How Do I Keep My Prayer's From Being Repetitive and Stale?

Glad you asked. Leave it to John Piper to come up with a list of everything that is prayed for in the New Testament. He has a copy that he sets near his prayer bench. Good idea, I think.

God Delights in Taking Responsibility

It never ceases to amaze me how God positively delights in taking responsibility for stuff that we would prefer to explain away. Take Psalms 147.17, for instance (my Bible reading highlight for the day). Whatever the natural explanation for snow and ice, the Psalmist claims that God is behind it all, that God is the primary cause. It is God who hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs. God is ultimately responsible for all that happens in nature and no one else. He allows earthquakes and natural disasters and storms and the writers of Scripture were never hesitant to assign this to him. It is a breath-taking acceptance of responsibility by God.

As usual, Charles Spurgeon (who is my favorite commentator on the Psalms by far) manages to be both rigorously scriptural and brilliantly devotional at the same time. He writes:

That which God sends, whether it be heat or cold, no man can defy with impunity, but he is happy who bows before it with childlike submission. When we cannot stand before God we will gladly lie at his feet, or nestle under his wings.

Graduating to Glory

My beloved childhood pastor, Bob Warren, used to say that believer's who died had graduated to glory. I've always remembered that and find that particular concept quite true. God calls us to faithfulness on earth, to do the work that he gives us, to—as John Piper puts it—"not waste our lives." Our death then is a graduation of sorts, a completion of our work and a going home to glory, not because of what we have done, but because of the righteousness of Christ imputed (applied, reckoned) to us.

Cherie's mom will soon graduate to glory. From our perspective the parting is difficult and painful, but not so great that we do not recognize the joy of her homecoming and the celebration at her graduation party.

Getting Serious About Joy

My buddy and I are reading through a book on the spiritual disciplines for our accountability meetings. We just read a chapter on joy. In the course of thinking through the chapter, I've decided that I need to get serious about joy, that is, I need to pursue it with purpose.

The older I get, the more clearly I see that it is joy that separates the believer from those who do not follow Christ. Joy should bubble out of the nooks and crannies of our lives like an underground spring that keeps discovering new and unusual ways to reach the surface of the earth. Where do we go to learn joy? The writer of our book suggests a "joy mentor," someone you think of who stands out for their joy. Little kids are another good place to become suffused in joy which knows no boundaries. Certainly, the more we study and delight in the works of God the creator, the more joy we will have in all that he is and does.

Christ Magnified in my LIfe...or Death

My Bible reading highlight this morning was Phil 1.20. I am wondering what Paul meant that his eager expectation and hope was that Christ would be magnified in his body, whether in life or death. I'll reveal heavy influence from Jonathan Edwards via John Piper here. Christ is magnified in Paul's life (and in mine) when he is the object of our devotion above all other things. Is there something I hold more dear than Christ? Then he is not magnified in my life. If he is all and everything; if he is the object of my devotion, then he is magnified (BDAG interprets the Greek word in this way: to cause to be held in greater esteem through praise or deeds, exalt, glorify, magnify, speak highly of ). Piper puts this as "making Christ look great" both in my deeds and devotion. May Paul's desire, be my desire. May Christ be all.

My Grandson and Delighting in All God Has Made

We went over to my son's house last night to celebrate our grandson's second birthday. He is a great kid. I'm convinced that God gives us grandkids as a reward for enduring as parents. At any rate, he's at the age where he knows what is going on. He'd had some M&M's so he was already bouncing off the walls, literally running from one end of the house to the other because he could not contain his excitement, not so much at the prospect of presents, but just because there were a bunch of people there and he was, well, excited!

He dug into his cake with his hands—searching for M&M's—and then zestfully opened his many presents. As I watched him I got the sense that what God wants us to learn from excited little grandkids is radical and unflinching joy in all that God has made. No effort is required, one just lives in the moment of effervescent exuberance because everything is new and fresh and people are so fun.

God grant me to see life through the eyes of a two year old kid!

