The Cove and personal spiritual retreats

I always have to give one person in my life credit for the cherished discipline I’ve implemented over the years of taking a personal spiritual retreat. Here’s what I said in another entry:

 I’m grateful to David James, the Arkansas Baptist Collegiate Ministry Team Leader, who effectively urged me to take a regular personal retreat each year that I served under him as a campus minister. It was a strange practice to me at first, but it’s become a cherished pilgrimage that I now seek to prioritize twice a year.

I’ve been overdue for a retreat/conference getaway, and after much looking, I settled on attending the Pastor’s Institute at the Billy Graham Training Center’s The Cove. The PI features Pastor Chip Ingram leading a one-day seminar titled Helping Move Your People from “In” to “All-In.” In addition, I signed up a personal retreat after that.

The sense of God’s presence here is palpable, even from entering the campus and meeting the security guard. The views, facilities and personnel have been refreshing. After a memorable supper and conversation with pastors from Texas, Alabama, Australia and New York at my table, I took a walk on one of the many trails scattered over this corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I have high expectations – not for answers to anything in particular. Simply for His nearness.

Can you say, “Watch me!”?

Love this video on the importance of living a life that shows Christ, shares Christ, and speaks Christ.

Watch Me! from 10ofthose.com on Vimeo.

HT: Tim Challies

Easter expectations

Here’s the challenge. If you blog, Tumble, Facebook, or Twitter… post a short description of “what I expect from Easter this year.” Then please link it in the comments below.

Here’s mine:

What I expect from Easter this year:

Movement. As a pastor, I’m eager and hugely expectant for God to work tomorrow. I hope and pray for movement in people. Christians need to be moved from complacency and take-it-for-granted pseudo spirituality to humility, repentance and surrender. We need to be moved to revival. Those who aren’t Christians (yet) need to be moved toward faith. They need to see a God, sense a hint of the divine in such a way that their doubt becomes genuine. Instead of doubting God’s existence or relevance, let them now doubt that their life is complete or fulfilled. Let them doubt that they have it all together (because none of us do).

So, I hope on this Easter that God moves me and you. Henry Blackaby said in his Experiencing God Bible study, “You can’t stay where you are and go with God.”

I’m ready. I hope you are… to be moved.

It is only the stubborn who say in their heart, “I shall not be moved.” (Psalm 10.6)

Sunday’s comin’

Yeshua – old and new

While reading in Numbers, I came across the leadership transition from Moses to Joshua in chapter 27. I found the wording and significance of the passage really interesting, knowing how scripture is selectively worded by the Spirit of God. When the Lord instructs Moses that he is about to die – not being able to see the Promised Land, Moses’ first response is not one of self-pity or bitterness. Rather, Moses understands completely how he robbed God of glory and holiness in the Meribah Incident (Exodus 17).

The passage shows Moses’ heart for the people of Israel. He asks in verses 16-17:

“Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”

The successor for spiritual leadership of the people is chosen, and it turns out that he is Moses’ assistant, Joshua. In Hebrew his name is Yeshua. Is it a strange coincidence that many years later, Jesus’ Hebrew name is also Yeshua?

How we got Jesus from Yeshua

There’s a great, detailed article here about the finer points of our name for the Messiah, but the short story is simply a combination of translation and transliteration. The “J” sound was originally a “Y” sound; the “e” was an “eh” not an “ee;” the “u” should be “uh;” and the final “s” is added because in Greek, male names ended in “s.”

So get this… Jesus in Matthew 9.36 also has a great burden for the Jews:

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Sound familiar?

It was important for Israel to be led by someone whom was also led. So God’s instructions to Moses in the Numbers 27 passage were:

“So the LORD said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.’” (Numbers 27.18)

Powerfully, in one of Jesus’ first recorded messages in the New Testament, He was in His hometown of Nazareth and chose to read from Isaiah 61. Here is how it starts:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me..” (Luke 4.18)

So, Yeshua in the New Testament is an anointed leader to be a shepherd for the people God will give Him. Yeshua in the Old Testament was the same. They had different ministries, were different people, but the same name.

What’s in a name? Though extremely common among Hebrew men, the name “Yeshua” has supreme significance for the ultimate submission of all peoples:

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2.9-11)

Are you cynical?

