Switchfoot: This is Home
Posted on May 10th, 2008If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Book Review: My Beautiful Idol
Posted on May 9th, 2008A few weeks ago I was notified that I was one of 50 bloggers selected to partner with The Ooze to be an “Ooze Select Blogger.” I feel privileged to have been picked, and I hope I can do this whole book review thing justice. I’ve never, ever done a serious review before, so I would appreciate lots of feedback on how I can improve these in the future. Once I get in the groove, you can probably expect a book review every 7 to 10 days.
First up is the confessional memoir of Pete Gall entitled “My Beautiful Idol.” I had never read a memoir of any kind before, so I really didn’t know what to expect. All I can say is, you know you’re in for a ride when the author quotes his wife in the preface as saying, “You know, you were kind of a butt.”
This is really the story of a young man who is a Christ-follower, and has been willing to let us in to see his innermost thoughts and feelings about striving to live the life. There are a lot of painful and embarrassing moments to be found, and in reality most of us could probably relate—we just don’t want to admit it. Let’s face it, the lives of most Christ-followers are much more internally messy than we ever let on—even to the point where we lie to ourselves and convince ourselves we’ve got it all figured out, but we probably couldn’t be further from the truth.
Gall’s journey is rife with pain and lies. Pain from the very stuff of life and how it all fits together, or rather doesn’t fit together, and lies that he told himself and others and lies he believed to be truths. There is great philosophical insight to be found when viewing the idols so many of us place before our relationship with God. We’re not talking about your typical OT type of idols, nor the idols so many of us think about in modern culture (stars and the like), but rather the idols we make for ourselves to stroke our own ego. Other idols are to be found within the walls of our Christian sub-culture as well. Do we worship the REAL Jesus, or a pale reflection of Him that we have conceived on our own and made into our idol?
There’s this crab metaphor running through the entire memoir. Without giving away the whole thing, essentially we are the crabs, and we spend our entire lives running around to find the best way to camouflage ourselves from those things in life that are out to hurt us. In a conversation with a cab driver, Gall says, “I want him to argue against me, to try to see me, to let me know if my camouflage is really working. Or better yet, I want him to show me a way to live that doesn’t require the camouflage. The truth is that I’m so desperate to be myself—but still adequate and loved—that I’m willing to look for clues anywhere.”
The entire book is a story of deconstruction-reconstruction-deconstruction. A life lived where, every time he feels he has arrived at a plateau of holiness, he finds that he has yet again been entirely off track and that the Jesus he thought he was following was yet another self-conceived idol. I found that we’re all something like this on the inside, but we’re just too slickly holy to admit it to ourselves.
An early thought in the book is one that seems to be the theme of Gall’s walk with God over the course of many years, a pattern that ruthlessly repeated itself over and over. He says, “I know, deep down, that the truth of my success is that God let me walk with my idol until I could see it well enough to put it down and head in the other direction.“ In the end, Gall learns that having an idol is really all about self. You can manipulate an idol to feed your ego, but no so God.
What you will not find by the end of the read is a man who tries to sell you a bill of goods that he’s figured this whole “Christian life” thing out. After the final words, you get a sense of having peeked into the life of a man who recognizes clearly what has gone on before, and will strive to live the future life out in the light of revealed truth. But, that each day will be filled with the same challenges as every day before.
I was highly encouraged by a story of true brokenness and true redemption. Here is a life of a man who became increasingly aware of his own standing before God. It is a humbling thing to learn you are not as holy as you thought you were, try to work it all out on your own, and then find that you can’t do it on your own. it is just as humbling to look upon a life that has had so many similar thoughts and feelings, if not events, and see the love that God has in abundance, no matter how off track the life has gotten.
There’s a great line of thought that comes from a conversation with a friend where he is told, “You will do works because you are a follower of Jesus, but as soon as you turn it around and start looking to do things to define your Christianity, to impress God or to enjoy the control, you stop following Jesus and instead head out after marching orders of your own invention. Jesus said that the yoke he would give us was easy and the burden light. He pulls the weight beside you, carrying what you cannot. He protects you. You do not have to fear the attacks that may come, because he will be there. The foolishness of the Gospel is the foolishness of being naked in a world that believes it can protect itself if it covers itself.”