God's (Apparent) Absence in Difficulty

I am pondering Ps 88.14 this morning and the fact that it is often in our deepest difficulties that God appears to be no where in sight. I am reminded of C. S. Lewis' comment in A Grief Observed:

“Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him…you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become.”

John Calvin points out that this kind of question is proof that the writer has not given up on God, that: The Psalmist does not proudly enter into debate with God, but mournfully desires some remedy to his calamities.

I agree with Calvin's thinking on this passage, although it does not make the experience any easier. In all of the tests and trials of a believer, this is probably the most difficult, persevering when God is silent.

Chrysostom on God's Motivation in Salvation

Pondering Eph 1.6 this morning, specifically with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Thanks to Accordance Bible Software, I pulled up the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and Chrysostom had this to say about the passage:

So that our love for him may become more fervent, he desires nothing from us except our salvation. He does not need our service or anything else but does everything for this end.

It's nice to see that John Piper's emphasis on God's being glorified is nothing new. Chrysostom (a favorite Early Church Father) believed that God's motive in salvation was so that we would praise him for salvation. Our understanding of redemption will make us praise him more for what he has done. It's that easy...and that deep.

Financial Disaster and the Christian

We are in a 100 year storm financially. I am not kidding. It only remains to see how bad things will get and it appears that they will get pretty bad. Bad as in Great Depression bad. Storm as in, it will affect the rest of my working life, storm. Words at this point probably cannot do justice to what will come. What is a follower of Christ to do here?

1. Remember that God is in control of all things, everywhere, at all times (Dan 4.34-35).
2. Recall that John Calvin wrote that since God is sovereign we ought to have praise in prosperity, patience in adversity, and hope in the future. So patience in adversity is in order here.
3. Willingly and humbly submit to the situation that God puts us in—Indonesian and Indian believers are losing their houses and even lives right now because they are Christians. Some of us will end up in difficult living/financial situations because of this storm. So be it. God is still God and has promised to provide our needs (not wants or desires, just needs - Phil 4.19).
4. Make wise financial decisions. Conserve cash. Don't take on more debt. If you are going to invest in this environment, either absolutely know what you are doing, or invest to conserve principle (which at this point means pretty much only U. S. Treasuries, a bank savings account (under $100,000), or a CD. Be careful with Money Market Funds.
5. Don't waste your life worrying about your retirement funds (or lack thereof). Pour yourself into ministering to people (to immortal beings as C. S. Lewis put it) Matt 6.33-34.
6. Difficult times offer opportunities to preach the gospel. Look for opportunities!

On the Nature of Sin

I am pondering Ray Boltz's announcement that he has fully chosen a gay lifestyle. His most painful (to me) words are:

“This is what it really comes down to,” he says. “If this is the way God made me, then this is the way I’m going to live. It’s not like God made me this way and he’ll send me to hell if I am who he created me to be … I really feel closer to God because I no longer hate myself.”

Just so. One wonders if Mr. Boltz would accept this sort of justification in his children for instance. "Dad, I know I'm not supposed to lie and steal, but the fact of the matter is that I have an uncontrollable urge to lie and steal. I can only conclude that God made me this way, and if he made me this way I'm going to live this way. I'm only being who God created me to be ( a liar and thief). I really feel closer to God being a liar and thief."

I know, sounds crazy doesn't it, but it's the natural outworking of Mr. Boltz's theology.

This is the nature of deep and abiding sin. I cannot control it, so I give in to it and call it "the way God made me," despite the clear biblical teaching that it is, well, sin. It's why Psalm 66.18 is so important.

The Christian's badge of belief is that he fights sin to his last breath. He does not give in to it when the struggle becomes too much. He keeps fighting. Fight sin!

Heart Idols and Discerning God's Will

I've been pondering Ezekiel 14.3 today. A comment from the Expositor's Bible Commentary on the verse got me thinking. The commentator said: This verse is important for those who come to Scripture seeking guidance. No true direction can be given to those who have erected idols in their hearts. This has profound ramifications for discerning God's will. If one comes to him with a heart given over to idols of whatever kind, any attempt to seek God's guidance will be disastrous.