This blog entry will not make a difference in your life. It’s a waste of your time. Why click? At the very least you’ll skim, utter an obligatory “mmmmm” and then move along to checking your Facebook status. You’ve got more important things to do than to allow one blog entry of billions to stop you in your tracks, rock your world, and provoke deep, genuine attitude change. Because you live your life absorbed in your smartphone, what you read makes absolutely no difference in the rest of your day. It’s skimmed, read, and then relegated to the inconsequential because You. Are. Shallow. You’re cynical. …And so am I for thinking these things.

In his book A Praying Life, Paul Miller (reviewed here) has an excellent section about cyncism, saying that our culture loves to be detached, critical observers of anything of significance.

One dictionary defines cynicism like this: an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others. Sound familiar? Hit close to home?

I want to challenge you today – this day – to sit down for 10 minutes and ask yourself why you have become so cynical. Close your browser windows. Turn off the TV or music. Get quiet and get real. Our culture is suffocating under a tsunami of cynicism, and you are drowning in it. You just don’t know it. You desperately need some quiet time to assess just how deeply your hopes and heart have been wounded.

Here are a few things that lead to cynicism:

• Unmet expectations
• Disappointment with others
• Consistent frustration with systems and organizations
• Inability to influence
• Lack of control
• Seemingly unjustified hardships, sufferings or tragedies
• Harlem Shake videos

I can speak to cynicism because I am a recovering cynic. Back in 2005, I wrote a blog entry called A Sheep’s Tale which documented my descent into cynicism and contained these words:

God had allowed life to happen to me. The beginnings of cynicism pitched a pup tent on the outskirts of my consciousness and planned a longer camping trip later.

In his book A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (synopsis here) Eugene Peterson said:

The only cure for cynicism is to bring it out behind the scenes. It is a parasite on faith. The reason that many of us don’t ardently believe in the gospel is that we have never given it a rigorous testing, thrown our hard questions at it, faced it with our most prickly doubts.

How do you shut down cynicism? It sounds trite, but try trust. If cynicism is “an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity,” then you must change your attitude. Your attitude changes only when your mind does. So changing your attitude is as simple/difficult as changing your mind. We change our mind by changing what we think about. Whatever you dwell upon is what you become. One possible translation of Proverbs 23.7 is “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

You just must trust. Trust or bust. You must refuse to remain in the sin of cynicism because it short circuits faith. When you are distrusting, negative and skeptical, it erodes the landscape of your heart and the simple beauty of “casting all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5.7)

Another warning: cynicism loves company. You will be tempted to defend your cynicism by excuses like:

• You don’t know what he did to me.
• You don’t understand.
• They have hurt me so deeply, I can’t forgive.
• I will never trust ______ again.

As you do so, you’ll gather around you those who are willing to allow you to nurture your cynicism. It’s because they are also trapped in this vicious, soul-destroying mindset. Look around you. If your “friends” and social circle is negative, complaining, condemning and haughty, you are definitely in the vise grip of cynicism. You’ve lost friends because, well, you’re no fun to be around. Cynicism destroys relationships.

When you think that your opinion on whatever is what is reality, when you think that the content that comes from you and your circle of friends is better than the content that comes from other sources, you are cynical. Cynicism divides. It is a sin that makes schism.

A final warning: Don’t discount the power of this entry to lead to lasting change. Don’t close this page without reflection. Don’t click too quick. Cynicism would have you discount what you’ve read and refuse to apply it and change. Don’t allow it to rob you of any more life. It’s time to reengage with relationships. To forgive. To renew. To allow the warm heat of God’s love to melt your heart again.

Or not.

Do you violate your own conscience?

Stacy Reed, pastor of First Baptist Church of Fordyce, Arkansas (@rebman10) gave me a copy of Gregory Frizzell’s Returning to Holiness some time ago, and I’ve been reading through it over the past several weeks as a challenge for spiritual renewal. It’s subtitled A Personal and Churchwide Journey to Revival.

It’s been convicting, encouraging and clarifying in many areas. As I’ve read about a chapter a week and reflected on the questions and scriptures he uses, I’ve been reminded afresh of the importance of a regular personal spiritual inventory.

In one chapter, he deals with the matter of how often Christians violate their conscience. It’s not a topic I’ve heard people speak much of, but it’s clearly a biblical principle. Consider these scriptures:

“Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.”�(Romans 13:5 ESV)

“So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.”�(Acts 24:16 ESV)

“They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.”�(1 Timothy 3:9 ESV, speaking of leaders in the church)

The definition of conscience is “an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior.”

