But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16
More than two years ago, my small group studied Galatians and Ephesians. Since that time, I have been praying that God would show me how and enable me to walk by the Spirit so that I would not carry out the desire of the flesh. When I first began praying this prayer, I didn’t really know what it meant to walk by the Spirit. Up to this point I had incorrectly assumed that if I were filled with the Spirit I would have a supernatural ability not to sin, and I couldn’t figure out how to tap into that power. Through our discussions in my small group, our leader helped us to understand that fundamentally, walking by the Spirit was simply choosing to be obedient to the will of God in everything we do. Power would follow obedience.
While I was in the woodshed, I was reflecting on what God had been teaching me about submission during the previous two weeks, and I was prompted to turn to Ephesians 5:15-21…
15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
As I was reading through these verses God showed me that during the time I had been praying for direction in walking in the Spirit, He had been teaching me a series of lessons consistent with this passage.
Lesson 1: Make the most of your time.
Do not waste your time on fruitless activities that are of no eternal significance, and make sure your priorities are consistent with God’s priorities.
Lesson 2: Understand what the will of the Lord is.
The only way to know the will of God is to know His word, the Bible.
Lesson 3: Be filled with the Spirit.
Daily ask God to fill you with His Spirit and to enable you to walk by the Spirit so that you do not carry out the desires of the flesh. Then obey God’s word and submit to the Spirit’s direction.
Lesson 4: Always give thanks.
Pray that God would give you a thankful heart, and look for things to be thankful for in every situation.
Lesson 5: Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
Philippians 2:3-4 says it best: Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
I was excited when I realized what God had been teaching me. My only question was, “Why did it have to take so long?!” For more than two years, God has been showing me how to walk by the Spirit. Now my prayer is that He would enable me to DO it consistently.
The next lesson from the woodshed will be on prayerlessness.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Lessons from the Woodshed—Idolatry
Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 6:1
Whether then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
I Corinthians 10:31
My pastor refers to being in the place of receiving discipline from God as being taken to the woodshed. Culminating with the NWC last weekend, I was in the woodshed for more than two weeks, and I took quite a whipping.
Generally speaking, God showed me the extent of my problem with submission. I had no idea it was THAT BAD. Please understand, I am not one of those people who is deluded. “My sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3), and I usually take exhortation well because there ain’t nothin you can tell me about myself that I don’t already know. However, three weeks ago today, a dear friend sent me to the woodshed on God’s behalf, and if I have indeed emerged, I am now in what will probably be a long period of recovery.
Prior to entering the woodshed, I had been convicted about the place of Logoscentric in my life. I would have days where I spent a reasonable amount of time on the computer, and I would have days wherein many hours were spent reading and writing and tweaking and linking. In the woodshed, God provided the clarity that only the woodshed can provide: Logoscentric had become an idol.
Not only had my blog become an idol in my priorities, but I had become preoccupied with increasing readers and pleasing my “audience” rather than doing the thing for God’s glory. It’s not to God’s glory to write some insignificant blog post at the expense of one’s husband and children.
So in the woodshed, when I came face to face with my pride, my misplaced priorities, and the futility of my pursuits, I did what anyone truly desiring to please God would do, I offered to give Logoscentric up. COMPLETELY. “Lord, I will click on the delete button, if that is what you want me to do. Just say the word.”
Some of you may be thinking, Katy, how can you know if God is telling you to delete your blog? How do you know you’re not just talking to yourself, or that it’s not Satan wanting you to give it up? Believe me, once you’ve been in “sold out” mode long enough, you’ll know when God is communicating to you. He is not subtle.
So far the word has not been to give up Logoscentric (no pun intended), but to prioritize it appropriately. I also have been impressed with the need to be more intentional with what I am doing here, but I haven’t determined any specific direction yet. I would love feedback from you as God directs you to give it.
More lessons from the woodshed are to come.
Matthew 6:1
Whether then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
I Corinthians 10:31
My pastor refers to being in the place of receiving discipline from God as being taken to the woodshed. Culminating with the NWC last weekend, I was in the woodshed for more than two weeks, and I took quite a whipping.
Generally speaking, God showed me the extent of my problem with submission. I had no idea it was THAT BAD. Please understand, I am not one of those people who is deluded. “My sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3), and I usually take exhortation well because there ain’t nothin you can tell me about myself that I don’t already know. However, three weeks ago today, a dear friend sent me to the woodshed on God’s behalf, and if I have indeed emerged, I am now in what will probably be a long period of recovery.
Prior to entering the woodshed, I had been convicted about the place of Logoscentric in my life. I would have days where I spent a reasonable amount of time on the computer, and I would have days wherein many hours were spent reading and writing and tweaking and linking. In the woodshed, God provided the clarity that only the woodshed can provide: Logoscentric had become an idol.
Not only had my blog become an idol in my priorities, but I had become preoccupied with increasing readers and pleasing my “audience” rather than doing the thing for God’s glory. It’s not to God’s glory to write some insignificant blog post at the expense of one’s husband and children.
So in the woodshed, when I came face to face with my pride, my misplaced priorities, and the futility of my pursuits, I did what anyone truly desiring to please God would do, I offered to give Logoscentric up. COMPLETELY. “Lord, I will click on the delete button, if that is what you want me to do. Just say the word.”
Some of you may be thinking, Katy, how can you know if God is telling you to delete your blog? How do you know you’re not just talking to yourself, or that it’s not Satan wanting you to give it up? Believe me, once you’ve been in “sold out” mode long enough, you’ll know when God is communicating to you. He is not subtle.
So far the word has not been to give up Logoscentric (no pun intended), but to prioritize it appropriately. I also have been impressed with the need to be more intentional with what I am doing here, but I haven’t determined any specific direction yet. I would love feedback from you as God directs you to give it.
More lessons from the woodshed are to come.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Home Again
I'm posting right now by sheer willpower. I'm EXHAUSTED. I got home Sunday evening around 10:00, and my DSL was back up and running on Monday morning, but between hitting the ground running yesterday and being so tired today, I just haven't been able to bring myself to post until now. I'm hoping to catch up on my rest in the next couple of days because school starts on Friday. No sleeping until 8:00 then!
The NWC was excellent. I was convicted, exhorted, encouraged, and motivated. My prayer is that it won't be yet another temporary mountaintop experience, but that I would be truly changed as a result of what God taught me. In future posts I plan to share some of the things I learned.
I must say that Kay Arthur rocks. One of the speakers made a theologically/doctrinally unsound statement on the first day, and Kay dealt with it with great spirit and authority in her closing message. I may not agree with her eschatology, and I doubt she describes herself as Reformed, but she sure knows what the Bible says about unconditional election!
I spent a good bit of time in the bookstore, but I didn't buy much. There just wasn't much that interested me. Ten years ago I would have needed an additional suitcase for books, but at this phase in my walk, I'm primarly interested in simply studying the Bible or reading the classics—old and new.
Speaking of which, one of my purchases was Out of the Salt Shaker and into the World by Rebecca Manley Pippert. She was one of the speakers, and I really liked her. She is erudite and down to earth. I had her sign my book, and I asked her about her doctrinal leanings. I was correct in my guess that we are like-minded. It was interesting to me that her book table did not draw nearly the crowd the others did. Her books primarily focus on evangelism, and she has been endorsed by the likes of Charles Colson and J.I. Packer. I'm really tempted to begin a rant here, but I'll trust the Holy Spirit to teach others, as He did me, that studying the Word itself will enable women to deal with their problems and challenges—as an endless stream of "Christian self-help" books cannot do.
Now she's back.
The NWC was excellent. I was convicted, exhorted, encouraged, and motivated. My prayer is that it won't be yet another temporary mountaintop experience, but that I would be truly changed as a result of what God taught me. In future posts I plan to share some of the things I learned.
