A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Visiting a Christian bookstore I noticed a common trend. There is lots of books with titles or subtitles like “Lord, Teach Me To Pray In 28 Days ”, “40 Days To Discovering God's Big Idea For Your Life” or “Grow Spiritually Strong In 28 Days”. It seems that book which promise to advance your spiritual development in a certain set amount of time are a hit. I don’t wish to be critical of the content of these books- some of them have some worthwhile things to say.

What has got me wondering is what these kinds of titles and subtitles say about our approach to spiritual life. For publishers to keep using them, they must be selling books. We live in a quick gratification society. I admit I sometimes have a problem with that- I’ve been known to get frustrated that my microwave meal isn’t heating as fast as I’d like. I think these books are tapping into that tendency. We want a timeframe for our spiritual growth and we’d like that time frame to be short.

The problem is spiritual growth doesn’t work that way. We can’t decide that we are going to advance spiritually a set amount in a set amount of time anymore than we can decide that we’d like to be half a foot taller in 2 months time. Certainly we can and should do all the right things for developing spiritual health but we shouldn’t expect quick fixes. The title of a book about discipleship by Eugene Peterson, “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” captures something of the reality of spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is a lifelong pursuit in which sometimes we will have growth spurts and sometimes we might not seem to be growing much but if we are spiritually healthy we will be moving at least a little in the right direction. We must be careful to not get disillusioned when the pace of growth isn’t what we have in mind. Our task is not to wear ourselves short sprints of attempting to grow spiritually but to run as steadily as we can in faith and obedience so we will still be going at the end of the race.

Evangelism or social justice?

The evangelism verses social justice debate seems to be a favorite amoungst Christians. It has occupied many a book, blog post and debate. Some people say our responsibility is to preach the good news through words. Some say it is to meet people's practical needs for things like food and shelter. Some people say that we should do both but that one is more important than the other. Some people say they are 2 distinct categories of activity, some consider them inseparable or interchangeable.

My stance in this debate is....... that I don't think we really need to be having this debate. We should be doing stuff instead. There is enough of a biblical case to be made for both telling people about Jesus and practical needs so let's do both. I don't think God will be nearly as annoyed if our way of categorizing things is not quite right but we were out doing what we should than if we got the theology of it all perfectly nailed down but just sat around arguing. We wouldn't need to worry that one of telling people about Jesus or meeting their physical needs wouldn't get done if more Christians got up and did something. Most estimates put the global Christian population at over 2 billion. Even if you accept that some of those are non-practicing or part of not quite Christian fringe groups we're still talking about hundreds of millions of believers. Surely that should be enough to get everything done. God has gifted everyone a bit differently so if one person or little group's talents and passions leans towards one area, there is bound to be someone else who can fill in the gap.

So whether your passion involves doing something spiritually or practically beneficial to someone else, just do it!

The bride

That the church has an image problem would come as no surprise to any of you. Almost every day one is confronted with stupid and inappropriate things done and said by groups and individuals who claim to represent Christ. Sometimes it gets so bad i start waiting for someone to tell me it is all a prank because surely no-one would do something so absurdly wrong in real life.

It is easy to despair about the Church. Were we to be permanently left to our own devices despair and hopelessness would be entirely justified. If it was up to us to perfect the church on our own, we may as well give up.

We can hope because we are not going to be left to continually mess things up forever. Jesus is coming back for his church. On that day we will not be the mess we are now. We will be made new. On that day we will be like a bride, beautiful, pure and flawless. On that day Jesus won't need new PR because we will be made perfect. No more scandals, no more pain, no more division.

Because that day is coming, we can hold on. Of course we should strive towards holiness now, though those strivings will very often fall short. We can persist because we know that while the church is now often like an ugly, unfaithful woman, one day she will be like a beautiful bride. Today when the church frustrates us, may we hold that one day in mind.