Let me quote from Frizzell directly about how we violate our consciences:

If you are involved in something about which you have a nagging lack of peace, you are in sin. Indeed, a crucial phrase in the great Welsh revival was, “Brother or sister, are there any controversies between you and God?” Frequently, we rationalize and labor to convince ourselves something is all right with God. Yet, if you don’t have peace, deep down in your heart, you know you don’t! Friend, if you ignore God’s still small voice, you cannot walk in the fullness of His Spirit. When you resist God’s Spirit, you enthrone your flesh, and begin to operate in your own human strength, rather than Christ’s supernatural power. This is precisely why many believers are spiritually tired and lack vibrant joy. No matter how hard you try, you simply cannot live a victorious Christian life on flesh power! (Romans 7.18)

If you’re in need of a personal spiritual inventory, I’d encourage you to pick up this book or one like Donald Whitney’s Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health.

And if you find yourself “spiritually tired and lack vibrant joy,” perhaps you should look deeper to see if you are rationalizing behaviors, thoughts or activities that violate your Christian conscience and hinder your love relationship with God.

What do you do on Sunday mornings before church?

My Sunday morning routine for the past umpteen years is to get up early, head to a coffee pot or a coffee shop, and spend time in prayer and review of my Sunday morning sermon. I suspect many pastors have a similar path to the pulpit. There have been many mornings before a mug that I’ve adjusted my message (and a few I’ve scrapped) as I’ve sensed the need before the Father.

Today, however, I’m in a hotel in Monticello, Arkansas and will be worshiping with the faith family of First Baptist in an hour or so. I’ve spent the morning before a mug and my Bible app, enjoying my Bible reading plan (I’m doing this one!). I’m struck by the simple and wonderful joy of presenting myself on a Sunday before God’s Word without having to preach it.

It’s… Refreshing. Wonderful. Glorious. Centering. Calming.

Then it dawns on me that those who aren’t in a position to preach or teach each Sunday (the majority of Christians) get to experience this every week, and I’m jealous. What an amazing privilege to quiet one’s heart before the King of kings on a Sunday before worshiping together with His people with no agenda or responsibility other than to enjoy the preciousness of Christ with other Christians!

And I wonder… do you drink deeply of this blessed opportunity?

Why Louie Giglio’s new worship definition lacks air

Passion 2013 has just completed with 60,000 college students who gathered in Atlanta. It’s amazing to see the conference continuing to reach so many college students. Carolyn and I attended the first four Passion events – 1997 and 1998 in Austin, 1999 in Fort Worth and 2000 was the first “One Day” in Memphis (we camped out at Shelby Farms with our UAM BCM group).

As I was driving today, KLOVE interviewed Chris Tomlin, and asked about how Louie described worship at the Passion Conference. I’d seen several posts about it, and Tomlin also regurgitated Louie’s “new” definition:

Worship is simply giving God back his breath. (Link)

The KLOVE dj gave a warm-fuzzy little gasp to accentuate the supposed profundity of the definition.

But here’s the problem. God never lost His breath. I am not nit-picking here, and I have a lot of respect for Louie Giglio. However, this new “definition” or description of worship is an exaggerated, inaccurate and misleading depiction of worship.

I think I understand what Louie is trying to communicate. It’s a nice thought. The idea is that God “breathed” life into man (Genesis 2.7), and our worship is somehow returning to God what He’s given us.

However, God is not dependent upon us. He is not out-of-breath, doubled over, panting in heaven. Our worship does not add to God’s worth. That would be as impossible as throwing a lit match onto the Sun, and seeing if it raised its temperature. God is completely and independently glorious.

Our adoration and worship of Him actually brings our hearts into alignment with Him rather than some romanticized idea of our giving God His breath back.

Without having attended Passion this year, I’m not quite sure about the context of the definition. Louie could also be trying to say that when Christians genuinely worship, God’s breath is able to be spread in more places, in more hearts. However, when you have to define or qualify a definition, it probably doesn’t need to be used as a definition. It may be a nice warm-fuzzy, but it’s not helpful.

While many of us somewhat understand what Louie is trying to communicate, let’s not perpetuate a definition that communicates inaccuracies about worship and God’s sufficiency in and of Himself.

