a tear rests on my cheek as i waste yet another minute

I will sing over Procrastination’s dead corpse once it has been slain and its life-blood has been spilled. Dark crimson will cover the floor as I silence this beast. Burn O you destructive habit and rid me of your foul and useless presence. But I ask thee, be at peace with me just another day. Then, alas, you shall taste my steel – tomorrow…

Relational Pluralism

My friend on Facebook writes that he “has the best girlfriend in the world…this is not up for debate so don’t comment, it’s just something boyfriends are supposed to say.”  My response colorfully displays the proper way to respond so that cultural correctness may be preserved.  I posted the following: ”I’m happy for you, man, but actually, it’s sort of like relational pluralism.  You can’t say that your girlfriend is better than mine, then you’re a narrow-minded relational bigot.  If I say mine is, then I’m in the same boat.  If I claim that all girlfriends lead to the greatest possible temporal relational joy, then I claim to see the whole picture (which I don’t).  So, subjectively, MAY YOU KNOW that your girlfriend is the best.  I say [mine] is.  We’re both right because I mean, objectively (who knows what that even means) there is no such thing as the best.  In conclusion, I have no comment.”

Subjectivity wins – it always does.

Rebellion

Creation is in labor (Rom. 8:22), and it has been given no epidural.  In Mark 4:35-41 we see Jesus perfectly doing what we were intended to do – exercising dominion over the earth.  We were to rule over creation as stewards of God’s good work and to image the way God sovereignly watches over and protects his handiwork.  Recently we have observed the devastation caused by the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.  The very creation that we were to have dominion over has rebelled against us as we have rebelled against our Sovereign Lord.  How tragic, and how fitting it is for rebels to be rebelled against.  How fitting for the very earth that we were to tend, to rise up and slaughter us with all its might.  How long O Lord?  How long will you tarry as we are being killed by the curse?  Yet, we know that in Christ’s crucifixion he became the curse for us (Gal.3:13), and that in his resurrection he is the first-born from the dead, the first fruits of the new creation (Col. 1:18). Through King Jesus the Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph. 3).  His great love for his own glory and for wretched sinners compelled him to crucify his Son(1 John 2:12; John 3:16).  The glorious grace that he extended to us in Christ ensures that, through him, he will not withhold any good thing from his elect (Rom. 8:32).  So, stand in awe at the glory of our great God in the face of Christ Jesus, knowing that the disasters of this cursed world are not worth comparing to the glory to be revealed (8:18).

Jesus Was What We Were Supposed To Be

“There’s a new way to be human” (Switchfoot). Want to know what that is?  Look to Jesus, the exact imprint of the radiance of the glory of God (Heb. 1:3).  Jesus perfectly fulfilled what Imago Dei (in the image of God) means.  By grace through faith, he places his Spirit in his elect and conforms them to his image, restoring our ability to fulfill our intended purpose – reflecting the glory of God.

Flooding Through My Stereo

Flood by Jars of Clay is a song that has been on my iPod for nearly five months and the glory of its raw sound has caused me to listen to it with much aesthetic pleasure.  The lyrics seem a bit cryptic but those are the songs that are fun to interpret right?  The lyrics are as follows: 

Rain, rain on my face
It hasn’t stopped raining for days
My world is a flood
Slowly I become one with the mud

But if I can’t swim after forty days
and my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up – when I’m falling
Lift me up – I’m weak and I’m dying
Lift me up – I need you to hold me
Lift me up – Keep me from drowning again

Downpour on my soul
Splashing in the ocean, I’m losing control
Dark sky all around
I can’t feel my feet touching the ground

But if I can’t swim after forty days
and my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up – when I’m falling
Lift me up – I’m weak and I’m dying
Lift me up – I need you to hold me
Lift me up – Keep me from drowning again

Calm the storms that drench my eyes
Dry the streams still flowing
Cast down all the waves of sin
And guilt that overthrow me

But if I can’t swim after forty days
and my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up – when I’m falling
Lift me up – I’m weak and I’m dying
Lift me up – I need you to hold me
Lift me up – Keep me from drowning again

Lift me up – when I’m falling
Lift me up – I’m weak and I’m dying
Lift me up – I need you to hold me
Lift me up – Keep me from drowning again

It seems evident to me that the song is crying for sustenance  during a time of suffering.  Since Jars of Clay is usually so biblically saturated in their song composition, it makes since to look to Scripture for the imagery that is used in this song.  The context in which the images appear in the Bible might perhaps shed some light on the message being communicated.  Psalm 42:7 uses the language of flood and pounding waves to express spiritual depression and inner turmoil.  This seems to be a sensible connection due to the way Scripture often uses water to symbolize suffering and wrath (Genesis 6, Luke 12, and Romans 6).  Conclusion?  Flood is about suffering and the cry of a child of God for his heavenly Father to reach down and providentially sustain his soul through the turmoil.

