My Heart's A Dirty Carpet

As most of you probably know, I currently work for a carpet cleaning company. Some of the carpets that I clean are pretty nasty. Last week I helped clean a particularly nasty carpet. When we walked into the room, the smell was almost overwhelming. Imagine a port-a-poddy exploding in a tobacco factory and that's a pretty good picture of the stench.

If that's not bad enough, the carpet itself was even more repugnant. I'm still not exactly sure what color the carpet was originally, but when we got there it was a lovely assortment of reds, greens, blues, blacks and browns. There were dozens of pieces of gum smeared into the fibers. The stains were so deep that our first attempt to clean (which usually blasts out pretty much anything) barely even touched it. Disgusting smelling red stains were splattered everywhere. And to top it all off, there was a fine collection of cigarette burns, random black spots and an unidentified greenish-brown substance (use your imagination).

About an hour into the job with little progress to show for, I was overcome with a touch of hopelessness. I knew that no matter how much sweat, toil and labor we invested into this carpet it was still going to look trashed out. The whole thing was beginning to gross me out (and, as a big brother to four, I don't get grossed out very easily). What's the point? I thought. Why work so hard and exhaustively for something so disgusting and revolting?

Then, the Holy Spirit hammered something into me. How must God look at my heart? Suddenly, sins began to come into my mind. Disgusting, repulse sins that no doubt offended and hurt my perfect God. Oh, how nasty I must seem to God!

Yet, how tirelessly He labors to clean and purify me, with all my repulsiveness. Sometimes, I can't help but wonder if God gets as frustrated with me as I did with that carpet. It seems that no matter how hard He labors to cleanse me of my filth, I still insist on rolling in the mud.

But I know that, unlike me, God does not grow weary of as He lovingly cleans my sin-stained heart. In love, He claims that disgusting carpet as His own and is transforming it into something worthy of His very presence.

Keep laboring, Great Cleanser!

Why My Father's A Paradox (And Why I Love It)

I’m the type of guy who likes to figure people out. I like knowing what motivates people to do what they do. But there’s one person I’ve never been able to put into any sort of box. It’s my father.

I’m told that when my parents were engaged, my mother made the comment that she just couldn’t figure Dad out. My grandpa, was present, said that they’d been trying unsuccessfully for nineteen years. And while I can’t quite figure him out, I’ve come to love, admire and respect the God-honoring paradoxy of my father.
Here’s a brief examination of that paradox:

Hands-on scholar: The same person who gave a huge stack of commentaries for my graduation barely reads at all. If I see my dad reading anything other than the Bible I know it must be a pretty amazing book.

In one sense, Dad’s not a scholar. He doesn’t like systematic theology, books by Doctor Reverend _____, PhD hold no interest to him and “much study is weariness” is his education motto. But he’s very much the theologian. While he would never use these terms, my father was the first to introduce me to soteriology, eschatology, anthropology and so on. For as long as I can remember, I’ve seen my dad start every morning with long, intense study in the Word. In short, he’s a Proverbs theologian. He likes things that are practical and real. No fancy hypotheticals or long winded speeches about stuff that’ll never help you in life.

What it’s taught me: As someone who does like systematic theology and books by Doctor Reverend ________, PhD, my dad has helped keep me balanced. He taught that it’s all about the Bible. He taught me to reverence, love and apply God’s Word in a way that really mattered.

Laidback perfectionist: My dad’s a very laidback person. He’s the type that’ll do things at the last minute and then even if things don’t go quite right he’s not one to get upset about. But, he’s certainly not some chair rocking ho-hum couch potato.

My father likes things to be done right. For him, right doesn’t necessarily mean by the book. Right means that it works and works well. He’s practical remember. As a kid, making something dad approvable was one of the biggest motivates for excellence. Yet, Dad’s not one get all bent out of shape if something isn’t perfect.

What it’s taught me: Unlike the first paradox, this is a trait I shall with my dad. Follow his footsteps in this area has taught to do the best with what I have; to strive for excellence without fretting about the results.

Romantic rationalist: There’s been very few times that I’ve seen my dad display a large amount of emotion. He’ll chuckle rather than roar with laughter; smile rather than giddily grin; frown rather than yell; tear-up rather than sob. Remember, I’ve already established that he’s laidback and practical.

Yet, he’s very passionate about certain things. He’s passionate about God and how awesome He is. He’s passionate about righteousness and justice. He’s passionate about seeing God exalted and the Bible lived out in every areas of life, from work to politics. He’s passionate about serving other and teaching people the Truth.

The only times I’ve ever seen my dad cry was when he was talking about the love of God. So, while he can be reserved and non-sentimental, my dad still gets excited about good and holy things. The result is a passionate devotion to godly thing without the weight of emotionalism and sentimentalism.

What it’s taught me: I’ve learned that there are things that should excite and thrill me. These like the Gospel and God’s character ought to initiate an emotional response. But this thrilling doesn’t have to be about feelings and emotionalism. Rather, these emotions are about a deep and devouring love for God.

In short, I love my father and I’m so very grateful that God gave me dad who loves Him and was devoted to teaching me from the Word. My prayer is that one day I will be such a father.