In the end, this is a life that is left in tatters, in need of salvage. This is exactly where God wants him to be.
Stylistically, I’ve never read anything like this before. It’s written in a first-person, there-in-the-moment style rather than as a recollection. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book, even the embarrassingly painful parts. What I found most painful was not Gall’s pain, but my own in recollecting the times in my life where I made (and still make) the exact same mistakes. This book will challenge you be broken and to tear down the idols in your own life that you’ve erected for your own self-worth and ego building.
I highly recommend this book to every sincere follower of Christ.
Next review on deck: We the Purple by Marcia Ford.
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iLife: Service
Posted on May 8th, 2008
Continuing our study considering the disciplines of a healthy spiritual life we now turn to service. It is common in Scripture to see Christ-followers identified as “bond-servants” such as in Philippians, or “slaves” such as in Ephesians.
When God calls us to Himself, He never calls us to idleness. He calls us to service. (Deut. 10:12; Eph. 6:7). The second chapter of Ephesians talks about the progress and process of our salvation experience. A synopsis of verses 1 through 22 give us this basic idea: We are saved from death by grace through faith into the body of Christ FOR good works.
There are many, many verses you could read that talk about God’s expectations that His people on earth will serve Him. What you will not find are verses that indicate His followers are only to attend a religious service once a week when it’s convenient. There is no such thing a spiritual unemployment or retirement in the Kingdom. So, our purpose today is not to convince you you should be serving, because that’s a given. Let’s look more at the heart of a servant.
- Our service to the Lord must be motivated by obedience. In Deuteronomy 13:4, Moses wrote, “It is the Lord your God you must follow, and Him you must revere. Keep His commands and obey Him; serve Him and hold fast to Him.” We should serve Him not just to be busy, but to obey our only Master. Service also entails COMPLETE obedience. Look at Saul in 1 Samuel 15. He was commanded to “utterly destroy” the Amalekites and all their worldly possessions, but he did not. He supposedly preserved the animals to offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord. This prompts Samuel to say one of the most famous one-liners in Scripture, “to obey is better than sacrifice.”
- Our service to the Lord must be motivated by gratitude. In I Samuel 12:24, Samuel encouraged the people of God to serve with these words. “Be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you.” Moses too was concerned the people who had been saved from bondage would forget their salvation once they were living in a land of milk and honey. He was concerned that, in the middle of being so blessed by God, they would forget to serve the very God who was blessing them. We are the same. We must remember the salvation that has been granted to us. When the fire of service begins to cool, just consider what He has already done for you. Serve out of gratitude for what He has done.
- Our service to the Lord must be motivated by gladness. Psalm 100:2 says, “serve the Lord with gladness.” If you serve God only out of obligation, you are likely not serving with gladness. If you are vainly striving to earn your way to heaven through works, you are likely not serving with gladness. You work for the most prestigious “organization” in the universe, the Kingdom of God. What benefits are better than those offered by the King of the universe? Remember what the psalmist said, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” Serve with gladness, or don’t serve at all.
- Our service to the Lord must be motivated by forgiveness, not guilt. Remember in Isaiah 6, when Isaiah saw God on His throne. Isaiah was overcome by the holiness of God and his own sinfulness in comparison. The chapter goes on to describe God forgiving and cleansing Isaiah’s sin, then God asks “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Isaiah’s immediate cry is, “here I am, send me!” Isaiah was motivated to serve not out of sense of guilt but out of his sense of being forgiven and cleansed. We do not serve God to BE forgiven, but because we ARE forgiven.
- Our service to the Lord must be motivated by humility. This goes back to the discipline of submission. Hark back to the Lord washing His disciple’s feet in John 13. This is an example of the right kind of service. The God of the universe humbled Himself and washed stinky, dirty, ugly feet. He humbled Himself and voluntarily placed Himself lower than His followers. The least we can do is humble ourselves and do the same.
