Currently Listening To: Worship List

Ten songs you should check out...seriously, this is great stuff.  Worship is changing.  There are artists making music that goes beyond four chord, radio friendly stuff.  We don't have to settle for the typical.

1.  Holy (Wedding Day)- The City Harmonic

2.  Alive- All Sons and Daughters

3.  Sins are Stones- John Mark McMillan

4.  Alive Again- Matt Maher

5.  Take the World but Give Me Jesus- Ascend the Hill

6.  You Have Me- Gungor

7.  Heaven- Daniel Bashta

8.  The House of God, Forever- Jon Foreman

9.  Love- The City Harmonic

10. Won't Back Down- Mat Kearney

If we're Facebook friends, you can check out my playlists on Spotify if you're interested.  If we're not Facebook friends, well, then I guess there's no hope for you.

Ultimate Things

"The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says “Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.


The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self—all your wishes and precautions—to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call ‘ourselves’, to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be ‘good’. We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way—centred on money or pleasure or ambition—and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. As He said, a thistle cannot produce figs. If I am a field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short: but I shall still produce grass and no wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be ploughed up and re-sown.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, emphasis added)


I've been reading Tim Keller's The Reason for God over the past couple of weeks (basketball season really slows down my reading pace, I guess).  The book is ultimately addressed to skeptics, but I enjoy Keller and always am down for reaffirming what I believe and why.  Tonight's chapter dealt with the area of sin.  Borrowing from Kirkegaard's definition of sin, Keller argues that sin can be properly defined (at least in its deepest form) as anything that human beings put in the place where God should rightly be.  He explains that most skeptics think about sin as a cosmic list of dos and don'ts when in fact sin is more rightly addressed as pride---looking to fill ourselves with our own work, relationships, abilities, etc instead of God.  We deify ourselves, others, activities and accomplishments when we look to fill the God-shaped hole in our hearts with anything but Him.  Think back to the the Ten Commandments, the ultimate list of "religious rules."  What's the first?  "You shall have no other gods before me."  This was the first law God gave to man.  Sin is wrapped up wholly in that first commandment.  


This thinking about sin is not new to me, but too often I get caught up in the dos and don'ts like everyone else.  It's easy to spot lust or greed or dishonesty.  It's not quite as simple when we try to figure out what we are idolizing.  If we knew we were idolators, we might be inclined to re-prioritize.  This is subtle sin.  It's a sin that creeps in without us fully recognizing its presence.  Sure, we may have the nagging feeling that we are spending too much time on something or that we may not be as closely connected to God as we should be.  These feelings tug at us; the more recognizable sins slap us in the face.  Before we know it, as Keller writes, we have turned "good things" into "ultimate things."  Yet, as a Christian, there can only be one Ultimate thing; He will accept no less.  Lewis was right.  We can try to hold onto "ourselves" (if we can really convince ourselves that we are really fully "us" without Christ completely in control) and our desires, but then we certainly cannot turn ourselves over to Him as He demands.  We're either all in or we're all out.  That is not popular theology---at least not with me, it isn't.  I don't like it, but Jesus makes it abundantly clear that I can't serve myself and Him.  I can't put life in any order that doesn't have Him first and rightly belief I'm walking in truth.  


I'm glad I'm reading this book.  It reminds me of the bigger picture of Christ's call on my life, particularly in terms of the sin of idolatry.  Between my family, the adoption, work and basketball, I'm in constant danger of putting many other things on the throne that only Christ should rightfully sit upon.  I need to renew my mind when it comes to thinking about sin and understand that sin begins with putting any other gods before Him; those "good things" can very quickly become "ultimate things."

City Harmonic Speaks Truth

Love seems like such a tricky thing
It can find us in the gutter
And it can make us feel like kings
I could give away the whole wide world
But if I never had it
I never really had a thing

God is love

Dead Man Walking

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."- Galatians 2:20

This verse is often-quoted.  I wonder how deeply we have pondered the implications of this Scripture.  My fear is that Christians tend to make this a feel-good verse about life in Christ and we leave out the unpleasant detail of our own death.  Paul isn't teaching that Christ is alive WITH us as if there are two lives going on in our bodies.  No, he tells us that when Christ is alive in us, WE ARE DEAD.  How does that jive with a culture that preaches the message of self-esteem, "finding yourself" and achieving your hopes and dreams? 

I'm trying to really get this.  I'M DEAD.  That means my hopes, my dreams, my ideas, my wishes, etc are not important any more.  That probably offends some of you reading this and that's okay---it offends me too.  Here's the thing though---God is not calling me to abandon my hopes, my dreams, my ideas or my wishes.  I'm supposed to be dead.  Dead people probably aren't too worried about themselves.  He is the one that's supposed to be alive, right?  Doesn't that mean that He is the one with the hopes, the dreams, the ideas and the wishes?  Of course, this whole concept of being physically alive while putting my very flawed, very human spirit to death is a bit confusing.  But there is no possible way I can read Galatians 2:20 and walk away with any other interpretation other than the fact that I'm dead and Christ is alive.  I'm not completely sure what that looks like or how my flesh can stand in the way of Christ's work through me.  But my prayer is that God helps me to really let Him live through me.  I'm dead anyways, right?

