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TGIF

It’s Friday again, and another work week has come and gone. I read a preview for Michael Spencer’s book, Mere Churchianity a couple of days ago, and it is a definite must read. I have posted many links to Internet Monk so some you know the quality of the writing and the heart of Spencer, who went home to the Father way too soon. Just from the preview I can tell that this book is important. Buy it.

Here are the links:

A time to sow.
Too much heaven? Part 3.
The people behind the special effects in “Heroes, Season 3.”
Is doubt an eraser?
The creativity of questioning.
Reaching the pinnacle.
Why it’s not about morality.

A tale of two pigeons.
Alan Knox on Hebrews 2:9-11.
Jesus loves me.
A new tip from Bill Kinnon.
Ecclesial imagination.
Between church and state.
I guess I’m part of the problem.

Well, that’s it for this week. Enjoy your Pentecost Sunday.

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Gold

According to G. Gordon Liddy and others, gold is what will save us in these tough economic times. At least it will save our financial portfolios. Besides the question of whether you would buy a used car from that man (a few years ago, Liddy was pushing mutual funds), there are other issues with the pitch being made by the gold sellers, at least for those of us who follow Jesus.

The commercials are based on fear. Fear of the future, fear of the government, fear of losing the American Dream. In contrast, believers are told to not fear. We do not fear because we are children of the Creator of the universe. God gives us a spirit of adoption, not a spirit of fear. Jesus tells us to not fear those who can kill the body (I would add, or take our things), but to fear God. We are loved by a Father who tells us not to worry about the material things, because he knows even the number of hairs on our heads (of course, it’s easier for him to do that with some of us).

The other thrust of the buy gold campaign is security. In one ad, Liddy drops gold coins into one hand and say, “That’s the sound of security.” He’s telling us that his security is in a bunch of rocks that come out of the ground. I wonder what he would say if the price of an ounce of gold suddenly dropped to a much lower amount. Where would his security be then?

As humans, we tend to put our security into what we can see, whether it’s minerals, jobs, possessions, or people. It’s perfectly natural for someone to put his security in gold. For the Christian however, our security is to be in God alone. In Romans 8, Paul tells us that there is nothing in the entire universe that can separate us from the love of God. I think that counts as security, don’t you? All through Scripture, God’s children are encouraged to trust their Father to take care of them and meet their needs.

I really don’t have any problem with people planning their financial future. We do need to be aware of the danger of making things like gold, retirement accounts, and home equity idols that we put our trust in rather than putting our trust in the One who has promised to take care of us.

Besides, if the literalists are correct, when we get to heaven we’ll be walking on streets paved with gold, so it can’t be worth all that much. 🙂

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World Vision Wednesday

Next month, the G8 Summit will meet. The leaders of the most powerful and wealthiest countries in the world have set certain goals regarding extreme global poverty. The Millennium Development Goals were developed in 2000 and the desired outcome is the eradication of extreme poverty by 2015. With five years left, the goals are still a long way from being met.

The question is whether the countries who signed on to the Millennium Development Goals will keep their commitments. To read more about this, and to find out what you can do, visit World Vision’s page here.

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Delight and Desire

Psalm 37: 4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” I was taught growing up that if you had God as your greatest delight, he would change your desires so they would be in line with what God wanted. and then those desires would be granted. This meant that our desires would become things like having bigger ministries, or other things that meant we were becoming better Christians. Another interpretation is that if we really delight in God, all of our wishes will be granted, even if those include a luxury car, a nicer house, and plenty of money.

Both of these interpretations have one thing in common. They both treat God as a kind of divine vending machine. If you put something in, you get something out. Usually the way you prove your delight in God is by doing more Bible reading and praying, by going to church more often, or by doing any number of practices. Any of these things are fine in and of themselves. The problem comes when we do them thinking that it will obligate God to do certain things for us. It doesn’t matter if those things are material or not, if we see them as payment for the things we do, we are wrong.

We were talking about this in our gathering on Sunday, and I got to thinking. What if delighting in God is the desire? God doesn’t put the priority on what we do, but rather on being in relationship with him. Jesus said that eternal life is knowing the Father, and knowing the Son. We are given life not just to live a moral life and then go to heaven when we die. We are given life in order to intimately know the Father and the Son. Everything we do comes out of that relationship.

When a married couple love each other, they each take delight in the other. That delight does bring about certain actions, but it is not the actions that bring about the delight, rather it is the other way around. The goal of the delight is not to get things from the other. Instead it is delight that is rewarded with greater intimacy, which brings greater delight, which brings…you get the picture.

I believe that it is that way in our relationship with our Father. When we delight in him, when our beings are wrapped up in getting to know him better and living in his love, God gives us the thing we desire, more intimacy with him. That causes more desire, which brings about more delight, and so on. As I look at Psalm 37, I see God blessing his people in ways that go beyond just material and physical.

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For Josh

Today you graduate from UNCC with a Master’s degree in architecture. As you stated in your blog, the past three years have been more about how you’ve grown as a person than learning about architecture. You have certainly learned a great deal about architecture, both in theory and in practical terms. But what is most evident is your growth as a human being and a follower of Jesus.

We have always been proud of you as you have grown up. We have a son who shows love for God by a concern for those less fortunate. We see the Father’s hand in your desire to build affordable, sustainable housing so that people who have to live in public housing have a good quality place to live. We see Jesus in you in your plans to move back to Nashville soon in order to help in the rebuilding efforts.