- Our service to the Lord must be motivated by love. Galatians 5:13 says, “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.” There must be a love for God and His church, or your service becomes just another chore to get done. There are things you do in service to God you would not do for money, but you do them out of love for God and others.
The heart of service is motivated by obedience, gratitude, gladness, forgiveness, humility, and love.
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Worship Leader Wednesday #12, part 2
Posted on May 7th, 2008
Welcome to part 2 of Jamey Ketchum’s interview at Consuming Worship
Jamey Ketchum
What’s the greatest “worship risk” you’ve ever taken?
I don’t think I’ve done that yet. I’ve never really had to play the keyboard during worship before, but my next step will be just that—lead from the keyboard. I say that because, when I sit at the keyboard and other people are watching I get very nervous for some strange reason. So the risk will be getting “out of that box”!
Any risks you wish you had taken but did not?
No, because I believe that there’s always going to be times to take risks. (Please see previous question.)
How did you fare during the “worship wars?”
Are they over? I believe you will always have those “Worship Wars” because everybody doesn’t like the same music and some of those people think it’s “all about them.” You just have to do what you believe the Lord is leading you to do and do it. (Make sure it follows the Pastor’s vision, of course.) Yes, you will make people angry! Sorry, you’re the leader.
Describe your process for planning a worship service:
I plan 4 weeks in advance. At Parkhill, it takes people a while to feel comfortable with a new song, so I will sing that song three weeks in a row.
Please include a sample worship set list and/or service order:
1st Service
- We’ll Understand It Better By and By
- I’ll Fly Away
- On Jordan’s Stormy Banks
- Sweet By and By
- Till the Storm Passes By
2nd Service
- Everyday
- Trading My Sorrows
- Your Grace Is Enough
- Beautiful
- Rescue
- Only You
Songs That We Working on Now:
- Lifesong-Choir
- By Heart-Ladies Ensemble
- All Because of Jesus-Praise and Worship Song
- All For You- Praise and Worship Song
- Praise Adonai- Praise and Worship Song
- Sing to the King-Choir
Do you write music for your congregation?
Nope, not there yet. (Guess I gotta get out of that box, too)
When you look back decades from now, what do you hope to see you’ve accomplished as a worship leader?
My goal is to lead people to a place where they have the closest relationship to Christ as possible. To show people that when they have that close relationship with HIM, ANYTHING is POSSIBLE. Most Christians feel that they are too “imperfect” to have that close relationship.
What are your predictions for the future of worship?
Let’s keep doing what we’re doing, but do it better. As worship leaders, we all have room for improvement. Let’s continue to let the Holy Spirit guide and lead us as we’re singing, playing, and leading for Him. The better we are, the more we can point believers and non-believers to Christ
What is something you wished every worship leader knew?
I have this hanging on my office wall.
Seven Habits of the Highly Effective Worship Leader
- The Highly Successful Worship Leader Must Be a Worshipper Himself!
- The Highly Successful Worship Leader Must Be a People Person!
- The Highly Successful Worship Leader Must Be a Planner!
- The Highly Successful Worship Leader Must Be Creative!
- The Highly Successful Worship Leader Must Be have a Passion to Lead People in Corporate Worship!
- The Highly Successful Worship Leader Must Strive for Excellence!
- The Highly Successful Worship Leader Must Stretch the Paradigms!
Give us some background on how you have seen worship “style” transition at your church in your time there.
When I came to Parkhill, we had a blended style in one service. They had one set of contemporary songs and one set of hymns. I mixed that order all up. Two years ago, because of space, we began two worship services. There are pros and cons of having two totally different services. Fortunately, I have enough people to play in those two services. Eventually, I envision two services that are identical. I still believe that the “old hymns” are awesome, but I believe that they can be “updated” for today’s church. That’s where we as worship leaders have to be creative. (Note: You can add drums and electric guitar to “Nothing But the Blood,” yeah, seriously!)