GUNGOR!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you.........Gungor.

Bid My Anxious Fears Subside...

A few years ago, I attended a church in Nashville that played some great old hymns and I really connected with the classic  "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" (from which the title above is taken).  The song talks of the journey of the weary pilgrim who has been beaten up by life and was desperate for God to get him safely to the Promised Land.  For a long time, I had struggled with anxiety (and I still do to some extent). At that point, I was having a tough time in life and the song spoke to my soul.  I, too, asked God to bid my anxious fears subside, to help me to trust in Him in the midst of difficulty.    That song was an anchor for me that kept me clinging to God and got me through my trials.  Still, I know anxiety is my rival and I will have to battle it.  So, when I came across a chapter about anxiety in John Piper's "Battling Unbelief," I was an eager reader.  Piper is a fantastic scholar and pastor, and his biblical knowledge is second to none.  Knowing that I am surely not the only one with this struggle, I wanted to share a condensed version of the chapter.

"When I am anxious about some risky new venture or a meeting, I battle unbelief with Isaiah 41:10- 'Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.'

When I am anxious about my ministry being empty and useless, I fight unbelief with with the promise of Isaiah 55:11- 'So shall my word be that it goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.'

When I am anxious about being too weak to do my work, I battle unbelief with the promise of Christ, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' (II Corinthians 12:9)

When I am anxious about decisions I have to make in the future, I battle unbelief with the promise, 'I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.' (Psalm 32:8)

When I am anxious about facing opponents, I battle unbelief with the promise, 'If God is for us, who can be against us?' (Romans 8:31)

When I am anxious about the welfare of those I love, I battle unbelief with the promise that if, I, being evil, know how to give good things to my children, how much more will 'your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!' (Matthew 7:11)

When I am anxious about being sick, I battle unbelief with the promise, 'Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.' (Psalm 34:19)

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise, that 'none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.  If we live, we live to the Lord and if we die, we die to the Lord.  So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.' (Romans 14:7-9)..."

I was encouraged and uplifted by Piper's words in this chapter and reminded me that our anxious thoughts can't be battled with anything other than the very words of God.  Ultimately, our anxiety isn't healed by medication or counseling or will power (although all of these things can and usually are good things).  Maybe this word was for you today...you are not alone in this struggle and I encourage you to speak the Word of Truth into your heart, bidding your anxious fears subside when they come upon you.

Christianity is a Covenant

Tonight at our high school Bible study, we talked about the erosion of commitment in our culture.  We see it in failing marriages, church-hopping, constant career changes (the latest statistics indicate that we adults change careers/jobs 11 times in our lifetimes), and a general fickleness about being rooted in any one thing forever.  Commitment---or better yet, covenant---is no longer as valuable as it once was.

The theme of covenant is foundational to the Scripture.  Throughout the Old Testament we read of various covenants made between people.  These commitments were sealed by blood and were deep promises that were expected to be kept as long as both parties lived.  Of course, covenant is fully realized in the New Testament as Christ's death and resurrection form a new covenant that connects humanity to deity.  This covenant between Christ and man is described as a marriage between the bridegroom (Christ) and the bride (His Church).  Even considering the rising divorce rate in our culture, the marriage covenant is ostensibly still valued today.  Yet, despite our respect for the marriage covenant, do we really hold our marriage commitment to Christ in such high esteem?

If I were to flirt with another woman, my wife would be hurt and our marriage would suffer.  So, I don't do that.  But I flirt with the world often and expect my relationship with Christ to be fine.  I'm sure I'm not the only one.  Not only that, there have been many times when I have chosen to be unfaithful to Christ and knowingly indulge in sin.  If I were unfaithful to Alyssa, it would destroy our relationship.  Somehow, I don't recognize the damage being done to my relationship with Jesus when I ignore our covenant.  Of course, Christ is full of grace and forgiveness but that doesn't mean my relationship with him doesn't suffer.  Days can go by without me talking to God...how many of us would have much of a marriage if we didn't talk with our spouse for a week?  I'm not writing this to be down on myself or on any of you, and I certainly don't think that Christ's love for me swings on the pendulum of what I do.  However, we need to seriously consider what the word covenant means and ask ourselves, "Am I committed to this serious pact I have made with Christ?  Will I treat Him with the love, respect and honor that I would give my spouse?"

This Christ-life is a commitment.  In a culture that does not value commitment, we MUST work hard to remain rooted in the covenant we have made with Christ.  It has to guide our steps and we must remain vigilant in keeping it.  Christianity is a covenant, and a covenant is serious business.