Count Your Blessings

Some thoughts from my devotions in Ephesians:

Passage:
Ephesians 1:3-14

Thoughts:

Paul starts off this section praising God, "Blessed be...God..who has blessed us...with every spiritual blessing." (notice, he didn't say "earthly" blessing).

Notice that most of these blessings have something to do with our salvation.

1. He chose us to be holy and blameless. v. 4
2. He predestined us for adoption as sons. v. 5
3. He redeemed us through Christ's blood. v. 7
4. He forgave us of our sins. v. 7
5. He lavished us with his grace. v. 8
6. He made known to us the mystery of His will. v. 9
7. He gave us an inheritance. v. 10
8. He sealed us with the Holy Spirit. v. 11

Application:

It is so natural to get caught up in earthly blessings (cars, homes, computers, clothes, etc.). These things can, and probably should, be enjoyed. But that enjoyment must be placed in the broader context of our enjoyment of spiritual blessings (e.g. our salvation).

To come at it from a different angle, I usually thank God everyday for food (at mealtime) - but do I thank God everyday for my salvation? I encourage you (and me) to make thanking God for the blessing of salvation a regular habit.

~Jason

With Him

Some thoughts from my devotions in Ephesians:

Passage:

Ephesians 1:20 "that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,"

Ephesians 2:6 "and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,"

Thoughts:

Please note: two incredible things happen to Christ in 1:20:

1) He was raised from the dead.
Imagine the look on Satan's face when death's grip couldn't hang on to Christ! Christ came to the earth, gained some followers, gained some haters, and died. Case closed? Not on your life.

2) He was seated at God's right hand in heaven.
I don't think we have to be an expert in Biblical imagery to know that being at God's right hand is a GOOD thing. God stamps his approval on this slain lamb and says, "He's with Me."

What's even more incredible, is that the same two things happen to us in 2:6:

1) We are raised from the dead with Him.
Don't let earthly distractions (Economy, Health, Power) deceive you - our greatest enemy is death. We live our life, we gain some followers, we gain some haters, and then we die.

2) We are seated with Him in heaven.
If God is for us, who can be against us? Again, it's not hard to see the significance of being seated with Christ in heavenly places. Undoubtedly a good place to be considering eternity is a long time.

So the first is a conquering of earthly death, and the second is the sealing of our eternal destiny.

Application:

Oh, please don't miss that ever important prepositional phrase - "with Him". Or that other one at the end of 2:6 - "in Christ Jesus".

These two facts that bring an everlasting peace (power over death, and eternity on God's side), can only be fully realized though the person and work of Jesus Christ. Fortunately, Paul doesn't leave us to guess about how to know that we are saved -
"For by grace you have been saved through faith." (Ephesians 2:8a)

If you want to know more about how to be saved, check out this video.

If you are already saved, let these two truths bounce around in your mind as you go about your day.

-Jason

Music for Thought: Part 3 of 4

Our reflective journey via musical case studies continues with a Johnny Cash classic.

Johnny Cash performs "Hurt" a cover of the song by Nine Inch Nails.



I'm afraid that the more I say about this song, the less meaningful my comments will become. Let me just point out the two most powerful moments in the music video.

I will Make you Hurt (2:35-2:40)

When June (Cash's wife) looks down at him from the stairs, it's a look that says a thousand words. When I see that expression on her face, it's like I can feel it too. It's like she lets out a big sigh that says, "It pains me so much to hear you say all this - but I love you. I love you too much to reach out and make you stop. I'm going to let you journey down this path of healing and redemption. And as you do, I'll be here for you. Waiting. Ready to love you, no matter what."

My Empire of Dirt (2:53-3:09)

If you didn't react in some way physically (sit up in your chair, grunt in surprise, raise your eyebrows, put your hand over your mouth, ANYTHING) when Cash started pouring out that wine - you better call an ambulance because you're a dead man walking. Notice the priceless stare down from Cash as his shaky hand pours out the contents of his glass. That wine spills all over the place and we can see the utter disgust of a man determined to abandon everything he once held as valuable.

What Have I Become?

That question, "What have I become?" is the most applicable. To me, performing an internal inventory can be purging and damning at the same time. As we look back at where we've gone wrong, we can confess it before God, and ask for forgiveness - and this purges us of our sins. However, when we take an honest look, not at our gross sins, but at our subtle ones; not at our actions, but at our motives - it is damning.

But God's grace is greater than all our sin. When we approach Him through Jesus Christ, we unlock the floodgates of God's infinite mercy with the key of faith.

