I am the man without any sense

In Proverbs 7 starting in verse 7, we hear of a foolish young man. A young man with no sense. He's easily lured into something he knows that he should not do. He is weak.

It's easy to stand outside of the story and judge him, until I realize that I am that senseless, foolish young man.

How many times have I done something even though I knew that it was wrong? I'd rather not answer that question, to be honest. And how many times have I drug my feet when I knew that I should do something? Again, I'd prefer to plead the fifth.

God does not provide this scripture to make us feel down about ourselves, or to shame us into using our own power to be better about these things. He provides us with this truth about our weakness to remind us then we need Him, that we need His mercy in grace.

I am reminded of my own failure. But this reality does not make me sad anymore. It gives me joy. It reminds me that I am not some self made man who can pull himself up by his own bootstraps. It reminds me that I need my Savior.

I settle in the reality that this is who I am: someone who very much needs God's grace and mercy. And this increases my appreciation and love for Him who has so selflessly given it to me.

Marriage is hard: we’re prideful

Have you ever seen the sappy Ryan O’Neal/Ali MacGraw movie romance entitled "Love Story"? MacGraw played a character who was dying, and at her bedside O’Neal, choking and tearful, said he was sorry. MacGraw then unloaded a line that has done a lot of damage to relationships and marriages everywhere: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

Apologizing is hard work. Apologizing and changing your behaviors is even harder, and what makes it so hard is pride. Dating and marriage always to some degree involve each person’s struggling for control. When your behaviors are driven by pride, you want to win every argument, always be right, see difficulties as your partner’s fault, bring up your partner’s admitted failures of the past, and explain away or deny your own sins and weaknesses.

You need other people’s input and critique to know how you sound, how you look, how your actions affect other people. In humility realize that you aren’t quite as brilliant and infallible as you think you are: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12:3).

When your spouse has an issue with something you’ve said or done, listen twice and think three times before you say anything. It may just be that the best thing you can say is, “I’m sorry.”

(From the Bible app)

If the theory of evolution is true, would that fact even undermine the design argument for the existence of God?

Sidenote:  The Theory of Evolution is still just a theory, even if many remove the words "Theory of" in academia, museums, etc. They will say that this is because the evidence is "undeniable" (Bill Nye), but it's still just a theory. By the way, God and creation and Christ are "undeniable", too, using the same measure.  Neither can be proven or disproven irrefutably.

From Dr. Scott Sullivan:

"The famous atheist Richard Dawkins once quipped that Darwinian evolution has made him an "intellectually fulfilled atheist". And it's no secret that atheists and skeptics often appeal to evolution as a sort of "refutation" of the existence of God, or at least, to support their view that God is not needed to explain the fascinating complexity we see at the biological level.

But is this true? Is it the case that evolution, even if it really happened, is a good reason to not believe in God?

Or, to ask a related question, if the theory of evolution is true, would that fact even undermine the design argument for the existence of God?

My answer is "no" to both questions.

My thesis is this: that even if we grant that evolution is true (and that may well be debatable) still, no harm is done to either belief in God or to the design argument itself.

In other words, my claim is that the truth of the evolutionary hypothesis is irrelevant to the rationality of believing in God and even irrelevant to the design argument itself."

Dr. Scott Sullivan grabs this subject by the horns in his latest podcast:
http://classicaltheist.s3.amazonaws.com/WhyEvolutionDoesNotShowThereIsNoGod.mp3  

Rewriting History

It seems to be happening more and more.  And with the advent of the Internet and the ease of quick "information" (whether accurate or not), it's hard to tell what REALLY happened on anything anymore.  People with motives, writing in an authoritative style, but having no real authority, per se, take ill-informed theories and present them as fact via some link to a page on the oh-so-dependable internet.

I was having a conversation just last night, in fact, where someone told me, "Well, a bunch of men came together in 325 AD for the Council of Nicea to rewrite the Bible, throw out the stuff they didn't like, and ultimately tell us what to believe." And some of the speculation put forth goes even further than that, saying this is where "Jesus was invented" and so on.

Q: What is a person who reads one of these

blogs or fake publications to believe?  

A: Whatever they are fed, I suppose,

just like the rest of the modern world

if they choose not to dig in further. 

We are called to seek Truth ... to seek Him.  We are called to have an answer to give for the hope we hold in the promises of that Truth.  If we, as Christians, don't know the real story, or seem to only have a blind faith, unbelievers will take that as fuel to the "it's all made up" storyline being told by the Prince of Lies told through - I believe - well meaning but ignorant (i.e. lacking data) people.

I know it's about the heart ultimately. And that is good and right. But we're called to love our God with all of our heart, our soul, our strength, and our MIND.

Call to Action: Study. Know. Your church will likely have a series or two on apologetics and historicity of the church and our faith, or they can point you to resources.  My church has theology classes that I take, and I read a lot of in-depth books on the subject.  There are endless resources out there written by the likes of Ravi Zacharias, Tim Keller, Matt Chandler, C.S. Lewis, C.K. Chesterton, Billy Graham, and so on and so on. But there is no replacement for the actual Word of God.  Read it - study it with those who know it well.  


"I don't have time" is not an excuse. That is a decision you are making based on priorities.

What is YOUR priority? Will you simply believe whatever you're told? In a modern world of lost souls mislead by lies and misinformation, I don't believe we have that liberty ... if we are to truly resemble Christ.

He Never, Never Quits ... How About You?

But you, oh God, are both tender and kind,
not easily angered, immense in love, 
and you never, never quit.
Psalm 86:15

The truth of God's unconditional love is amazing, isn't it?  Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.  Can you imagine having that much patience?  Being so unbelievably slow to anger?  Forgiving to a fault (so to speak)?