Love As I Have

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. – John 13:34

I have read this verse countless times; yet, I always read over it and never let the full impact of this command hit me.  Jesus wasn’t just using rhetoric to make some eloquent speech.  He was giving a command to his disciples so that they would obey it.  It wasn’t a nice suggestion that Jesus was making – it was a new commandment.  So, since we’re to obey this commandment, how did Jesus love?  He laid aside the glory that he had with his Father (John 17:5) and humbled himself by becoming a man (Philippians 2).  He loved on the poor and the sick (Mark 5:38-43).  He washed his disciples filthy feet and as their Master he served them as though he were a slave (John 13).  He offered himself up by his blood as a dowry for his Bride (Ephesians 5).  These are only a few of the ways that Jesus loved the inhabitants of this world during his time spent among them; yet, it is already evident that we miss the mark by light years.  Oh that God will continue to make his children holy and sanctify us into the likeness of Jesus.

What “Macho” Really Looks Like

Proverbs 5, 6, and 7 aren’t just about resisting the adulteress; they is about staying away from her.  Proving yourself to be strong doesn’t mean that you see how much you can endure before you stumble; that’s playing the fool.  Strength is proven when you can say no to even entertaining the adulteress; when you can remove yourself from her presence altogether.

Joy as C.S. Lewis Understood It

Fully to enjoy is to glorify. – C.S. Lewis

Who’s Wearing the Pants

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,  when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—  but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,  as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.  Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you  of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. – 1 Peter 3:1-7

We live in a world where women get indignant if men open the door for them and they are thoroughly offended if they see another woman assuming the role of a stay at home mom.  The Church has not been immune to this sweeping change in the roles of the sexes.  Oh that we would recognize that marriage points to Christ and his Bride; the Church.  If we could only see that the roles men and women play are simply cultural and arbitrary, but picture something transcendent and unchanging, then we could honor God in our relationships.

“I Love You”

In her book Passion and Purity Elisabeth Elliot writes:

… when you get to the point where you can’t keep your hands off each other, it’s time to get married.  The current ‘touchy-poo’ brand of Christianity had no place in Paul’s thinking.  He never said, ‘Let each man have his own relationship.’

My father counseled his four sons never to say ‘I love you to a woman until they were ready to follow immediately with ‘Will you marry me?’  Nor should they think of saying ‘Will you marry me?’ unless they had first said ‘I love you.’  how much pain and confusion would be averted if men followed that rule.

Even in my inner circle of godly friends I observe relationships that are indiscernible from those that can be seen in the world.  Most Christians never intend to have premarital sex, and many don’t, but we all know those who have gone the distance before they knew what happened.  The line must not simply be drawn at intercourse.  We must seek to be pure in our thought lives. If I, as an unmarried male, were to share a passionate kiss with my girlfriend, my my mind would certainly not be where it needs to be (it is for this reason that my next kiss will be at the alter on my wedding day).  May there not be even a hint of impurity named among the sons and daughters of God.  So, we recognize physical intimacy outside of marriage as dangerous, but there is an assassin that is much more stealthy in his assault on our souls.  Premature emotional attachment is to be guarded against with as much fervor as physical impurity.  In many ways, emotional impurity is just as damaging to your relationship with Jesus as fornication is. Emotional attachment apart from commitment, like sexual impurity, results in the loss of something that can never be regained – time spent serving Jesus.  Unbridled emotion not only leads us to waste our single years, it also has unique destructive effects that can retard our pursuit of holiness like few other enemies of our soul can. In an age when “I love you” is thrown around as often as, “How’s the weather?”, we need to exercise wisdom and discernment by drawing implications from Biblical principles.  If we can do this, we can love the opposite sex as Scripture commands by guarding each others hearts, and as a result, the world will sit up and take notice of the love that emanates from God’s people.