I must say that Kay Arthur rocks. One of the speakers made a theologically/doctrinally unsound statement on the first day, and Kay dealt with it with great spirit and authority in her closing message. I may not agree with her eschatology, and I doubt she describes herself as Reformed, but she sure knows what the Bible says about unconditional election!
I spent a good bit of time in the bookstore, but I didn't buy much. There just wasn't much that interested me. Ten years ago I would have needed an additional suitcase for books, but at this phase in my walk, I'm primarly interested in simply studying the Bible or reading the classics—old and new.
Speaking of which, one of my purchases was Out of the Salt Shaker and into the World by Rebecca Manley Pippert. She was one of the speakers, and I really liked her. She is erudite and down to earth. I had her sign my book, and I asked her about her doctrinal leanings. I was correct in my guess that we are like-minded. It was interesting to me that her book table did not draw nearly the crowd the others did. Her books primarily focus on evangelism, and she has been endorsed by the likes of Charles Colson and J.I. Packer. I'm really tempted to begin a rant here, but I'll trust the Holy Spirit to teach others, as He did me, that studying the Word itself will enable women to deal with their problems and challenges—as an endless stream of "Christian self-help" books cannot do.
Now she's back.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Road Trip: Precept National Women's Convention
Tomorrow afternoon, I am heading to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the Precept Ministries National Women's Convention. I am not in the position to "live blog," so I plan to come home with plenty of blog fodder. In the rare event that someone out there reading this blog is also going to the NWC, be on the lookout for me in the bookstore.
I just found out that our DSL connection will not be operational until Friday, at the earliest. So after I post this, I will again be incommunicado until Sunday evening.
Have a great weekend!
I just found out that our DSL connection will not be operational until Friday, at the earliest. So after I post this, I will again be incommunicado until Sunday evening.
Have a great weekend!
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Colossians 1:11—The Purpose of His Power in Me
For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience…
—Colossians 1:9-11
Having completed Job, our Sunday school class is now studying Colossians. Most of today’s discussion centered on the passage above. I was especially blessed by our discussion of verse 11. Our teacher, Jim, pointed out that the purpose for which we have been “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might” is for “the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.” The ESV and NIV use the word “endurance” rather than steadfastness. Two members of the class who had notes in their Bibles indicated that the original Greek word for steadfastness/endurance refers to endurance in dealing with people, and the original Greek word for patience refers to patience in difficult circumstances.
What the passage is saying is that the power we have through Christ in us is for the purpose of demonstrating steadfastness/endurance and patience. Jim suggested that it seems like the power of God in us should be used for something seemingly more significant than in demonstrating patience with people and circumstances; but immediately, I realized that these are precisely the areas where I have the greatest struggles.
Because of said struggles, I am tremendously encouraged by this verse and the implications for my life. Knowing that the power of Christ is in me specifically to enable me to be patient with people and to endure difficult circumstances should release me to let go and enable Him do what I clearly cannot.
—Colossians 1:9-11
Having completed Job, our Sunday school class is now studying Colossians. Most of today’s discussion centered on the passage above. I was especially blessed by our discussion of verse 11. Our teacher, Jim, pointed out that the purpose for which we have been “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might” is for “the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.” The ESV and NIV use the word “endurance” rather than steadfastness. Two members of the class who had notes in their Bibles indicated that the original Greek word for steadfastness/endurance refers to endurance in dealing with people, and the original Greek word for patience refers to patience in difficult circumstances.
What the passage is saying is that the power we have through Christ in us is for the purpose of demonstrating steadfastness/endurance and patience. Jim suggested that it seems like the power of God in us should be used for something seemingly more significant than in demonstrating patience with people and circumstances; but immediately, I realized that these are precisely the areas where I have the greatest struggles.
Because of said struggles, I am tremendously encouraged by this verse and the implications for my life. Knowing that the power of Christ is in me specifically to enable me to be patient with people and to endure difficult circumstances should release me to let go and enable Him do what I clearly cannot.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Mini Review: Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest
I receive a weekly movie newsletter from Christianity Today, and having glanced over last week’s issue, I vaguely remember a statement saying that Christian reviewers were giving Pirates favorable reviews. Now that I’ve seen the movie I understand why. The film makes it clear that there will be a judgment, and that judgment is something to dread. It also demonstrates that there are two choices in life: bondage to Satan and death, as in Colossians 3:3. I doubt whether the writers intended to show this, but it’s there. There are also discussions about truthfulness, courage, and having a “moral center.” And there are demonstrations of sacrificial love.
Hollywood loves to make statements on issues, and Pirates makes its indictment against corporate greed and the operations of multinational corporations via presenting the unscrupulous activities of East India Trading Company—arguably the world’s first MNC. EITC is presented as being more powerful than even the King of England in its quest to rule the seas.
My husband and I have been amazed at how Pirates has been marketed to young children. McDonald’s Happy Meals are promoting the film, and at Disney World, we saw massive amounts of Pirates merchandise designed for little ones. This is NOT a film for young children. It is frightening, violent, grotesque, and at times, sensual; and for all of its positive attributes, it does include black magic and the now ubiquitous English version of the “f” word, which Americans still don’t seem to get and subsequently see as offensive. (If you don’t know what word I’m talking about, email me, and I’ll tell you.)
Pirates is entertaining fun with a fundamentally Christian world view appropiate for adults and teenagers . I should warn you that the film leaves you hanging at the end. The third and final installment of the series is being filmed right now, and it is scheduled to be released next year. If you didn’t see the first Pirates movie or if you have forgotten most of it, as I had, you will want to rent it before seeing part two so you can keep up with what is going on. It can be hard to follow at times.
That’s my two cents worth.
Hollywood loves to make statements on issues, and Pirates makes its indictment against corporate greed and the operations of multinational corporations via presenting the unscrupulous activities of East India Trading Company—arguably the world’s first MNC. EITC is presented as being more powerful than even the King of England in its quest to rule the seas.
My husband and I have been amazed at how Pirates has been marketed to young children. McDonald’s Happy Meals are promoting the film, and at Disney World, we saw massive amounts of Pirates merchandise designed for little ones. This is NOT a film for young children. It is frightening, violent, grotesque, and at times, sensual; and for all of its positive attributes, it does include black magic and the now ubiquitous English version of the “f” word, which Americans still don’t seem to get and subsequently see as offensive. (If you don’t know what word I’m talking about, email me, and I’ll tell you.)
Pirates is entertaining fun with a fundamentally Christian world view appropiate for adults and teenagers . I should warn you that the film leaves you hanging at the end. The third and final installment of the series is being filmed right now, and it is scheduled to be released next year. If you didn’t see the first Pirates movie or if you have forgotten most of it, as I had, you will want to rent it before seeing part two so you can keep up with what is going on. It can be hard to follow at times.
That’s my two cents worth.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Lessons from Orlando
Right now, it seems downright ridiculous to me that going into the trip to Orlando my primary concern was the weather. It never occurred to me that I would have to deal with a rebellious attitude in my firstborn son. His distressing behavior manifested itself in three areas: (1) Talking back. Constantly. (2) Questioning every directive. (3) Expecting all activities to revolve around his desires. Perhaps you’re thinking this behavior sounds normal? My son is five. Not yet in Kindergarten. I expected this at thirteen, not five.
This phase (I hope) in my son’s conduct is especially troubling to me for two reasons. First, my son has always been a very good child by anyone’s standard. His current conduct often seems that of a whole other person. He isn’t himself. I have on several occasions stopped what I was doing and prayed against the work of the enemy in him because he seemed downright possessed.
The second cause for distress is what my experience with my son is teaching me about myself. Observing his conduct and feeling my reaction to it have been an ongoing opportunity for the Holy Spirit to reveal to me my own rebellious tendencies, how my rebellion makes God feel, and why I need to be disciplined. For someone who already has a tendency to beat herself up over her sin (another vestige of my Arminian past), this has been very hard to take.