Maybe we should boycott the boycotts

I recently came across a campaign run by a large and well known Christian ministry which involved getting people to boycott stores where the staff said happy holidays rather than merry Christmas. There is a number of things that can and have been asked of such a campaign. Some of these include-
- The world is filled with injustice and suffering on a massive scale. Even in the retail sector there is problems like products produced by slave/exploitative labour, environmentally destructive production practices and severely underpaying staff. Is the greeting at the register really the issue we should be focusing on?
- The bible doesn't even command that Christians celebrate Christmas. On what grounds then can we insist on a very specific form of Christmas observance being mandatory on those who don't believe in Jesus?
- This time of year is likely busy and stressful for many retail staff. Shouldn't we be happy they are managing a polite greeting in any form?
- Christmas shopping has become incredibly consumerist and materialistic. How does altering the words used at the register solve the problem? Shouldn't we be looking for an alternative, rather than just changing the label of our existing problem? Can the real meaning of Jesus birth ever be found in a mall?

All these are important questions. One I haven't seen addressed much in all the commentary is what boycotts like this do to our Christian witness. I think we have good reason to be very concerned about the effects.

Picking such relatively petty things to fight against reflects badly on us as representatives of Christ. I don't know what the motives are of those who started this boycott. Maybe they had completely good intentions. The problem is all the good intentions in the world don't count for much if people perceive something else. By insisting that everyone else do even the smallest things how we would like them done we risk coming across as self interested and power hungry. It makes us appear (possibly rightly) to have really messed up priorities. Who would want to become a Christian when this is what we are showing them this is how being a Christian changes how a person acts? Sometimes loosing the battles graciously and letting others have their way will present a much more Christ-like witness that us winning and being able to implement the changes we'd like.


Because there are so many voices vying for everyones attention, most people have a quite short attention span for any group they are not already a part of trying to tell them something. This has serious implications for our witness. If we make ranting about the things we don't like the thing we communicate the loudest, people are not going to waste their time sticking around to hear more from us. We short change people when we use the short bit of attention they have granted us to tell them about our pet peeves rather than the gospel. Telling people to change the words they use to talk about Christmas celebrations does nothing to really help them. Even if we did get a non-Christian to completely agree with all those peeves (which is very very unlikely) without the gospel they would still be unsaved and in no better position than when we first got in their face. When there is actual sin involved (which i don't believe is the case here) the person will be in a much better position to hear and change once they have responded to the gospel and surrendered themselves to God.

Given what this kind of boycott does to our reputation and Christian witness I think maybe the thing that needs boycotting is not the stores but boycotts like this.

Critiquing consumer culture

This week a friend passed onto me an interesting little film called The story of stuff. If you've got a spare 20 minutes it is worth watching. You can watch it below or download it here. The download is probably a better option if you have a slow connection.



I'm no scientist so I'll leave the environmental claims right alone. As a sociology student, what I found facinating is the way in which our society has deliberately been molded to create a consumer culture. It is illogical how often we buy new stuff when we still have old stuff that works fine. At this time of year people get particurly sucked into the compulsion to buy too much. As you shop this Christmas (and afterwards too) it is worth slowing down and considering whether you are buying what you are because you have a genuine need or use for it or just because you've been taught to keep on buying. The extra stuff you would be buying probably won't make you happy for long, but not being in debt and being able to help others because you didn't buy stuff you didn't need probably will.

The necessity of diversity

Lately I have hearing a lot of Christians getting frustrated because not everyone else is joining their particular cause. People don't understand how someone could not be fired up about the things they are. Sometimes it gets so bad that insults and accusations about peoples priorities and spirituality (or lack thereof) start getting thrown around. Is that really how Christians should be behaving? I think it is really sad because we need people to be passionate about different things.

Isn't it fantastic how differently God has wired people to be? People find such an extraordinary diversity of things to be passionate about. There are people in love with doing things most of us never would have thought of or wouldn't enjoy doing. Some people help by moving to far away lands, some help from right where they are. Some people care about feeding street kids, or providing medicine for those with AIDS. Some are passionate about helping addicts recover or teaching immigrants. Some people are driven to campaign against environmental destruction or socially destructive trade policies. There are people who care deeply for countries most people couldn't find on a map. Some people have the skills to build houses, drill wells or knit blankets for babies in orphanages. There's people helping by doing everything from photography to plumbing, web design to weeding. Some people channel their love of animals into caring for the pets of those fleeing natural disasters or domestic violence. Some are especially skilled at raising money, some at making sure the raised money is used well. The list is endless!

