good,’ keeping his nose clean, thinking he is better than everyone else because he does or does not do this or that, it is trying to earn brownie points. Religion’s mantra goes like this: I obey, therefore I am accepted by God.
But then there is gospel. It is completely different. The gospel says, I am accepted by God through Jesus Christ, therefore I obey. The gospel knows that sin is not merely what you do, but it is who you are. I am a sinner. I worship myself instead of Him, I care more about the gifts than I do the Giver. And no matter how good I try to be, no matter how moral I may seem, I am depraved and deserve God’s punishment. And His punishment is what I would face, forever. But in His marvelous grace and inexpressible mercy He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to come and bear that punishment for me in my place. Jesus died for me and was raised from the dead. And over 2000 years that story made it from Jerusalem to Benson, NC. And I heard it a thousand times and did not get it. But then God gave me a heart to believe. It was good news. I was united to Him by faith. The deceitfulness of sin was exposed. This stuff cannot satisfy my soul. By His grace, I turned from sin to embrace Jesus and all that He is. He brought me to God. And it baffles me why. I really don’t deserve it. I am a bad person. I am sinner. But because of Jesus Christ, God looks at me with gladness. I am His.
This is greatest thing in the universe. The thoughts of it overwhelm my heart and water my eyes. God has made me His through the death of Jesus Christ, completely despite what I actually deserve. Wow.
God, thank you.
Rescue Me From the Wicked: I Mean, I Don’t Want To Live Like This World Is My Home
“Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, from men by your hand, O LORD, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants.
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”
(Psalms 17:13-15)
We are still in the same vein of the three previous psalms when we come to this Prayer of David in 17. The end is gripping. The prayer is for deliverance from the wicked. He begins in verse 13 with a plea to be rescued from the wicked by the LORD’s sword. Such graphic language makes me envision the wicked as zombies with vampire fangs hunting down the righteous. Notice the explanation in verse 14. Rescue me from the wicked, that is, “from men of this world whose portion is in this life.” He elaborates further, men of this world who have good things, who are blessed with children, who leave an inheritance to their progeny.
Wait. These are good and noble things. But now the comparison sweeps in with an “As for me…”
He says, “As for me, I am different from them in that I will behold your face in righteousness. When I awake, that is, when I am resurrected (like in 16:9-11), I shall be satisfied with your likeness. My portion is in you and it will have no end.” Our deliverance is not isolated to the Devil and demons, but to these good things that make us fat and numb to the greater reality that awaits us. O that we would know the evil of seeking our portion in this life! How it scoffs at the promise of God in its hellish unbelief! As for me, by grace!, as for me… I will see You. I will behold You and be satisfied.
Father, please rescue us from this wickedness. For by the grace of Jesus Christ, You are our portion forever. Amen.
We are Not Good, He is Good, We Partake in His Goodness: The Psalter Shows us Messiah
The majesty of Psalm 16 is undeniably clear. It was the hub of Peter’s first apostolic sermon in Acts 2:29-36. The Messianic overtones are smooth and captivating…. “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol!” (16:10a).
And I think its vividness is enjoyed all the more when we observe the previous two psalms. There is thesis and antithesis. Psalm 14 calls the atheist a fool. The diagnosis is impartial, for we are all the fools. The LORD looks to see if there are any who understand (v. 2), followed by they have all turned aside (v. 3). This is not a put-down to people’s intellectual ability, it is the accurate description of us all. Thesis: There is none good, not even one.
Herein comes the opposite, who will dwell on God’s holy hill? It is the one who walks blamelessly. The one who is full of truth, who doesn’t lie or do wickedness, i.e., not the guy described in Psalm 14 (see also Ps 1-2). That is where Psalm 15 is– describing the person who we are not. Antithesis: There is One good and we are not Him.
The intro is of faith in this Good Man similar to the conclusion of Psalm 1-2, “for in you I take refuge” (v.1). Then there is the synthesis of Psalm 14-15. “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you” (v. 2). The Psalter would tell us, “Indeed, I am a dumb man, a fool. I am not good and I am not that man in Psalm 15. But the Messiah is. And He is our good.” And this is where there is the language that soars concluding with the Messiah’s resolute trust in the resurrection and the declaration of holy ecstasy in God, to be enjoyed forevermore. Synthesis: We’re not good, there is One good, we partake in His goodness.
By grace, we can say together…
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
Jesus Christ in the Psalms: About Him and For Us in the Fight of Faith
A sweet revolution occurred in my life when I began to learn that the Psalms were all about the Messiah. I love the Psalms and they have always been a part of my life in Jesus. It was like scales falling from my eyes when I stopped trying to read every psalm and see myself in it. I quit translating the psalmist’s language to my current situations. They were not about me, they were about Jesus Christ and from 1 to 150 it is His glory that reverberates. The Psalter shows me Jesus there and He is glorious.
This time through I am learning more clearly the other part. True, the Psalms are about Jesus. And while they are not about me, they are for me. The Psalms are about Jesus and for me us.
For what we and the Psalter have in common is the fight of faith. It unites the people of God ever since there was one–it is trust in God’s promised Messiah. The Psalter is jealous for it and yearns for us to have it too. He doesn’t aim just for us to see the Messiah… but for us to hope in Him, take refuge in Him, worship Him. Even when circumstances say otherwise, when stuff doesn’t add up.
Let us listen to psalms and struggle through together with the Psalter to hold fast to Jesus Christ.
A Word on the Miracle of Repentance
Now what was the sort of ‘hole’ man had got himself into? He had tried to set up on his own, to behave as if he belonged to himself. In other words, fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realising that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor–this movement full speed astern–is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death. … The worse you are the more you need it and the less you can do it.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 57
This is to say, repentance is a miracle.
Our Disease, Albert Camus, and the Free Grace of God through Jesus Christ
“Ah,” Rieux said, “a man can’t cure and know at the same time. So let’s cure as quickly as we can. That’s the more urgent job.”
Albert Camus, The Plague, 210.
This sentence sums up the idea of meaningless. Camus is not merely espoused to a philosophy here, he is showing people how he thinks they should live. And it is horrible. But I wonder how many people ignorantly spend their days chained to this ideology. There is a problem, an emptiness. Not much thought is given to what it is or from where it came. The point is just that it end. Make it stop. This is the “urgent job.” One broken cistern after another, panting for a cure but seeking it in all the wrong places. Urgency can be a comrade to superficiality.
Tell me why and how and give me that which is lasting.
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?…
(Isaiah 55:1-2 ESV)
