There’s a strong force in my will coming up against a sliver of a desire in my heart for humility. This force beckons me to seemingly better things. It taunts and tantalizes my senses with false promises of increased happiness. The thing is, I’m so used to it that I unwittingly succumb to its powers. It’s the teasing of unrequited, potential treasures found in the upgrade. Yes, the ability to upgrade.
And it’s everywhere. I can’t escape it. While it is permissible, at times, it is not beneficial especially with the pursuit of being conformed to Christ is taking place. Simply enough, the tangible efforts to better my surroundings, meal times, communication and overall happiness are in the balance.
For example, if my engaged roommate’s wedding date arrives surely I should call dibs on the bigger and better room available. Or if I’m enjoying a delicious bread bowl of soup, certainly a dollar upgrade to enjoy a sugary treat is acceptable anytime. Oddly enough, should my cell phone features after two years of faithful service become stunningly antiquated a slight fee will, yes, upgrade me to the up-to-date options available to the rest of the west. If suddenly I’m making six figures instead of five, I can finally move out of middle class suburbia and upgrade to a house by the lake. If a burst of increases comes an upgrade to a fifteen inch Mac Pro is obvious so that I can ditch the dinky ten inch net book I’ve been embarrassingly carting around.
But should I give in? Should I indulge every single desire of opportunity that passes before my eyes? If my wages increase, should my standard of living also rise? There’s so many options, so many opportunities. Upgrades are ingrained in our culture. Sometimes it isn’t even an option, but an obvious.
The rich increase their wealth while the poor remain stricken. Churches close their doors for lack of funding while bars and clubs continually re-open with remodeled interiors.
Simplicity is missing. Choosing to bypass the upgrade and remain with the initial decision isn’t foolishness. You may disagree, but God doesn’t. For in fact, should wages increase so should giving extravagantly to the poor and needy in the name of Jesus.
It’s not one size fits all either. Simplicity is based upon a case by case, calling by calling basis. Yet it needs to be regarded as important. The decision to buy the new, trendy kitchen table or keep the old, sturdy and reliable one is proposed or give the excess money to a missionary in need.
Knowing that this life is but a vapor. It’s only seventy years, eighty by strength. The treasure acquired here will not last, it becomes rust, eaten by moths and stolen by envious thieves. Sow into what truly lasts, the Spirit. Give unto what is much greater than an invitation to better oneself. Make choices that no one else may see, but what the Lord shall one day reveal in front of many. Small acts that separate salt and light from plain and dark.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Creation's Mystery
On my flight to Denver I just saw one of the most, if not the most, beautiful movements of creation in my life. As the plane ascended into the sky, passing through layers and layers of clouds there seemed to be a break. To my left, out of the window, a dark, deep crevice-like shape forming in the midst of soft white clouds. Yellow light slowly streamed through the midst of the center. For how large it was I do not know; however, it revealed to me mystery.
If God were like a cloud, then I’d picture a fluffy, friendly puff. If God were like the eye of a storm, then I’d picture havoc, chaos, madness and beauty.
What I just saw moments ago, took my breath away. Never before has creation ever fascinated and moved my heart as such. Most likely because the 21st century is so inundated with knowledge we have yet to experience, but are familiar with through pictures and video of someone else’s adventures into the far off reaches of the natural world. Now while we may love the advancements of technology and the like, our own fascination with the unknown hardly exists. This renders our ability of sense to become static. The sense of wonder lost in the abyss of information overload.
As I read through stories of the saints of old captivated by the stars in the night, I cannot understand the overwhelming awe they emote. I don’t have to wonder how they got there or what exactly what they are, my third grade teacher already told me, why search it out? Imagine that, a nine year old already seemingly jaded by the earth that was meant to give witness to Someone so other than. But science has explained it away and creation because obvious.
What if the sense of wonder came back? What if the answer to every question was available in mere seconds? What if the lust of man could no longer be satisfied in a matter of moments? It makes me wonder if families would be far more interactive with one another rather than their TVs. If instant gratification ceased to exist, attention to the here and now might occur.