I’m grateful for how the Passion movement has inspired thousands of collegians to a deep love, affection and sacrificial obedience to Jesus Christ. The early days of the movement were theologically grounded and revolutionized a generation’s understanding of the glory of God. My prayer is that the movement continues to exalt Christ and His gospel instead of causes and careless phrases.

Mercy Me: You Are I Am

A great song with great lyrics:

Whether rich or poor

I’ve officiated a lot of weddings this year. The privilege of joining two separate lives and families together in matrimony is one of the highest a minister has. During the ceremony, the vows are a powerful reminder of the deep commitment being made between husband and wife. In many of the vows that couples choose, the following phrase is a stunner:

Whether rich or poor…

In addition to the other vows they make to each other, the couple is stating that regardless of changing circumstances, their commitment to each other will not waver. You cannot be less committed to your spouse simply because “things” changed. The vow a couple makes to one another ensures that shifting sands of temporal nature will not destroy the relationship.

I came across the following passage in Leviticus 19.15 while studying Bible for Life this week:

�You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” (ESV)

God’s demand for impartiality is huge. It’s a principle of relationships carried over into the New Testament as well. We are not allowed to show partiality – whether to the poor or to the rich. We are commanded to treat all people equally, with discernment as to righteousness.

It’s less than one month until Election Day 2012. It seems that one party has seized on its desire to curry the favor of the poor by penalizing the rich. Another party is accused of the opposite. Yet politicians in both parties have obscene personal bank accounts.

It’s not righteous to prefer the poor. Neither is it a sign of godliness to brownnose the rich.�

Impartiality.

It’s biblical. We understand the commitment to one another in a marriage, regardless of circumstances. What would happen if we practiced loving one another in our society in the same way? A sincere love for people, regardless of socioeconomics, is the path of righteousness. Don’t allow poverty or the generation of wealth to be a cause for you. Pursue love for all people.

The elusive quality of God’s nearness

Our church is going through Bible for Life this fall in preparation for reading through the Bible together next year. It’s a great curriculum which is ideal for those who have never been taught how to read the Bible and are interested in discovering how it applies to their life on a daily basis.

One of the daily assignments in week 2 had us read Psalm 32. Here’s a verse that stopped me in my tracks for several moments (and now days) of reflection and worship:

“Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to You at a time when You may be found.” (Psalm 32.6)

The phrase when you may be found is the one that caused pause. Christians grow intensely uncomfortable with the idea of God not being available for them. We treat the Almighty like we treat our technology. We want Him available, operable and understandable. We want God to be in our pocket. We want Him controllable. We want Him to entertain us. God is our iPhone 5. He exists for us.

Yet this verse jolts us. “When you may be found?” It hints that God’s nearness may be elusive and that our expectations of Him may not be realistic. He will not be used. We are the creatures, not Him.

Abundant evidence in the Bible cries out to us that God is not fickle in His faithfulness but He may be strategic in His nearness. While He promises to be with us, our awareness of His nearness is like a bad antenna. We know there’s a broadcast, but all we’re getting is static. God is beautifully adept at concealing Himself from us. You may have experienced His hiddenness and after getting over the shock of it, realized that His hiddenness actually magnifies the wonder of His nearness.

After a season in God’s hiddenness, the dawn of His nearness is no less majestic than a sunrise at sea.

Psalm 32.6 advises us to pray now. To seek now. There may come a time when God hides Himself from you.�Don’t wait too long to come clean with the Father.

His nearness is both a promise and a gift, but it is not an entitlement. As a gift, it is more like a pan of fresh-baked cookies to be enjoyed in the moment while hot than it is like a bicycle received at Christmas to be used at our pleasure but garaged during long portions of our lives.

An easier way?

Beth Moore asks in her Believing God study at one point about the trails and humiliation that she knows God has not only walked her through but led her into: “Couldn’t there have been an easier way?”

She responds with:

Finally and sadly, I accepted the answer: apparently not. My God loves me too much not to have chosen another way if it would have sufficed. (p191)

Her question and answer reshapes our perspective on God’s hand in our lives. Because He is all-knowing and and all-loving, we must believe in faith that whatever He allows, He also intends. In all the manifold wisdom of God, we should be confident that our hurts, humiliations, setbacks and sufferings are the only way to achieve His purpose.

He is able to consider 1000 options at once, and no matter how painful or agonizing your current experience, it is the way that He will bring you to Himself and to grace while demonstrating His love and glory.