Share whatever is on your heart about worship, church life, music, etc.
When I graduated from college, my dad gave me a piece of advice that I’ve shared with many a church staff member. My dad, in the past 40 years, has been a deacon, trustee, Sunday School teacher, and even was serving on the deacon board during a church split. He has been an awesome asset to me in my 13 years of my ministry.
He said this: “Don’t burn bridges!” Make sure that church members and the people that work under you always respect you. Earn that respect. Don’t do stupid things that can ruin that respect. Yes, sometimes they might disagree with you, but if they respect you, they’ll always follow you.
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Blogger Small Group: James 2
Posted on May 6th, 2008
This is a Blogger Small Group entry in partnership with Run’n Like a Vagabond.
So, I was completely anti-social last week. Too bad that my felt need to temporarily pull away from blogging coincided with the launch of the small group. Needless to say, I was a bad boy and didn’t comment on anyone else’s blog in the group (but for one that really impacted me). I did, however, read them all.
Thanks to those who came around last week and commented. I’ll try to be more active this time around, though I may not get around to doing full comments on everyone’s posts until later in the week. Here’s my entry for James 2. May the Lord bless your reading of His Word.
James 2:1 = James rocks our worlds by communicating truth through a question. Before you go on and read the rest of the chapter, stop and truly answer the question for yourself. Try it out in the conversational tone of the NLT, “How can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?” This covers everything, race, creed, culture, economic status, holiness, piety, smell, allure, you name it. Harsh!
2:2-4 = What a perfectly relevant example for our churches today. How many times do we do the exact same sort of thing when visitors come through our door at church? Are we more likely to go up and introduce ourselves to the sharp dress visitor than the poorly dressed one? Let’s not even go that far, but think solely about just the members and regular attenders of our churches. How’s our relationship with the poor or ugly or foul tempered or otherwise unlovely people in our congregation? Have I made more effort to get to know the “good looking” than others?
James also doesn’t pull any punches when he says what this behavior really is when he asks another question, “Doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?”
2:5-7 = More and more questions are thrown our way. We fawn at the feet of the rich and power, and desire so much to be like them, and yet they are the ones who won’t bat an eyelash at turning around and abusing that same power and influce. When’s the last time you were dragged into court and railroaded falsely by a poor person? (Unfortunately, in today’s class-action, litigious society, this IS actually becoming a reality. BUT, it is usually some rich and high-powered law firm in the background that truly profits, not the poor people they represent.)
Basically, James asks us, “Why do you honor and desire to be like the very ones who are slandering the Name with which you identify yourselves?” We call ourselves “Christians,” wearing His name proudly as a mark of identification, and yet we find ourselves awestruck and starstruck by the actors, singers, sports stars, novelists, millionaires/billionaires, etc. who want nothing to do with Jesus. Even if they claim to be a Christian, their lives do not show the fruit one would expect to find in His followers.
When we spend more time wanting to be like the rich people James describes, and less like the poor, we end up looking less and less like the Jesus we say we follow.
2:8-11 = James is a hard read for anyone who would like to use “we’re not under the OT Law but under NT Grace” as an excuse to not see that the OT Law is still the Law of God. What I mean is, we should never forget that, even though Christ came and fulfilled the Law, and we are living under the grace of Christ, the God of the NT is still the God of the OT. Do you think God’s standards have changed? Do you think all the stuff He said about how His people should live is no longer valid?
I can’t count myself as “arrived” at holiness just because I’v succeeded at keeping some of His commandments, and them flippantly say to myself, “the blood of Jesus comvers all the rest.” Where is my heart of humbleness and submission with that kind of attitude?
2:12-13 = The same law that set me free is the same law with which I will be judged. Go back to James question from earlier. How did I treat the poor and unlovely? That is the same standard by which I will be held accountable.