Can you imagine how much would not get done if we were all passionate about the same causes? A few things would get done really well but huge amounts of need would be completely overlooked. We should celebrate the wonderful diversity of ways people are passionate about making a difference. Instead of tearing down those already busy with another cause, we should encourage them and pray that God would raise up more people to fill the areas in which there are gaps.

Live like time is running out

When you know you are only going to be living somewhere for a short time, you live differently.

I’m almost to the end of my 5 month time living in Singapore. The short time here serves as a motivator. I know that I might not have a chance to come back to many places here for a while (or maybe ever.) When I get the chance I’ve been busy exploring and trying to take up as many social opportunities as I can with my new friends here. Some of the other exchange students keep so busy exploring I barely see them around! How different back home when there is no urgency. I’ve spent too many weekends back home doing not much because it seems like too much effort or because there doesn’t seem to be much to do. It always comes as a surprise when I hear Singaporean locals say there’s nothing to do in Singapore when I still have a big list of places to go.

When you stop to think about it, while most of us will be living wherever we are living for a bit longer than 5 months, life is short. Sometimes surprisingly so. I think our lives would be different if we took this into account. What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you spend time with?

More importantly what’s stopping you and why don’t you start?

From beliefs to behavior

Last week in one of my sociology classes the lecturer was discussing why religion is important in understanding how groups within society interact. He said something to the effect of a persons religious belief shapes their world view which determines their behavior.

I find it interesting that sociologists grasp something about how the Christian life should work that we Christians sometimes miss. Our faith should translate into a Christian worldview from which should flow Godly behavior. Too often we profess to be Christian but don’t let that filter down into how we view the world in regards to money, success, relationships or any number of things. We might hold a sufficiently Christian worldview on an issue but fail to let it determine how we behave. I think it is this last transition from worldview to behavior that is the hardest bit. It's an important bit though. The bible talks about faith without works being dead (James 2). If we don’t put our Christian belief and worldview into actually doing good, both of those are meaningless. I think Romans 12-13 is a great place to start looking for things to work on. After 11 chapters dense with Christian theology he breaks down how that translates into Christian behavior.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

(Text from Romans 12-13, ESV)

How not to tell if a preacher is telling the truth

As Christians we should be aiming to have biblical doctrine. Unfortunately a lot of people are using some really faulty methods to work out what that is. These methods lead many to follow all sorts of false teachers and doctrines.

Here's a few of the ones that i see people rely on too often

Sincerity/ niceness- While there is probably some fraudsters who deliberately fake sincerity, most preachers are truly sincere about what they teach. The problem is it is possible to be sincere and wrong. Nor does being the nicest person alive protect one from teaching error.

Good deeds- I have often heard the good deeds someone does used as a rebuttal against questions about doctrine. Any one of any persuasion can do good. It doesn't tell us if their doctrine is correct.

It sounded right- Sometimes stuff sounds right because it lines up with how you've been conditioned by culture, not because it lines up with the bible. It may sound right because you'd really like it to be right (eg. God wants you to be super rich!). Clever writing can also go a long way to making something sound right which actually is not.

I brought the book in a Christian bookstore- It would be nice if buying a book in a Christian bookstore provided a guarantee of theological soundness. Not the case unfortunately. Lots of books with bad theology make their way into Christian bookstores. Some of them even become best sellers.

So what should we do? Compare the teaching to the bible. Not just in a superficial grab a few out of context verses way but in careful and prayerful study.

Behaviour modification and heart transformation

This tweet from @ChristineCaine has really got me thinking lately.