What this means in a practical sense is that, with a heart full of idols, I can convince myself that what I want to do is God directing me. This is a dangerous place indeed and ought to give me pause to analyze very carefully my own heart. To do what I want and call it "God's will for me" is an affront to God and takes his glory and attempts to put it on me. Not good.

Salvation and God's Power

What does it mean today that the Lord is not constrained to save by many or by few (1 Samuel 14.6)? Surely it means the same as in Jonathan's day—God will fight our battles and will win for us, no matter if we are many or few, if it is in his will to win—but what is the application for us? We are not part of God's army doing God's work through physical battle. Does not Paul say that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers (Ephesians 6.10)?

I think the application here is to spiritual battles, whether that be a battle on a personal level, or whether it be on a social level, in other words the battle for another person's soul, or a spiritual battle in the church. God is fully capable of using one person or many persons to bring about spiritual victory in the lives of people whom we least expect to come to faith, or to be swayed by our arguments or efforts. Jonathan had a sign from God, we have the promises of God (in the Scriptures). God is the same. He is not constrained to save by many or by few.

Dark Night of the Soul

Dan Cummings who is a pastor in suburban Detroit has a nasty form of cancer, a life-threatening form of cancer. His latest blog post discusses the valley of the shadow of death through which he is walking:

C.S. Lewis in A Grief Observed expresses what so many, including me, experience in the dark night of the soul: “Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him…you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as [well] turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become.”

I have no answer for this, only humble silence. Lewis is correct of course and the life of the Psalmists generally support him (Psalms 42:3). Surely Joseph went through a dark night of the soul when he was thrown into prison by Potiphar with no hope of any help since the only people who knew he was in prison hated him. There is some solace in the fact that it is a common experience, that other's have gone through it, that when I experience it, I am not alone in the experience.

The Christian and Culture

Social critic Jacques Ellul issues a challenge we should heed: “The Christian has a prophetic mission to try to think before events become inevitable.” (Doug Groothius)

I've been pondering this issue some. I believe what Mr. Ellul meant was that we of all people should be thinking ahead about issues so that when we address them we speak prophetically. In some ways we have done this—abortion comes to mind—in other ways we have not. Take television for example, or cyberspace, or our addiction to entertainment. Have we really thought through the long term implications of giving ourselves over, night after night, to sitting in front of a box that projects electronic sounds and image at us? How does this affect the soul? Our interaction with our neighbors? Our own development?

We don't know because we've never given it any thought, and what affects us will affect the culture at large, only more so.

Solzhenitsyn on Sacrifice

This is an excerpt from Solzhenitsyn's Nobel Prize lecture. It is an astounding lecture.

The spirit of Munich has by no means retreated into the past; it was not merely a brief episode. I even venture to say that the spirit of Munich prevails in the Twentieth Century. The timid civilized world has found nothing with which to oppose the onslaught of a sudden revival of barefaced barbarity, other than concessions and smiles. The spirit of Munich is a sickness of the will of successful people, it is the daily condition of those who have given themselves up to the thirst after prosperity at any price, to material well-being as the chief goal of earthly existence. Such people - and there are many in today's world - elect passivity and retreat, just so as their accustomed life might drag on a bit longer, just so as not to step over the threshold of hardship today - and tomorrow, you'll see, it will all be all right. (But it will never be all right! The price of cowardice will only be evil; we shall reap courage and victory only when we dare to make sacrifices.)

He was, unfortunately, absolutely correct. Prosperity breeds inevitably a lack of will because all we want is to be comfortable, to avoid trouble. There are some things more important than my own personal peace. Or as Kevin Costner's character put it in Open Range: "There's things that gnaw at a man worse than dying."

Get Busy Living...or Get Busy Dying

I'm working on a novel and had cause to think about the movie The Shawshank Redemption during the latest chapter. I love the line where Red tells Andy (who is new to the prison),
"you can get busy living...or get busy dying." In other words, you can accept your circumstances and deal with them, or you can start dying today, and it will be a long and bitter death.