If one glimpse of one untapped region of cloud formations provoked my heart to search out mystery, imagine if an entire generation became gripped with the beauty of Jesus; the mystery of godliness.
Jesus, the picture of love that so offends the world. Dying for love. Sacrificing self to the ones who most deserved punishment. Jesus is the name the world mocks. Half the time most don’t even know why they scoff at this blessed name. Jesus is offensive because it’s an exchange of all for all. Eternal life exchanged for temporal obedience through love. He never forces. Arms wide open and heart exposed waiting to see if just one may voluntary choose love. It is a sacrifice to lay aside every dream and desire, allowing another to give guidance. Man thinks he is the highest form of wisdom, every person does this. For example, we’re annoyed when another tells us what to do and they have no authority to give such a word. But He holds authority, after all He formed and fashioned everything we know into existence.
Every person is a soul. Every person has an eternal destiny. It’s written on the inside of us. Even if questions are asked and answers given so quickly, it’s all in vain to try and cover up the biggest question in the heart: what is the purpose of life?
I won’t answer it for anyone, it must be searched out. However, the question begs being asked.
If God were like a cloud, then I’d picture a fluffy, friendly puff. If God were like the eye of a storm, then I’d picture havoc, chaos, madness and beauty.
What I just saw moments ago, took my breath away. Never before has creation ever fascinated and moved my heart as such. Most likely because the 21st century is so inundated with knowledge we have yet to experience, but are familiar with through pictures and video of someone else’s adventures into the far off reaches of the natural world. Now while we may love the advancements of technology and the like, our own fascination with the unknown hardly exists. This renders our ability of sense to become static. The sense of wonder lost in the abyss of information overload.
As I read through stories of the saints of old captivated by the stars in the night, I cannot understand the overwhelming awe they emote. I don’t have to wonder how they got there or what exactly what they are, my third grade teacher already told me, why search it out? Imagine that, a nine year old already seemingly jaded by the earth that was meant to give witness to Someone so other than. But science has explained it away and creation because obvious.
What if the sense of wonder came back? What if the answer to every question was available in mere seconds? What if the lust of man could no longer be satisfied in a matter of moments? It makes me wonder if families would be far more interactive with one another rather than their TVs. If instant gratification ceased to exist, attention to the here and now might occur.
If one glimpse of one untapped region of cloud formations provoked my heart to search out mystery, imagine if an entire generation became gripped with the beauty of Jesus; the mystery of godliness.
Jesus, the picture of love that so offends the world. Dying for love. Sacrificing self to the ones who most deserved punishment. Jesus is the name the world mocks. Half the time most don’t even know why they scoff at this blessed name. Jesus is offensive because it’s an exchange of all for all. Eternal life exchanged for temporal obedience through love. He never forces. Arms wide open and heart exposed waiting to see if just one may voluntary choose love. It is a sacrifice to lay aside every dream and desire, allowing another to give guidance. Man thinks he is the highest form of wisdom, every person does this. For example, we’re annoyed when another tells us what to do and they have no authority to give such a word. But He holds authority, after all He formed and fashioned everything we know into existence.
Every person is a soul. Every person has an eternal destiny. It’s written on the inside of us. Even if questions are asked and answers given so quickly, it’s all in vain to try and cover up the biggest question in the heart: what is the purpose of life?
I won’t answer it for anyone, it must be searched out. However, the question begs being asked.
Friday, December 16, 2011
The Price for the Prostitute
Today I began my first day at Exodus Cry: the Prayer Movement to End Human Trafficking. My new co-workers genuinely exemplify a deep burden of injustice of the issue of sexual slavery in this day and time. Not only do they commit to excellence in the workplace, but also loving one another well out of the overflow of wells of revelation of the Father’s desire for them. By a simple six hour time span I had become convicted by my immense lack of compassion for those steeped in the atrocity of human trafficking and my helplessness apart from God to see a solution.
Max Lucado proposes 25 questions for Mary, Jesus’ mother, in his book, “God Came Near.” Question number sixteen reads, “What do you think He thought when He saw a prostitute offering to the highest bidder the body He made?”
