Once Upon a Time

If you've grown up in the church, it seems you're likely to have one of two reactions to her current state: 1) You're disillusioned with her call and the reality of how that call is or isn't lived out or 2) you're excited about a new trend or vision you see developing and pulling away from the old.

I've long bemoaned that my Biblical Studies major did not allow me time to delve into church history. Besides what one is forced to hear in local and world history classes, I have been woefully ignorant of the narrative of the church. A friend recently recommended a sermon series taught by a pastor—Tommy Nelson of Denton Bible Church—on church history.  They're engaging, a great overview, and allow one to decide where to begin exploring on a deeper level.

One thing becomes clear as one glances over the timeline of persecution, hypocrisy, and revivals—God rarely, if ever, works the same way twice. The people He saves, the methods He uses are often as unique as snowflakes. Once the church latches on to a custom or person—as did Israel in the book of Judges—she becomes imprisoned again to the world, the flesh, and the devil; she becomes a mockery for the outsiders (Romans 2:24). It's as if the method, the program, the idea becomes (or maybe just the pride at mastering it) an idol. 

It still is true, is it not? Maybe the reason organizations, stores, programs, and churches fail, close, and die are because they have become the idol that blocks the face of God from the perishing. 

History illustrates another point: what God uses to awaken the church, to save the lost—is often not without error. He may use the person, may use the program, but without bringing everything back to Scripture, that very tool of salvation, if you will, may become the stumbling block for generations to come. 

This can mean 1) that you shouldn't throw out the good with the bad. I had a teacher who went so far as to state emphatically that Augustine was not saved. Yet he was one of the first to emphasize salvation by grace alone. We can learn truth, as it lines up with the Bible, even from one that we may strongly disagree with on minor issues.

2) This also means that you should never follow a person or a system with absolute loyalty. Just as your political party may betray your trust by applauding a position for which you oppose, a teacher, a writer, a denomination can ignorantly or craftily weave in distortions of the truth. 

If Paul, one of the first great theologians, commended the Bereans for searching the Scriptures to make sure what he taught was the truth, we must all the more guard our hearts lest our favourite preachers, our pride in a theological label lead us down a divisive road that will distract, not only us from glorifying God, but others from finding Him.

...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith....Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ~Hebrews 12:1-4

You and I have been created and raised up "for such a time as this." Let us run well to the end.

(You can download the thirteen sessions on church history here.)

Called to Serve, a review

One of my brothers served in the military, but I have no personal experience in it nor have I ever been married. Yet, in "Called to Serve" Tony and Penny Monetti write in such a way that one can empathize with the feelings they have experienced and long for the solution. This book gives those outside the military and military family life greater understanding of how to pray. For those in such a life, it gives practical comfort and advice for warriors, their spouses, and even their parents.

If I am permitted to make a plug for one of our books, I highly recommend buying one for yourself and for a military family you know. If you order two or more copies at Discovery House Publishers, you'll receive a 30% discount.

To find out more about how you can help those in the military or receive help if your family is serving, visit the Monetti's site—Called to Serve Ministry.

Have you or someone in your immediate family served in the military? If so, what is one of the hardest things you’ve faced? If not, what are ways that you’ve helped a military family?

God's Love Letters to You

When I looked over the Thomas Nelson books available to review and saw one by Larry Crabb, I immediately download the e-book. And I'm not disappointed.

God's Love Letters to You gives a wonderful glimpse at the whole context of God's Word. Far from a feel good read, Dr. Crabb shows the reality of pain in a framework of love.

"But God's way of thinking and His way of loving are so far above us—and so different sometimes from what we think they should be—that His way of speaking life can feel harsh, even insensitive and uncaring. And for good reason: His words of life speak death to what is in us that needs to die."

The formatting of the e-book annoyed me at points, but it was just nit-picky things such as spacing. The quotes from writers outside the Bible jarred my assumption that the content concentrated on God's finished Word. Yet, the quotes added their own explanation and often were ones I highlighted for future reference.

If I taught a small group or class for young Christians, this text would be required reading. The way it touches upon suffering and love throughout the Bible, reveals the continuity of God's working through our own pain and His sovereign plan, which includes and redeems that pain. The questions at the end of each chapter too would be richer shared with others, especially those beginning to grasp the scope of God's work in our lives and world.

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My Wordless Prayer by Craig Courtney

This video shares the ache of my heart at many times in life (maybe a bit is always there—crying out). I believe this will speak for your heart at times too—when you need to pray, need to connect your heart with the Father, but the words just aren't there.

Praise be to God—He hears even our wordless prayers

Some Days are Diamonds

An old John Denver song has frequently come to mind. The chorus says—

Some days are diamonds;
some days are stone.
Sometimes the hard times
won't leave me alone.
Sometimes the cold winds
blow a chill in my bones.
Some days are diamonds;
some days are stone.

Regardless of whether or not you like country songs, everyone can relate to diamond and stone days. Because stones are common, they fill most of our time making the diamond-days more precious.

Internally, I've been gathering the stones of late. Just because they're prosaic pebbles doesn't mean some are not of rare beauty in colour or design. Yet others are sharp and cut deeply.

But these thoughts aren't really where my mind has been dwelling. There's a verse in the song that describes it.

Now the face that I see in my mirror
more and more is a stranger to me.
More and more I can see there's a danger
of becoming what I never thought I'd be.

Please forgive the depressive tone. And bear with me, because I'm sure—if you've lived long enough—there has been at least once where these words have rung true.

That moment may have come when you've worked your hardest, only to be told your efforts aren't needed. You're being laid off.

