Life Group Leaders would do well to read this article and think about how it applies to their groups. Taken from cbmw.org.
Teach Them Diligently
Deuteronomy 6:7 makes it clear that the commands of the Lord, that are to be in the heart of the parent (Deuteronomy 6:6), should be passed on to the children. “You shall teach them diligently to your children.” The New International Version translates the phrase, “Impress them on your children.” The word translated “teach” is a word that means, “to pierce.” It carries the idea of being “sharp.” Parents are to teach (pierce) their children diligently (carefully and repeatedly) with the truth of God. Eugene Merrill suggests the image of an “engraver” chiseling with painstaking care into a solid slab.
Some parents take the approach that they are not going to push Christianity onto their children. Their plan is to simply live Christianity out before their children and then let them decide for themselves. First of all, this position is in direct conflict with Deuteronomy 6:7 and many other portions of Scripture. Second, the culture is not neutral and passive. Christian parents must not be passive in the task of passing on the faith and calling their children to hope in God. It is a dangerous position to be in a war and be the only one not fighting. Carefully, Christian parents teach to pierce their childrens hearts with the truth of God.
When should Christian parents do this teaching?
Sitting
Deuteronomy 6:7b continues, “and shall talk of them when you sit in your house.” Sitting suggests inactivity. To put it in the common vernacular, this would be times when the family is simply “hanging out” together. The word translated “talk” in this verse is elsewhere translated speak, declare, command, promise, warn, and even sing. It calls for teaching about the commands, character, and nature of God to occur in those “sitting” times. Mealtime is a wonderful time for parents to talk to their children about the things of God. Parents should discuss the sermon and Sunday school lesson with their children every Sunday afternoon as they rest together as a family. These are wonderful times for transmitting the truths of the faith.
As a point of application and a plea for every Christian parent, set a daily (or at least routine) family worship time. This centers the family’s life around what is most important. Families probably will not talk about the things of God around the house if Bible study is not shown to be a priority by the leadership of the parents. Families should schedule a time to “sit” and talk about the things of God and respond to Him by worship. Parents, we must not dishonor God and forsake our children by failing to provide them vigorous instruction in the faith.
Walking
Deuteronomy 6:7b also admonishes parents to teach their children “when you walk by the way [the routine goings of life].” All of life should serve as teaching opportunities to talk to one’s children about the greatness of the great triune God of the Bible. Mountains can lead to conversations about the immensity of God. The stars in the night sky can cause parents to consider with their children the sovereignty of our creator God. A windy day can help parents direct their children’s thoughts to the Holy Spirit of God. Driving by a courthouse can lead to a discussion of justification. Parents must instill in their children a vision to see all of life from a God-centered perspective. Contemplate and speak of His perfections in all of life. Traveling, playing, and even yard work, can be transformed into wonderful teaching times for the parent who is leading a God-centered life.
In case the argument has not been sufficiently clear; Deuteronomy 6:7 concludes that this diligent teaching of one’s children should occur, “when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
Touching and Seeing, Coming and Going
“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand [all you touch] and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes [all you see]” (Deuteronomy 6:8). This verse has been taken literally by some Jewish people who actually wear small containers (phylacteries) containing the “Shema” on their hands and foreheads with straps of leather. While this verse is not meant to be taken in such a literal fashion, it nonetheless provides a graphic illustrative picture of what it does mean. The parent is to never be away from the truth of God. It is to be so much a part of the parent’s life that it should affect everything they touch and all they see. Deuteronomy 6:9 continues this line of thought: “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house [a reminder of your priority as you enter] and on your gates [a reminder of your priority as you return].” In all of life parents are charged with the responsibility to teach and pass on the faith to their children. When a child sees a parent hoping in God in this way, it provides a strong attraction to call him to hope in God.
Conclusion
This writer (pastor and father) is absolutely convinced that the starting point in obeying the command that has been set forth, to “diligently teach our children” the truth of the faith, is a set family worship time that centers around the Word of God and prayer. If this is established as a priority in the home, then perhaps all of family life can be transformed into a pursuit of God.
Family worship could include singing and catechizing as well as studying the Scripture and praying. Catechize is the anglicized form of the Greek word “katecheo” (see 1 Corinthians 14:19; Galatians 6:6; and Acts 18:25) which means, “to instruct.” The Webster’s New World Dictionary defines catechize as “to teach by the method of questions and answers.” This is a method of instruction that arises out of the biblical testimony itself and has stood the test of time throughout the history of the church as a profitable method of transmitting the faith to the next generation.
But far more important than the specific forms that are used in family worship is to actually commit ourselves to consistently doing family worship with an infectious passion. J.I. Packer said of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “He gave more of a sense of God to the text than any other man.” That is exactly what parents must desire to do for their children in family worship- give a sense of God to every text that is taken up. There should be a sense of importance and weightiness to the consideration of the things of God that provide a sense of awe and wonder. The parents’ teaching of the children must flow out of a passion for God in their own lives. Passion cannot be faked if the goal is to be reached. “That [by God’s grace] the generation to come might know them [the things of God]” and “that they may set their hope in God” (Psalm 78:6-7). As a believing parent, is that not what you want for your children?
Monday, July 20, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Rain runs
I love running in the rain and being in thunderstorms. There's something beautiful about being in the midst of a power that is absolutely unbridled and out of your control. Hearing to the thunder and seeing the lightning gives this somewhat frightening but absolutely thrilling tingle, "what kind of strength could make a noise like that?" It is humbling and scintillating to so starkly realize that there is something that is far greater than us, and we can experience it without being destroyed.
Elihu says it best as he conveys the majesty of the Almighty:
At this my heart pounds
and leaps from its place.
Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.
After that comes the sound of his roar;
he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back.
God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,'
and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'
So that all men he has made may know his work,
he stops every man from his labor.
The storm is unstoppable, uncontrollable; it cannot be mitigated, it absolutely engulfs. Such is the all consuming, all encompassing power of God, so much so that storms are like drizzle to him. His whisper makes the thunder clap, and the tip of his finger obliterates as the lightning.
To stand in the midst of the storm is to be at the center of the Almighty's power.
And so I cried to God, "Will you reject us forever? Will you not send your power and your signs so that this people and this place will not deny you? Can you not bring the sheer power of 'I am' to show us who life is?"
He answered: "Be patient, then, David, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near."