In addition to the trouble with my son, I severely underestimated the importance to my emotional well-being of the two hours to myself I usually have daily from around 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm. My husband is an early riser, and I am a night owl. I make myself go to bed around 11:00 because I know that is what I have to do to get adequate rest. The time I have to myself each night while the house is quiet and still is very important to me, but I had no idea how important it was until I went without it for four days straight. Four people in a standard hotel room—two of whom are five and two—does not a “vacation” make.
All of this emotional stress, and I had been concerned about the weather! It was very good, by the way. Lower nineties. Moderate humidity. Afternoon thundershowers to cool things off. Couldn’t have been better by July in Florida standards. Thank you for your prayers!
My husband spent some time researching the best strategy for tackling Disney World, and his work paid off. We arrived when the park opened at 9:00, and everyone was ready to go by 2:00 when the afternoon thunderstorms were approaching. We never stood in line for more than ten minutes. The kids enjoyed the Magic Kingdom, but I think they would have been just as happy to have spent the morning at the hotel pool. This is no ordinary pool—big shallow area for small children, slide, fountains, lazy river. I highly recommend the hotel. It’s not on the Disney property, but it takes ten minutes max to get to the Magic Kingdom parking lot.
As usual, I am glad to be home. Returning from traveling regardless of the circumstances always makes me thankful for my home. I still have a lot to think and pray about regarding what I learned, but for now, I must do laundry.
This phase (I hope) in my son’s conduct is especially troubling to me for two reasons. First, my son has always been a very good child by anyone’s standard. His current conduct often seems that of a whole other person. He isn’t himself. I have on several occasions stopped what I was doing and prayed against the work of the enemy in him because he seemed downright possessed.
The second cause for distress is what my experience with my son is teaching me about myself. Observing his conduct and feeling my reaction to it have been an ongoing opportunity for the Holy Spirit to reveal to me my own rebellious tendencies, how my rebellion makes God feel, and why I need to be disciplined. For someone who already has a tendency to beat herself up over her sin (another vestige of my Arminian past), this has been very hard to take.
In addition to the trouble with my son, I severely underestimated the importance to my emotional well-being of the two hours to myself I usually have daily from around 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm. My husband is an early riser, and I am a night owl. I make myself go to bed around 11:00 because I know that is what I have to do to get adequate rest. The time I have to myself each night while the house is quiet and still is very important to me, but I had no idea how important it was until I went without it for four days straight. Four people in a standard hotel room—two of whom are five and two—does not a “vacation” make.
All of this emotional stress, and I had been concerned about the weather! It was very good, by the way. Lower nineties. Moderate humidity. Afternoon thundershowers to cool things off. Couldn’t have been better by July in Florida standards. Thank you for your prayers!
My husband spent some time researching the best strategy for tackling Disney World, and his work paid off. We arrived when the park opened at 9:00, and everyone was ready to go by 2:00 when the afternoon thunderstorms were approaching. We never stood in line for more than ten minutes. The kids enjoyed the Magic Kingdom, but I think they would have been just as happy to have spent the morning at the hotel pool. This is no ordinary pool—big shallow area for small children, slide, fountains, lazy river. I highly recommend the hotel. It’s not on the Disney property, but it takes ten minutes max to get to the Magic Kingdom parking lot.
As usual, I am glad to be home. Returning from traveling regardless of the circumstances always makes me thankful for my home. I still have a lot to think and pray about regarding what I learned, but for now, I must do laundry.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
On Vacation…So to Speak
We are leaving Saturday to go to Orlando. Yes, I know. Orlando. In July. Sounds refreshing, doesn’t it? Especially since I already endure near 100 degree temperatures on a regular basis during the summer months.
My husband is participating in a yearly professional conference that caters to families, so we are going along. This is our summer vacation as well. At least we are staying in a hotel. Last year, we rented a condo at the beach, which still required a certain amount of cooking, laundry, and keeping things picked up. A hotel is more like it. Of course, as I said last year, at this phase in my life, vacation is just a change of scenery. Not that it isn’t welcomed or appreciated. I’m just trying to be realistic.
I’m the type of person who is affected greatly by my expectations. If I expect something to be great, and it isn’t, I am usually terribly disappointed. However, if I expect something to be unpleasant (such as Orlando in July), and it turns out to be fun… You understand.
Anyway, I will not be posting for at least a week. When I return, I expect to be able to post a treatise on how Orlando in July is evidence supporting unconditional election. If salvation were up to humans, surely such a foretaste of hell would send people running to Jesus.
My husband is participating in a yearly professional conference that caters to families, so we are going along. This is our summer vacation as well. At least we are staying in a hotel. Last year, we rented a condo at the beach, which still required a certain amount of cooking, laundry, and keeping things picked up. A hotel is more like it. Of course, as I said last year, at this phase in my life, vacation is just a change of scenery. Not that it isn’t welcomed or appreciated. I’m just trying to be realistic.
I’m the type of person who is affected greatly by my expectations. If I expect something to be great, and it isn’t, I am usually terribly disappointed. However, if I expect something to be unpleasant (such as Orlando in July), and it turns out to be fun… You understand.
Anyway, I will not be posting for at least a week. When I return, I expect to be able to post a treatise on how Orlando in July is evidence supporting unconditional election. If salvation were up to humans, surely such a foretaste of hell would send people running to Jesus.
Feeling Guilty About Quiet Time?
I'm sure most of my Reformed friends out there read Challies.com, but for those of you who do not, I MUST direct you to one of this week's posts: "The Tyranny of Quiet Time." You must also read the article referenced: "Freedom from Quiet Time Guilt."
"Freedom from Quiet Time Guilt" dovetails nicely with what I learned reading and reflecting on The Papa Prayer (see below). And I am especially prone to thinking things aren't going well because of what I have or haven't done—vestiges of my Arminian past.
Read these posts and be encouraged in your relationship with God.
"Freedom from Quiet Time Guilt" dovetails nicely with what I learned reading and reflecting on The Papa Prayer (see below). And I am especially prone to thinking things aren't going well because of what I have or haven't done—vestiges of my Arminian past.
Read these posts and be encouraged in your relationship with God.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Book Review: The Papa Prayer
If you have read the “100 Things About Me,” you may recall number two: I struggle with prayer. More than once in the past year I have described my prayer life as sending up orders to a cosmic short-order cook. So when I picked up a copy of The Papa Prayer by Larry Crabb and read through some passages, I only briefly questioned the voice in my head telling me I needed to buy the book. Of course, what better way to rationalize putting off actually praying than to read about improving your prayer life?
Apparently, not only am I not alone, but my experience seems to be common among believers. In fact, Crabb suggests that the reason I struggle with prayer is because I see my prayers as akin to placing orders with a cosmic short-order cook. He writes, "Most of us find our prayer lives dominated by asking God for things. For most of us, that’s what prayer is. Changing our minds about the point of prayer will be tough. The wrong idea is nearly universal and deeply imbedded in our thinking. But if we hold to it, if we keep on believing prayer is more about getting things than getting God, not only will we eventually get thoroughly confused when prayer doesn’t “work,” but talking to God will at some point feel boring as well, if we’re honest. … I’m starting to think that getting fed up with asking God for what we want is not such a bad thing. It prepares us for relational prayer."
When I read this passage I realized that my dissatisfaction with my prayer life was a result of my prayers being ultimately about me. Even when I use the ACTS approach (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication), my motivation is to get to the “S.” The best thing about The Papa Prayer is Crabb’s consistent emphasis on what he calls “relational prayer”: "The chief purpose of prayer is to get to know God, to deepen our relationship with Him, to nourish the life of God He’s already placed within us, and to do it all to satisfy His desire for relationship with us."