Well keep imagining, because this is what God asks of us.  Unconditional love, forgiving others seven times seventy times.  Self-control over our otherwise self-centered, "How dare they do that to ME!" anger.

Whether it's your marriage, where you need to show unconditional love and respect for your spouse, serving him/her without expectation of reciprocity, forgiving the seemingly unforgivable ... or it's with your kids, your friends, your co-workers, your extended family, even your "enemies" ... we are called to reflect Christ in our patience, our tenderness and kindness.

This is the best way to draw people to Christ ... by showing what He's like.  And this is the only way to live.  Imagine the weight this will take off of your shoulders when you let go of your pride, your stress, your anger and bitterness.

God, give us your unconditional love and patience.  Help us to be slow to anger as you are.  Help us to never, ever give up on our loved ones, as well as our not-so-loved-ones.  Give us your tenderness and kindness when we'd rather lash out, hold grudges, let our pride control us.  We trust your ways ... they are simply better than ours.  Help us, Father, to SHOW that we trust you more and more.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

A Drooling, Lip Smacking Desire for God

God - you are my God! I can't get enough of you! I've worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts. 
Psalm 63:1-8

38 years in the desert for me, so I can relate. Since then, I've been in catch up mode ... not because I feel I must as punishment for "not getting it" for so long, but because I'm famished. God is too good and I want more and more. And it kills me that I still have these layers of worldly gook all over me that I can't seem to shake.

But I'm work in process. Aren't we all?

So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory. In your generous love I am really living at last! My lips brim praises like fountains. I bless you every time I take a breath; My arms wave like banners of praise to you.
I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy; I smack my lips. It's time to shout praises! If I'm sleepless at midnight, I spend the hours in grateful reflection. Because you've always stood up for me, I'm free to run and play. I hold on to you for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post.
Psalm 63:3-8

Warning: Very Blunt Blog Post - God's Economy & His Middlemen

"God, why don't you do something?", we say.

"I did", says God. "I created you."

And the Government shall be upon his shoulder. Isaiah 9:6

(... and if we are the body of Christ, then we are responsible actors in God's economy)

The truth of God's economy is pretty blunt. We sooooo want to twist what scripture says so that we get to keep that which God gave to us. But that's not God's economy.

Jesus says that it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. We see this and we feel this everyday, don't we? I think we fundamentally know that something is wrong with how we handle God's blessings of treasure. Down deep we understand that we really had little to do with the wealth that we find ourselves enjoying ... that we find ourselves accumulating ... that we find ourselves spending on things other than fundamental needs.

What if God intentionally set it up this way to test us, to teach us the lesson we needed to learn? 

And what if - if we saw it from God's perspective - we found we were failing miserably?

I will posit that we are. I will posit that every nickel and dime that we receive is from God.  (I think I've got some pretty firm scriptural backing on that.)

Now, here's the tough part:  

What if every nickel and dime given to us wasn't meant for us at all. Rather, we are simply the "middle men" of God's economy?

What if, instead of God giving everyone an equal portion of treasure, he decided to give some a disproportionate amount of the treasure ... to see what we do with it? To see if we are paying attention? To see if we are actually absorbing His Word and trusting Him?

What if we are only supposed to use the amount that provides our daily bread and shift the remainder to all of those who don't have their daily bread? What if God has given us the task of providing that daily bread to all the nations?

What would our world look like it we did that?  

Take a minute to picture it.  

Literally, stop reading and take 60 full seconds to ponder that potential reality.  

Because it is possible.

We say we're stretched thin. We say we don't have enough to spare. Rubbish.  We live in a world of affluence... Even those considered poor in our country would be relatively affluent in third world countries.

If we give, we give from the fat. Let's just acknowledge that. And Jesus spoke of these people. He used the Pharisees as examples, who gave very large sums ... but from their surplus. The one he noted as exemplary was the widow who gave her last two shekels ...

God's economy is actually quite simple. But I think our worldly minds don't want to acknowledge what we're called to do. We like our comfort. We like our things, our nicer car, our safe neighborhood, our school district ...

What if God intentionally set it up this way to test us, to teach us the lesson we needed to learn? And what if - if we saw it from God's perspective - we found we were failing miserably?

Some ideas:

• One level down.  Buying a car?  Find the one you want, then buy the model below it and give the balance to charity.  Buying a smart phone?  Find the one you want, then look for the previous version of that phone on eBay, then give the balance to charity.  And so on.
• Charity instead of gifts.  Give to charity on someone's behalf instead of buying them a gift, card, flowers.  Even the $4 for a card means two days wages to someone in extreme poverty.
• HowGiving.org. Make it automatic.  I am working on a simple app that allows you to give to charity on others' behalf more automatically and simply, still acknowledging their birthday, anniversary, holiday, etc., but giving meaningfully.  I'll let you know when the app is ready for use.  Exciting!  Learn more in the interim at www.howgiving.org ...
• Create a budget.  Look for areas to cut out the fat, even the muscle.  Remember, this is about sacrificial giving, not comfortable giving.  Really think on this and remove items incrementally ... but incrementally give to charity of those same amounts when you do.  If you could afford premium cable, you can afford to help orphans in the Sudan get the inoculations they need to avoid getting sick from the germ-ridden water their forced to drink.

"It's not enough to do nothing.

Is time for us to do something." 

-- Matthew West

"All that it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."

Enough with the minimum. Enough with the excuses. Time to sacrifice as Jesus did ... as were called to do.

Take up your cross daily, and follow me.

--Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