And then he spoke "Your trial is the storm you stand in, and you will soon hear my thunder. There will be no denial when I speak that I have spoken, no question when I touch you that I have been present."
The rush of the rainstorm is but a glimmer of the force of El Shaddai. When the Lord comes, I want to make sure I'm outside right in the midst of him.
And I will know that I am alive because he is alive.
Elihu says it best as he conveys the majesty of the Almighty:
At this my heart pounds
and leaps from its place.
Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.
After that comes the sound of his roar;
he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back.
God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,'
and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'
So that all men he has made may know his work,
he stops every man from his labor.
The storm is unstoppable, uncontrollable; it cannot be mitigated, it absolutely engulfs. Such is the all consuming, all encompassing power of God, so much so that storms are like drizzle to him. His whisper makes the thunder clap, and the tip of his finger obliterates as the lightning.
To stand in the midst of the storm is to be at the center of the Almighty's power.
And so I cried to God, "Will you reject us forever? Will you not send your power and your signs so that this people and this place will not deny you? Can you not bring the sheer power of 'I am' to show us who life is?"
He answered: "Be patient, then, David, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near."
And then he spoke "Your trial is the storm you stand in, and you will soon hear my thunder. There will be no denial when I speak that I have spoken, no question when I touch you that I have been present."
The rush of the rainstorm is but a glimmer of the force of El Shaddai. When the Lord comes, I want to make sure I'm outside right in the midst of him.
And I will know that I am alive because he is alive.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Just one of those days.
You ever have one? A day where you mess up pretty much hardcore everywhere? And everything else doesn't seem to like you very much either?
Probably. But it's probably not as bad as having a protest in your backyard with millions of people raging about how their government stages elections. [Tehran]
Or having my entire family killed by the weather and having all of my sheep and camels stolen and then getting horrendous sores all over my body. [Job]
Or even having someone kick me in the face. [Someone out there today, probably]
God is still good.
So I guess I should stop complaining and asking why. [Because I certainly wouldn't understand it if he tried to explain it to me]
Probably. But it's probably not as bad as having a protest in your backyard with millions of people raging about how their government stages elections. [Tehran]
Or having my entire family killed by the weather and having all of my sheep and camels stolen and then getting horrendous sores all over my body. [Job]
Or even having someone kick me in the face. [Someone out there today, probably]
God is still good.
So I guess I should stop complaining and asking why. [Because I certainly wouldn't understand it if he tried to explain it to me]
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Chrono Trigger
I'm not sure how many of you even know what this is, but for you gentlemen out there, this is a classic:
Technically, Chrono Trigger was a pioneer in eliminating random battles from Squaresoft's RPG line, using on-field graphics for battles, a double and triple-tech combination system that was unparalleled in its creativity, and vibrant, colorful graphics that blew all its SNES competition out of the water.
Yet beyond those accomplishments, there were 2 things Chrono Trigger was really known for: a soundtrack composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu that is still considered by some to be the greatest video game soundtrack in history, and a storyline that was one of the most intricate ever, spanning eons and having a (then) unheard of 10+ multiple endings.
The story revolves around a silent protagonist by the name of Crono (creative, I know, but the Japanese came up with the name, so it's creative for them), whose communication with people throughout the game consists entirely of "yes" nods and "no" head shakes. Note, protagonist silence is a mechanic meant to draw the player into a deeper connection with the protagonist, as if the player's own personality could be projected onto the character. This is impossible with movie storytelling. But this post is not about game mechanics, so I'll stop the geek speak and get back to the story.
Early on, Crono encounters a "Gate," which causes him to travel back in time into the Middle Ages. After a number of plot twists, fighting alongside a man-frog, and hopping time portals a few more times, Crono and his friends land in a barren wasteland. They soon realize upon watching a video recording that the wasteland is actually their own world just over a thousand years into the future, and find out that the world saw an Apocalypse in the year 1999. The rest of the story follows Crono and friends as they journey to find out just what happened, and if there is any way they can use their ability to travel time to stop the Apocalypse from happening.
One of the main reasons the plot of Chrono Trigger was so compelling was the group's resolve to do something about the fate of the world in the future. The events of the future were almost a millennium away from the present, and Crono and his friends from the present would have long since died when the Apocalypse came. In other words, the Apocalypse was effectively removed from the lives of Crono and his friends; they could very well have went right back home without ever thinking about the future again, and they would have suffered nothing. Yet instead of choosing to live a comfortable life, the team decides that they will do whatever it takes to save the future, because they make that future their own.
The sheer heroism and altruism at this moment in the story is actually quite powerful; this is one of the first, if not only, storylines in a game where the protagonist will risk his life to save people who are of no benefit or connection to him whatsoever. Yasunori Mitsuda's score written precisely to characterize this determination and altruism is also moving for anyone who knows its significance: http://tr.im/mvym
Young men often dream of doing great things, of taking a risk to save a love, of fighting for the fate of the future, and so on. Most dismiss this dreaming as the naivete of youth; after "experiencing life," the wizened are pushed to a cynicism that resigns them to settle for mediocrity. Yet at the hearts of even the old is a stirring, a trembling, a desire to expend their energies and heart for the sake of the greater good. To bring peace to war, to overcome evil, to rescue the future. To put aside the petty worries of life to bring change to the world.
Enter Christ. For all the grandiosity that young men aspire to, Christ actually achieved it. From a comfortable throne in the heavens, he saw the impending doom that would come upon billions if something were not done, and he left his seat. Though these billions could just as easily mean nothing to him, he decided to make them worth something to him, worth laying down his own life.
He decided to take humanity and make them his own. In so doing, he died, and he rescued the futures of all those who would believe on him.
If you are a young man, or if you are old, and you know this longing to give yourself for the greater good, there are two simple calls to you. The first is to recognize that the great story of history is not just about you. It is about Christ and how he has fought and died to make you his own and save you from your sin, though you would rather not have him. You do not deserve the chance to live your life for others. Your apathy for the future and your lack of sacrificial love for your current companions betray your true interests, and you must first be rescued from these before you can help anyone else. You must recognize this, or else the second call will never materialize for you.
That second call is to look around you and call those people who you see yours. Their lives may not affect you. You might have a better, more comfortable life without them. You may not even like them. But you must make them yours, and you must refuse to let them go. You must commit to them. You must bind up your future with theirs. You must pray for them. And you must throw your whole might into them. This is what church is meant to be, and this is what mission is meant to be.