My mind was thinking of this tonight as I asked the Lord to encounter me afresh with His burden over the injustice of human trafficking in this world and the perverse lust of my culture. There are said to be calculated some 20 million slaves in the world; uncalculated 200 million and eighty percent are sex slaves. Pornography, the gateway into the selling of bodies, grosses over 200 billion dollars a year. Truly, truly an epidemic is on our hands and blindness on our eyes.
I asked Him, what did You feel as You watched a prostitute sell her body to the highest bidder? Surely You had countless times, share with me how You felt. His answer: I was the one who paid the highest price for her body, no man can possibly out bid Me in My zeal and passionate desire that she may forever be near and for her heart to accept My love voluntarily.
No righteous man, no wicked man can outbid Jesus. False justice will not truly rescue a woman out of her depravity, even if an organization physically brings her out of chains only Jesus can set her free. No wicked man can possibly win the soul of a woman, prostituted or not.
That’s what it’s all about: Jesus paying the price. It’s not about what can man do in his own striving to liberate captives. There is One greater who has set captivity captive because of His anointing by the Father to give beauty for ashes and a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
It comes by the blood of the Lamb slain for the transgressors; mocking, beating, bruising, marring Him beyond recognition. It comes by the innocent Man in whom no deceit was found in His mouth, only intercession for the transgressors that they may be with Him in paradise.
No evil thought entered His mind over the ones driving steel into flesh, only prayers supplicated to His Father. The highest price paid for each prostitute to draw near to the throne of grace with confidence to find help in their times of need.
This is the answer. Jesus Christ the Deliverer of the slave. Savior to the sick. Redeemer of the sinner. Husband of the unfaithful. Judge over injustice.
No man can match or outbid the price that Jesus has laid upon every head of every prostitute mandated to flaunt herself to the lusts of the streets of Las Vegas, Mumbai, Rio de Janero or London. The beauty is that she is not found in shame before God, but accepted as a daughter with full rights to the kingdom of heaven.
Max Lucado proposes 25 questions for Mary, Jesus’ mother, in his book, “God Came Near.” Question number sixteen reads, “What do you think He thought when He saw a prostitute offering to the highest bidder the body He made?”
My mind was thinking of this tonight as I asked the Lord to encounter me afresh with His burden over the injustice of human trafficking in this world and the perverse lust of my culture. There are said to be calculated some 20 million slaves in the world; uncalculated 200 million and eighty percent are sex slaves. Pornography, the gateway into the selling of bodies, grosses over 200 billion dollars a year. Truly, truly an epidemic is on our hands and blindness on our eyes.
I asked Him, what did You feel as You watched a prostitute sell her body to the highest bidder? Surely You had countless times, share with me how You felt. His answer: I was the one who paid the highest price for her body, no man can possibly out bid Me in My zeal and passionate desire that she may forever be near and for her heart to accept My love voluntarily.
No righteous man, no wicked man can outbid Jesus. False justice will not truly rescue a woman out of her depravity, even if an organization physically brings her out of chains only Jesus can set her free. No wicked man can possibly win the soul of a woman, prostituted or not.
That’s what it’s all about: Jesus paying the price. It’s not about what can man do in his own striving to liberate captives. There is One greater who has set captivity captive because of His anointing by the Father to give beauty for ashes and a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
It comes by the blood of the Lamb slain for the transgressors; mocking, beating, bruising, marring Him beyond recognition. It comes by the innocent Man in whom no deceit was found in His mouth, only intercession for the transgressors that they may be with Him in paradise.
No evil thought entered His mind over the ones driving steel into flesh, only prayers supplicated to His Father. The highest price paid for each prostitute to draw near to the throne of grace with confidence to find help in their times of need.
This is the answer. Jesus Christ the Deliverer of the slave. Savior to the sick. Redeemer of the sinner. Husband of the unfaithful. Judge over injustice.
No man can match or outbid the price that Jesus has laid upon every head of every prostitute mandated to flaunt herself to the lusts of the streets of Las Vegas, Mumbai, Rio de Janero or London. The beauty is that she is not found in shame before God, but accepted as a daughter with full rights to the kingdom of heaven.
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