The Illusion of Control

Song: Glory in the Highest/Artist: Chris Tomlin’s

Sometimes when I write I want to unpack what I’m feeling. I like to follow those feelings back to where they are originating to see what belief is driving it. Sometimes it starts with a belief and the feelings follow. The feelings are important, but what is more important is whether or not the beliefs they flow from are based on reality and the truth of God’s Word. I just picked out this song this morning because I like it. Most of these songs are in an iTunes playlist I have titled “Christian Praise”. There are only 25 in there and most of them are contemporary. There are other playlists as well (my “Christian Songs” playlist has 186 songs).This song was suggested on a friend’s blog.

There have been times in my life where the illusion of control has been removed. Occasionally that has happened like a curtain slowly being pulled back. A time or two it was more like a door being smashed violently and revealing my true impotence in life. This week my Zachary had surgery. It was an outpatient procedure, not a big deal. But he was under general anesthesia for the procedure and intubated, we were not in control.

Listening to this song and meditating on God’s faithfulness brings peace and a sweet fellowship with my Maker. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 121:4: “Behold, He Who keeps Israel will neither sleep nor slumber.” The whole Psalm is only eight verses so I produced it below.

God is not impotent. He is omnipotent. He is always present. During times of distress, whether as a result of the fallen world we live in or in circumstances of my own making where God chastens me, He is there. As I said yesterday, through grace by faith in Jesus God gives me what I need to be unconditionally accepted by Him, justified, accredited as righteous, forgiven. The image I used to have of God was a tyrant who would have his way and if I got out of line I would get hammered. As I said yesterday, he would be impossible to please. I am mournful for the time I have wasted in my life thinking like that about God. I am grateful that He has revealed more and more of His attributes through His Word.

PSALM 121
The Lord the Keeper of Israel.
A Song of Ascents.
1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.[1]

[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ps 121:1-8.

The Half-Truth of Perfection

Song for today: The Love of God/Artist: David Phelps, Guy Penrod & Joy Gardner

I recently made a little note card. I do this from time-to-time. The purposes usually vary between doing it for Scripture memory or to confront an untrue belief (which is a combination of both purposes because the untrue belief is replaced with Scripture). One of my goals recently has been to memorize one Scripture each week about one of God's attributes. So this week's card did all three of those.

The one I made this week starts out with the current belief: God is impossible to please because He is perfect. Then I literally leave some white space on the card and draw a stop sign and list the truth below it. In this case I listed two Scriptures: Truth: In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 Jn. 4:10 NASB) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8 NASB)

The current belief is a half-truth. God is impossible to please and He is perfect. But as the Scriptures indicate, He has provided what I need to please Him and fellowship with Him. Outside of His provision there would be no hope. God didn't change, he humiliated Himself and gave me what I need.

The application here goes beyond my relationship with God to my relationships with others. I think we are all probably impossible to perfectly please. But in love we give to each other our approval and commitment to care and provide. It was two pretty heavy moments for me as I made these connections. The first, that yes it was impossible to please God but that He had given me everything I needed to be justified in His sight. Secondly, that I may have frequently disappointed my parents and other loved ones in my life, but in love they have made a conscious decision to give me their love. I want to make sure I model and communicate this to my own wife and children and so demonstrate in my own life what I have experienced from God and in fact be a living illustration for my children of God's wondrous grace and mercy.

An interesting connection to explore later is that out of love and concern God will chasten, train, instruct, rebuke, correct me as I will my children. It is a demonstration of love, not evidence of its absence.

Source of Real Life

Songs for today: The More I Seek You/Artist: Gateway Worship; Knowing You (All I Once Held Dear)/Artist: Promise Keepers; Breathe/Artist: Michael W. Smith

I could spend a long time writing this morning. There are a couple of topics that have really captured my attention. They are: (i) earnestness for the faith and discipleship of those we invest in as well as the source for that; and (ii) knowledge moving beyond our heads. I only have enough time to briefly touch on each of them. The songs listed above deal more with latter and my devotion this morning in Today in the Word by Moody Bible Institute had to do with the former.

Today's reading was 1 Thessalonians 3:8-10. V. 8 caught my attention "For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord." (NIV) I followed that "standing firm" thought up in the cross references of my Bible. It is not untrue to say that I could write on and on and on about standing firm. But the verse in the cross references to the cross reference was 2 Corinthians 1:21 which part a of says "Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ." (My Bible often-times take you back to a central place where it has referenced many other instances of that phrase or idea rather than list them all in each instance. This makes a lot of sense.)

The second part is just something that I want to begin praying more and more about. I will need to search for Scriptural support, but I believe I will undoubtedly find it without taking the Word out of context. I could fill my head with all kinds of Knowledge about the Bible. I could read and hear great prayers. I could regurgitate that material and people would think that I had the greatest Bible knowledge and was a committed prayer warrior. But if it doesn't penetrate my kardia (see yesterday's post), then what is it? If I don't move beyond knowing the claims of Christ and trust in Him, then what do I have but knowledge that leaves me in a worse position than before. How would it leave me in a worse position that before? Because having been presented the truth and rejecting it is worse than not having ever been presented the truth. The eternal destination in either case is the same, but the punishment is not equal.

My prayer then is that the things I learn about God and the prayers I pray and the things I write don't reside alone in my brain, but permeate every part of my life.

Where is my heart?

Song for today: Go Light Your World/Artist: Chris Rice.

I've been praying on and off over the last couple of years that God would help me to love others and see others as He does. I use Today in the Word by Moody Bible Institute (www.todayintheword.org) as my daily devotion time. This month is looking at 1 and 2 Thessalonians. On Monday's reading, 1 Th. 2:17-20 Paul says "But, brothers, when we were torn away form you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you." (2:17 NIV) I followed up that parenthetical "in person, not in thought" to see what that was about. It turns out that the thought part is the Greek word kardia . . . sounds like cardiac doesn't it? That's because it means heart and not the literal organ. According to the Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek it refers to "the areas of the inner self, including: the volition, the mind, the desires, etc., though the facility of the intellect may be slightly more emphasized"*

If my heart is not with those that God has given me and placed me in the midst of then I am off-track. Even more importantly, if I pretend my heart is with those in the outer parts of my circle of influence and neglect my closest family then I am a hypocrite. I want to have the same concern for those in my sphere of influence that Paul had (see 2 Cor. 11:23-29).

*James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), DBLG 2840, #1.

Change in profile

Mostly this blog is about a change that I've made to my profile. Instead of being about me and the stuff that I'm into, I want the profile for my blog to represent the message of my life. I'll be the first to admit that I don't live it out perfectly, but I have counted the cost and I am determined to do my best to live day-by-day with the reality that I have been saved from my sins by Jesus Christ. 1200 words I think is the limit to the "about me" portion of the profile. But I think I can fit it in-if not, then I suppose I could elaborate on my Web page (not yet finished, but out there).