2:14-25 = I’ll re-write this (poorly) as a modern day parable: Imagine a person who talks about a product all the time. They tell you how good it is, how well it works, and can even tell you all the technical details of said product. Every time you see them (once or twice a week on the same days at about the same time) they have a sample of the product in hand. It looks great, all shiny and impressive, so impressive in fact, you and everyone around you at these particular gatherings either own one, or are there because they are interesting in hearing more about the product.
You go over to some of the houses of people from these gatherings, and you see the same product in action, and are always amazed at its efficacy. Some of the people from this gathering even carry their product with them everywhere they go, and use it at every opportunity. You really look up to these people and their ingenuity and brand loyalty, but at the same time you think they’re a little weird.
Why? Because, though you own the product and even go to some of the weekly meetings about said product, you rarely open it up and try it our for yourself. You enjoy the security of owning the product, and the status involved with ownership, but most of the time, it just sits on the counter at home gathering dust, and only gets used when absolutely necessary. You’re real good about getting the product out and showing it off whenever another product owner comes over for dinner, but most of the time it just sits there, neglected and unused. And if a non-owner comes over, you make sure to hide in a drawer where they can’t see it.
Maybe you should have saved your money and bought something else instead. What’s the point of owning it if you don’t use it as advertised? You rationalize your non-use of the product by telling yourself, “Well, some people are user/owners, and some of us are collectors.” The problem is, one of the company’s representatives was heard to say in a speech, “How can you say you’re a conscientious owner of our product if you don’t use it? I’ll show you I’m a good owner by showing you how I’ve properly used the product.”
There’s part of you that balks at this and says, “Well, even just ownership makes me a better person than people who use the competitor’s product.” But, then you begin to hear stories of how even those people own the same product, so they can make the same claim as you. This rubs you the wrong way, but you continue on with life as usual.
Then, you remember hearing the story of Abe. He was this really old guy that the maker called up one day and issued a challenge. “Abe,” he said, “I want you to take the thing you love the most that you’ve built using my product and throw it away.” You also remember how the story ended, how the maker ended up stopping Abe at the last moment and was so moved by the old guy’s loyalty that he made him a full partner in the company, and promised all his descendant would have lifetime supplies of the product.
Then there was the story you heard on the news about that prostitute chick who hid some of the product’s salesmen when they came by her house. You see, her house was right next to the factory of the competitor, and if they had been found at here place, they would have probably been beaten up and all their product destroyed. Because of her action, they got away safely, and she showed herself to be a loyal user of the product.
OK. That parable I just wrote was pretty stupid, and now I’m not really sure it even makes any sense. But, there it is, and so it shall remain.
2:26 = Here’s why we don’t like reading James, because he lays the smackdown on our paltry christian-lite lifestyles. Read it carefully. Just like a body is a corpse without breath, so too is faith without works. It’s kind of like a horror film. There are all these zombies walking around claiming to be alive, and they even look alive until you get close and investigate. Then, you find out they’re walking dead.
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Worship Confessional: May 4, 2008
Posted on May 5th, 2008
I’m so thankful for such a smooth week after an action-packed schedule the week before. I took some much needed time away from certain things (as stated in a previous post), and the relative simplicity of the weekend was glorious.
We’re on the final leg of our iLife series on the spiritual discipline. Yesterday we covered Confession, which as a corporate discipline is somewhat outside most folk’s experience. Musically, planning for such a theme was pretty easy, even regarding the fact that we had a return of the “regular” Sunday PM service.
Here’s the set list’s for both gathering times:
11 AM
- Psalm 139:23-24 // David & Caleb Crain
- I Am Resolved // Hartsough and Fillmore (traditional)
- Give Us Clean Hands // Charlie Hall
- Lord, I’m Coming Home // William J. Kirkpatrick (modern style)
- Come Ye Sinners // Joseph Hart, Robbie Seay Band
6 PM
- Whiter Than Snow // Nicholson and Fischer (traditional)
- Change My Heart, O God // Eddie Espinosa
- Ocean Floor // Audio Adrenaline
- Beneath the Cross of Jesus // Clephane and Maker (traditional)
- Kindness/ Tomlin, Giglio & Reeves
- All in All // Dennis Jernigan
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The Monday Minute: Book Genres
Posted on May 5th, 2008
This week on The Monday Minute, share your favorite reading material with us. Do you like biographies or history? Maybe you enjoy historical fiction or thrillers. Comment below, and share. Also tell us what you’re reading right now, whether it fits your favorite genre or not.