Or maybe it's in marriage. You see a wedding photo and glimpse for an instant all the lovely dreams you had of the kind of spouse you'd be and the kind of spouse you'd have. Now those visions are so distant, you hardly recognize yourself.

I'm at a place where I'm believing this is one of the best positions in which to be . . . at least for a while.

Sure, it's much nicer to always be happy, to feel life is coming together, making sense. But that's not where humility grows. Those sparkling, beautiful spots are not where we come face to face with our need to be washed over with the love and grace of God, broken-off from our old sinful nature, and smoothed out on the lonely bottom of life's ocean.

No. It is when we face ourselves in the mirror without the amiable make-up we put on for others, when we face the flaws in our human nature and admit that they are a fault—it is then that we are broken down to the basics and God can begin shaping us, polishing us, preparing us to become—not dry stones in His Kingdom, but—glittering jewels, whose brilliance the earth could not host.

If you're there—if your life isn't what you planned it to be, if you're less than you dreamed you'd be, if your failures are greater than you can live with—it is now that you can be rubbed and tumbled to beauty. Now is when you can give your plain, dry-brown-heart fully into the Artist's hands and let Him make something beautiful of you.

Don't be discouraged! He who began a good work in you WILL carry it to completion (Philippians 1:6).

The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ~John 12:25

When we think we know how our life is going, it's easy not to depend on His leading. But when life surprises us, we cling to Him. And that's right where we should be.

Can you relate? Has the face in your mirror ever seemed like a stranger? Are you there now or what happened to change things for you?

Review of "Love Wins"

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Love Wins caught me a bit by surprise. From the many reviews of its damning content, I expected it to be persuasive in its "new" ideas. It wasn't. I also expected that it would vastly contain lies. It didn't.

On one hand, I saw Rob Bell making sweeping generalities with select verses without consideration of the context and with dismissal of equal or greater arguments contrary to his assertions. One example, of his leaping assumptions is his ignoring all scholarly debate on the identity of the author of Hebrews and authoritatively declaring the author a "she" (for which the evidence and arguments against this theory are more prevalent than those for it). This, though rather insignificant and seemingly-petty (to some), enforced the truth that Bell is no scholar, more or less a theological one. To go into detail about specifics of his errors is not my intention here. I'll leave that to true scholars, many of whom have already commenced to fight those battles.

On the other hand, I saw truth in what Bell presented. This is both dangerous and reassuring. Dangerous in that it is easy to overlook blatant error because of streams of truth running amidst the quicksand. Yet reassuring that the heart of his theory doesn't appear, to me (actually knowing Rob), to be merely to "tickle people's ears" (even if that is what it does for some).

Rob Bell reacts to an extreme in Christian circles--unloving attitudes and a sort of triumph over the unbelievers. This is not a good representation of Christians, but it is a representation of many or at least a reflection of the passionless love we have in contrast to our Saviour's love and our own salvation.

In conclusion, this book may be a good recommendation to those who have grown up in the church, to those too "familiar" with the salvation story. It needs to be balanced with the full truth of the Gospel, with the justice that those who truly love the lost will be compelled to share. But it also emphasizes God's love for all and our need to show it; something that may get lost in our self-centered religious lives.

I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. 
~1 Timothy 2:8

I sincerely hope and pray Rob Bell does submit to God's authority and not trust with pride in his own thoughts and talents. 

Wanted: Dead or Alive

_____________________

"Josh, you know, I’ve heard a lot about you. And not very much of it that’s been good. And, after the way we treat you, you do a thing like this and you don’t want anyone to know about it. Seems to me that if the word got around, you might have more friends."

"Simple. The kind of friends who have to know, I don’t want."

_____________________

Reputations are tricky, aren't they? All of us have a conscious or unconscious goal of how we want others to perceive us. When we sense they think of us differently, we want to straighten the record.

A gang member wants to be tough. A snob, rich or beautiful. A comedian, happy. A business person, successful. The foundation? Pride.

How do you feel when the praise you've earned is given to someone else? What about when you receive undeserved criticism?

In many instances, discovering the motivation behind wanting to clear our name is like splitting hairs.

A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. ~Proverbs 22:1

If you're a Christian, you may argue that your life is the testimony pointing others to Jesus. True. Still, the line is fine between selfishness and piety.

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips. ~Proverbs 27:2

I'm dwelling on this for two reasons.

1. Because I find this so very difficult in my own life. I constantly find times where defensiveness and justifications spurt out. But pure motivations are sketchy, at best. Sadly, I recognize it after I've interrupted or talked over someone else's words in order that they may hear "how it really is." Or when credit is questioned, I quickly assert my relevance to the situation.
   
   
2. I've been watching old TV shows. One of my new favourites is Steve McQueen's Wanted: Dead or Alive. The quote at the beginning is from the end of the first episode.

Josh Randall (McQueen) is a bounty hunter. Men like him are fierce and shady, often killing their wanted men or women because it is much easier to bring them in dead. The motivation for Randall is different. Although he does his work for money, honour and justice are the supreme driving forces.

Instead of justifying his actions to those who instantly judge him based on his career, he secretly gives generously, often helps the less fortunate, and goes beyond his duty when no one cares. Slowly, people learn some of what he does, but that's not why he does it.

The kind of friends who have to know, I don’t want.

What motivates you to do what is good? How comfortable are you when the accolades you're due aren't delivered?

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.  ~Jesus
(Matthew 6)

It's hard, but it's a good goal: To not be integral for reputation, but for eternity's sake.

Run in such a way as to get the prize. Not here. Not now. But some day . . . soon.