Anger and Wisdom

Some thoughts from my devotions in Ephesians:

~~~

Passage:

Ephesians 1:17
"...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him..."

Thoughts:

Put simply, Paul prays that God would grant his readers wisdom.

To be fair to the context, the reason Paul prays for a "spirit of wisdom" is so that they would understand the things he talks about in verses 18-19 (hope, inheritance, and power).

Application:

Even though Paul wasn't praying for generic wisdom here in Ephesians - he does do so in Colossians 1:9-10 which says,

"...we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him..."

Make no mistake, it is a GOOD thing to ask God for wisdom (see James 1:5).

Hang with me as I take this application one step further - we should pray for wisdom when we're angry.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I can get really upset about some really dumb things. If something major happens, I can usually keep a cool head - but it's the little things that drive me nuts. One thing I've started trying when I get angry, is praying and asking God for wisdom.

This usually cools me down for two reasons,
1) It breaks the cycle of negative thoughts, and gives me a second to process.

2) God gives me wisdom which seems to say, "Jason, stop and think for a second. Is it really wise to be upset about this? Is it the mature thing to do? Is this something of eternal importance? " The answer to all of these questions comes back no, and it helps calm me down.

So the next time you seem to be getting upset about the smallest things - try saying a simple, genuine prayer for a "spirit of wisdom" from God.

~Jason

Music for Thought - Part 2 of 4

Have you ever met someone that doesn't like music?

I've met some people who don't like football, ice-cream, or the Denver Broncos (shocker) - but it seems that everybody likes at least one genre of music.

In a Philippians 4:8ish style of critical thinking, I am presenting four songs for your musement. This week's song is "Winter White Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes. Click to watch on full screen, and watch closely!




The Relentless Nature of Time and Hair:

What is so intriguing to me about this video, and where we can learn the most, is the subject of time (I'll just assume you watched the video closely enough to catch what happened). When I watch this music video, I see a highly contemplative, not to mention long-bearded, man who decides to take a trip through time with all of his other contemplative buddies via the Magic Steering Wheel - and hey, it works!

Time begins to move backwards through the four seasons, and we see our characters gradually shed the classic signs of aging (no, it's not a Maybelline ad). And, is it just me, or do they seem a little bit happier as they traverse back in time? People are smelling flowers, clapping their hands, bobbing their heads, tapping a beat - meanwhile, back at the Wheel of Fortune - our determined no-longer-gray-bearded man keeps turning and turning and turning.

Things seem to be going good when, from 1:40 - 1:55, all the characters glance to the side as if saying, "Oh no, here it comes." (one guy even covers the eyes of a wrong-place-wrong-time bunny) Suddenly, the faithful turner lets go of the time machine, and in a matter of seconds, everything goes "back" to present day, and it's the same as when it started.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time:

Have you ever done something, and tried to "go back in time" to undo the mess you made? Me too. It, like the video, works for a while (though I've never had anyone start clapping), but soon the cold fact of the permanence of time comes back with a vengeance. Sadly, there isn't a wheel in the world magical enough to erase our stupid mistakes.

We get to the end of a chapter in our life, and echoing the lyrics, think to ourselves "I was following the pack." I was just going with the flow, and now, it's over. I will never get that time back. I'll never get to live yesterday over again. Ever.

Social Security, Golf, Taco Bell and Other Retirement Perks:

I love this song because it's such a sober reminder about the nature of time, the things we try to undo, and the things that will always stay with us.

It reminds me of those things we strain after our whole life, only to realize in the end that it really wasn't all that important.

It reminds me of how painful regret is, and how permanent consequences are.

It reminds me of the story Christ told in Luke 12 about a guy who was really good at life. In fact, he got to the point where he stopped one day and said to himself,

"Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry."

Things were going pretty well for this dude. His social security hadn't been used to bail out the banks, his golf clubs were primed and ready to hit the links, and he was within fifteen minutes of the nearest Taco Bell. He had done what he thought was important his whole life - he was a success.

Then he died.

Right before he died, God had a few words for him,

"Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"

But it was too late, time had written his story in stone.

~Jason

Music for Thought - Part 1 of 4

Good music you can just turn on and let play. We set a trap for ourselves however, when we stop listening to songs critically. When we allow a "feel-good" song to go in one ear and out the other, it loses it's constructive value. Even the most talented, terribly catchy, most requested song of all time isn't exempt from the Pauline command,

"...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

In the weeks to come, and in this spirit of critical thinking, I would like to present four songs for your pondering pleasure. This week's song is "The Scientist" by Coldplay.

Check it out below, and then scroll down for discussion. The video won't make sense unless you watch it all the way to the end.

Right click HERE and select 'open link in new window' to view. (sorry folks, embedding was disabled)