Consider again for a moment that Jesus Himself in His humanity also experienced this one wayness:

And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22.41-42)

If Jesus submitted in trust and love to the Father’s plan, we should too. He loves us. He has considered other options. Where you are is the way He has chosen. Cling to Him.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1.6-7)

We instead of me

I’ve been doing Beth Moore’s discipleship study called Believing God the last few weeks. If you struggle at just that point – believing God – I highly recommend the material to you. Make sure to get the interactive workbook. You’ll learn more as you engage with the scriptures and questions, writing your responses rather than just reading a book.

In week 5, day 2, she makes some profound observations about how as Christians we tend to make the you in scripture apply to us. That’s not necessarily wrong unless it’s clear from context that the you can’t possible be you. In these cases, it would have been more helpful to have a southern translation of the Bible available, for in many places you is y’all. Remember to be aware that you can also be plural or collective.

Her point is that we are myopic and selfish when we read the scriptures, but that God is hugely broad in His love for all His people.

Students in God’s classroom should realize the desire to make God’s every you mean me alone arises from an ego that says, “I prefer me to we.” I don’t think we can begin to grasp God’s encompassing love for Israel, His nation, and the body of Christ as a whole. Our human affections and interests are so narrowing comparison that we cannot comprehend the depth, length and breadth of God’s. Our tendency is to think that if He loves us all the same and has a corporate plan as important as the individual, He must be spread pretty thin. God’s love is measureless. His plans are infinite. He loves each of us and plans for us with limitless extravagance. (p100-101)

I’ll be first to confess that I too often selfishly apply God’s promises to me instead of y’all. When the Christian begins to think broadly, with the world and future generations on his/her heart, they have begun to grasp the extent of God’s heart for all nations at all times.

How can we expand our own application of God’s promises? How can we broaden our reading of scripture and accept God’s love for all people must pass through each one of us?

Next time you read a passage of scripture and are tempted to apply it only to yourself (or even to that person who you wish would change), ask how the passage was meant to be understood. Ask yourself if the you means y’all. Ask God to help you see His heart that He wants to extend through you to the world and its future generations.

After all, it’s not all about you.

Disappointed praise

I’ve been going through Beth Moore’s study Believing God, and the entry for day 5 of week 3 inspired this post.

I should that think no praise is quite as lovely to God as that from a disappointed heart.

For it is in such that they powerful beauty of sheer trust is manifest. In those times where one exalts God through tears that the prism of His radiance is clearly seen. It’s after a storm, when eyes are lifted up, that one sees a rainbow. Those who praise the wisdom of God in Christ from the remnants of a shattered dream or hop experience His grace more deeply. God’s wakefulness and watchfulness over us give Him clearer views on the intricacies of reality’s tapestry than our tunnel vision affords.

And so, let us remember Jesus’ words to His disappointed cousin who from a prison asked in sidelined anxiety, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” In other words, John the Baptist was saying, “Did I get it wrong?” You see, he had been proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah. Yet he sat in prison while Jesus increased in popularity. Was he forgotten? Was he cast aside?

We might not know this side of heaven if John asked his piercing question for himself or for his disciples’ benefit. But we are certain that Jesus’ answer applies to all disappointed and confused hearts:

“Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Matthew 11.6)

The Greek for “offended” is transliterated skandalidzo – where we get our words for scandal or scandalized. It’s the idea of losing trust in someone that you have heard bad things about or losing confidence in another’s authority due to their actions or words. Perhaps that’s why Jesus corrected the perception when He responded to John’s disciples, “Go and tell John what you see and hear…” (v4)

It’s not just that Jesus was eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners while John’s ministry was one of austerity and repentance. Jesus was calling people to faith, and He was changing the very order and fabric of mankind’s brokenness.

That’s why praise from a disappointed heart is so precious. It resolves the unexpected circumstances with the expected Sovereignty of God. It chooses to submit disappointment to a determined faith in the person of Jesus. It’s honest. It’s raw. It’s real. It doesn’t pretend to be unaffected. Rather, it chooses to exalt God and allow your expectations to be transformed into endurance, experience and confidence.

All in good time…

“Someone else always gets there ahead of me.� (John 5:7 NLT)

Do you ever feel that way about your life? As you survey a land of instant billionaires (think Instagram), it’s easy to conclude that life favors the “someone else’s.” The next mental parking place is the reserved spot for the “if only’s.”

“If only I had…”

You can hear it in this man’s voice in The New Testament book of John as well.

