All About You

One of the things we’ve been hearing a lot of in Christendom for a while now is something along the lines of “It’s not about us; It’s all about you” or “It’s all about Jesus.” These phrases are very true, in a certain context, particularly in worship. What kind of worship would it be if our worship was about us? What kind of wife would be said to love her husband, if her way of loving was all about her?

But that’s not to say that *everything* in the heart of God is all about Jesus. For instance, take “thanksgiving.” Just the word itself implies that we have to stop and recognise that somebody did something **for us**. You can’t really be thankful for something that isn’t about you. If it wasn’t done for egalitarian reasons, it becomes difficult to be thankful. Yet we are called to “come into His presence with Thanksiving in our hearts,” and also to “forget not all of His benefits.” Doesn’t that sort of imply that whatever it is that I’m thankful for was all about me?

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Happy Thanksgiving Back

In honor of Thangskiving, I would like to say something about the thing that I am most thankful for: someone whom I am missing very much right now, since she is in Mary-Land, and I have to manage to stay sane here all by myself. Valerie is the only girl I’ve ever loved, that I’ve loved first on the basis of her character. She knows how to love better than anyone I’ve ever known.

She’s also the only one I’ve ever written bona fide love poetry for. So…

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More Calls for Reformation

Here’s a quote from my most recent textbook:

The more one studies contemporary evangelicalism, the more one senses the profound frustration that grips many of its leaders. The statistics say we should be powerful and influential, and we are not. The intellectuals think they should be followed, and they are largely ignored. The entrepreneurs and media stars act as if they will bring in revival, and of course they don’t. The culture is hell-bent to discard the Judeo-Christian outlook that once predominated, and a lot of conservatives feel cheated. Theologians and historians and pastors alike continuously expand the definition of evangelicalism, but instead of drawing in a wider circle they are gutting what is central. The level of frustration is high

But not, I fear, the level of brokenness

D.A. Carson, The Gagging of God (p 489)

Thought to Ponder

Yesterday as I stood singing in the choir, I was discouraged. I was watching the people in the congregation as they watched my fellow choir members and me. They probably didn’t even realize that they were being watched. I’m not on a television set; I can see you too, and today was really sad.

As I looked out over the faces of our church, I saw mouths moving but I heard no song. I can understand being sleepy from late nights or even simply being weary and fed up with life. For goodness sake, I am a college student and I also just get tuckered out and don’t want to do anything a lot of the time.

But you know what? GOD’S BIGGER THAN YOU, ALL YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES, AND HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR SOURCE. Where is the spark of HIS life, which you claim is part of you as a Christian, in your face when you’re supposed to be connecting and singing to Him?

Did you ever see the movie Chicago? Do you remember the puppet song? If you have not seen the movie, it’s the scene where the lawyer holds his defendant like a marionette and speaks the words he wants her to say for the press to hear. He even pulls the strings of the press themselves so that they agree with his lies. He pulled them according to his desires in the motions that he wanted them to do. That’s kinda what it felt like this morning as I watched from the choir loft. Our church was full of motion but there was no sound or life. Where is your spark of life?

We are ambassadors of Christ and are citizens of heaven; that’s a precious gift. Do you honestly believe that when ambassadors of the same country come together and praise their country and king that they don’t smile and feel good about talking about where they’re from and their fellow natives? We speak more fondly about our childhood home than the place we’re going to spend eternity! How could we get so out of kilter and prefer the temporary over the eternal? God LOVES us! Why do we ignore it?

The choir anthem this morning was “Days of Elijah” and my heart wept as I sang the words to the second verse:

These are the days of Ezekiel, the dry bones becoming as flesh. And these are the days of Your servant, David, rebuilding a temple of praise. And these are the days of the harvest, oh, the fields are as white in Your world. And we are the laborers in Your vineyard, declaring the work of the Lord!

Lord! We’re still dry bones! Our strings are being plucked and we’re just going through the motions without life! We say and declare with our mouths’ but it never reaches past our noses let alone to our eyes, hands or feet. There is no way we can be part of the laborers in the field or rebuilders of the temple of praise if we let something pull our strings. Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord,” will get into heaven. You can declare the work of the Lord 24/7 but until it becomes true to you, you’re just going through the motions.

Did you realize how fickle our emotions really are? Here’s an example to try…Next time you feel grumpy and don’t want to do anything (especially smiling), try smiling as big as you can for as long as you can and see just our long it takes for you mood to change. In fact, I challenge you to try it next time. That includes when you come to church sleepy, weary, or grumpy because of stress. I’ve tried it and it works.

We are Christians, imitators of Christ. So let’s do that. Jesus got frustrated and tired and even angry just like us but every time he looked towards the Father for restoration, hope and peace. God loves us so much and he wants to take our worries, sadness, stress, and anxiety onto his capable shoulders so we won’t have to carry the burden and be crushed by it. Life is not easy, but we have hope, strength, and love just a whisper or a thought away. Are you tapping into it? We are the light, hope and life of the world. “Shine. Make them wonder what you’ve got. Make them wish that they were not on the outside looking in.” If we do not shine together when we are with others like us (i.e. church, home group, etc.), how can we expect to fulfill our calling to be his ambassadors and spread the boundaries of the kingdom?

Smile even if you don’t feel happy. Shine even if it’s just a soft, tiny flicker. Let God work the miracles and bring true peace, joy, love and hope for tomorrow into your life.

A New Voice

KB and I are in the process of combining our websites and he’s been encouraging me to post something. I was hoping to wait until I finished the new banner, but I don’t think it will be done before I go on Christmas break. Mostly what I tend to write leans towards what’s going on in my life (i.e. sr. year of college, med school applications, annoying car repairs and the like) because it’s the best way for my family to keep in touch with me. Sometimes I do, however, post things that I like to call “Thoughts to Ponder” on the site I am currently running, which range from something cool I read in one of my daily studies to the scientific importance of salt in the body and its relationship to being the salt of the earth.

Yesterday at church, I sat down and started writing. Yeah I know, I should have been listening to the sermon but something that I saw disturbed me and I completely zoned out and just started writing for about an hour or so. So without further ado, here’s what I was writing.

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