redemption of the broken mind

1 Corinthians 10:31

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

This life is not to be valued but as it yields opportunities to glorify God. We were not sent into the world to live for ourselves, but for God. If we could make ourselves, then we could live for ourselves. If we could be our own first cause, then we might be our own end. But God made us for himself, and sent us into the world for himself. It is not our duty to glorify God in heaven only, but also here on earth in the midst of difficulties and temptations. No one is sent into the world to be idle, or to bring forth fruit to themselves, but God’s glory must be our chief work and aim while we are here upon earth. We must not promote merely our own interests. Every man, besides his general calling, has his own work and course of service where he might glorify and honour God; ‘I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do’ (John 17:4). In a great house one has one employment, one another: so God has designed for every man the work he has to do; some in one calling, and some in another; but all have their service and work given them for God’s glory. Every morning we should revive the sense of this upon our hearts. This day I am going to live with God. When a Christian leaves home in the morning, he must remember he is at Christ’s disposal; he is not to do as he pleases, but to be guided by rule, and for God’s glory. Not only in our duties or immediate conversation with God, but in our sports, business, and recreation. What is it to do things in the name of Christ?—But to do it according to Christ’s will and command! In discharge of this work, we must do it all for God’s glory. We can do nothing without him. If we have anything to do for God, we must do it in his own strength, in every word and every deed.

-Voices from the Past

Those moments…

Everyone has those moments that you wish you can somehow capture, somehow embrace, maybe even consume. It’s those moments that are so magnificent, so full of thick and hearty emotion, that you’re only reaction to your experience of it is to simply desire for it to be a part of you… that, if only, you can tuck it away in your pocket and summon it at will, let alone have it running continuously over and over again, then life would be perfect. For me, they’re the moments where you’re laughing so hard that your stomach hurts, and the moments of sweet, sweet victory in sports and competition (hopefully to be tasted soon), and the overly exposed, yet precious, moments of family dinners and small talk. Or, possibly the greatest example (for me), the moments of beautiful scenery where you’re just surrounded by the sheer glory of the view.

It’s in those moments that God says, “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). But the bigger, and greater, promise is that this is but a hint, an appetizer, a trailer, to what is to come. What we now wish to experience eternally is a drop of the ocean that we will eventually bathe in.

Anyways, no one says this better than CS Lewis, but at least I tried:

And this brings me to the other sense of glory—glory as brightness, splendour, luminosity. We are to shine as the sun, we are to be given the Morning Star. I think I begin to see what it means. In one way, of course, God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more— something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses and nymphs and elves—that, though we cannot, yet these projections can, enjoy in themselves that beauty grace, and power of which Nature is the image. That is why the poets tell us such lovely falsehoods. They talk as if the west wind could really sweep into a human soul; but it can’t. They tell us that “beauty born of murmuring sound” will pass into a human face; but it won’t. Or not yet. For if we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendour of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in. When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch.

-C.S. Lewis in “Weight of Glory”

no more excuses

It’s so easy to blame someone/something else. It’s so easy to feel comfortable in my lack of responsibility and lack of productivity because, hey, if that thing didn’t get in my way I would have been successful. And then it becomes so natural to brush it off and never own up to the consequences.

If I was ever with my wife (one day…) and some punks came and beat me up and murdered my wife, would I ever come up with an excuse for my responsibility to protect and care for my wife? I don’t care if there were ten of them and they knocked me unconscious first, if I am still alive and she isn’t, I will ALWAYS blame myself first, as any decent man would. The fact is, despite my circumstances, I will always feel the burden, and have the desire, to protect her.

I love the gospel. I love Jesus. I love the church, and my family, and my friends. I have to stop making excuses for the things that go wrong. I have to build some character and own up to the responsibilities God has given to me. It’s time to man up, who’s with me?

passion

Passion comes from the latin word patior, which means to suffer or endure. In essence, it means that you are willing to suffer for the sake of the object. If a guy is passionate about his wife/gf, for example, then he is willing to sacrifice, and therefore suffer, his time, money, emotions, etc. What’s interesting about that, however, is that the suffering is done out of delight and investment in a greater joy. The man who suffers for the sake of the object he is passionate about believes that the greater joy can, and will, be found in that object. The warmth of embrace, the marriage, the affection and love are worth the suffering of giving up his time, money, etc. It’s a delightful suffering, at the least a hopeful suffering.

And so, as we are in passion week, think about what that passion is. Jesus, who is God, suffered the ultimate… the physical torment of the cross, the emotional agony of being forsaken by God the Father, and the spiritual burden of sin and the consequences of bearing it. But, Jesus did it out of passion. He delighted in that suffering because He is passionate about us. It’s radical to believe that God would suffer and endure so much for the sake of His creation, but that is exactly what He did, and that’s the very thing that should cause us to be passionate about Him.

There is so much to meditate and feast on with regard to that truth. We sin, we hate, we rebel… yet God loves, He initiates, and He redeems. Grace upon grace, restoration upon restoration. God is passionate for us, there is nothing you can do to prevent that. Take comfort, and respond with worship.

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Romans 8:31-32, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can beagainst us? He who did not spare his own Son butgave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

gravitas

gravitas. character. prioritizing your beliefs and believing your priorities. founded, rooted, and dependent on One thing despite circumstance or environment.

in a culture where hypocrisy, lies, and selfishness has become the norm, character has been lost. no one is scared to commit to one relationship, yet seek another. no one is scared to believe in one god, yet worship another. what was once a virtue, has now become forgotten.

Lord, make us into people that have character. draw us to love You more than this world, and more than ourselves. though we fail, You redeem and You sanctify. thank You for Your grace. thank You for always dragging me back to you.

Romans 5:3-5 - More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

patience

Second attempt at writing this post…

Our culture, especially in NY, is driven by ideas that “time is money” and “productivity is key.” Everyone is in a rush to get things done, to act, to occupy their time and their minds. Time is valuable, and unfortunately unalterable, and so our lifestyles change in order to maximize the efficiency of our use of this constant, continuous timeline. Our realization of this only adds to the misery. Impatience and anxiety have come to plague our generation. It has become the new force that drives us… but what happened to patience being a virtue? What happened to patience being one of the fruits of the Spirit?

Anxiety is a proclamation that God is not a sovereign God. Impatience and insecurity is a proclamation that God is not a loving God. When you are impatient, you are suggesting/expecting a “better” alternative to God’s solution and plan over your life. It’s destructive, and it leads to a horde of sins. When the Israelites were going to the Promised Land, they grew impatient of their extended journey. That led to complaining, bitterness, and ultimately idolatry. It’s the natural progression. If you are impatient over financial distress in your life, you begin to complain and claim that you do not deserve this. That quickly leads to a bitter heart towards God, to whom you have been praying for deliverance, without success. Then you turn to things that will make it happen faster… education, career, jobs… and those things become your idol. It’s everywhere, especially in me.

It’s comforting to know that though we sin and effectively mock God, He is still loving, and His foreknowledge of our sin has caused Him to remedy it through Jesus. That realization should motivate you to deal with different sins in your life, including anxiety and impatience. It helps to remember His faithfulness… remember that time when He saved you from oppression and slavery… remember those promises that He fulfilled. And rest, and wait, for the continual fulfillment of His promise that He will always do good to those that love Him.

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Of the many:

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; Wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:14)

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Man, I have ceased to be able to write anything coherent these days. All these thoughts and ideas are jumbled in my mind, but I can’t put it on paper (or I guess in this case e-paper). Oh well, maybe next time I’ll be more patient and think it through :)