Not that I didn’t basically know this already, but Crabb very effectively demonstrates how we can come to God as if we are pursuing Him when we are still ultimately pursuing our own interests. He says, "In this life, the feeling of satisfaction that comes when a marriage improves or a child turns back to God or…a ministry takes off feels stronger and brings more pleasure than our experience of God. We are foolish to dampen that pleasure, but we are in danger of living for it, of thinking that blessings from God satisfy our souls more deeply than God Himself."
The second aspect of the book I found to be beneficial was in the section on “purging yourself of anything that blocks your relationship with God.” Crabb believes that everything that is wrong in our lives is somehow related to what is going on in our primary relationships and that relational sin starts with fear. We don’t trust God to take care of us, so we attempt to take care of ourselves and subsequently sin against others. He gives some excellent examples of how this plays out in life.
In a nutshell, The Papa Prayer approach is as follows:
P: Present yourself to God authentically; be real with Him as you are with no one else.
A: Attend to how you are thinking of God, how you picture Him as you are talking to Him, and then modify your perception to fit who He tells you He is. (He directs us to Revelation chapter one for a proper view of God.)
P: Purge yourself of your relational faults by taking an inventory of how you put your interests ahead of His and getting rid of anything that blocks intimacy with Him.
A: Approach God just as you are, tuning into your passion to know Him and to honor Him above all others.
Herein lies my problem with Crabb’s approach. In elaborating on the first point, “present yourself to God” Crabb describes this step as finding your “red dot.” The point is to be honest with God about how you feel and where you are spiritually. I’ve been thinking about this for several days, and I can’t get beyond the conviction that my prayers shouldn’t begin with ME. Maybe it’s just that the ACTS approach has been drilled into me, but it seems appropriate to me to think about who you’re dealing with FIRST in order to get the proper perspective of yourself.
Two more warnings: (1) The first half of the book was somewhat boring to me as it seemed to be an extensive and repetitive introduction to the PAPA approach. (2) Crabb is a psychologist, and every now and then, he veers into what I call psychobabble. However, I am willing to admit that my sensitivity to this is probably a matter of personal taste as I am all about DOCTRINE. No touchy feely here.
Criticisms aside, I would recommend this book to anyone who struggles with prayer or who could simply use some instruction in praying. The substance of the book and the examples from Crabb’s practice are beneficial. However, I still intend to use the ACTS approach. And after reading the book, for all of its helpful content, I know that the only way my prayer life is going to improve is for me TO PRAY.
Apparently, not only am I not alone, but my experience seems to be common among believers. In fact, Crabb suggests that the reason I struggle with prayer is because I see my prayers as akin to placing orders with a cosmic short-order cook. He writes, "Most of us find our prayer lives dominated by asking God for things. For most of us, that’s what prayer is. Changing our minds about the point of prayer will be tough. The wrong idea is nearly universal and deeply imbedded in our thinking. But if we hold to it, if we keep on believing prayer is more about getting things than getting God, not only will we eventually get thoroughly confused when prayer doesn’t “work,” but talking to God will at some point feel boring as well, if we’re honest. … I’m starting to think that getting fed up with asking God for what we want is not such a bad thing. It prepares us for relational prayer."
When I read this passage I realized that my dissatisfaction with my prayer life was a result of my prayers being ultimately about me. Even when I use the ACTS approach (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication), my motivation is to get to the “S.” The best thing about The Papa Prayer is Crabb’s consistent emphasis on what he calls “relational prayer”: "The chief purpose of prayer is to get to know God, to deepen our relationship with Him, to nourish the life of God He’s already placed within us, and to do it all to satisfy His desire for relationship with us."
Not that I didn’t basically know this already, but Crabb very effectively demonstrates how we can come to God as if we are pursuing Him when we are still ultimately pursuing our own interests. He says, "In this life, the feeling of satisfaction that comes when a marriage improves or a child turns back to God or…a ministry takes off feels stronger and brings more pleasure than our experience of God. We are foolish to dampen that pleasure, but we are in danger of living for it, of thinking that blessings from God satisfy our souls more deeply than God Himself."
The second aspect of the book I found to be beneficial was in the section on “purging yourself of anything that blocks your relationship with God.” Crabb believes that everything that is wrong in our lives is somehow related to what is going on in our primary relationships and that relational sin starts with fear. We don’t trust God to take care of us, so we attempt to take care of ourselves and subsequently sin against others. He gives some excellent examples of how this plays out in life.
In a nutshell, The Papa Prayer approach is as follows:
P: Present yourself to God authentically; be real with Him as you are with no one else.
A: Attend to how you are thinking of God, how you picture Him as you are talking to Him, and then modify your perception to fit who He tells you He is. (He directs us to Revelation chapter one for a proper view of God.)
P: Purge yourself of your relational faults by taking an inventory of how you put your interests ahead of His and getting rid of anything that blocks intimacy with Him.
A: Approach God just as you are, tuning into your passion to know Him and to honor Him above all others.
Herein lies my problem with Crabb’s approach. In elaborating on the first point, “present yourself to God” Crabb describes this step as finding your “red dot.” The point is to be honest with God about how you feel and where you are spiritually. I’ve been thinking about this for several days, and I can’t get beyond the conviction that my prayers shouldn’t begin with ME. Maybe it’s just that the ACTS approach has been drilled into me, but it seems appropriate to me to think about who you’re dealing with FIRST in order to get the proper perspective of yourself.
Two more warnings: (1) The first half of the book was somewhat boring to me as it seemed to be an extensive and repetitive introduction to the PAPA approach. (2) Crabb is a psychologist, and every now and then, he veers into what I call psychobabble. However, I am willing to admit that my sensitivity to this is probably a matter of personal taste as I am all about DOCTRINE. No touchy feely here.
Criticisms aside, I would recommend this book to anyone who struggles with prayer or who could simply use some instruction in praying. The substance of the book and the examples from Crabb’s practice are beneficial. However, I still intend to use the ACTS approach. And after reading the book, for all of its helpful content, I know that the only way my prayer life is going to improve is for me TO PRAY.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Seven Lessons from Job
God cares more about our faith than our pleasure.
—Philip Yancey on Job in The Bible Jesus Read
Our Sunday school class finished our discussion of Job last week. I can’t remember when we started the study, but it has taken some months, and about two-thirds of the way through the book I told my husband that I was sick of Job’s friends. However, my enthusiasm returned at the end of the book, and now I want to reflect on what I learned—or what I already knew that was reinforced.
I. God is sovereign.
No surprise that a “grace girl” would start here, is it? Job presents a concise picture of God’s sovereignty by showing us God’s involvement in and intimate acquaintance with the life of one of His children, and it demonstrates God’s power in the creation and maintenance of His world. One can rightly conclude from Job that nothing happens that isn’t either initiated or permitted by God. Which is reinforced by and leads to my next point…
II. There are things going on in the spiritual realm that we cannot begin to contemplate.
I really don’t like to think too much about the implications for my life of Job 1:8 when God asks Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” …Have you considered my servant, Katy? However, as frightening as it may be to consider that God may initiate incredible hardship in our lives to accomplish His purposes, we should find comfort in the knowledge that He allows these things to happen because He has confidence in us. He knows we will endure because of the work He has done and will do in us.
III. It is never about us.
Bad theology reigns supreme in this world and even throughout the church. The philosophy that what we do or don’t do results in either good or bad things happening to us is the primary mode of thinking, and it is NOT Biblical. This thinking is why Job’s friends couldn’t get away from the conviction that Job had committed some sin to kindle the wrath of God against him. God’s wrath is ultimately kindled against Job’s friends because “you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.” (Job 42:7) Of course, we will reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7) and we can expect to be disciplined by God for sin (Hebrews 12:4-11), but the ultimate reality of our lives is not based on our actions but on God’s purposes.