We must shift from an emphasis on behaviour modification to heart transformation. You cannot legislate the human heart.. Jesus transforms it

I think she is really onto something. A huge focus in Christian culture at the moment is the idea of "culture wars" in which we are meant to fight for the upholding of Christian morality in our culture. This often includes huge amounts of political and legal campaigning. Certainly we should uphold Christian ethics and morals to a very high standard within the church. I'm starting to wonder if we've missed the point in trying to mold an unbelieving culture into looking more Christian.

My first concern is that it is not reasonable to expect someone not in a right relationship with God to act like they are. People act in a way consistent with wherever their hearts are at and what their worldview consists of. We can't really be mad at non-Christians for not upholding Christian morality. Why would they? They are just acting on their own convictions. Not saying they are necessarily right, just consistent. We might be able to force some kind of behavior modification but without a genuine change of heart it is unlikely to stick very long. It is also likely to foster massive amounts of resentment and build resistance to the gospel.

More importantly, my second concern is that our morality campaigning misses the real need. Imagine if one day we got what we were campaigning for. Abortion and sexual sins made illegal. Prayer in schools and the ten commandments in court rooms. Totally clean media. I'm sure many Christians would think this to be wonderful and some of these things may have some merit. The problem is we can achieve all of this and still have achieved nothing where it really matters. All this could happen and yet the whole society still be hostile towards God. People can be impeccably moral and yet still spiritually lost.If people's hearts are right with God their behavior will follow but no amount of good behavior will solve problems of the heart. No amount of good behavior will save, only Jesus can do that.  If what people get from us is moralising rather than the gospel, we have failed. It is Jesus we must present to the world, not more moralising.

Procrastinators of the world unite...................Tomorrow!

Half way through the year already! Isn’t that scary? How are your new year’s resolutions going?

As I look back on commitments I made at the start of the year or at various times since then, there is a common thread I notice. It is that while I always fully intend to do good things, I just intend to do them later.

Pray for someone.......later tonight
Start the diet.......on Monday
Read my bible......tomorrow
Write some more blog posts.........sometime later this week
Go to the gym.......sometime before the membership expires

These mostly look like pretty reasonable at first glance. After all, everyone is pretty busy. But they all add up, both over time and when there is more than one thing getting procrastinated. This can be especially the case in spiritual things. It’s not like when you skip the diet, keep eating boxes of cookies- there the consequences of that tend to be painfully obvious. The consequences of spiritual procrastination can be a lot more subtle, but still very much exist. Too much procrastination keeps us as immature and ineffective Christians. I would have to wonder if it is part of the devils strategy that if he can't make us do bad things, that he'll influence us to keep procrastinating on doing the good things so they never happen.

Good intentions are never enough to beat procrastination. On their own they tend to fuel it. I'm learning that if I want to grow spiritually I actually have to make a firm plan. Then I have to act on it, even when it is inconvenient or not the most enjoyable thing to do at the time. I used to at the start of every week write down a list of things I was going to pray for on each day of that week. I think I need to start doing that again.

I'm sure I'm not the only one with a procrastination problem. What are some areas you need to kill procrastination in?

Knowledge and gentleness

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 3:15-16 NIV)

I think this is a scripture that should be a challenge to all Christians. As Christians we tend to miss the mark on this one in one of two ways. One of the ways we can miss this this is to not be ready to answer when people want to know about our beliefs. As Christians it is important that we not just be able to parrot off the doctrinal statement but actually be able to explain it. We don't have to know it all but actually making some effort makes a huge contribution to the credibility and integrity of our message in the eyes of those we tell it to.

On the other hand knowing why they believe what they believe is not a problem for some Christians. It's how they say it that is the problem. Whether it be enthusiasm, arrogance or just bad communication skills, the gospel and Christian viewpoints are often presented in really unhelpful ways. Just as being uninformed can damage our witness, so can our attitude when we present the gospel. Have a bad one and people aren't hearing the message, they're hearing your attitude. If you don't know something they are asking about, swallow your pride and say so. Gentleness and respect are so important.

Personally i need to work on both at times. Sometimes I can be not thoughtful enough. Sometimes I need to work on how i go about talking about what i know. How about you?