Only when you put your whole being into this call of Christ will you know what he means when he says that "he who loses his life will find it."
Young man, do not throw your life into saving the world from death only to realize you are postponing the inevitable. Only Christ can rescue from the coming apocalypse.
Yet you now have one life to pour into bringing others to him! Do his calls to true life not make your heart beat faster? Do not those impulses that you were made for something more coarse through you and stir you to put your whole life into that cause?
Those around you have a future. What you will do today may very well determine what happens to them tomorrow.
Do not delay. "Now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." Choose to take up the fates of those around you and put your life into their rescue and their restoration through Christ.
The future of the lost may yet be rescued. Go to them. Today.
Technically, Chrono Trigger was a pioneer in eliminating random battles from Squaresoft's RPG line, using on-field graphics for battles, a double and triple-tech combination system that was unparalleled in its creativity, and vibrant, colorful graphics that blew all its SNES competition out of the water.
Yet beyond those accomplishments, there were 2 things Chrono Trigger was really known for: a soundtrack composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu that is still considered by some to be the greatest video game soundtrack in history, and a storyline that was one of the most intricate ever, spanning eons and having a (then) unheard of 10+ multiple endings.
The story revolves around a silent protagonist by the name of Crono (creative, I know, but the Japanese came up with the name, so it's creative for them), whose communication with people throughout the game consists entirely of "yes" nods and "no" head shakes. Note, protagonist silence is a mechanic meant to draw the player into a deeper connection with the protagonist, as if the player's own personality could be projected onto the character. This is impossible with movie storytelling. But this post is not about game mechanics, so I'll stop the geek speak and get back to the story.
Early on, Crono encounters a "Gate," which causes him to travel back in time into the Middle Ages. After a number of plot twists, fighting alongside a man-frog, and hopping time portals a few more times, Crono and his friends land in a barren wasteland. They soon realize upon watching a video recording that the wasteland is actually their own world just over a thousand years into the future, and find out that the world saw an Apocalypse in the year 1999. The rest of the story follows Crono and friends as they journey to find out just what happened, and if there is any way they can use their ability to travel time to stop the Apocalypse from happening.
One of the main reasons the plot of Chrono Trigger was so compelling was the group's resolve to do something about the fate of the world in the future. The events of the future were almost a millennium away from the present, and Crono and his friends from the present would have long since died when the Apocalypse came. In other words, the Apocalypse was effectively removed from the lives of Crono and his friends; they could very well have went right back home without ever thinking about the future again, and they would have suffered nothing. Yet instead of choosing to live a comfortable life, the team decides that they will do whatever it takes to save the future, because they make that future their own.
The sheer heroism and altruism at this moment in the story is actually quite powerful; this is one of the first, if not only, storylines in a game where the protagonist will risk his life to save people who are of no benefit or connection to him whatsoever. Yasunori Mitsuda's score written precisely to characterize this determination and altruism is also moving for anyone who knows its significance: http://tr.im/mvym
Young men often dream of doing great things, of taking a risk to save a love, of fighting for the fate of the future, and so on. Most dismiss this dreaming as the naivete of youth; after "experiencing life," the wizened are pushed to a cynicism that resigns them to settle for mediocrity. Yet at the hearts of even the old is a stirring, a trembling, a desire to expend their energies and heart for the sake of the greater good. To bring peace to war, to overcome evil, to rescue the future. To put aside the petty worries of life to bring change to the world.
Enter Christ. For all the grandiosity that young men aspire to, Christ actually achieved it. From a comfortable throne in the heavens, he saw the impending doom that would come upon billions if something were not done, and he left his seat. Though these billions could just as easily mean nothing to him, he decided to make them worth something to him, worth laying down his own life.
He decided to take humanity and make them his own. In so doing, he died, and he rescued the futures of all those who would believe on him.
If you are a young man, or if you are old, and you know this longing to give yourself for the greater good, there are two simple calls to you. The first is to recognize that the great story of history is not just about you. It is about Christ and how he has fought and died to make you his own and save you from your sin, though you would rather not have him. You do not deserve the chance to live your life for others. Your apathy for the future and your lack of sacrificial love for your current companions betray your true interests, and you must first be rescued from these before you can help anyone else. You must recognize this, or else the second call will never materialize for you.
That second call is to look around you and call those people who you see yours. Their lives may not affect you. You might have a better, more comfortable life without them. You may not even like them. But you must make them yours, and you must refuse to let them go. You must commit to them. You must bind up your future with theirs. You must pray for them. And you must throw your whole might into them. This is what church is meant to be, and this is what mission is meant to be.
Only when you put your whole being into this call of Christ will you know what he means when he says that "he who loses his life will find it."
Young man, do not throw your life into saving the world from death only to realize you are postponing the inevitable. Only Christ can rescue from the coming apocalypse.
Yet you now have one life to pour into bringing others to him! Do his calls to true life not make your heart beat faster? Do not those impulses that you were made for something more coarse through you and stir you to put your whole life into that cause?
Those around you have a future. What you will do today may very well determine what happens to them tomorrow.
Do not delay. "Now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." Choose to take up the fates of those around you and put your life into their rescue and their restoration through Christ.
The future of the lost may yet be rescued. Go to them. Today.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Web 2.slow?
I read an interesting article recently from the Atlantic called, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" It's located here and the basic premise is that the convenience of Google as a means for retrieving information has radically altered out ability to think. Instead of being forced to do more arduous forms of research involving reading long articles and looking for coherent trains of thought, everyone now does Google searches and then skims everything they find. The modern person has essentially lost the ability to keep up with a long, sustained, coherent train of thought.
I think I'd agree that we as a generation have a much shorter attention span than the one before us; this works to our advantage on the internet, where speed is everything when it comes to information (or so we're told), but works to our detriment basically everywhere else. Logic doesn't work with us anymore when trying to persuade, mostly because we let our stray thoughts and emotions interrupt essentially interrupt ourselves. Thoughts like, "hey, I wonder who won the game last night," or "what was that one actor's name again," or "who the heck is John James Audobon anyway," lead to an immediate and convenient attention breaker.