If only I had someone “to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up.� (John 5:7)

We join the majority of humanity when we wallow in the if only’s. We gaze at the Someone Else’s whose ship has come in, and we long for a someone to notice us, to intercede, to step in, to help, give us a break.

To the exceedingly great joy of anyone who sits on the sidelines while others get in front of us, there is a great news.

It’s all about timing, my friend.

The interesting thing about this passage of scripture is that the man who was longing was also lame. He’d been so for 38 years. He was a professional lamer. Some of your friends who are lame are amateurs. ;) This guy was the real deal.

He had his hopes on the pool of Bethesda, which some accounts of scripture say occasionally provided moments of dramatic healing. When the water began to bubble, the first one in would be healed. Tough for a lame guy to win a race to the water. And so he sat, wallowing in the if only’s.

Then Jesus came along. Good timing. Jesus did two things. First of all, He healed the guy by speaking to him.

Jesus told him, �Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!� (John 5:8 NLT)

Jesus also redirected the man’s focus from others and even from the supposed source of his future healing. It wasn’t about what others received. It wasn’t about the pool. If this man was to be healed, he must quit looking at the fortune (or misfortune) of others, and he must give up on the pool.

He needed to see in Jesus the Source of his healing. The day had come. It was his time! It just came in a Person and way that he never dreamed.

Think on that if you’re consumed with the someone else’s of life today. God knows your need, and He loves you intimately. Quit looking at others and for solutions in life that are temporary.

The years you’ve spent wallowing may be close to an end. It’s time, like the lame man, to get ready to dance.

Alive

He is Risen. Indeed.

Finishing James

I concluded the last day of the Bible study of the book of James by Beth Moore this morning. It’s usually bittersweet. I love the structured and guided approach to studying and immersing myself in scripture. I’m also wondering where God will lead me next into His glorious and soul-satisfying scripture.

She used two quotes worth sharing in her final day:

“…this brusque but bracing book ‘finds us,’ drives us from the balcony to the road, and hounds us out of intelletualism, mysticism, and dogmatism into a real, living, existential world where, with a hand on our throats, we are hurled into the moment of decision. Why is this? The answer must be the closeness of Jesus…” (James B. Adamson)
“Who is this tremendous personality who speaks to the whole Church with a voice that expects no challenge or dispute? Who appeals to no authority but that of God, knows no superior but the Lord Himself, quotes examples only from the great ones of the Old Dispensation, instructs, chides, encourages, denounces with a depth, an energy, a fire, second to none in the whole range of sacred literature?” (John Parry)

In my concluding thoughts, I wrote in my book that “I want to diligently, patiently and persistently point people to Jesus and His truth – like James. I want to make them so uncomfortable with status quo religion that they embrace a relationship of trusting action with Lord Jesus.”

That’s our James.

A La Carte: Sexuality, Bible reading, Wise words, Excellence vs Professionalism

Abstinence or Chastity… or is it semantics?

Two recent entries in the blogosphere about sexuality captured my attention. One was bemoaning the narrow-mindedness of abstinence teaching and advocating a more robust theology that uses the concept of chastity rather than abstinence. I’d be curious what your thoughts are on the matter. (Link to article here.)

The author is Dr. Anthony Bradley,�associate professor of theology and ethics at The King�s College in New York City. He elaborates:

I am not convinced that Christians do a good job of telling young people what to do with their bodies other than say �no� to them. As a result, I am beginning to wonder if abstinence programs are even helpful for developing moral maturity. While abstinence rightly places sexual intercourse within its proper context � marriage � it fails to construct a moral theology of the body. Perhaps this is a good opportunity for Christians to return to teaching chastity.

The second entry is by Christian speaker and communicator Jeff Bethke. (Link to article here.) He writes on Porn, Sex & the Christian. After sharing some disconcerting stats about pornography and its prevalence, he writes:

So, stop looking and striving for purity, and start looking and striving towards the face of Jesus, and purity will happen as a by-product. We have to see that the cross is something done for us, to give us a perfect and beautiful relationship with our Creator.

Both authors, from different points of view, admonish us toward positive desires rather than seeking to avoid negative ones. Mark Batterson in his book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day (reviewed here), says,

The servant who buries his talent [in the parable by Jesus] and breaks even is called �wicked.�� Why? Because he wasn�t willing to take a calculated risk. Maybe risk taking is at the heart of righteousness. Maybe righteousness has less to do with not doing anything wrong and more to do with doing things right.