I'll leave you will a clip of Mark Driscoll discussing this text.

How quickly we forget

It is almost bizarre how easy it is to forget the goodness of God....

We read in Exodus 14 how God miraculously delivered his people from slavery in Egypt. Just 2 chapters later in Exodus 16 they are complaining already. By Exodus 32 they’ve built themselves an idol. It seems so staggering that so quickly after seeing God do such a great thing that they could be building complaining and building idols. We think that we’d do better if we were on our situation.

I have to wonder if we are wrong and maybe we would have done the same. Now most of us haven’t ever been rescued from physical slavery but we have been rescued from slavery to sin which is even more significant. How quickly we loose sight of that. And just like the Israelites, amongst those that have been set free (the church) there is often an awful lot of petty complaining going on about issues that in the scale of things, are pretty insignificant. We aren’t usually making up cow-shaped idols but how often do Christians get obsessed with idols like money, success or beauty? It seems to happen all the time. I’ve done both at times, i’m sure all of you have too.

Like the Israelites we need perspective. We cannot afford to forget what really matters. If we don't make an effort to remember the wonder of salvation, we risk falling into petty complaining and idolatry.

How are you going to go about reminding yourself?

God is not a get rich quick scheme

The idea that God will make Christians financially rich with the best possessions if they give lots of money is a common one in Christian culture today. You see it in churches, Christian conferences, Christian books and most notoriously, Christian television. It is often expressed with lines like “If you give a generous gift to our ministry, God will bless you financially.” or "God wants you to have the best of everything, you just have to claim it in faith." It all sounds so nice but i think this prosperity gospel has serious theological problems and can be harmful to the church. Here's why.....


It tends to rely on twisting scripture.
One commonly used verse to support 2 Corinthians 9:6- Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Without its context, it sounds like it is supporting prosperity gospel. Read properly in its context it expresses no such idea. It is in the context of a discussion of helping a church in another city that has fallen into hard times. Paul is telling them about how God will supply them with what they need to help others. There is no hint of God making them rich so they can hoard it to themselves to live a luxury lifestyle. Such mis-using of scripture is common in the support of prosperity gospel.

The bible condemns it
Have a read of 1 Timothy 6:3-10
If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

 I don't think that needs too much explanation. It is pretty clear that the idea that acting Godly will make you rich is a false doctrine and shouldn't be attempted or taught.

What about the rest of the world?
 If this doctrine were true it would apply just as much to Christians in North Korea, Zimbabwe, Iraq and China as it did to Christians in America or Australia.  The prosperity gospel just doesn't work when we apply this test. Christians in many countries around the world loose their jobs, homes, reputations, friends, possessions and even lives as a result of being a Christian. Their faith hasn't made them rich, it has cost them dearly. Then there's the many Christians suffering from poverty and disease in the third world....The missionaries that gave everything up to go to a foreign field..........the list goes on.  Many of these people have strong faith and give much in many ways for the advancement of God's kingdom. Where is there financial riches and luxury lifestyle? How can we dare say that God is going to make us rich, comfortable and give us lots of stuff as a result of our faith and (often not particularly sacrificial) giving, when there are strong believers around the world who suffer so badly?

It can exploit the poor

 These ideas are not healthy for anyone, but communicated to those struggling financially there is extra potential for damage. If you are struggling to make ends meet the idea that if you give some money God will solve all your financial problems is an attractive one. Prosperity gospel messages are often targeted at this group with stories of someone who gave the last of their money (which they needed to pay bills) to a ministry and then God allegedly gave them a whole lot of money or a house. If they want to give of their own accord that's between them and God, but the church should not be encouraging financially irresponsible giving that puts their ability to care for their family at risk. Time magazine has raised concern about the trouble believing in prosperity gospel can get the poor into from believing that giving to God means he'll bless taking out unwise loans. Shouldn't it be us giving to support the poor rather than the poor being convinced through questionable theology to support the church/ministries?

There is a lot more that could be said about prosperity gospel theology because it is so flawed and can cause so many problems. It has to stop.