Even on those who consider themselves logical and who think they can carry a logical argument for several steps, it is difficult to break through to any level of real persuasion, mostly because most people have no grid for whether anything is true anymore. if you can find it on a google search or on wikipedia, it must apparently be true. Or not. Which is precisely the problem; most people I have met who pride themselves on their logic and reasoning tend to come out to the conclusion that you can never know what is true, even though they try to devour as much information as they possibly can. Instead of having balanced, coherent people who are able to reason on an honest, emotional level, there are now large numbers of detached trivia gurus who seem to know what they're talking about but are themselves never sure 1) if what they're saying is really true, or 2) what they really think anyway.
Another trend I have heard about that has arisen from the internet is the sudden drop in face-to-face interaction since the advent of AIM/GChat/Facebook and the entire online social network. While their appearance on the modern social scene was a good addition at first, their long term effects on our society could possibly be one of the most relationally robbing developments ever. This is most prominent in college students; much of my thinking on this was influenced by an interview with a college chaplain located here. A snippet I love from him is that we are easily the most socially connected generation ever, and yet there is still a real hunger for relationships (both platonic and romantic) on the college campus.
We spend more time with one another in text boxes than we do face-to-face, and this leads to problems. I have seen this largely affect my own life.
I have a problem, for example, with mumbling from time to time when I'm trying to say something that I'm not sure the person I'm facing will like to hear. For some reason, I'm hard wired to think that, as long as I say the words the other person will understand, even if they are drowned out by background noise. Obviously that is not the case; the words need to be audible. I never had enough face-to-face interaction growing up to actually mitigate this problem; I spent most of my time with my friends not with them at all, but on AIM with them.
This is a mild case. Things like mumbling, eye contact, general friendliness, all of these things are small concessions that might even be culturally acceptable, if irritating. Far more sinister, however, are inabilities to interact in conflict resolution, honest confession, sound conversation.
What I mean is this: Our generation is the Web 2.0 generation, and we know it. If we don't like something about someone, we don't need to voice it to them. We can just blog about it. Instead of working through issues and dealing with differences and annoyances, we can remain entirely socially accessible and yet remove people entirely from our lives. In some cases, this might be a necessary and good thing, but in the majority case, we are building a culture that doesn't know what a relationship looks like.
Friendships are hindered. Marriages will be hindered. The church of God will be hindered in loving one another. All the while we sit idly by, chatting and isolating ourselves until all of a sudden, our personality is but a shadow of that which we used to be.
Well I, for one, intend on fighting this in myself. I don't want to be someone who hides behind the internet. I want to be real. I'm not sure if I have been, and I'm not sure how long it's going to take, but I will not succumb to my selfish, narcissistic tendency in this area. I've done a terrible job so far. I don't care. I will fight it.
Ironic that this declaration should come in the form of a blog. Know this, all who are reading, that I intend on being your friend.
I think I'd agree that we as a generation have a much shorter attention span than the one before us; this works to our advantage on the internet, where speed is everything when it comes to information (or so we're told), but works to our detriment basically everywhere else. Logic doesn't work with us anymore when trying to persuade, mostly because we let our stray thoughts and emotions interrupt essentially interrupt ourselves. Thoughts like, "hey, I wonder who won the game last night," or "what was that one actor's name again," or "who the heck is John James Audobon anyway," lead to an immediate and convenient attention breaker.
Even on those who consider themselves logical and who think they can carry a logical argument for several steps, it is difficult to break through to any level of real persuasion, mostly because most people have no grid for whether anything is true anymore. if you can find it on a google search or on wikipedia, it must apparently be true. Or not. Which is precisely the problem; most people I have met who pride themselves on their logic and reasoning tend to come out to the conclusion that you can never know what is true, even though they try to devour as much information as they possibly can. Instead of having balanced, coherent people who are able to reason on an honest, emotional level, there are now large numbers of detached trivia gurus who seem to know what they're talking about but are themselves never sure 1) if what they're saying is really true, or 2) what they really think anyway.
Another trend I have heard about that has arisen from the internet is the sudden drop in face-to-face interaction since the advent of AIM/GChat/Facebook and the entire online social network. While their appearance on the modern social scene was a good addition at first, their long term effects on our society could possibly be one of the most relationally robbing developments ever. This is most prominent in college students; much of my thinking on this was influenced by an interview with a college chaplain located here. A snippet I love from him is that we are easily the most socially connected generation ever, and yet there is still a real hunger for relationships (both platonic and romantic) on the college campus.
We spend more time with one another in text boxes than we do face-to-face, and this leads to problems. I have seen this largely affect my own life.
I have a problem, for example, with mumbling from time to time when I'm trying to say something that I'm not sure the person I'm facing will like to hear. For some reason, I'm hard wired to think that, as long as I say the words the other person will understand, even if they are drowned out by background noise. Obviously that is not the case; the words need to be audible. I never had enough face-to-face interaction growing up to actually mitigate this problem; I spent most of my time with my friends not with them at all, but on AIM with them.
This is a mild case. Things like mumbling, eye contact, general friendliness, all of these things are small concessions that might even be culturally acceptable, if irritating. Far more sinister, however, are inabilities to interact in conflict resolution, honest confession, sound conversation.
What I mean is this: Our generation is the Web 2.0 generation, and we know it. If we don't like something about someone, we don't need to voice it to them. We can just blog about it. Instead of working through issues and dealing with differences and annoyances, we can remain entirely socially accessible and yet remove people entirely from our lives. In some cases, this might be a necessary and good thing, but in the majority case, we are building a culture that doesn't know what a relationship looks like.
Friendships are hindered. Marriages will be hindered. The church of God will be hindered in loving one another. All the while we sit idly by, chatting and isolating ourselves until all of a sudden, our personality is but a shadow of that which we used to be.
Well I, for one, intend on fighting this in myself. I don't want to be someone who hides behind the internet. I want to be real. I'm not sure if I have been, and I'm not sure how long it's going to take, but I will not succumb to my selfish, narcissistic tendency in this area. I've done a terrible job so far. I don't care. I will fight it.
Ironic that this declaration should come in the form of a blog. Know this, all who are reading, that I intend on being your friend.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
I have needs
I have noticed a disturbing trend among my Christian brothers and sisters, especially the ones in my local church body. I can see it in slowed speech, in lack of mental clarity, in lapses of character. I see it in poor decision-making and lack of reflection. Most noticeably, however, I see it in bags under eyes and heads that nod off. The trend I’m talking about is that my brethren are tired.
That, in and of itself, is not a bad thing, but maybe I will put it this way: we don’t have a clue how to rest.
