And if I have prophetic powers,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith,
so as to remove mountains,
but have not love,
I am nothing.
If I give away all I have,
and if I deliver up my body to be burned,
but have not love,
I gain nothing.
I Corinthians 13:1-3 (ESV)
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Philippians 2:5-7 (ESV)
In my opinion, Paul completely nails it in this passage in the second chapter of Philippians.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. How often am I willing to take on the form of a servant? But our Lord did not just take on the form of a servant, He also “emptied Himself”.
When you consider that in Him “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” . . . I’m reminded of the woman who broke the jar of expensive perfume and annointed Jesus with it. She was merely recapitulating, in a “small and near” way, the act of worship that was Jesus’ life lived unto us and to His Father; the emptying of Himself, culminating in the emptying of the unfathomably priceless perfume of His blood to the salvation of us all.
And we’re called to that same mindset. We’re called to empty ourselves. It is hard to do. Very hard. I like the comfort of being full of myself and I don’t like to lose “me”. And yet Jesus emptied Himself, and, though from eternity He was uncreated God, allowed Himself to be “made”. Made in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
-Philippians 2:8 (ESV)
Obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross! What terrible images, smells, and sounds the word “cross” would conjure in the mind of a first century inhabitant of the Roman empire! Yet Paul is speaking of One who willingly, obediently went there.
“Have this mind among yourselves . . .”
We are exhorted to be of the same mind as Christ, to have His attitude. We have a word for those who willingly give their lives for others, who throw themselves on top of the grenade, who run into the burning building, who take the bullet. We call them “heroes”. Christ is my Hero, my Rescuer. We’re called to be heroes too.
Have this mind among yourselves. It begins in “small and near” ways, in the daily choices of blessed humility over self-exaltation, in the million services that we can provide to those around us. It’s so easy to overlook these opportunities.
It begins there, but a life of obedient service to God and man will train us in the self-forgetfulness that is true humility, and will prepare us for our opportunity for greater love, for deeper and perhaps ultimate sacrifice, for becoming the work of art that God has created us to be. For His glory. That, like the apostles, we will leave the arguments behind about which of us is the greatest, and will pour ourselves out for the One who is, undisputably, the Greatest.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
– Philippians 2:9-11 (ESV)
In the midst of my own current speechlessness, and the remnants of the five to ten posts I have started recently and haven’t finished, I remain dependent on others for content.
Thank goodness for people like Jared. His new solo blog, a “quiet place” called Shizuka Blog, contains healthy, flowering plants of wisdom such as this one:
The fruit of the Spirit is not automatic. I can’t just think about God and superficially read my Bible every day and “get fruit.”
I have to root my spirit in His, in the nurturing soil of the Word incarnate and the Word written. I have to put myself in locations conducive to spiritual nourishment — family, church community, a quiet corner in which to really pray and study.In his novel The Fourth Treasure, Todd Shimoda describes the efforts of Japanese calligraphers to perfect their artistry. One sensei instructs his students to perform ten thousand strokes a day for ten thousand days. And then the student might be ready.
And the strokes are not the Japanese characters themselves, but the individual strokes — the “radicals” — that together make a character. That’s ten thousand times a day, for ten thousand days, of practicing the parts of a letter. Can you imagine having to practice drawing the three separate parts of an A for that long before you can attempt to draw the actual letter?
But there is a beauty and a spirit and an emotional substance to expertly rendered Japanese kanji not found in the cold geometry of our twenty-six-letter alphabet.There is a difference between trying and training.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. — Galatians 6.9
The work of sanctification is God’s. But there is work to be done on my part, as well. The works of faithfulness.
Disciplines to undertake. Hard work. Consistency. Perseverance.
A long obedience in the same direction.
The ever excellent Mr. Standfast today posted some great quotes from John Owen, the 17th century Puritan divine. Nestled in this pile of treasures was this jewel:
I will not judge a person to be spiritually dead whom I have judged formerly to have had spiritual life, though I see him at present in a swoon as to all evidences of the spiritual life. And the reason why I will not judge him so is this — because if you judge a person dead, you neglect him, you leave him; but if you judge him in a swoon, though never so dangerous, you use all means for the retrieving of his life.
Yes.
Our blog-friend Jen, who was a confirmed and happy single when she first appeared on the blogosphere, recently began seeing “Beau”.
Today Jen used the “M” word in a post!
