Dallas in Dallas

I had to speak on hearing Dallas Willard in person. His humility struck me as much as his complete understanding of what he spoke on. When people asked him questions that some of us might think were lame, he responded with the utmost kindness and gentleness, giving comfort to the questioner while politely disagreeing.

His message in one way was simple and in another way quite profound. This man was living what he believes and he is doing what Jesus tells all of us to do. Our mission statement for our Churches should be that we teach people how to do what Jesus says. If we could do that then, for example, all inter dominational squabbling would cease or members would not leave churches when their feelings get hurt. One because they would learn not let their feelings get hurt and two, others would learn how to keep from hurting someone's feelings. After all if Jesus commands us to love our enemies surely we can love our fellow Christians. No?

If I could learn the discipline of servanthood and/or submission like Dr. Willard lives it, then my life would certainly impact those around me in a more positive way. Perhaps causing people to ask,"what is different about you?" If no one is asking us this question then a thoughtful re-examination of our relationship with Christ may be in order.

Willard on Tozer

Willard quotes A.W. Tozer in Renovation of the Heart:

That our idea of God corresponds as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.
A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology, but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple.-A.W. Tozer

We must put God in His proper place. When we fail to do this we open ourselves up to error, so we must constantly be striving to sharpen our view of God and keep Him as our Sovereign Lord. How I live shows what I think about God more than any brilliantly written observation I may share. A lot of us talk about the right things to do, but our actions show our true commitment to righteousness, justice, peace, morality, discipleship, etc. Probably because we do not really know what we truly believe about God.

I thought I had it rough

An excerpt from Discipleship and the Cross by Bonhoffer:

Those who are not prepared to take up the cross, those who are not prepared to give their life to suffering and rejection by others, lose community with Christ, and are not disciples. Discipleship is commitment to the suffering Christ.

Whether we really have found God's peace will be shown by how we deal with the sufferings that will come upon us. There are many Christians who do, indeed, kneel before the cross of Jesus Christ, and yet reject and struggle against every tribulation in their own lives. They believe they love the cross of Christ, and yet they hate that cross in their own lives. And so in truth they hate the cross of Jesus Christ as well, and in truth despise that cross and try by any means possible to escape it. - Dietrich Bonhoffer

When it is put that way I find myself seriously lacking in the commitment category.

Culture Wars

Good article at Christianity Today concerning our divided country, red and blue as we like to say. How do we bridge the seemingly large canyon between us?
What's the solution? The following is from that article:

First, "red" Christians must reach out to "blue" Christians and vice versa. Ideology must not divide believers. Second, Christians are not seeking political power, so we're not out to "destroy" perceived political enemies. Nor do we line up for the victor's spoils, as if we were just one more special-interest group. Instead, we need to graciously contend (and demonstrate) that Christian truth is good for the right ordering of our lives, individually and collectively, and manifest our commitment to the common good by doing the things Christians do best: creating strong families, restoring relationships, helping the poor, working for human rights.

Christians are in a unique position to bring common grace to a deeply divided nation and offer something more than brief periods of peace between outbreaks of mortal combat every election cycle. In rejecting ideology and putting the common good first, we offer hope to America's warring factions.

Guess who wrote this? Chuck Colson. It is probably easier to be a good winner than a good loser, so it is up to us red staters to show more grace, I think. I don't hear much from blue christians other than how really "blue" they feel. Check it out at the link below.

Chritianity Today

How Can We Be So Mean?

I recently witnessed another taboo being broken, that is you never criticize another person's child where they, either the child or parent can hear it. I know we should never say mean things about people, and saying them behind their backs does not make it right, but saying it out loud for everyone to hear? That is just wrong. It hurts the kid and the parent.

The amazing thing was how the loudest complainers' kids seem to not do any better. Do they realize that? It is almost comical the criticism I heard at the last game I attended. No one had any basis from which to complain. I saw 3 kids lose their composure and the one everyone was dogging was not one of them. He did not lose the game, in fact, he kept us in it.

Whether the most vocal people are Christians or not I honestly do not know, but I do know Christian's are not innocent in a lot of these situations. At least people who profess to be.

Remember also your and my kids expressions out on the court/field/diamond reflect a view of their coach/teammates that was more often than not fostered at home by you or me criticizing someone. I make a conscious effort to keep my cool. If I could just refrain from yelling at the referees for cheating us all the time......Will take more prayer and meditation for that to occur.

The Relevancy of the OT

I have been thinking of late about the Old Testament. It seems that a lot of folks think the OT is irrelevant now that we have the New Testament. While it is clear that things have changed since the NT; i.e. how we as gentiles have access to Yahweh, where as before Christ we were excluded, the OT still shows us a picture of God and ourselves.

Are the 10 commandments relevant? Of course they are, they show us how God wants us to live out our lives, as well as good standards to live by. Are we expected to go beyond the 10 commandments? Of course we are, Jesus calls us to DO, which complements perfectly what Yahweh told the Israelites to NOT DO.

When Paul talks about moderation and temperance we need only to read as far as Genesis to see 2 examples of the negative impact of drunkeness. Or the story of David and Bathsheba describes the guilt and shame, along with the duplicity of the sin of adultery, or how many poor decisions start with coveting. David had to covet Uriah's wife to ever begin down that slippery slope that resulted in adultery, lying, murder, incest throughout David's family life.

And if the OT is a made up fable to make the Israelites look good or to blame God for their genecide,the writers' sure made all of the patriarch's look bad. You would think they would have edited the part about Noah, Lot and what about Samson, the Nazarite, what a hypocrite he was. He did not drink wine but consorted with prostitutes. In fact all of them had their faults. Is that shocking to us?

So I think I'll continue to read the stories in the OT for what they are, stories that point to the futility of man living to please God in the absence of the power of Christ, who happens to show up in the NT. That is my uneducated opinion.

Where is God?

J. Arnold Heinrich has a free e-book called "Discipleship". Here is an excerpt, which I think describes Christians today, with a practical solution as well.
'Why are there so many people today who cannot find faith? I think there are several reasons. Some are satisfied with what is happening; they are proud to be living in a time of great culture and civilization, and they are blind to the suffering of humankind and the whole of creation. They have lost sight of God.

Others despair. They recognize the injustice of mammon, and they suffer with those who are oppressed. But in their compassion they forget the guilt of men - the guilt we all must bear. And if they do see guilt, they see only the guilt of a certain class or nation, not that of all men. They see the creation but not the Creator. They, too, have lost sight of God.

Still others see the sin, guilt, and weakness of men, but they have no heart, no patience with the oppressed, and they do not suffer with them. Because they have lost sight of God, they do not hear the cry of all creation. They have no real faith, or they have found faith only for their own souls and not for suffering humanity.

We can find faith only if we first find God. When we have found God, we will begin to see the need of man from His viewpoint, and we will believe that He can overcome this need. Men must recognize that God loves the world even in our time. In the night of judgment that is passing over our so-called civilization, men need to hear that God still loves them and loves his creation. The message of faith is a message of love."

We may think God does not love us because of our situation. When if we look at God through the life and teachings of Christ, we find that we are to have a childlike faith, that is often difficult to maintain, but neccessary to follow Him.