I can hardly remember the last time I asked a member of my church how he or she was doing, and didn’t get a response along the lines of, “I’m super busy,” or, “I’m really tired” or, “school is busy/tiring.” This is usually accompanied with a sigh and a half-defeated smile. The ensuing conversation will usually consist of my trying to comfort them and encourage them to “press on,” because, of course, that mantra must hold true, “you can do it!”
I have had to ask myself, though, is that really right? What does it mean when I tell people that they can “do it?” Do what? Everything? One thing perfectly? What message do I send them when I tell them these things? More importantly, what message do I send when I add to my encouragements to them that I want them to fulfill some number of time commitments for church without any sort of guidance for how to go about it?
I can’t be sure about all the signals, but one signal that I surely send is this: I don’t value sleep, and neither should you.
Now this wouldn’t be a problem if we could innately live without sleep; however, I’m fairly sure that we were designed by God to need sleep. Whenever I forget this, I am painfully reminded by how many times I have nodded off during class, work, or sermons that this is actually true. I am reminded more strongly of this fact by the number of coffee cups and energy drink cans I see downed by my churchmates and co-workers, and these serve only to delay the inevitable crash.
More importantly, I am becoming more and more convinced that God is not especially pleased when we don’t sleep. Jesus’ commands were given to rest in him, to go to him for rest. The Old Testament is filled with references to sleep; it assumes that there will be periods of rest in our lives. The entire trek of the Israelites, according to Hebrews, was a failure in the sense that their hardened hearts precluded them from entering God’s rest. God even instituted an entire day of rest when the world was created, and he gave a stark fourth commandment to honor the Sabbath, punishable by death.
Rest or die. This was literally mandated to the Israelites on Moses’ tablet. So why do we, as Christians, fail so miserably to obey this command?
The first reason I see is that we simply don’t think that we need it. College students, especially, are prone to this misconception, and are thoroughly convinced that rest is an unnecessary part of their lives. Even working adults live with the notion that it is not more sleep that they need, but more coffee or more motivation. No one likes being told that they need to do anything, especially when that “anything” is something anyone can do, and anyone can sleep. Even babies (and they seem to do it especially well).
So while God gives sleep to those he loves, we reject that gift assuming that it is unnecessary. We think God’s command to us couldn’t possibly be that important to our well being, and in so thinking attempt to throw off the bodily limitations he gave to us by making us finite creatures with real needs. Even Adam slept after his work of naming all the animals, and that was before the Fall; the need for sleep was designed right into us! We can’t go on living and speaking like “sleep is for the weak,” because it is the exact opposite that is true: if I do not sleep, I will be weak! Sleep is necessary to human function.
The second reason why we don’t take our rest is that we think we are too busy, or have too many things to do; that our own agendas are more important than obedience to God. Now, it goes without saying that our studies, goals, ministries, and dreams are indeed important, but when we refuse to pursue them in a way that lives in reliance upon God, our own activity and role in accomplishing these things become an idol. It is unbelievably tempting to think that my staying up to finish a project or a video is going to accomplish God’s will, but I often fail to realize in the heat of the moment that I think I am going to personally accomplish God’s will! The amount of pride and self-importance contained in this thought is paramount, and yet we unwittingly, by our nonchalant attitude towards resting when we so clearly need it, adopt that pride and self-importance into our lives.
Adam’s sleep at the end of his work must have been bittersweet; he was looking for a suitable helper but found none. Imagine the foolish decision he would have made if he stubbornly refused to rest and refused to trust God with this search! Instead of receiving the woman as a (wonderful and incredibly gracious) gift, he would have taken some animal for his helper, and would have defied the design of God for his life! We can’t be so stubborn in our effort to “get things done,” as the popular book title goes, but at the end of each day, we really need to confess our limits and trust God with the results of our labor, even if they seem unfinished.
A third major reason is a failure to plan for it, but this is tied into the first reason (if you don’t think you need sleep, you won’t plan to sleep), and the discipline of planning is outside the scope of my thought.
I need to be much more realistic about my limits and my need for God. In an age that emphasizes results and always tells me I can “do it,” it is a humble thing to say, “no, I can’t do it all.” This is precisely the kind of confession God desires of us; he wants us to be honest in our limitations and to go to him, weaknesses and all. God gave us sleep and the Sabbath because he knew that we were so prone to prideful work that, left to our own devices, we would we would lose our humanity altogether and work ourselves into a robotic state, never to see God because of our addiction to accomplishment.
If we have, in pride, rebelled against God’s design by refusing to sleep, staying up long, unnecessary nights, and not trusting in his provision, it is not going to be a one-day turnaround, nor will it come without difficulty. We need God to help us confess our need for him and for his provision. We need his aid to show us what it meant when Jesus said on the cross, “it is finished,” and there the work we were unable to do was accomplished for us. We need his strength to relinquish control over our schedules and our agenda, and to humbly put them at the foot of the cross.
I pray we will all learn to go to Jesus and find rest for our souls.
That, in and of itself, is not a bad thing, but maybe I will put it this way: we don’t have a clue how to rest.
I can hardly remember the last time I asked a member of my church how he or she was doing, and didn’t get a response along the lines of, “I’m super busy,” or, “I’m really tired” or, “school is busy/tiring.” This is usually accompanied with a sigh and a half-defeated smile. The ensuing conversation will usually consist of my trying to comfort them and encourage them to “press on,” because, of course, that mantra must hold true, “you can do it!”
I have had to ask myself, though, is that really right? What does it mean when I tell people that they can “do it?” Do what? Everything? One thing perfectly? What message do I send them when I tell them these things? More importantly, what message do I send when I add to my encouragements to them that I want them to fulfill some number of time commitments for church without any sort of guidance for how to go about it?
I can’t be sure about all the signals, but one signal that I surely send is this: I don’t value sleep, and neither should you.
Now this wouldn’t be a problem if we could innately live without sleep; however, I’m fairly sure that we were designed by God to need sleep. Whenever I forget this, I am painfully reminded by how many times I have nodded off during class, work, or sermons that this is actually true. I am reminded more strongly of this fact by the number of coffee cups and energy drink cans I see downed by my churchmates and co-workers, and these serve only to delay the inevitable crash.