IV. Creation is primary evidence for the existence, power, and provision of God.
When God speaks to Job (beginning in chapter 38), He focuses on His creation. This makes me think of Romans 1: 19-20:
…that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
V. The presence of God satisfies all of our questions.
Up until chapter 38 when God speaks to Job, he repeatedly asks for an audience with God. Understandably, in light of his humanity and his bad theology, Job wants an answer as to why such bad things could happen to someone who is “blameless” (Job 1:8). After God responds in chapters 38 and 39, Job has this to say in chapter 40 (v. 4-5):
Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
Once I have spoken, and I will not answer;
Even twice, and I will add nothing more.
VI. We can only begin to have the proper perspective of ourselves when we see ourselves as God’s servant.
God refers to Job as his servant (1:8) at the outset of the narrative, and he reaffirms Job’s status at the end (42:7-8). The Hebrew word “ebed” used here denotes bondage. The New Testament makes our position even clearer in I Corinthians 6:19-20:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
VII. The restoration of Job’s fortune is not the point of the story. His knowing God is.
In a world filled with proponents of a prosperity gospel, there is a tendency to want to focus on the end of the book of Job and the restoration of Job’s fortune. However, (and this is speculation on my part, but I believe it is enlightened speculation) I believe if you were to ask Job, he would say that the highlight of his experience was coming face to face with God and knowing Him in a way he had not known him before. As another servant, Paul (who lost much from the world’s standpoint), wrote in Philippians 3:8:
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.
—Philip Yancey on Job in The Bible Jesus Read
Our Sunday school class finished our discussion of Job last week. I can’t remember when we started the study, but it has taken some months, and about two-thirds of the way through the book I told my husband that I was sick of Job’s friends. However, my enthusiasm returned at the end of the book, and now I want to reflect on what I learned—or what I already knew that was reinforced.
I. God is sovereign.
No surprise that a “grace girl” would start here, is it? Job presents a concise picture of God’s sovereignty by showing us God’s involvement in and intimate acquaintance with the life of one of His children, and it demonstrates God’s power in the creation and maintenance of His world. One can rightly conclude from Job that nothing happens that isn’t either initiated or permitted by God. Which is reinforced by and leads to my next point…
II. There are things going on in the spiritual realm that we cannot begin to contemplate.
I really don’t like to think too much about the implications for my life of Job 1:8 when God asks Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” …Have you considered my servant, Katy? However, as frightening as it may be to consider that God may initiate incredible hardship in our lives to accomplish His purposes, we should find comfort in the knowledge that He allows these things to happen because He has confidence in us. He knows we will endure because of the work He has done and will do in us.
III. It is never about us.
Bad theology reigns supreme in this world and even throughout the church. The philosophy that what we do or don’t do results in either good or bad things happening to us is the primary mode of thinking, and it is NOT Biblical. This thinking is why Job’s friends couldn’t get away from the conviction that Job had committed some sin to kindle the wrath of God against him. God’s wrath is ultimately kindled against Job’s friends because “you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.” (Job 42:7) Of course, we will reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7) and we can expect to be disciplined by God for sin (Hebrews 12:4-11), but the ultimate reality of our lives is not based on our actions but on God’s purposes.
IV. Creation is primary evidence for the existence, power, and provision of God.
When God speaks to Job (beginning in chapter 38), He focuses on His creation. This makes me think of Romans 1: 19-20:
…that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
V. The presence of God satisfies all of our questions.
Up until chapter 38 when God speaks to Job, he repeatedly asks for an audience with God. Understandably, in light of his humanity and his bad theology, Job wants an answer as to why such bad things could happen to someone who is “blameless” (Job 1:8). After God responds in chapters 38 and 39, Job has this to say in chapter 40 (v. 4-5):
Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
Once I have spoken, and I will not answer;
Even twice, and I will add nothing more.
VI. We can only begin to have the proper perspective of ourselves when we see ourselves as God’s servant.
God refers to Job as his servant (1:8) at the outset of the narrative, and he reaffirms Job’s status at the end (42:7-8). The Hebrew word “ebed” used here denotes bondage. The New Testament makes our position even clearer in I Corinthians 6:19-20:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
VII. The restoration of Job’s fortune is not the point of the story. His knowing God is.
In a world filled with proponents of a prosperity gospel, there is a tendency to want to focus on the end of the book of Job and the restoration of Job’s fortune. However, (and this is speculation on my part, but I believe it is enlightened speculation) I believe if you were to ask Job, he would say that the highlight of his experience was coming face to face with God and knowing Him in a way he had not known him before. As another servant, Paul (who lost much from the world’s standpoint), wrote in Philippians 3:8:
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Read Widely and Think Carefully
Why Christians shouldn't limit themselves to "Christian books":
*"whereby we seek and find confirmatory evidence in support of already existing beliefs and ignore or reinterpret disconfirmatory evidence"
—Scientific American
The reality of confirmation bias* and its threat to intellectual integrity is one reason that Christian thinkers must read widely and think carefully. We must not limit ourselves to reading material from those who agree with us, fellow Christians who share a common worldview and perspective. Instead, we have to "read the opposition" as well -- and read opposing viewpoints with fairness and care.
This does not come easily, but Christians bear a particular responsibility to be watchful for confirmation bias and its effects.
Dr. Albert Mohler, "Confirmation Bias in a Fallen World"
*"whereby we seek and find confirmatory evidence in support of already existing beliefs and ignore or reinterpret disconfirmatory evidence"
—Scientific American
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
True Freedom
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:31-32
What makes you free? Knowing the truth.
Who knows the truth? Disciples of Jesus.
How do you know a true disciple of Jesus? A true disciple continues in the Word.
The Greek word for “continues” is “meno”, and it is defined as follows:
I. to remain, abide
A. in reference to place
1. to sojourn, tarry
2. not to depart
a. to continue to be present
b. to be held, kept, continually
B. in reference to time
1. to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure
a. of persons, to survive, live
C. in reference to state or condition
1. to remain as one, not to become another or different
II. to wait for, await one
Meno is the same word Jesus uses in John 15 when he describes Himself as the true vine and instructs His followers, the branches, to abide in Him. Therefore, to know the truth, the follower of Jesus must abide in Him.
Placing one’s faith in Christ sets one free from eternal punishment, but only by abiding in Christ can we know the truth and be free in this life. Paul makes the reality of a choice clear in Galatians 5:1 when he writes: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” From this we can conclude that we can choose to abide in Christ, know the truth, and be free or we can choose to subject ourselves to a yoke of slavery. The yoke of slavery Paul is referring to in Galatians is legalism.
When one is abiding in Christ, He is being led by the Holy Spirit, so there is no need to resort to a list of rules and regulations to know how to live. The Spirit of Christ will not direct the believer to do anything in conflict with God's word. Galatians 5:18 says, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
The tendency to live by rules and regulations and to attempt to obtain one’s righteousness from them is manifested by those who do not abide in Christ, who do not have a relationship with Him. According to Paul, people who live this way are in bondage. In Galatians 3:1 he asks the question: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
Paul is talking to Christians. He is saying, you were saved as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit. Now that you are saved, are you going to sanctify yourself by attempting to keep the law? That’s foolish. Just as you were unable to save yourself, you are unable to sanctify yourself. Only the Spirit can do that.
And He does it when you abide in Christ.
Happy Independence Day.
John 8:31-32
What makes you free? Knowing the truth.
Who knows the truth? Disciples of Jesus.
How do you know a true disciple of Jesus? A true disciple continues in the Word.
The Greek word for “continues” is “meno”, and it is defined as follows:
I. to remain, abide
A. in reference to place
1. to sojourn, tarry
2. not to depart
a. to continue to be present
b. to be held, kept, continually
B. in reference to time
1. to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure
a. of persons, to survive, live
C. in reference to state or condition
1. to remain as one, not to become another or different
II. to wait for, await one
Meno is the same word Jesus uses in John 15 when he describes Himself as the true vine and instructs His followers, the branches, to abide in Him. Therefore, to know the truth, the follower of Jesus must abide in Him.