Bethke concludes his entry with these words:

So stop worshipping sex, and start worshipping Jesus. When�s the last time sex forgave you? When�s the last time it delivered on its� promise? Jesus is the only one who has done that.

What do you think after reviewing the entries?

Simple. Read your Bible.

Check out openupthebible.com and look at the wealth of resources for all ages there. It’s March. Was Bible reading part of your resolves for 2012? How are you doing?

Personally, Bible study, reading and devotion have been an integral part of my life since I was a young teenager. I’m so grateful for the years of guidance and direction the Lord has provided through it.

Wise words (or overused ones)… and be careful of exclamation points!

Phil Cooke wrote an entry a while back that wondered if the word “authentic” in Christian circles had lost its punch due to overuse and misuse. He added several other words that may need to be retired. What think ye?

Epic, as in �epic generation�
Unpack
Branding
Relevant
Awesome
Miscommunication
Real
Mobilize
Accountable
Organic
Sustainable
Amazing
Dynamic
Revival

Jared Wilson, author or Your Jesus Is Too Safe, complements this counsel toward wise use of words in our communication. (Link to entry here.) He notes the danger of the exclamation point.

Especially in churches, it’s way too easy to get excited about every amazing, real, organic ministry program that comes around. (Yep, see what I did there? Used some of the overused words above. Did that get your blood going?! See what I did there! Exclamation point! Yeehaw! This is getting good! Cause I’m using exclamation points!)

Wilson points out that the leader or communicator that uses the EP too much relegates the things that need emphasizing to quick forgetfulness because the audience can’t discern what’s really important.Pastor, our people don’t usually get excited about what we tell them to be excited about. Have you figured that out yet? Instead, they get excited about what they see actually excites us.

This means we ought to steward our exclamation points wisely. If you’re one of those rah-rah guys firing on all emotional cylinders for everything from bake sales and the book table to baptisms and baby dedications, you create an equality between minutiae and missional milestones that can be disorienting, and ultimately dulling. But more directly, just remember that if everything is exciting, nothing is. (italics mine)

So be wary of what you rah-rah.

Excellence vs professionalism

Shawn Blanc had a self-revealing post back in 2010 in which he let us in on a little mourning. He is a prolific blogger and writer, and unlike yours truly, his blog has reached an incredibly wide range of folks focusing on tech and design. I was intrigued as I came across this statement:

But excellence and professionalism are NOT synonyms.

The context of that statement is found in his observation about the maturation of his writing. He noted:

My words are not as �free� and �light� as they used to be…�And sadly I know exactly where that tone of freedom in my writing went. It slowly disappeared as my readership grew. I remember how I used to write as if 5,000 were reading even though there were only 75. But since I knew those 75 and considered them friends I was comfortable being in my own skin in front of them.

Well now that I actually do have 5,000 readers the freedom that was once in my writing seems to have been replaced with something more professional and scrutiny-proof. What an unfair trade and a bum deal for all of us.

I’ve been blogging since 2005. Sounds crazy to think of that. I’ve written a couple of entries that express some of my thoughts about why I blog here and here. I can really identify with his thoughts. I know that I’m much more hesitant to post quickly, whereas in the past, I’d get “fired up” about an issue and dash off an entry without allowing some mental crock pot time. When I do address “issues,” I do so after some measured moments of diligence, reflection, humility, research and hopefully, wisdom. I wonder if long-time readers of Notes from the Trail have noticed a difference in my writing…. Mom?

Nuff said for now.

The Power of Love

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8.35-39)

Our church’s missional statement for the past two years has been “Don’t go to church; be the church.” Both as a group of Christians and as individuals, we encourage one another daily to live in a way that glorifies God and blesses others. This year we chose two words to amplify the missional statement above. They are simple: Love deeply.

Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22.37) is to love God with everything you are. That’s a surprise to some and requires a heart adjustment for all. We can’t please God by doing good things. We please God through faith (Hebrews 11.6) in Christ and loving Him. True love will result in our doing good things. (John 14.15)

Some of you reading this may shake your head and think, but I want something deeper. I’ve heard you say this before… Sorry. I ain’t got nothing deeper. This is good news! God loves us so much that He sent His Son. Whoever believes, repents and loves deeply will glorify God and bless others. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Period.

How does the challenge to love deeply – both God and others – impact your life and require adjustments?