OK, folks. Here’s the deal:
1. Beau and I are in love. *and there was much rejoicing*
2. We are pretty certain that we will be getting married. By pretty certain, it’s at about 100%. However…
3. There are a lot of logistics that need working out.
We’re trusting God to help us figure out what needs doing to make it all work out. Who will look for a new job, where should we live, etc. We don’t want to get ahead of God’s timing – He has a plan, we just need to get clued in on what that is and we’re not sure about that yet.
I was hoping to hold off on posting this until I had met his family, which is scheduled for next week when his parents come back from their vacation in Ireland. The plan is for my parents and I to meet his parents, sister and family, and brother and family for dinner. (Yes, I’m taking my parents along for moral support and as deflection, too. I figure they should go ahead and meet the future in-laws while they’re on the east coast. Dad joked that otherwise they may not meet until the wedding. Ha ha.)
So know this:
A. I have not been proposed to officially yet.
B. As such, there is no date set for a wedding.
C. Those who need to know the details will get the details when we know them.
‘Kay?
Jen is a Jen-uinely good person (ha ha ha . . . heh. Pun intended . . . I kill me) – but I digress. Seriously, Jen is a wonderful person with a blog well worth reading. Pray for her and Beau as they continue to take steps toward the second most important decision a person can make in this life.
Congratulations Jen!
One reason for my recent posting silence is that words are not coming easy these days. There are issues that I am wrestling with, having to do with the tension between our role and God’s role in salvation and sanctification. I will hopefully be posting on these topics (and other related mullings) over the next few days and weeks.
Peter over at Stronger Church has these thoughts on the message that he gave his church yesterday:
One of the things that I want our people to grasp is that they are not Christians because they prayed a prayer, went forward at an evangelistic meeting, asked Jesus into their hearts, etc. They are Christians because they believed (had faith, trusted – those are biblical responses) in the Gospel of Christ’s death on their behalf, and as a result God declared that they were right with Him.
Maybe it is judgmental to say this, but we evangelicals are not very deep in our understanding of the Gospel. I pointed out that we need to know what salvation is all about for several reasons, one of them being to understand where our security lies. I’ve heard too many people question their relationship with God on the basis of either not knowing if they “really believed,” were “really sincere,” or “really understood” when they prayed a prayer, went forward in an evangelistic meeting, etc. How liberating to realize that our standing before God is not based on what we did, but on God’s unchanging declaration that we are righteous in His sight on the basis of the sinless life and substitutionary death of Christ! [Emphasis mine]
I’ve spent more time than I should have as a Christian stuck in this trap, because I didn’t understand some basic facts. Salvation is not based upon performing a ritual correctly. Neither is it based on my feelings, or what others do or think about me.
Salvation is all about Jesus. It’s about what He has done, not what I have done. And it’s certainly not about what others do.
These are not breakthrough theological insights. They appear quite simple on the page, yet it is so easy to miss them! We’re not called to turn over a new leaf. We’re called to become a new leaf.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
– 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
Ever tried to become something entirely new? Impossible! We humans are fragile bundles of insecurities, misconceptions, misperceptions, and broken parts. But when God places us in Christ, we are immediately a new creation. Only our Creator can re-create us! I’m beginning to wonder if there’s really anything we can “do” about this. The growing knowledge of my total dependence on Him for even the basics, like faith for instance, is freeing.
I feel the scriptural tension and balance between God’s sovereignty and His expectations for our behavior and works. For Scripture is surely not silent regarding what we are to do when we are a new creation. A good example of the tension I speak of is the passage below:
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
– Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)
Notice that the category for this post is “meditation”, not “theological treatise”. I am working out the tension described in that deliciously contrasting – almost coy! – passage above with fear and trembling, ready to be corrected.
Of this I am sure, though. If God has a will and the desire to work out His good pleasure through me, I know He will do it. Who could possibly stand in His way? Certainly not this cloud of atoms – this vapor – that I am.
I am His workmanship. I believe this from Scripture, and the thought that my Lord would desire to make me into something useful for Him is reason enough to bow down in awe and thankfulness and, like the elders in the Revelation, cast what crowns I have at His wounded feet.
It’s not that I’ve got nothing to write about . . .
Just haven’t had the time! 🙂
Will be back to posting, hopefully, soon.
In case any of you were wondering if I’m ever going to put out the next version of this software. . .
I’ve been working on version 0.15 off and on over the last few weeks, mainly in little snatches. It’s been a busy time.