More importantly, I am becoming more and more convinced that God is not especially pleased when we don’t sleep. Jesus’ commands were given to rest in him, to go to him for rest. The Old Testament is filled with references to sleep; it assumes that there will be periods of rest in our lives. The entire trek of the Israelites, according to Hebrews, was a failure in the sense that their hardened hearts precluded them from entering God’s rest. God even instituted an entire day of rest when the world was created, and he gave a stark fourth commandment to honor the Sabbath, punishable by death.
Rest or die. This was literally mandated to the Israelites on Moses’ tablet. So why do we, as Christians, fail so miserably to obey this command?
The first reason I see is that we simply don’t think that we need it. College students, especially, are prone to this misconception, and are thoroughly convinced that rest is an unnecessary part of their lives. Even working adults live with the notion that it is not more sleep that they need, but more coffee or more motivation. No one likes being told that they need to do anything, especially when that “anything” is something anyone can do, and anyone can sleep. Even babies (and they seem to do it especially well).
So while God gives sleep to those he loves, we reject that gift assuming that it is unnecessary. We think God’s command to us couldn’t possibly be that important to our well being, and in so thinking attempt to throw off the bodily limitations he gave to us by making us finite creatures with real needs. Even Adam slept after his work of naming all the animals, and that was before the Fall; the need for sleep was designed right into us! We can’t go on living and speaking like “sleep is for the weak,” because it is the exact opposite that is true: if I do not sleep, I will be weak! Sleep is necessary to human function.
The second reason why we don’t take our rest is that we think we are too busy, or have too many things to do; that our own agendas are more important than obedience to God. Now, it goes without saying that our studies, goals, ministries, and dreams are indeed important, but when we refuse to pursue them in a way that lives in reliance upon God, our own activity and role in accomplishing these things become an idol. It is unbelievably tempting to think that my staying up to finish a project or a video is going to accomplish God’s will, but I often fail to realize in the heat of the moment that I think I am going to personally accomplish God’s will! The amount of pride and self-importance contained in this thought is paramount, and yet we unwittingly, by our nonchalant attitude towards resting when we so clearly need it, adopt that pride and self-importance into our lives.
Adam’s sleep at the end of his work must have been bittersweet; he was looking for a suitable helper but found none. Imagine the foolish decision he would have made if he stubbornly refused to rest and refused to trust God with this search! Instead of receiving the woman as a (wonderful and incredibly gracious) gift, he would have taken some animal for his helper, and would have defied the design of God for his life! We can’t be so stubborn in our effort to “get things done,” as the popular book title goes, but at the end of each day, we really need to confess our limits and trust God with the results of our labor, even if they seem unfinished.
A third major reason is a failure to plan for it, but this is tied into the first reason (if you don’t think you need sleep, you won’t plan to sleep), and the discipline of planning is outside the scope of my thought.
I need to be much more realistic about my limits and my need for God. In an age that emphasizes results and always tells me I can “do it,” it is a humble thing to say, “no, I can’t do it all.” This is precisely the kind of confession God desires of us; he wants us to be honest in our limitations and to go to him, weaknesses and all. God gave us sleep and the Sabbath because he knew that we were so prone to prideful work that, left to our own devices, we would we would lose our humanity altogether and work ourselves into a robotic state, never to see God because of our addiction to accomplishment.
If we have, in pride, rebelled against God’s design by refusing to sleep, staying up long, unnecessary nights, and not trusting in his provision, it is not going to be a one-day turnaround, nor will it come without difficulty. We need God to help us confess our need for him and for his provision. We need his aid to show us what it meant when Jesus said on the cross, “it is finished,” and there the work we were unable to do was accomplished for us. We need his strength to relinquish control over our schedules and our agenda, and to humbly put them at the foot of the cross.
I pray we will all learn to go to Jesus and find rest for our souls.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
From our Young Men's Gathering 3-28-09
I have recently had to think long and hard about the nature of Christian fellowship and Christian meetings. "Why do we do what we do?" we ask. "Why do we spend so much time together?" "What is the point of A,B, and C activities that we are doing?" It comes most often as a complaint that we as church leaders have instinctively learned to squelch, but the more time I spend thinking about it, the more I begin to think that it is a very legitimate concern.
I've probably spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours at Christian gatherings, and that amount has only skyrocketed since college. Everything I would do, almost, would somehow be related with meeting with other Christians, and most of my free time belonged to them.
Yet if the mission of the modern church, or any church, for that matter, is the witness of God's glory and goodness to the rulers and authorities in the spiritual realm, and to the nations at the ends of the Earth, I am afraid my church attendance sheet is of little to no use in this. This is because of 2 critical functions that we have largely failed to perform.
The first function is loving one another. This new command of Jesus' that he culminates his teaching with is one that goes largely neglected in the church today. Jesus' direct command to his disciples is that they learn to serve one another from the heart and humble themselves before one another. That they learn to sacrifice for their fellow Christ followers. He tells the disciples that they will gain the attention of "all men" as they love each other, not as they love these other people.
Church gatherings have become a time of obligation, not a time of heart-sourced love. We have probably, in many ways, become like Christ's 12 disciples in this regard. While Christ was teaching them about love, humility, care for the poor and neglected, the disciples were busy arguing about which of them was going to be greatest in his kingdom and trying to prove that they deserved a great reward for their service. In the same way, while God would have us learn how to humbly love and serve each other, we are often vying for notoriety in the church community and trying to do enough good things (i.e, showing up to meetings, serving in ministry teams, etc.). While our hearts are not necessarily horrific in doing this, it is laughable at best and demonic at worst.
We have failed to approach our Christian gatherings with an intent to show this kind of love. Instead of arriving with an intent to pour ourselves our sacrificially for our brethren, we show up to Life Group as an obligation and a chore. Instead of praying through how our ministry team service can affect and serve people, we relegate "ministry" to some weekly meeting or chore and consider the rest of the hours in our lives "me time." Instead of thinking about how our strengths and our weaknesses can help our brothers and sisters, we spend our waking thoughts comparing ourselves to them and considering ourselves better than them.
It comes as no surprise, then, that so many in the church are struggling as we are. If we all carry this kind of, "I am only here because I must be here," mentality, then it will obviously become an obligation to everyone; no one is receiving because no one comes with the intention to give. This is precisely the trap the disciples fell into in their self-centered view, and it is the very trap that the majority of our churchgoers find themselves ensnared in.