Placing one’s faith in Christ sets one free from eternal punishment, but only by abiding in Christ can we know the truth and be free in this life. Paul makes the reality of a choice clear in Galatians 5:1 when he writes: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” From this we can conclude that we can choose to abide in Christ, know the truth, and be free or we can choose to subject ourselves to a yoke of slavery. The yoke of slavery Paul is referring to in Galatians is legalism.
When one is abiding in Christ, He is being led by the Holy Spirit, so there is no need to resort to a list of rules and regulations to know how to live. The Spirit of Christ will not direct the believer to do anything in conflict with God's word. Galatians 5:18 says, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
The tendency to live by rules and regulations and to attempt to obtain one’s righteousness from them is manifested by those who do not abide in Christ, who do not have a relationship with Him. According to Paul, people who live this way are in bondage. In Galatians 3:1 he asks the question: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
Paul is talking to Christians. He is saying, you were saved as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit. Now that you are saved, are you going to sanctify yourself by attempting to keep the law? That’s foolish. Just as you were unable to save yourself, you are unable to sanctify yourself. Only the Spirit can do that.
And He does it when you abide in Christ.
Happy Independence Day.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Do You Know Jesus?
I opened up the proverbial can of worms this evening at Crunchy Con. I commented on the Anne Lamott thing, and they let me have it. I was asked the question:
Do *you* know [Jesus]?
Following is my answer in the context of the Anne Lamott euthanasia controversy.
A little more than two years ago, my greatly beloved maternal grandmother died of complications resulting from CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia). We watched her waste away for weeks, the last of which she was under the care of Hospice, so morphine was available for the pain. It was excruciating to watch her suffer. However, it never occurred to any of us to take matters into our own hands and to end her life.
Why not? Because we know Jesus. As Christians, we know that God loves us more than we could possibly love ourselves and that He has a plan and a purpose for our lives. Sometimes His purposes are accomplished through suffering. I don’t understand it, and when I am enduring it, I certainly don’t like it, but because I KNOW Him, I can trust Him. No matter what. Because I trust Him, I can submit to His authority when He says, “Thou shalt not kill.” It’s that simple.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.
Romans 8:16-18
Do *you* know [Jesus]?
Following is my answer in the context of the Anne Lamott euthanasia controversy.
A little more than two years ago, my greatly beloved maternal grandmother died of complications resulting from CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia). We watched her waste away for weeks, the last of which she was under the care of Hospice, so morphine was available for the pain. It was excruciating to watch her suffer. However, it never occurred to any of us to take matters into our own hands and to end her life.
Why not? Because we know Jesus. As Christians, we know that God loves us more than we could possibly love ourselves and that He has a plan and a purpose for our lives. Sometimes His purposes are accomplished through suffering. I don’t understand it, and when I am enduring it, I certainly don’t like it, but because I KNOW Him, I can trust Him. No matter what. Because I trust Him, I can submit to His authority when He says, “Thou shalt not kill.” It’s that simple.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.
Romans 8:16-18
Can Ann Lamott Be Regenerate?
You will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:16
...the first effect of the power of God in the heart in regeneration is to give the heart a Divine taste or sense; to cause it to have a relish of the loveliness and sweetness of the supreme excellency of the Divine nature.
— Jonathan Edwards
I read Dr. Albert Mohler’s post about Ann Lamott last night before I went to bed, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. You should read it in order to have the proper context for my comments here.
I read several of Lamott’s nonfiction works years ago, and while I was always uncomfortable with her pro-choice position, her lack of concern for sexual purity, and her frequent use of unwholesome language, I took her testimony of being a Christian at face value. When faced with her own unplanned pregnancy by an unsupportive partner, she opted NOT to have an abortion, and her writing offers much evidence of a changed life. In addition, it takes time to be conformed to the image of Christ, and if we were all as open as she is about her life and wrote about it for a living as she does, our particular sin struggles would be more glaringly evident. On top of all this, she lives in Marin County, California, the Mecca of American liberalism. I mean, what can you expect?
However, after reading Dr. Mohler’s post, I have to ask the question, how can someone indwelt by the Spirit of Christ blatantly disregard the Biblical directive, “Thou shalt not kill” and participate in the euthanasia of a friend? Not only did she obtain the necessary drugs and administer the lethal dose, but her recounting of the process reveals no second thoughts and no subsequent remorse. The fact that she chose to write about it as she did displays a degree of hubris that is mind boggling.
My former thinking about Lamott in light of the current evidence has taught me something about myself. I wanted Lamott’s Christian testimony to be true for my own sake. I wanted someone who is a smart, hip, articulate, literary celebrity who claims to be a Christian to be the real thing because it makes the rest of us not look so bad. No one can possibly say Lamott is a right-wing fundamentalist. If Lamott loves Jesus and reads the Bible and goes to church, then perhaps the rest of us have been misunderstood.
Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.
I John 3:13
No more delusions.
Matthew 7:16
...the first effect of the power of God in the heart in regeneration is to give the heart a Divine taste or sense; to cause it to have a relish of the loveliness and sweetness of the supreme excellency of the Divine nature.
— Jonathan Edwards
I read Dr. Albert Mohler’s post about Ann Lamott last night before I went to bed, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. You should read it in order to have the proper context for my comments here.
I read several of Lamott’s nonfiction works years ago, and while I was always uncomfortable with her pro-choice position, her lack of concern for sexual purity, and her frequent use of unwholesome language, I took her testimony of being a Christian at face value. When faced with her own unplanned pregnancy by an unsupportive partner, she opted NOT to have an abortion, and her writing offers much evidence of a changed life. In addition, it takes time to be conformed to the image of Christ, and if we were all as open as she is about her life and wrote about it for a living as she does, our particular sin struggles would be more glaringly evident. On top of all this, she lives in Marin County, California, the Mecca of American liberalism. I mean, what can you expect?
However, after reading Dr. Mohler’s post, I have to ask the question, how can someone indwelt by the Spirit of Christ blatantly disregard the Biblical directive, “Thou shalt not kill” and participate in the euthanasia of a friend? Not only did she obtain the necessary drugs and administer the lethal dose, but her recounting of the process reveals no second thoughts and no subsequent remorse. The fact that she chose to write about it as she did displays a degree of hubris that is mind boggling.
My former thinking about Lamott in light of the current evidence has taught me something about myself. I wanted Lamott’s Christian testimony to be true for my own sake. I wanted someone who is a smart, hip, articulate, literary celebrity who claims to be a Christian to be the real thing because it makes the rest of us not look so bad. No one can possibly say Lamott is a right-wing fundamentalist. If Lamott loves Jesus and reads the Bible and goes to church, then perhaps the rest of us have been misunderstood.
Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.
I John 3:13
No more delusions.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
A Heartbreaking Need for Jesus
Don’t misunderstand my title. Everyone needs Jesus to the same degree—absolutely. However, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the need so painfully manifested in a human being before as I saw it in Lucy Grealy as recounted in Ann Patchett’s Truth and Beauty.
Truth and Beauty is the story of the friendship between novelist, Ann Patchett, and poet/writer Lucy Grealy. They were nominal acquaintances at Sarah Lawerence and later became best friends when they roomed together while in graduate school at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Grealy was disfigured from childhood cancer, and during her life she underwent thirty-eight operations in an attempt to reconstruct her face. Despite her disfigurement, Grealy was extremely charismatic and popular, and she was incredibly intelligent. She had a considerable number of friends who loved her and put up with behavior that would have prompted many people to give up on her early in a friendship. She published a book, Autobiography of a Face, to tremendous acclaim and subsequent financial success.