This version maintains the slow progress curve I’ve been following – it will have some better stuff “behind the curtains”, will fix a few bugs, and will greatly improve the admin sections you don’t see. It will also (hopefully) include trackback and some other nice SnapOns on the front end.
Regarding comments spam: I’m working through some ideas about how to “recognize” spam when it hits. I’m tired of playing the chase game – bans, blacklists, etc. I’m going to go down a different road in the spam battle, with the hope that we can come up with something that will eradicate most spam without having to a) spend lots of time constantly maintaining blacklists and b) without punishing all the good commenters. My philosophy is that real commenters should not have to go through extra steps to leave a comment. I do realize that often that’s unavoidable, unfortunately.
Many of you may have good ideas on this – if so, please let me know what they are. As I mentioned, I am toying with some ideas of my own regarding recognizing spam, and will hopefully be implementing some of them soon. If any of you have been working through this issue as well and would like to collaborate, don’t be bashful.
‘night all 🙂
Bob over at Mr. Standfast posted a great Eugene Peterson quote that he saw over at Tabletalk.
But the minute we start advertising the faith in terms of benefits, we’re just exacerbating the self problem. ‘With Christ, you’re better, stronger, more likeable, you enjoy some ecstasy.’ But it’s just more self. Instead, we want to get people bored with themselves so they can start looking at Jesus.
We’ve all met a certain type of spiritual person. She’s a wonderful person. She loves the Lord. She prays and reads the Bible all the time. But all she thinks about is herself. She’s not a selfish person. But she’s always at the center of everything she’s doing. ‘How can I witness better? How can I do this better? How can I take care of this person’s problem better?’ It’s me, me, me disguised in a way that is difficult to see because her spiritual talk disarms us.
This describes me in so many ways. . .
In my observation, living even an intense and God-honoring Christian lifestyle with the focus reversed, with our eyes upon ourselves, leads to burn-out, loss of faith, and disillusion. The self-obsessed Christian begins performing, begins trying to meet an expected standard of behavior and devotion that, without the element of joyous self-forgetfulness that is the very mark of childlike faith, is in the long run impossible, and can only result in a dry and frustrating existence. When one is running in the mud of self-scrutiny, with his peripheral vision constantly scanning the faces of those he believes are looking on, stopwatches out, “timing” him, it’s not long before the runner slows, and then stops, and then slowly sinks into the mire.
This should not be! We are called to firmer ground, and to a cloud of witnesses who are cheering, not evaluating. And we are called to fix our eyes on Jesus, not just to glance at Him now and then. When we finally focus, when we truly look to Him, we forget ourselves. And it’s then that we run, finally, in the freedom, joy, endurance, and athletic, lithe grace for which we were created.
When we’re truly and solely looking to Jesus, we leave ourselves behind in the dust. And that’s when the joy of the run begins!
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
– Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)
The first Bible I ever bought as a believer was the New King James Version, and I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for this wonderful translation. I treasured my battered leather-bound NKJV for over ten years until it started falling apart. I still have it, lovingly tucked away in a drawer.
Since that time I’ve bounced from version to version. I like the NIV. It’s readable, of course, but it somehow leaves me a bit flat. The NASB is a translation I respect greatly, but it can sometimes make for a hard read; I don’t always “grasp” what it’s trying to say. For devotional reading I’ve enjoyed my New Living Translation.
I recently discovered the English Standard Version. I love this translation! Something about the way it reads . . . I’m no scholar, but it seems very transparent, allowing the meaning of the passage to reach me relatively unhindered.
Peter over at Stronger Church has a great post [hat tip: Mr. Standfast for directing me to Peter’s blog] about why he’s begun using the ESV more and more in his services (side note: Peter is a Pastor who has evidently been at the same church for 25 years! Wow!). Peter writes:
The ESV – to me – is now the better choice for best of both worlds. I like the way it reads. It’s not as easy to read as the NIV, but not that far off. And it’s worlds better than the NASB, even from the 1995 NASB update. From charts that I have seen, it occupies a place of middle ground between those two translations.
What helped win me over was also the level of technical savvy among the people who promote the ESV. The passage of the day in the right sidebar is fed by an RSS feed from their site, they offer several great Bible reading plans. I’m currently following their One Year Bible plan, which is also an RSS that I download into my feedreader every day and read on the bus.
And did I mention they have a Blog?.
Most importantly, though, the ESV is just a great translation and they have done excellent work in making it accessible to as many people as possible. Check it out if you get a chance.