Synopsis of Video:

The video starts with an up-close and creepy shot of a guy laying on what appears to be a blue mattress. After the seizure like way in which he stands up, it becomes obvious the video is actually a reverse narrative. Soon, we find our long-sleeved Under Armour friend walking backwards through the city, behind a random pickup game of basketball, and of course through the ever somber switch yard.

Suddenly, our guy is in the woods, and begins piecing together his best man-in-black outfit. After he gets in the car and shudders awake/asleep - it becomes obvious something is wrong. Your suspicions are confirmed when a woman begins floating above the hood of the car and goes right through a re-composing windshield. The car begins rolling up the hill, and eventually gets back onto a winding country road. We see the final moments of the happy couple just cruising along with the wind. Then, of course, we see the tragic moment when the girl, before putting on her jacket, unhooks her seat-belt.

Meaning of Lyrics:

There seems to be some unresolved tension between the boy and girl because he needs to tell her "I'm sorry" and makes a plea to "go back to the start". Also, later on in the song he begs her to "tell me you love me".

Presumably, these tensions were unable to be resolved due to the untimely death of the girl. Struggling to deal with the grief, the man mourns, "nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be so hard" and "it's such a shame for us to part".

Then he makes the fascinating statement, "Questions of science, science and progress, do not speak as loud as my heart". In other words, the problems that plague our scientific inquiries, and societal progress - are nothing compare to the questions that plague our hearts in times of deep loss.

As for the title of the song, I'll simply quote one YouTube commenter who observed,

" 'The scientist' is referring to him trying to reason things out about a failed relationship and going in circles because logic can't really be applied to love and emotions."


My Thoughts:

So what, if anything, can we learn from this emotional ballad of boy-loses-girl? The most obvious nugget of truth is that no science textbook, or technological advance of man can comfort us in times of sorrow. Certainly, various situations have arisen in my life when I've echoed the sentiment "nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be so hard".

Can't we all empathize with finding ourselves "running in circles", wanting to go "back to the start", wishing our life had turned out different? So is that it? We throw up our hands and conclude, "Yep, life stinks sometimes."

Can we not recognize the validity of our sorrow, and yet find some solace?

Psalm 13 starts our pretty bleak,

"How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I...have sorrow in my heart all the day?"

The Psalm doesn't end there, and I find that telling.

It goes on,

"But, I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me."

Notice this Psalm recognizes evil AND hope. The danger is when we only recognize one and not the other. If we only recognize evil, much like in "The Scientist", we lose sight of what God has done for us. If we only recognize the hope, we deny the severity of evil and it's consequences in the world.

God's love and salvation mean that we can have hope in the midst of evil. But without the hope of salvation, of God saving us from the evil in and around us - we mourn as those who have no hope.

~Jason

Pro-Life Ad? This Joke was on Us

Apparently the definition of "Pro-Life" has been expanded to include anyone who uses the words "miracle" and "baby" in the same sentence. THIS is what all the hub-bub was about?

I kind of feel like Charlie Brown in this classic Peanuts cartoon. EVERYBODY was hyped up about this commercial. If you were pro-life then you just had to support this ad, I mean you just had to. It seemed as if Tim Tebow became a household name almost overnight.





















If you were pro-choice, you let the expletives fly about that big bad wolf - Focus on the Family. How dare those women-demeaning, gay-hating, fundamentalists try to shove 30 seconds of "politics" down our throat.

Larry King was having panel discussions with all the "experts", watchful Facebook members dutifully created Tim Tebow fan pages, and even the gay rights folks got a little air time.

And then...Lucy pulled the football away. We all, for the first time, actually saw the ad in it's entirety. Epic fail. If you didn't know the back story, the ad would have left you scratching your head. (Actually, I knew the back story and I was still scratching my head.)

Whether it was a genius marketing ploy by Focus on the Family to draw attention to the issues, or the most expensive way to show a son tackling his mother on TV - this joke, was on us.

Invisible People

Butch from InvisiblePeople.tv on Vimeo.

After watching this video (and many others), I'm torn between two responses. One response blames me and rest of society for not doing more. The other response (I'm afraid to actually say it) blames the homeless person. I think to myself, "Why should I be blamed when this all could be the fault of the homeless person?"

Is finger pointing the point? Here's a guy who's lived on the street for 40 years, and I'm debating who's to blame! Is that what Christ would expect of me? I'm glad Christ did something for me when I was in need. By the way, speaking for myself, I was clearly to blame.

Romans 5:8
"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Certainly Not: Part Six

Using an analogy, I argued in the last post that conversation is the best way to respond to Theological Fallibility. So what exactly does it look like to "leave an access door to the foundation" of your Theology? There are two things I would mention.

1. Welcome Dialogue from Different Perspectives