However, despite all that she had going for her, she was obsessed with wanting to be pretty and for others to love her. She would ask her friends continually if they loved her, and she constantly talked of being lonely and wanting to be loved by a man. She was promiscuous to a degree that caused me to marvel that she didn’t end up with STDs and AIDS. At the end of her life, she was addicted to heroin. She died penniless and estranged from many of her friends who no longer knew how to help her. Following is a passage describing her sense of loneliness:
Lucy’s loneliness was breathtaking in its enormity. If she emptied out Grand Central Station and filled it with the people she knew well, the people who loved her, there would be more than a hundred people there. But a hundred people in such a huge space just rattle around. You could squeeze us all into a single bar. With some effort you could push us into a magazine shop. If you added to that number all of the people that loved her because of her book, all the people who admired her, all the people who had heard her speak or had seem her on television or listened to her on the radio and loved the sound of her odd little voice, you could pack in thousands and thousands more people, and still it wouldn’t feel full, not full enough to take up every square inch of her loneliness. Lucy thought that all she needed was one person, the right person, and all the empty space would be taken away from her. But there was no one in the world who was big enough for that. (Emphasis mine.)
Lucy did need only one Person, and there is only one Person in the world who is big enough to have met Lucy’s need.
The title of the book is based on a passage early in the story wherein Patchett allude's to Keats's “Ode to a Grecian Urn”:
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'
How different Grealy’s life would have been, had she come to know the Truth (John 14:6).
Truth and Beauty is the story of the friendship between novelist, Ann Patchett, and poet/writer Lucy Grealy. They were nominal acquaintances at Sarah Lawerence and later became best friends when they roomed together while in graduate school at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Grealy was disfigured from childhood cancer, and during her life she underwent thirty-eight operations in an attempt to reconstruct her face. Despite her disfigurement, Grealy was extremely charismatic and popular, and she was incredibly intelligent. She had a considerable number of friends who loved her and put up with behavior that would have prompted many people to give up on her early in a friendship. She published a book, Autobiography of a Face, to tremendous acclaim and subsequent financial success.
However, despite all that she had going for her, she was obsessed with wanting to be pretty and for others to love her. She would ask her friends continually if they loved her, and she constantly talked of being lonely and wanting to be loved by a man. She was promiscuous to a degree that caused me to marvel that she didn’t end up with STDs and AIDS. At the end of her life, she was addicted to heroin. She died penniless and estranged from many of her friends who no longer knew how to help her. Following is a passage describing her sense of loneliness:
Lucy’s loneliness was breathtaking in its enormity. If she emptied out Grand Central Station and filled it with the people she knew well, the people who loved her, there would be more than a hundred people there. But a hundred people in such a huge space just rattle around. You could squeeze us all into a single bar. With some effort you could push us into a magazine shop. If you added to that number all of the people that loved her because of her book, all the people who admired her, all the people who had heard her speak or had seem her on television or listened to her on the radio and loved the sound of her odd little voice, you could pack in thousands and thousands more people, and still it wouldn’t feel full, not full enough to take up every square inch of her loneliness. Lucy thought that all she needed was one person, the right person, and all the empty space would be taken away from her. But there was no one in the world who was big enough for that. (Emphasis mine.)
Lucy did need only one Person, and there is only one Person in the world who is big enough to have met Lucy’s need.
The title of the book is based on a passage early in the story wherein Patchett allude's to Keats's “Ode to a Grecian Urn”:
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'
How different Grealy’s life would have been, had she come to know the Truth (John 14:6).
Monday, June 26, 2006
Book Review: At the Corner of East and Now
Several months ago, I read a wonderful column in Christianity Today by Frederica Matthewes-Green (FMG) that led me to purchase her book, At the Corner of East and Now. I’ve been reading this book off and on for some weeks, and I finally completed it on Sunday.
The subtitle of Facing East is “A Modern Life in Ancient Christian Orthodoxy.” FMG’s husband is an Orthodox priest, and the book is a collection of essays organized around the author’s recounting of an Orthodox worship service.
I enjoyed the book for several reasons. First of all, I love spiritual memoirs. If you like Kathleen Norris, Lauren Winner, and Anne Lamott, you will like FMG. Second, the only thing I knew about the Eastern Orthodox Church before reading this book was a vague memory from tenth grade world history about there being a schism with the Roman Catholic Church. I had never given the Orthodox Church much additional thought, but I suppose I assumed that it just another version of the Catholic Church. The book corrected my misconceptions. Finally, FMG has a way with words that enable her to articulate spiritual truth in an interesting way. I will share some examples in a moment.
The substantive differences I was able to ascertain between Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestant Evangelicalism are as follows.
- Worship is high-church liturgical with incense, icons, and chanting.
- The icons are paintings of saints and Biblical characters, and they are a significant part of worship.
- Orthodox venerate the virgin Mary, the Theotokos or “God-bearer” in a way similar to the Roman Catholic Church.
- Orthodox believe in transubstantiation.
Otherwise, the doctrine and theology seem quite sound. There is no Orthodox equivalent of an infallible Pope, no confessing to priests, no works-based righteousness. I was recently told that Orthodox do not believe in the Trinity, but that is clearly not the case here. In FMG’s cburch, they recite the Nicene Creed, and Facing East includes several Biblical references to the Trinity.
The basic position of Orthodoxy is that it is the direct descendant of the first century church. FMG writes:
While the initial schism between East and West led to further divisions in the West, as new Protestant denominations continue to emerge, the Orthodox Church remained intact. The Church is kept from significant change by its characteristic governing principle: conciliarity. Unlike religious bodies where a single powerful leader dispenses the faith, in Orthodoxy it is believed that the Holy Spirit guides the whole community of believers into the truth (as Jesus promised in John 16:13). Faith is a treasure jointly possessed by all believers, not one guarded by a powerful few; it accumulates over the centuries, never contradicting what has been previously held…What diverges from this shared faith would automatically disprove itself, even if it was urged by high ecclesiastical authority. No authority is greater than the common faith.
Since there is no locus of power where the faith may be tailored to fit current fashion, it doesn’t change in any significant way—not over long centuries or across great geographical distances. The faith of the first century is the faith of Orthodox today. When we meet in this little stone church outside Baltimore, we celebrate a Liturgy that is for the most part over fifteen hundred years old. We join in prayers that are being said in dozens of languages by Orthodox all over the world, prayers unchanged for dozens of generations.
Before he became an Orthodox priest, FMG’s husband was a mainline Protestant pastor. The following passage provides some insight into her conversion to Orthodoxy:
Orthodoxy initially struck me as strange and off-putting: beautiful but rigorous, and focused much more on God than on me. Western Christianity of many stripes has tended in recent decades to become somewhat soft and emotional—in a sense, consumer-focused. Orthodoxy has missed that bandwagon and still stubbornly addresses its energy toward worshipping God; every believer’s primary need, Orthodox would say, is to come further into this union with God, and the whole work of the faith is to enable this. It didn’t take long for me to be won over, as I found this God-focus was what I’d hungered for all along.
In this passage, she explains icons:
…the icon is a manifestation of the Word of God. In an illiterate culture, these scenes from Scripture and the lives of saints were the only Bible many could read….In painting icons, we affirm the Incarnation and God’s will to be visibly revealed to human eyes. Destroying icons indicates a desire to overspiritualize the faith and reject the body.
Here are a few other especially good passages:
Anyone who has attempted to live the spiritual life, in fact, knows this; we don’t dwell in a theoretical world where it is either all grace or all laborious will, but in a middle-in-between where vigilant effort repeatedly discovers that enabling grace has already gone before…The child works hard to learn to walk so he can learn to walk. He wants to move toward his mother’s arms; that is reward enough…When I follow the practices the community has found, through trial and error over long centuries, are helpful in drawing closer to God, I get the only reward I want” I get closer to God.