You are a special son, and we are grateful to God for you. We pray that God will continue to guide you and give you success in what you do. It has been a joy to have you here the last three years and we will miss you. We know however, that you must go where you’ll be most alive and where you’ll be best able to use what God has given you.

We love you, Josh. Congratulations.

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TGIF

This week has flown by. We spent the week doing state standardized testing, and the school year is winding down. Tomorrow, Josh graduates from the University of North Carolina – Charlotte with a master’s degree in architecture. It’ll be a busy weekend for all of us.

Here’s the good stuff:

I didn’t know this before. Evidently, Craigslist supports sex trafficking.
A defense of art.
Don’t waste your trials.
Pam asks, “What if…?”
Chaplain Mike on the Beatitudes.
Beyond the old soul.

A place for grace.
This is encouraging.
Spiritual experimentation.
Tim Hill on authenticity.
Jared Wilson reviews Holy Subversion by Trevin Wax.
Alan Knox on being more ready to submit than impose.

Graduation advice.
Keeping up appearances.
Scot McKnight has a series titled, “Perilous Times.” Part 1 is here.
Scot McKnight on a Barna study. He asks what it means for churches.
A funny story with a serious message.
The Prodigal Son – in the key of F. (HT: Scot McKnight)

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Afraid of the Bible?

Alan Knox linked to this the other day and asked the question, “Are we afraid of the Bible?” I commented that we are afraid of the Bible that teaches us what it means to follow Jesus, but we are not afraid of the Bible that we pull proof texts from in order to justify doctrine or practice.

I think the Church is afraid of the Bible. The Bible is full of things that are uncomfortable to us, things that challenge our thinking and way of life. When Jesus tells the rich young man to sell everything and follow him, we explain it away as something that was only for that particular person at that particular time (even though everything else in the Bible is a timeless truth for all people). Now I don’t believe that every follower of Jesus is called to sell everything, but we are called to die to self, and there are some who God does call to sell all their stuff and give to the poor. Maybe we’re afraid that someone might be us.

We’re afraid of taking the Bible seriously when it tells us that Jesus is Lord.The early church fully believed that. It was what got them in trouble. They weren’t persecuted because they went around telling people to say the sinner’s prayer so they go to heaven when they died. They proclaimed the subversive message that the Kingdom of God was here, that Jesus was the King, not Caesar. We take the message of the Kingdom and try to make it about something that is far in the future, relegating much of Jesus’ teachings in the Gospels to secondary status. Maybe we’re afraid of the implications of Jesus being Lord.

We’re afraid of the Bible that tells us to love God with every fiber of our being, and then to love everyone like we love ourselves, even if they are our enemies. We’re afraid of the Bible that tells us that we not only are saved by grace, but that we live by grace and God loves us no matter what. We are afraid of the Bible that has things in it that don’t seem to add up. We are afraid of the Bible that presents God relating to different people in different ways, rather than the one size fits all approach proclaimed from many churches.

We are afraid of the Bible because if we ever dug into it and took what it says seriously, it would change our lives. We would no longer be comfortable with our safe, manageable existence, choosing instead to follow a God who is not safe.

Who knows? It might even turn the world upside down.

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World Vision Wednesday

Did you know that you can help the poor in other countries by giving to finance loans so they can start and grow businesses? Most poor people who want to start a business don’t qualify for loans through banks. Through micro-loans they can receive funds given by many people and be able to provide for themselves and their families. Along with other programs, microfinance can help end extreme poverty. Currently only 3 percent of the need for microfinance is being met.

To find out how you can become involved in helping others through micro-loans, visit this site.

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Praying in Faith? Part 2

I’ve come to some conclusions about this whole thing of praying in faith. One of the lessons God taught me during my time in the desert was that he wanted me to place my faith in him rather than in the things I thought he would do. That seemed to be the crux of the matter in how I prayed, and even what I prayed for. Not that God couldn’t or wouldn’t answer my prayers, but that my trust must be in my loving Father no matter what.

As the past four years have gone by that lesson is one that seemed to have faded a bit. Not totally forgotten, but I did need a reminder. In my case the answer to the question of praying in faith is to continue praying for the situation, to even desire it immensely, and then to trust the Father to simply do the right thing. I remember that my identity is that of a child of God, a brother and co heir with the King of Kings, and not in a job or title. Whether I do a certain thing or not, I am beloved of the Creator of the universe. It doesn’t get any better than that.

My faith is in the God who loves me, no matter what. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

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TGIF

There was a lot going on in the news this week. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continued to spread, New York City escaped a terrorist attack, and in case you missed it due to the inadequate coverage, Nashville, Tennessee was inundated by what was described as a 500 year flood. The estimated cost of the cleanup and reconstruction is one billion dollars. There are many who lost their homes and possessions. Please pray for the folks in Nashville.

Here are the links for the week:

Tim Hill on forgiveness.
Jared Wilson on maple syrup.
Dan Edelen on fuzzy church.
Erin on change.
Matt on a Christian enough nation.
Donald Miller on arguing.

This video showed up on a lot of blogs this week. It’s a good commentary on modern church.
God is holy and here.
Home.
$2 days.
I agree. This is not okay!
Church leavers.

Becoming a dangerous Christian.
Walking barefoot. Part 1, Part 2.
I don’t remember seeing this side of the sculpture.
Loving and leaving.
The elephant in the living room.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. I hope you have a great day Sunday.

Thanks for reading my blog.