The second function we have not so much failed to perform as we have utterly neglected is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus calls this the second greatest commandment and explicitly tells his disciples that they will find no way of life more virtuous. The disciples, however, zealous as they are for Jesus' glory, fail to understand the gravity of Jesus' words. When little children come to Christ to be held by him, the disciples attack them with a rebuke! Further interactions between the twelve and the outside world are rarely documented; any anecdotes usually don't mention them caring much about those unlike them, and Peter even fails to reach out to the Gentile Christians because of his people-pleasing and religious tendencies.
Here is an apt description of our church's weakness if I have ever seen one! Those who are spiritually ignorant or young are set aside, ignored, and generally considered "not worth" close or extended contact; they are kept at an arm's length because there are so many important things to do. Outsiders to our faith, and even, at times, fellow believers of different backgrounds, are neglected or excluded on the basis of nothing more than the very circumstance God birthed them into. Most of the time, we don't even think about them, and our life's history is silent on our interaction with them, much like the Gospels are silent on the disciples'. No wonder the main complaint I hear about Christians is not religious ignorance but exclusivity!
Is there a root to this problem? Is there something that we're missing, or is there and issue behind our lack of love? How could we possibly spend so much time together and feel we are under obligation, yet be so comfortable that we show little to no interest in reaching out to the outside? Doesn't it seem ridiculous that we could so begrudgingly spend so much time together, and yet be considered exclusive and unattractive to the outside world precisely because we spend so much time together? What could possibly cause this?
The first thing on this list, for the disciples, was selfish ambition. They wanted to be great, to make names for themselves. In their insecurity, they had something to prove and could focus on nothing but who would be the greatest. They would bicker and fight, indignant with one another's ambition, but secretly wanting greatness and personal fulfillment for themselves.
The second was self-righteousness. Upon hearing Jesus say that it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, Peter, in his best intentions, pipes up, saying "Master, we've left everything to follow you!" It is innocent enough, and Jesus responds graciously to Peter, but there is a hint of his self-righteousness that comes out here (as there is in almost everything he says throughout the Gospels). See, Peter only mentions this at seeing the rich young ruler be unable to give his riches away. A shred of his personality looks at this ruler and says, "I could do something this ruler failed to do! There must be something in store for someone like me!" This game of comparison is all too common among Christians, and the religious in general.
The third is overestimation of oneself and of one's own importance. The disciples saw these children as unimportant in God's eyes; imagine their surprise when Jesus tells them, "the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these!" What a declaration! These people were considered the least important in the society's eyes, children, and were regarded as such by the disciples. The disciples bought into the subtle lie that you can determine a man's worth by his social status, and thus considered themselves and their own concerns more important than these others’.
The fourth and fifth, religious tradition and people pleasing, go hand in hand. By staying away from these Gentile Christians, Peter was saying that his religious tradition and his reputation among the Jewish Christians were more important than showing love.
Selfish ambition, self-righteousness, self-importance, religious reputation, notice who is at the center of all of these sources of failure in the church.
The self is terribly deceptive. We blame church, we blame structure, we blame culture, we blame friends. We say all these things are the reason our Life Group is not what we want it to be, our church is not carrying out the mission of displaying God's glory, and our meetings are a waste of time. But we are deceived; the true root of our ineffectiveness is buried elsewhere, within our hearts. It is shrouded in layers and layers of deception, placed there by years of hurt, anger, frustration, bitterness, and apathy.
Left to ourselves, we would never find this root. How could we ever? Through our own devices we set up these deceptions, and we made them specifically to deceive ourselves. It is as if we have constructed a safe in our hearts and placed all of our sinful selfishness in it, closed the door, locked it away, and forgotten the combination. We cannot remove our sin, even if we wanted to. Even if we were looking for it, we could not find it; even if it was found, who could remove it?
So was the state of the 12 disciples as they followed Jesus: tragically oblivious to the depth of their sinful state. Yet for them, there was hope. Because the one they followed held the great key that would release them from their selfish self-deception. Jesus came specifically to save them from this very thing that they, in their sin, had trapped themselves in, and not only would he do that, but he would reach right into their hearts, open that safe, take their sins by his hand, yank them out of their hearts forever, drag them with him to Calvary, and there, while hanging from the cross, he would destroy them by attaching them to his own person and sacrificing himself in the fire of God's wrath.
We could not overcome our selfish state even if we could see the full extent of it. But Christ has overcome it on the cross for us. Peter's own life is evidence of this, as he commands his own followers to "love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins," and he commands them to do this "above all!" What a miraculous power must have gripped him that he should undergo such change!
The church today is failing in her mission to display God's glory, but the failure can be stopped. Our church can be changed, but it will only change as we the individuals who make her up change, and the only way we will change is if we call on Jesus to reveal the depth of our selfishness and take it away from us. This is the first thing we must do; there can be no love outside of repentance and faith, for what love can we give if we do not first receive God's love for us?
We must pray this prayer: "God, open my eyes to see my selfish ambition, my self-righteousness, my self-importance, my self-centeredness. Show me how these things cause me to fail to love my Christian family. Show me how they block me from caring for the non-believers around me. Help me to confess my sin and to be released from them, so that I may be a part of seeing our church become more God-honoring. I pray these things by the name and mercy of Jesus Christ alone."
I've probably spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours at Christian gatherings, and that amount has only skyrocketed since college. Everything I would do, almost, would somehow be related with meeting with other Christians, and most of my free time belonged to them.
Yet if the mission of the modern church, or any church, for that matter, is the witness of God's glory and goodness to the rulers and authorities in the spiritual realm, and to the nations at the ends of the Earth, I am afraid my church attendance sheet is of little to no use in this. This is because of 2 critical functions that we have largely failed to perform.
The first function is loving one another. This new command of Jesus' that he culminates his teaching with is one that goes largely neglected in the church today. Jesus' direct command to his disciples is that they learn to serve one another from the heart and humble themselves before one another. That they learn to sacrifice for their fellow Christ followers. He tells the disciples that they will gain the attention of "all men" as they love each other, not as they love these other people.
Church gatherings have become a time of obligation, not a time of heart-sourced love. We have probably, in many ways, become like Christ's 12 disciples in this regard. While Christ was teaching them about love, humility, care for the poor and neglected, the disciples were busy arguing about which of them was going to be greatest in his kingdom and trying to prove that they deserved a great reward for their service. In the same way, while God would have us learn how to humbly love and serve each other, we are often vying for notoriety in the church community and trying to do enough good things (i.e, showing up to meetings, serving in ministry teams, etc.). While our hearts are not necessarily horrific in doing this, it is laughable at best and demonic at worst.