Making much of Jesus

I think it has always been human nature to be into focusing on yourself and your own achievements. What has changed over the last decade or so is the increasing ease with which we have become able to broadcast our self obsession to the world. Whether it be the reality TV show contestant gushing about how they “just want to show the country what I’ve got” with such an intensity you’d think they were the missing piece of the country’s cultural identity or the internet user filling their facebook or twitter feeds with the minutest details of their activities, achievements and preferences, our culture gives us plenty of opportunity for self absorption. Maybe as Christians this is not the way things are meant to work for us. Have a look at what Paul has to say….

“ If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:4b-8 NIV)

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14 NIV)

If anyone had reason to be a bit full of himself, it was Paul. He came from a prestigious background, was well educated and had been successful at what he did both before and after being saved. And yet, Paul isn’t bragging because is not himself he wants to lift up. He understood so deeply the glory and worthiness of Jesus that it put anything he may have done in its rightful perspective. He realized that Jesus was the one worth telling the world about, not himself.
It is not necessarily wrong to tweet, facebook , go on a reality show or many of the other outlets of expression our society gives us but as Christians we have to watch who we are glorifying with what we do. May we be a people who make much of Jesus, not ourselves.


for more on this, listen to this week's song of the week "much of you"

Our greatest need

“If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior.”

- D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation

Found on Of First Importance

Shaking up common wisdom

Every society has their common wisdom about how the way the world works. Round where i live during the college semester, one of those pieces of wisdom was that earthquakes do not and cannot happen here. Apparently they do- twice in a few weeks. Thankfully nether was dangerous (both about 4.6 on the Richter scale) which is not enough to do damage but certainly enough to freak people out. People are now rethinking their ideas about the earthquake risk.

Like those earthquakes, Jesus seems to have a way of shaking up what we think. He forces us as Christians to rethink the wisdom we’ve always known. This became especially obvious as i read the beatitudes section of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12) in preparation for my War ethics class. Thinking about some of the objections that would likely come up in tutorial about it i realised how different the people Jesus and common wisdom of our society say are blessed are.

The common wisdom says, “Blessed are the happy, those who think positively and know their potential because they will get everything they desire.”
Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted”

The common wisdom says, “Blessed are the powerful for they will rule the world and everyone in it.”
Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”

The common wisdom says, “Blessed are those who are skilled at exploiting people to their own advantage, for they will soon rise to the top”
Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy”

The common wisdom says, “Blessed are the impure for they have the most fun”
Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”

What long held assumptions have you had to reconsider in light of what the bible says? Where are some biblical “earthquakes” needed amongst the church today to conform us more to the truth of God?

Little things to be thankful for

I’ve often heard it said that you should make a list of all the things you are thankful for. I decided to make a list of some of the little things I’ve had to be thankful for over the last few days.

•  The random clubs handing out free donuts and mineral water at university clubs day that did a wonderful job keeping us sufficiently sugar high to keep going promoting our organisation.
•  A new room this year that is bigger than i expected (and has an ensuite and air-conditioning!)
•  The ant spray i borrowed that works really well making the millions of ants that invaded my room go away.
•  The markdowns shelf at my local Christian bookstore. 
•  The perfect beads to use in a new jewellery project for only $2 a packet at a discount store. 
•  Entertaining twitter messages. 
• Student discounts on software.
  
•  The bad sunburn i got yesterday doesn’t hurt nearly as much as i expected it to. 
• A very cute puppy cheering me up when i'd been having a frustrating morning.
  

So now it is your turn. What are you thankful for today?

Beyond the "Christian music" debate

If you have ever spent much time on music forums frequented by large numbers of Christians you will have no doubt seen the never ending "What songs are Christians allowed to listen to?" debate. Normally the criteria run something along the lines of is it sold in a Christian bookstore, put out by a Christian record label and has an appropriately high JPM (mentions of Jesus Per Minute) count. I pity any previously accepted artist who gets played on MTV or fails the JPM test. The online fallout from rioting Christian music purists can be really nasty.