For me, I’ve always been a huge fan of speculative fiction, which is an umbrella term that covers science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. I’m don’t really like horror, and I could take or leave most sci-fi, but fantasy is by far my favorite. Like most who are big fans of the genre, my love started with The Hobbit, and I’ve become quite the Tolkienophile. I own nearly everything the man ever wrote.
My reading list at the time consists of two books, both of which I should finish within the next 24 hours. First is Reaper’s Gale by Steven Erikson. Reaper’s Gale is number 7 out of ten in what may be the best fantasy fiction I’ve ever read. Someone may finally have surpassed Tolkien, but I’m holding off judgment until the series is over (in 2010). Second on my list is a spiritual memoir I just mentioned the other day. My Beautiful Idol by Pete Gall will be my first book review on my blog.
Alright, your turn. What’s your favorite genre?
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Everything is A-OK!
Posted on May 2nd, 2008Just a quick note to all my readers (all ten of you), everything is going just fine. I know there has been a dearth of posts lately. This has been due to a number of factors.
- I’ve been having a hard time recovering from last week’s fully packed schedule. My weekend was jammed packed, and I’ve been VERY tired ever since.
- I’ve felt a need to unplug somewhat this week. Not a complete blog/internet fast, but a temporary pulling back to focus on more necessary things.
- I’ve become addicted to Lost, which is mainly the fault of my blogging/Twitter circle. I got tired of hearing how great the show is and being left out of the conversation, so I started watching it online from Episode 1. I’m hooked, and have been watching 2-3 episodes a night during the time I usually take to focus on blogging and social networking.
Never fear, I will be back soon, hopefully with renewed energy. My Bible journey post may or may not make it up on Saturday. I’ve been doing my daily reading, but part of my unplugging was that I wan’t typing up my thoughts as I went. I’ve also got a review of My Beautiful Idol by Pete Gall coming up in the next week or so. I’m looking forward to writing it up.
Thanks for sticking around.
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Worship Leader Wednesday: The Totally Off-track Edition
Posted on April 30th, 2008
Hey everyone. I’m going to have to apologize, but due to the incredibly slammed week I had last week, I don’t have part 2 of Jamey’s interview in the can yet. We’ve chatted via email, and plan to have the second half up next week, so again, I apologize for the delay.
In order to not leave you completely hanging, why don’t you check out some of the previous interviews you might have missed in the past? Below are links to all the worship leader interviews conducted so far. Hopefully, I’ll be back on track next week.
Worship Leader Wednesday Interviews
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Blogger Small Group: James 1
Posted on April 29th, 2008Here’s my first entry for a new effort we’re calling the Blogger Small Group. The general idea is that a group of blogger have decided to form our own online small group and study the Scripture together. Once a week, Kyle over at Running Like a Vagabond releases a Bible passage on Wednesday, and throughout the next seven days we study, meditate, and reflect on what we are getting out of the Scripture. Then, on Tuesday, we post our thoughts to our own blog, and then link up to Kyle’s post at his place, thereby forming a small group.
We hope to read and comment on each other’s thoughts, and feel that we can create a real discussion and cross-pollination of insight that will lead to greater understanding and application of the Scripture. If you’ve got the time, I’d encourage you to join us. Sounds interesting, but you’re not sure it’s for you, give it a try for a couple of weeks and see what happens.
Our first study is centered on James chapter 1. For the record, I’m doing my study using Bible Gateway’s parallel passage lookup feature, and reading from NASB, NIV, ESV, NLT, and The Message.