People newly coming to church should have an unfamiliar experience. It should be apparent to them that they are encountering something very different from the mundane. It should be discontinuous with their everyday experience, because God is discontinuous. God is holy, other, incomprehensible, strange, and if we go expecting an affable market-tested nice guy, we won’t be getting the whole picture. We’ll be getting the short God in a straw hat, not the big one beyond all thought….The well-intentioned idea of presenting the appealing, useful side of faith fails, I think, because it doesn’t question deeply enough the basic consumer ethos. The transaction that takes place between a shopper-seeker and the goods acquired (groceries, furniture, the key to the meaning of life) is one that leaves the seeker in control, in a position of judging, evaluating, and rejecting the parts he doesn’t like. But entering the faith is more like making a promise or beginning a marriage. It involves being grafted into a community and requires a willingness to grow and change. If it didn’t, if it merely confirmed us in our comfortable places, how could it free us to be more than we are?
It’s only when those emotions fade and you get down to the business of doing the work, following the way, saying the prayers even when you don’t feel like it, that your stony heart begins to budge. It’s only the offerings done from deliberate will that end the will and shape it to fit the will of God, Giddy emotions feel good, and all of might need a bowl of ice cream from time to time, but they don’t produce spiritual growth.
Somehow our willingness to receive was preceded by the grace to be willing, and the faith which results is brought to fruition by means beyond our own powers—sometimes, as in my case, mostly against our will. One inside the faith, many have a dawning realization that they were being sought all along, an experience poet Francis Thompson describes as being pursued by the “Hound of Heaven.” It’s been said that on the outside of the house of faith the sign over the door reads “Choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15) and on the inside the sign reads “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). All I know is, I came home, and I don’t ever want to be anywhere else.
It’s good for well-grounded, thinking Christians to read books like this because it broadens our understanding of who God is and how He works. Because of my particular history, it’s been especially helpful to me to expose myself to Christian thinking from other traditions.
This is actually FMG’s second memoir. Her first, Facing East, recounts her conversion to Christianity and her family’s switch to Orthodoxy. It’s in the ever-growing stack on my bedside table.
"What It Means to Be Reformed"
As you may have noted in the "100 Things About Me", I describe myself as a Reformed Southern Baptist. Following is a link to an excellent post at Challies.com on "What It Means to Be Reformed"—for those of you who are not familiar with the term.
http://www.challies.com/archives/001926.php
http://www.challies.com/archives/001926.php
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
"Give to Everyone Who Asks of You"
He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor
Will also cry himself and not be answered.
Proverbs 21:13
Give to everyone who asks of you…
Luke 6:30
In November of 2004, I was blessed beyond measure to travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico to attend the annual RZIM Founders’ Conference with a friend who supports that ministry. On our free morning, we decided to take a taxi downtown to the historic district for breakfast and some shopping. We wanted to find a local café rather than McDonald’s or the like, so we walked for a little while before we found a busy hangout. We chose pastries from the window display and ordered café con leche to go intending to find a park bench so we could people watch while we ate.
We had barely stepped out of the door of the café when we were approached by a young man who asked us to buy him something to eat. He pointed to the pastries in the window and looked at me expectantly. I can’t remember what I said to him, but I refused him, walked quickly down the street, and dashed into a drug store because I needed to buy a toothbrush.
I immediately turned to my friend and expressed dismay at what I had done. She said that she thought he looked genuinely hungry, so we decided to go back out onto the street and look for him, give him our breakfasts, and then go back and buy something else for ourselves. Unfortunately, we didn’t find him. However, we did stop and pray for him—that someone else would be used by God to meet his needs.
I was haunted throughout the day with the image of that hungry young man. In fact, when I couldn’t even put the thoughts from my mind during a wonderful presentation by Beth Moore, I knew I was being hounded by the enemy. Since I couldn’t speak out loud, I wrote on my note pad: THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS (Romans 8:1).
I cannot adequately describe the way I felt. I don’t think it would be going too far to say that I was sick at my stomach for what I had done, and I determined never to let it happen again. Jesus makes the standard very clear in Luke 6:30 when he says, “Give to everyone who asks you…” There are no qualifiers here. He doesn’t say that we have to be sure the person’s not a swindler or that they won’t use the money to buy alcohol or drugs. The burden to act is placed upon us, and God will be the judge.
It was almost a year before God gave me the opportunity to make up for that day. Our family was on a trip and we stopped for coffee. My husband went in and left the children and me in the car. An elderly black man approached the driver’s side window, which I appreciated because I didn’t feel threatened. He told me he was a Hurricane Katrina victim from New Orleans and that he needed a dollar for bus fare to get back downtown to the Salvation Army. I joke all the time about being a banker’s wife and never having any cash, but that day, as always, God was in control. I handed the man a five dollar bill and watched as he went into Mc Donald’s before catching his bus. Thanks be to the God of second chances.
Will also cry himself and not be answered.
Proverbs 21:13
Give to everyone who asks of you…
Luke 6:30
In November of 2004, I was blessed beyond measure to travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico to attend the annual RZIM Founders’ Conference with a friend who supports that ministry. On our free morning, we decided to take a taxi downtown to the historic district for breakfast and some shopping. We wanted to find a local café rather than McDonald’s or the like, so we walked for a little while before we found a busy hangout. We chose pastries from the window display and ordered café con leche to go intending to find a park bench so we could people watch while we ate.
We had barely stepped out of the door of the café when we were approached by a young man who asked us to buy him something to eat. He pointed to the pastries in the window and looked at me expectantly. I can’t remember what I said to him, but I refused him, walked quickly down the street, and dashed into a drug store because I needed to buy a toothbrush.
I immediately turned to my friend and expressed dismay at what I had done. She said that she thought he looked genuinely hungry, so we decided to go back out onto the street and look for him, give him our breakfasts, and then go back and buy something else for ourselves. Unfortunately, we didn’t find him. However, we did stop and pray for him—that someone else would be used by God to meet his needs.
I was haunted throughout the day with the image of that hungry young man. In fact, when I couldn’t even put the thoughts from my mind during a wonderful presentation by Beth Moore, I knew I was being hounded by the enemy. Since I couldn’t speak out loud, I wrote on my note pad: THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS (Romans 8:1).
I cannot adequately describe the way I felt. I don’t think it would be going too far to say that I was sick at my stomach for what I had done, and I determined never to let it happen again. Jesus makes the standard very clear in Luke 6:30 when he says, “Give to everyone who asks you…” There are no qualifiers here. He doesn’t say that we have to be sure the person’s not a swindler or that they won’t use the money to buy alcohol or drugs. The burden to act is placed upon us, and God will be the judge.
It was almost a year before God gave me the opportunity to make up for that day. Our family was on a trip and we stopped for coffee. My husband went in and left the children and me in the car. An elderly black man approached the driver’s side window, which I appreciated because I didn’t feel threatened. He told me he was a Hurricane Katrina victim from New Orleans and that he needed a dollar for bus fare to get back downtown to the Salvation Army. I joke all the time about being a banker’s wife and never having any cash, but that day, as always, God was in control. I handed the man a five dollar bill and watched as he went into Mc Donald’s before catching his bus. Thanks be to the God of second chances.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Favorite Passage from Acts
One more thing from Acts, and then it's on to Romans.
My favorite passage is in chapter 26. Paul is presenting his case to and sharing the gospel with King Agrippa and the Roman governor, Festus.
While Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad." But Paul said, "I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth."
Acts 26:24-25
No deep thoughts here. I just get a kick out of it.
My favorite passage is in chapter 26. Paul is presenting his case to and sharing the gospel with King Agrippa and the Roman governor, Festus.
While Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad." But Paul said, "I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth."
Acts 26:24-25
No deep thoughts here. I just get a kick out of it.
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