I would suggest that these tests are not a good way to work out whether we should be listening to something. Firstly significant part of whether a CD gets sold in Christian stores or a song gets played on Christian radio is not a decision about the theological soundness of the lyrics, rather a business decision as to which grouping of media and sales outlets they will send it to that will get them the most sales and fans. Some Christians who haven't compromised their lyrical standards at all choose to put their music out in the mainstream arena rather than the Christian one because that is where they believe it will make the biggest impact. Secondly, just because the CD is in a Christian bookstore doesn't mean what they are saying is biblically sound. This is the case for Christian books too, it is starting to seem like a lot of the time the more copies a book sells in the Christian market the more likely it is to have serious theological flaws. The Jesus Per Minute test fails because there as a lot of topics for songs that are totally biblical and appropriate for Christians to listen to but don't lend themselves to mentioning Jesus every few lines.

So if that doesn't work, how do we assess the appropriateness of the music we listen to? We tend to think about what we've been listening to, the lyrics get stuck in our heads and they can start to subconsciously impact our beliefs. Because of the impact of music on how we think, Philippians 4:8 is an excellent place to look.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Based on that, here's some questions I think we should ask.

Is this song telling the truth?
Is this telling us the truth about God as he is revealed in the bible rather than some of the popular but false images of God that are around? Does the worldview it expresses line up with the bible or is it some other view (eg. Life is all about you/getting stuff/having fun)

Does this song encourage you to view people the right way?
Does this song speak about people in a respectful way or does it portray groups such as women or ethnic minorities in a disrespectful or degrading way?

Does the song encourage noble and praiseworthy behavior?
Is this song glorifying behavior that is inappropriate for Christians such as violence, revenge, hate or greed? Is the activities described in this song even legal? Would acting like what the song encourages make you less or more Christ-like?

Does this song encourage purity?
Does this song go into an inappropriate amount of detail in areas that are likely to cause me temptation to do the wrong thing or dwell on wrong thoughts? Does it encourage sexual activity outside of marriage which is inappropriate for Christians?

How much excellence can be found in this song?
Is this song actually good enough musically and lyrically that it is actually worth listening to repeatedly or is it just mindless rubbish?

Sometimes these criteria will agree with the traditional guidelines. Many times it will not. I've heard stuff that is sold through the Christian industry that never should have been due to inappropriate lyrical content and music from outside the Christian industry that is totally suitable and worthwhile for Christians to listen to and think about. Let's ditch the fights over the labels someone has put on it and instead start choosing our music based on what it actually says.

A tale of two saviors

There has been a great deal of excitement going on around the world about yesterdays inauguration of Barrak Obama as the president of the United States. Even here thousands of miles away in Australia there is a lot of talk and expectation about it. Amongst many of the interviews about it i've seen from America, Australia and around the world, there is a strong idea directly stated or otherwise implied of Obama being a savior. I fear that a lot of people are going to start feeling really let down pretty soon. I'm sure there is many things Obama will do well. But there is some things he might not do well or not be able to fix. He is only human. He cannot be the savior everyone is craving so badly.

This craving for a savior is nothing new. About 2000 years ago, people were craving a savior who was going to set things right and liberate them from an oppressive empire. Jesus came as their savior but he wasn't what they were expecting. Jesus is our savior too but he doesn't fill the savior role people have been grasping at Obama to fill.

Instead of saving us from terrorists,
Jesus saves us from our sins.

Instead of making things right in the health system,
Jesus makes us right with God.

Instead of delivering us of a falling economy,
Jesus delivers us from evil.

As well as being different in what they do, they are very different in the extent of their power. Obama is just a fallible human. Jesus is the perfectly holy and righteous God. Obama can help people in little in this life, what Jesus does extends through this life and the next. Obama will only be in power for a few years, Jesus will reign for all eternity. Obama is only in charge of the USA, Jesus rules the universe and everything in it.

It is tempting for us to grasp at politicians like Obama to be our savior, but ultimately they cannot take that role. Instead, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the true savior of the world.



(No discussions about Obama's policies in the comments please)