Happy Father’s Day!

3 Reasons Not to Go to Church

1. Because there's good preaching, music and fellowship.

So, it's Sunday morning. You've had your coffee; you're dressed up with your Bible in hand. You're ready to go. But what exactly is that you're looking forward to?

Lately, I've been rather convicted about my own attitude toward church. Though I don't normally think of it this way, my motives are really quite selfish. It certainly sounds spiritual to love good preaching, good music and good fellowship. After all, aren't we supposed to like those things?

But what's at the heart of this attitude? A consumer mindset. An idea that the local church is about what I can get out of it and how it helps me. It's about what I can get out of it rather than what I can put into it. But is this really the biblical function of the local church? To be a spiritual filling station where believers come to get fueled, washed and pampered? Hardly. The local church is where the mission of the universal Church and the mission of the individual believer come together and work themselves out practically. In short, it is at the epicenter of the Christian life and mission.

2. To be blessed.

Now, don't get me wrong. I believe that if our approach is proper we will be blessed and spiritually nourished. However, I don't think that should be our primary goal. Scripturally, we are continually commanded to look out for the spiritual wellbeing of our brothers and sisters.

When we go to church, our goal should be to see to it that others are spiritually blessed, become closer to God and are edified. I believe that if we make that our goal and priority then we too will be blessed, edified and brought closer to God. The main difference is emphasis. On the one hand it's about what I can get out of church. On the other hands, it's about glorifying God by serving other in the context of the local church.

3. To listen and leave.

But here's the most common one. We all have a tendency to come into church, listen to the sermon, shank a few hands and then peel out. The local church is seen as a Sunday (and maybe Wednesday) thing. But if you look at the Scripture you'll see that the Church, and therefore her local embodiments, are central to God's plan and mission. So shouldn't it be central to ours?

If the local church is primal to God's mission, should it also be a central theme of our prayers, efforts, ministry, time and energy?

Rob Bell Is Not The Issue

The dust is beginning to clear on the whole Love Wins controversy. Not that the debate is over, mind you, but the lines have been drawn. The one team is convinced that Rob Bell is a heretic who has officially betrayed historical Christianity. The other team is convinced that Bell is a victim of pharisaical traditionalism. Likewise, all that can really be said about the theological debate has pretty much been said. I don't think we're going to see a lot more "discussion" on this issue. Everyone's pretty much had their say and we've officially arrive at the part of the debate where everyone just stares menacingly at each other.

However, in all this debate and fuss, I think it's important that we not lose sight of the main issue here. Whether or not Rob Bell is a true Christian really isn't the point. I think most on the orthodox team has failed to acknowledge that Bell and the other Emergent times have a tendency to both feed off of and feed into the current cultural mood. Bell is popular because he helps reconcile people's external religion (traditional Christianity) with their internal religion (anthrocentric postmodernism). This is just another attempt to make Christianity comply with postmodern thinking.

Bell is giving the people what they want to hear. This raises the question of why do they want to hear it? True, people don't like the idea of a God who sends people to Hell. I like what Randy Alcorn says to that, “Many imagine that it is civilized, humane, and compassionate to deny the existence of an eternal Hell, but in fact it is arrogant that we, as creatures, would dare to take what we think is the moral high ground in opposition to what God the Creator has clearly revealed. We don’t want to believe that any others deserve eternal punishment, because if they do, so do we. But if we understood God’s nature and ours, we would be shocked not that some people go to Hell (where else would sinners go?), but that any would be permitted into Heaven. Unholy as we are, we are disqualified from saying that infinite holiness doesn’t demand everlasting punishment.”

However, I think there's something else going on here to. Perhaps we don't want the responsibility that comes along with a belief in a literal, eternal Hell. Bell keeps telling people that this really isn't that big a deal. Maybe that's because, until Bell upset the fruit basket, we haven't treated it like a big deal. Isn't it true that we often live like functional Universalists? Lately, the Holy Spirit's been driving a hot iron through my conscience in this area (as a side note, please pray that I would have the courage to follow through on this conviction and the wisdom to do so effectively).

Condemning Rob Bell really isn't the issue. The issue is that people need Jesus and He's charged us with pointing people to Him. Does our lifestyle match our theology? Would my life be any different if I truly acted like I really believe billions of souls are a breath away from eternal, horrific torment? Am I living as though I've truly been commissioned with the making of disciples? Would I treat people differently if I were living with that truth in mind?

So, don't get distracted with Rob Bell. He's not important. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is.

Thursday: In Remembrance of Him

Having grown up in "Church culture" all my life, communion was one of those events that I always chalked up as "something we do just because." I never really got it. I mean, sure, I knew the correct Sunday school answer. We do this in remembrance of Christ. But, especially when I was younger, I always dreaded communion services. It seemed so dry and, well, religious.

But, the more I've begun to contemplate communion, the more it's beginning to make sense. Sure, we've reduced it a mere ritual, but it doesn't have to be that way. You see, God knows we're idiots and have a tendency to forget how good He is to us. So, whether it's the rainbow in the days of Noah, or the memorial feasts of the Old Testament, or the two ordinances of the Church age, God has given us little reminders of His faithfulness.