Take any chance you can get to talk to someone of a different faith. I firmly believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, so why would I spend the rest of my life only talking to people who believe the same thing? As a Christian, I should not be ashamed of the Gospel, I should be going into all the world to make disciples. However, don't miss the blessing that comes from witnessing - dialogue. You can leave that access door open and re-examine your foundation. When people ask you those hard questions about your faith, it's time to perform a little maintenance. Why does God allow evil? Can I trust the Bible? Does the New Testament display antisemitism?

Is dialogue risky? Of course. You could take the "easy" way out, and just seal off your access door - just don't be surprised when nobody wants to come and visit your house.

2. Welcome Books from Controversial Authors

It can be exhausting to read something you don't agree with. Your emotions run high, and you sometimes wish you could just sit down with the author and give them a piece of your mind. However, the attitude which most troubles me is the attitude that says, "I only have something to learn from those who are orthodox (agree with me)." Truth be told, and I'm speaking from personal experience, you can learn a lot from people you don't agree with. Believe it or not, the only smart people in the world are NOT people who believe the same thing as you.

Two words of caution:

First, sin, even false ideas, can be very appealing. In your quest for truth, you must remain committed to it. If you lack wisdom, ask God who gives to all men liberally. Fear God - this is the beginning of wisdom.

Second, I am not suggesting that you must read/watch moral filth in order to be more educated. I made a commitment to my wife to stay faithful to her, I don't need to frequent pornographic websites (for example) in order to "keep the access door open". Don't forget - there is black, gray, and white areas. My commitment to my wife is one area in which I am not ashamed to say I'm, "close-minded".

As I think back about this series, I certainly realize I don't hold all the answers to our Theological Fallibility. There are still lots of unanswered questions in my mind, and dots I have yet to connect. It's funny, a small part of me honestly feels like writing a rebuttal against myself! I've done the best I can to build a foundation, but let's just say I'm leaving the access door open.

Certainly Not: Part Four

I apologize for my tardiness in continuing my series on "Theological Infallibility". The basic question is this - "How should I respond to the inherent uncertainty that comes with being human while building a Theology?" I mentioned that uncertainty seemed to strong a response, and that humility was more of an attitude than a proactive response.

Another possible response is, "openness" (yes, it's a word). In today's society, if you want to insult someone just call them, "close-minded". You can bet money that everybody who's trying to be somebody is remaining "open" to all the options. But what exactly does it mean to be open. It's a little hard to define.

The idea of being open in your Theology basically means that you're unwilling to "close" the door of your mind and thus become "bias" towards a certain position. Someone who is truly open, won't build a theology based on a solid foundation, because he/she must remain open (free from commitment) even in regards to foundational issues.

However some would argue that the whole idea behind opening your mind is so that you can eventually close it. In other words, you open your mind to all the options, weigh the evidence, and make a decision - case closed (pun intended). Others find virtue in remaining perpetually open to all options, regardless of how strong the evidence points towards something.

There are a lot of things I like about the idea of being open in your Theology. (not to be confused with Open Theism which denies God's ability to know the future) However, being open comes with a lot of risks. I am much more attracted to, and will discuss in the next post, a modified position, which I call - conversation.

Certainly Not: Part Three

If you're just tuning in, I've been talking about what I call, "Theological Fallibility". Basically, the idea is this - we know, due to our imperfect nature, that we must be wrong in some area of our theology (we just don't know which area). So, how do we respond to this troubling theological pickle?

I've already dealt with the response of Uncertainty, so what about the response of Humility? Humility recognizes it's insignificant place among a sea of theological perspectives. Simply among Baptists there can be a wide divergence of views, but when you broaden this out, the artist of Evangelicalism begins painting with even wider brush strokes. Adjust your telescope, and you can see the countless stars of denominations within the galaxy of Protestantism. As your perspective broadens even more, you see the tree of Christendom branching out into Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. As if this wasn't divergent enough, you realize all the above are cheaply categorized as "Christian" and (to the western mind) it's them against Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism...the list goes on and on.

With so MANY different views, how could I possibly claim that I have somehow escaped error, and am a virtual color commentator of the acts of the almighty God (if there is one, says the Atheist). The theologian, pinned between the rock of human fallibility and the hard place of divergent opinion, is driven to his knees. We realize our tiny, insignificant place among such a significant majority.

Thus, humility isn't really a response, it's more of an attitude. It's an attitude taken by somebody who's been put in their place. However, as important as proper perspective, and an attitude of humility is in this task of building a theology - it still doesn't answer the question of how to proactively respond to our theological fallibility. Indeed, we must keep looking for a better way - a way forward.
~~~