We have failed to approach our Christian gatherings with an intent to show this kind of love. Instead of arriving with an intent to pour ourselves our sacrificially for our brethren, we show up to Life Group as an obligation and a chore. Instead of praying through how our ministry team service can affect and serve people, we relegate "ministry" to some weekly meeting or chore and consider the rest of the hours in our lives "me time." Instead of thinking about how our strengths and our weaknesses can help our brothers and sisters, we spend our waking thoughts comparing ourselves to them and considering ourselves better than them.
It comes as no surprise, then, that so many in the church are struggling as we are. If we all carry this kind of, "I am only here because I must be here," mentality, then it will obviously become an obligation to everyone; no one is receiving because no one comes with the intention to give. This is precisely the trap the disciples fell into in their self-centered view, and it is the very trap that the majority of our churchgoers find themselves ensnared in.
The second function we have not so much failed to perform as we have utterly neglected is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus calls this the second greatest commandment and explicitly tells his disciples that they will find no way of life more virtuous. The disciples, however, zealous as they are for Jesus' glory, fail to understand the gravity of Jesus' words. When little children come to Christ to be held by him, the disciples attack them with a rebuke! Further interactions between the twelve and the outside world are rarely documented; any anecdotes usually don't mention them caring much about those unlike them, and Peter even fails to reach out to the Gentile Christians because of his people-pleasing and religious tendencies.
Here is an apt description of our church's weakness if I have ever seen one! Those who are spiritually ignorant or young are set aside, ignored, and generally considered "not worth" close or extended contact; they are kept at an arm's length because there are so many important things to do. Outsiders to our faith, and even, at times, fellow believers of different backgrounds, are neglected or excluded on the basis of nothing more than the very circumstance God birthed them into. Most of the time, we don't even think about them, and our life's history is silent on our interaction with them, much like the Gospels are silent on the disciples'. No wonder the main complaint I hear about Christians is not religious ignorance but exclusivity!
Is there a root to this problem? Is there something that we're missing, or is there and issue behind our lack of love? How could we possibly spend so much time together and feel we are under obligation, yet be so comfortable that we show little to no interest in reaching out to the outside? Doesn't it seem ridiculous that we could so begrudgingly spend so much time together, and yet be considered exclusive and unattractive to the outside world precisely because we spend so much time together? What could possibly cause this?
The first thing on this list, for the disciples, was selfish ambition. They wanted to be great, to make names for themselves. In their insecurity, they had something to prove and could focus on nothing but who would be the greatest. They would bicker and fight, indignant with one another's ambition, but secretly wanting greatness and personal fulfillment for themselves.
The second was self-righteousness. Upon hearing Jesus say that it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, Peter, in his best intentions, pipes up, saying "Master, we've left everything to follow you!" It is innocent enough, and Jesus responds graciously to Peter, but there is a hint of his self-righteousness that comes out here (as there is in almost everything he says throughout the Gospels). See, Peter only mentions this at seeing the rich young ruler be unable to give his riches away. A shred of his personality looks at this ruler and says, "I could do something this ruler failed to do! There must be something in store for someone like me!" This game of comparison is all too common among Christians, and the religious in general.
The third is overestimation of oneself and of one's own importance. The disciples saw these children as unimportant in God's eyes; imagine their surprise when Jesus tells them, "the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these!" What a declaration! These people were considered the least important in the society's eyes, children, and were regarded as such by the disciples. The disciples bought into the subtle lie that you can determine a man's worth by his social status, and thus considered themselves and their own concerns more important than these others’.
The fourth and fifth, religious tradition and people pleasing, go hand in hand. By staying away from these Gentile Christians, Peter was saying that his religious tradition and his reputation among the Jewish Christians were more important than showing love.
Selfish ambition, self-righteousness, self-importance, religious reputation, notice who is at the center of all of these sources of failure in the church.
The self is terribly deceptive. We blame church, we blame structure, we blame culture, we blame friends. We say all these things are the reason our Life Group is not what we want it to be, our church is not carrying out the mission of displaying God's glory, and our meetings are a waste of time. But we are deceived; the true root of our ineffectiveness is buried elsewhere, within our hearts. It is shrouded in layers and layers of deception, placed there by years of hurt, anger, frustration, bitterness, and apathy.
Left to ourselves, we would never find this root. How could we ever? Through our own devices we set up these deceptions, and we made them specifically to deceive ourselves. It is as if we have constructed a safe in our hearts and placed all of our sinful selfishness in it, closed the door, locked it away, and forgotten the combination. We cannot remove our sin, even if we wanted to. Even if we were looking for it, we could not find it; even if it was found, who could remove it?
So was the state of the 12 disciples as they followed Jesus: tragically oblivious to the depth of their sinful state. Yet for them, there was hope. Because the one they followed held the great key that would release them from their selfish self-deception. Jesus came specifically to save them from this very thing that they, in their sin, had trapped themselves in, and not only would he do that, but he would reach right into their hearts, open that safe, take their sins by his hand, yank them out of their hearts forever, drag them with him to Calvary, and there, while hanging from the cross, he would destroy them by attaching them to his own person and sacrificing himself in the fire of God's wrath.
We could not overcome our selfish state even if we could see the full extent of it. But Christ has overcome it on the cross for us. Peter's own life is evidence of this, as he commands his own followers to "love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins," and he commands them to do this "above all!" What a miraculous power must have gripped him that he should undergo such change!
The church today is failing in her mission to display God's glory, but the failure can be stopped. Our church can be changed, but it will only change as we the individuals who make her up change, and the only way we will change is if we call on Jesus to reveal the depth of our selfishness and take it away from us. This is the first thing we must do; there can be no love outside of repentance and faith, for what love can we give if we do not first receive God's love for us?
We must pray this prayer: "God, open my eyes to see my selfish ambition, my self-righteousness, my self-importance, my self-centeredness. Show me how these things cause me to fail to love my Christian family. Show me how they block me from caring for the non-believers around me. Help me to confess my sin and to be released from them, so that I may be a part of seeing our church become more God-honoring. I pray these things by the name and mercy of Jesus Christ alone."
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