It's a good philosophy to live out. We can't choose much of our circumstances or of the events that come our way, but we can choose to accept them as they are and deal with them. One of the things I need to model for my kids is exactly what Red was saying in the movie. I need to model how to "get busy living" no matter what my particular circumstances.

OBTW, The Shawshank Redemption is a great movie.

Dark Knight

Yep, watched it. I actually thought it was a pretty good movie, mostly because it explored themes deeper than "how many buildings and vehicles can we blow up in one movie." The movie dialed down into the nature of good and evil and how good ought to confront evil. It also explored the morality of fighting evil with evil. Interesting.

While I don't agree with the way the movie worked out all these themes, it is nice to see a film that ponders meaning beyond simple entertainment, and Dark Knight to it's credit, did just that.

Oh, and Heath Ledger, despite all the hype, was incredible as The Joker. Sad to see such a wasted life. Too bad people won't learn from it.

More on Marriage

I had the privilege of speaking at the wedding of Josh Sawyer, one of the guys that Cherie and I have seen go all the way from 7-12 grade in the youth group (and then on to two years at NTM Bible school in Jackson). I labored over those 5 minutes, wording and rewording it again and again because I just couldn't get it "right." I ended up framing it around Roman 1.16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation for all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

I wanted to communicate the cross-centered, Christ-exalting nature of marriage. In the process I got to think back over my own marriage and thank the Lord for Cherie and for 24 awesome years with her. God was very good to bring us together and very good to allow us these years of close companionship. I couldn't imagine life without her. I rely on her for advice and for comfort and as a sounding board, not to mention as my biking partner. Funny how the "I" of being single gave way to the "we" of marriage so easily. I've always compared living single with living married as going from like in black and white, to life in color.

Thanks beautiful!

Pondering the Mystery of Marriage

I was up in the middle of the night pondering marriage. A good friend of mine asked me to preach the (short) sermon at his upcoming wedding and I was lying there awake so I began to meditate on marriage. [I know, death to marriage in the space of a day, weird, but that's how my mind works.]

First the thing that strikes me is that one moves in an instant from "I" to "we." Ever since Cherie and I got married 24 years ago, while I am still an individual, I simply cannot make decisions or choices as an individual—don't even want to. I want to make them as "we" as Cherie and I. This is the nature of marriage and I think it's the way God intended things to be. The two become one flesh.

The primary thing that strikes me about marriage as I ponder what to say is this: The first reason for marriage is not "because we are in love." [Well, it shouldn't be anyway]. The penultimate reason for marriage is that it is a chance for the couple to make Christ look great. This is because marriage is first of all, a covenant. We make "vows" to each other, and "swear" our faithfulness and love for each other because we are freely entering into a covenant which reflects the covenant that Christ has with the church. To the extent that we honor our vows we make Christ look great because marriage is meant to be a shadow of and a reflection upon, the greater covenant that God has made with the church. Thus Paul to the Ephesians: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” (Eph 5:31-32 ESV).

Pondering Death

I have been thinking about death recently, due mostly to the passing of Tony Snow, Fox News contributor, White House spokesman, husband, father. He died of colon cancer at the age of 53. His mother also died of colon cancer. My uncle died in the past month as well.

One one level this is just the normal cycle of life. People are born. They live. They die. It's rather unremarkable—if the death isn't in your family, or someone close to you. Of course if it is someone close to you, then it just isn't "the normal cycle of life," it is a tragedy that rips away at your gut and forces you out of your day-to-day routine to ponder these things. What can one say at these times except that one is grateful for the solace and promise of the Scriptures. What to do without them? Despair comes to mind.

Because of God's promises one can rest in hope. Death isn't the end, it is the beginning of eternity. God has a plan. He will redeem all things. Life has meaning. Life has promise. Death has hope. Thank you, Lord. Psalms 116.15

Ruminating on Life

I think I'm going to use this blog to ponder life and meaning.  I just finished reading All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.  Great book.   Too tired to discuss it, will finish this tomorrow.