Part Four of this series will continue our journey towards finding a proper response to our Theological Fallibility.

Certainly Not: Part Two

So basically, the idea so far is that the imperfect aspect of our humanity demands that we are wrong in some area of our theology. The problem is, we don't know what those areas are, and we'll never reach a perfectly tuned theology. I'm assuming that you're with me up to this point, the area in which we might diverge is in how to respond to this quite troubling realization of our fallible humanity. How should we respond?

There are four (probably more) ways to respond to our "theological fallibility"...

1. Uncertainty
2. Humility
3. Openness
4. Conversation

First, let's look at uncertainty. This response is a glass-half-empty, pessimistic theology. Uncertainty avoids making propositional truth claims (especially metanarratives), and can never fully define with certainty the finer (even essential) points of it's theology. Uncertainty doesn't like an ABC ducks-in-a-row theology, and is skeptical of any matter-of-fact theologian. Uncertainty revels in the mystery of God, and doesn't like to put Him in a box, no matter how over-sized. This type of person openly admits to not having everything figured out - and is perfectly content to keep it that way.

I think this response - blanket uncertainty - fails in it's inability to differentiate between black, gray, and white. For example, I KNOW my wife's name is Emily. I KNOW she's 4' 11''. I KNOW she is an interpreter, and I KNOW that she is (at this moment) sleeping soundly in another part of the house. What may not be as tangible is her love for me, respect of me, and loyalty to me. I know these latter things are true, I just know experientially as opposed to intellectually.

What's interesting to me is that the most certain things in life (e.g. that wall is blue) are the most inconsequential. It is the not-as-certain things which carry the most weight (e.g. does my wife really love me?). But I digress, the point is that there are some things which we can be certain about, and then there are other things which require a bit more caution (duh). Thus, blanket uncertainty is like pulling out a rocket launcher during a rubber band fight - slight over-reaction.
~~~

Part Three will take a look at some other ways to respond to this "theological fallibility" dilemma.

Certainly Not: Part One

I would assume, and I think this is a safe assumption, that if you asked a crowd of about 300 people to raise their hand if they thought something they believed was false - no hands would go up. Nobody thinks something they believe is wrong, otherwise - they wouldn't believe it.

However, if you asked that same group of 300 people to raise their hand if they thought they were perfect, again, not a single hand would go up. So, how do we reconcile these two commonly accepted truths, 1) we aren't perfect AND 2) as far as we know, we don't believe anything that is wrong?

The implication is this: Though I can't pinpoint it exactly, my humanity dictates that I must be categorically wrong in some area or another of my theology/belief system.

When I was a data entry clerk, I entered thousands and thousands of keystrokes into a computer. Common sense tells me that, though I didn't know it at the time, I MUST have made a few mistakes while typing. It's like that with our theology. Our humanity guarantees that we've made a mistake, we just don't know where.

Maybe our source was wrong, maybe we aren't coming at it from the right perspective, maybe we've misinterpreted a passage, maybe their is a textual variant, maybe our presuppositions are getting in the way, maybe we're thinking with wrong categories, maybe there is still more information to be discovered, maybe, maybe, maybe. How are we supposed to build a theology on a bunch of "maybes"?
~~~
Part two of this series will look at four possible responses to this dilemma - Uncertainty, Humility, Openness, and Conversation

Why Can't We be Friends?

"For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow."
~ Ecclesiastes 1:18

I think, if we tried, we could learn a thing or two from pain. Maybe, if we viewed heartache, not as an enemy, but as a friend, we might be able to use pain/suffering to our advantage. You see, when pain is viewed as an enemy, it's viewed as something that must be destroyed. The most common response to pain that I hear is explanation. When someone is hurting, we try to offer them information and knowledge, thinking that this will help. We think that if we could just list the top ten reasons why God allows pain and suffering, the pain itself will be destroyed.

It is my belief that knowing the why of suffering does not ease the pain of suffering. When a child experiences pain after touching a hot stovetop, we want to ease their pain (and this is natural). How tragic, however, if all we've learned is how to ease pain, but we still haven't figured out not to touch the hot stovetop. Pain is an indication that something is wrong - so we had better stop trying to ease the pain, and start trying to figure out what went wrong. But don't always expect the pain to go away - it might not, and that's ok - maybe pain can be your tutor, or better yet - your friend.