This week, people are going to talk about Good Friday and make a fuss about Resurrection Sunday - and rightly so. But I think it'd be unwise to forget what happened on Thursday. I encourage you to read Luke 22:7-53 today. It tells of what happened on that fateful Thursday before our Master's crucifixion.

I'll give you the highlights:

Jesus has a Passover meal with His disciples. There, He introduces the Lord's Supper. It is a testament to Christ's love and patience that He gave us a visual aid to help us remember all that He's done for us. The bread is His broken body, a testament that God became man; the Creator became a creature; a Spirit became flesh; the Holy One became sin for us.

The wine is His blood. To the Jews, there was something very sacred about blood. To have your blood spilled was a sign of God's wrath. Our Holy Brother was crushed in the winepress of God's anger for us.

But thankfully there's more. The sharing of the bread and cup is a foreshadowing of things to come. One day, when Christ comes, there will be no more need for communion for we shall share in the glorious Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Our communion with Christ and His Body, now imperfect, will be made all the more glorious.

Thursday is also a testament to humility. While the disciples were arguing about who should be the greatest, the King of kings wept before His Father and humbly proclaimed, "Not my will but Thine."

Thursday is a day to remember that Christ lived and died and lives forever more that we might be joint heir with Him. Take some time to thank Him for that today. :-)

"I Will Wait For You"

Someone showed me this a few days ago. And while I'm not really into this style of poetry, I'm definitely into the message. It expresses a lot of things that I've been thinking about lately, but from a different angle - a woman's angle.

This is a result of a generation of boys who don't want to grow up. For the guy's point of view, the first part of the poem is what not to be. But her beautiful description of "you" is an incredible challenge of what we are to be.



I hope that this is an encouragement to you.

An Outward-Focused Introversion

Well, you might as well know: I'm a textbook introvert. An off-the-chart I in the Myers-Briggs test. It's amazing how one character trait - having a mind that naturally gravitates inward - can effect nearly everything. When I was younger I was as shy as all get out and had the hardest time communicating with people. But, thankfully, the Lord decided He didn't want me to be shy anymore and He kept putting situations in my life that forced me to grow up.

While I'm over the shyness, I've still had a bit of a love-hate relationship with introversion. It always frustrated me that my personality makes certain things difficult. For example, God calls us to be selfless and others-oriented. That's a bit harder when I'm always locked inside my own mind. Witnessing looks different in my life than it does a lot of other people. The whole thing with going up to a total stranger and saying, "Hey, want to know Jesus?" doesn't work well with me (nor do I think it's very effective in our culture, but that's another topic). I have enough trouble talking about the weather with stranger, much less matters of eternity. When I witness, I need to take the time to establish and build a relationship with the person.

So, this brings me to my main point. How do I, as an introvert, act in an others-oriented way? Is introversion and selflessness fundamentally opposed? Must I fight my introvert tendencies in order to serve others?

Well, there are certain introvert tendencies that need to be overcome in order to be others-oriented. But there are also traits of extroversion that must be conquered to accomplish the same thing. Sin will mess up any personality trait we have though that will look different on different people.

However, I also believe that certain introverted traits can be utilized, harnessed and redeemed in a manner that is glorifying to God and beneficial to others. Look at some these introverted traits and think about how they can be used in this manner.

Introverts...

Gain energy when they are alone, and lose energy when among many others.
Derive energy from the inner world, i.e., feelings, ideas, impressions.
Are good listeners.
Think carefully before doing or saying anything.
Maintain more eye contact while listening to someone than when speaking.
Have few interests, but any interest if present is high.
Consider only deep relationships with others as true "friendship".
Prefer to talk one on one than in a group.
Speak slowly, with pauses.
Need silence to concentrate, do not like it when they are interrupted.
Benefit from long-term memory, which often gives a feeling of "light-headedness" and may have trouble finding the right words during a conversation.
Are better than extroverts in coping with tasks requiring attention.
Perform better in studies than extroverts.
Find it easier to learn by reading than in a conversation with others.
Work at the same level regardless of whether they are praised or not.
May have difficulty remembering faces and names.

Now granted, some of these traits mean that introverts sometimes have problems interacting with others. However, I also believe that many of these traits can be channeled in a way that is actually beneficial to others. For example, while introverts don't necessarily feel the need to be the "life of the party" they do desire intimacy and the friends they do have they usually like to know very well. I many ways, introverts are therefore better prepared to help people in time of need because of that quest for intimacy and the tendency to be better listeners.

Likewise, because we process internally, we can often have a calming effect on others. During a stressful situation, a friend once told me how grateful he was that I had remained calm. The funny thing was, I was probably as stressed as he was. However, because that stressed worked itself out internally, I was able to help calm others and keep that stress from spreading.

So, here's my point to all my fellow introverts: God knows what's He's working with. He's big enough to work with anyone. Therefore, rely on His Spirit and, instead of using it as an excuse, use your personality in a way that points others to the incredible glory of God.