James 1
1 = I love that some of the translations use “slave” or “bond-servant” when James describes his relationship with Christ. You know the phrase that God-rejectors sometimes use? “Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven.” To this I counter, “Better is one day in Your courts, than thousands elsewhere,” even if I’m allowed in the door as a slave. Remember also, this was the brother of Jesus writing this, a sibling. That’s some real humility going on.
James specifically states he’s writing to the twelve tribes of Israel, wherever they might be. Regardless, God’s Word is for all who will heed it.
2-3 = There is no other way to build up your endurance, but to be pushed. Your limits must be tested and those barriers broken through so you can be made stronger, faster, more fit and ready to endure. Also, look at the attitude of being pushed, it is to be a joyful experience. I was taught since I was a little child that, if you are in the Lord’s will times won’t be easy. Is your faith being tested? Good, you’re right where you’re suppossed to be.
4 = Interpret this verse be reading it in the negative: If you don’t let edurance be built up in your life, you will be incomplete, immature, in need, underdeveloped.
5-8 = There’s a lot going on here. First, if you need wisdom, ask for it. One of the first steps of wisdom is realizing you need it, and you need help acquiring it. I love how the Message puts God’s response to our asking: “He loves to help.” So often, God is just waiting for us to ask, but in our pride we don’t think to do this until a last resort. Second, when you ask, you have to ask in faith, no doubting allowed! So often, I think our prayers fail because we allow doubt into our heart and mind. Third, a person who has this doubt in their mind, is like someone who is easily blow by the wind, easily swayed into scepticism and dispair. Such people are “unstable in all they do.”
9-11 = If you are in “humble” cirmcumstances, count it as a high position, and when the rich and powerful are brought low, they should proudly proclaim it is God who has brought them low. Either way, God get’s the glory, because life is short and soon ending, but God is eternal. Riches will fade away like plants scorched by a hot summer sun, but God will never fail.
12 = OK, weird thought here. I just started watching Lost from the beginning. I saw the episode where Locke shows the moth cocoon to Charlie. He explains that if he helped the moth out of its cocoon, then the moth would not have the strength to survive its normal life. This verse is pointing in the same direction. Trials, temptations, troubles, testings are all for our good. They build us up to live and survive a normal life. It is the abnormal life that does not bring trials.
13-14 = Get it straight, it is not God that temps us, but our own lusts and evil desires.
15 = I love the picture of this verse. The very idea that lust/desire, when it is conceived (which means it had to be planted first), it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is accomlished brings death. The cycle of life analogy is perfect here. People can critisize all they want, but the ONLY way to guarantee you don’t conceive a child is to abstain from having sex. The parallel is that the ONLY way to guarantee you don’t become tempted by your desire is to abstain from being intimate with them.
16-18 = This means “listen up.” The only things pure and holy are from above, from God. Look at what He is like. He is pure light that does not change and dance around like shadows do. He created us from the very word of truth so that we would be the foremost of all His creation. We are supposed to be completely His.
19-20 = Remember that wisdom we were suppossed to ask for back in verses 5-8? Here’s the beginnings of that very wisdom: quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; anger does not produce righteousness from God.
21 = Remember the abstention from desire in vs. 15? Here’s how it goes: put away filthiness and wickedness, the evil in your life. Be humble and plant the Word of God in yourself, because it is able to save your soul.
22-25 = If you just read the Word of God, but don’t do what it says, essentially turning the Bible into metaphysical philosophy rather than truth to live by, then you are a fool. You are like someone who is so unintelligent, they see themself in a mirror and as soon as they turn around they forget what they look like. How dumb do you have to be? But, if you study the truth and internalize it, make it part of yourself, then you will be blessed in what you do and perform.
26 = Definition of a Pharisee
27 = Why do you think organizations like Compassion International and others similar are not only important, but doing the work of God? They are putting “pure religion in the sight of God” into practice. Want to win someone for Christ? Care for their body and relieve their distress, then you may be given opportunity to care for their soul.
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