Leaders in ministry should take 20 minutes and have a listen to Dr. Toussaint's thoughts on the first chapter of Malachi:
4 hours ago
That's One Small Step for Heidi . . .
It was a big day this afternoon when we decided to play with Heidi on the floor. On just a whim, Matt decided to see if Heidi would walk - sure enough, she did! At first she only took a few steps without help, but after just a few more minutes - as you can see - she started to get the hang of it! She's only good for about 5-6 steps right now, but it sure is cute and she is so proud of herself when she gets to one of us. Hard to believe our little baby is growing up so fast!
The Sixth Point of Calvinism
Here is a quote from Matt Chandler in the latest issue of Leadership:
"I'm unapologetically Reformed, but nine times out of ten I cannot stand the Reformed community. I don't want to be around them. I don't want to read their blogs. They can be cannibalistic, self-indulgent, non-missional, and angry. It's silly and sad at the same time. Reformed doctrine should lead to a deep sense of humility and patience with others. How it produces such arrogance baffles me."
He expresses what I have long-struggled to articulate. However, this kind of arrogance has been around since long before the Reformers ever showed up - and they are not the only ones who continue to act in this way. Where is the humility?
"I'm unapologetically Reformed, but nine times out of ten I cannot stand the Reformed community. I don't want to be around them. I don't want to read their blogs. They can be cannibalistic, self-indulgent, non-missional, and angry. It's silly and sad at the same time. Reformed doctrine should lead to a deep sense of humility and patience with others. How it produces such arrogance baffles me."
He expresses what I have long-struggled to articulate. However, this kind of arrogance has been around since long before the Reformers ever showed up - and they are not the only ones who continue to act in this way. Where is the humility?
As Kingfishers Catch Fire
A friend introduced me to a poem earlier this week and I was quite taken with it. It is a beutiful poem written by a Jesuit Priest from the late 1800's named, Gerard Manley Hopkins. I am always emphasizing to my students that identity is not an achievement - but, rather, something we receive from our relationship with God. The more we are comfortable with the identity he has given to us (rather than thinking we can be anything we want to be if we just set our mind to it), the more we bring him great pleasure & glory. Hopkins' poem illustrates this reality with remarkable beauty and poignancy:As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves - goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying "What I do is me: for that I came."
I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is --
Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.
The first stanza is a description of what Hopkins called each creation's 'inscape' - its essential nature and design. When a creature 'selves', it is doing exactly what it was created to do. Whether a bird, insect, stone, bell or human - anything that has been created 'selves' - not because it is trying to become something, but because of an identity already received by design.
The second stanza emphasizes the Christian perspective on this idea of inscape. When all of God's chosen people selve, they become the body of Christ (limbs & eyes not his) together and their influence isn't in just one city, but all over the world.
The poem is a beautiful illustration of how God had created and designed each of us with a certain dignity of purpose that plays a part in representing Christ to this world. Whether we are like the kingfisher, dragonfly or even the rolling stone, we have received everything we are from God. To the extent that we acknowledge that design and remain within it, we are 'lovely in his eyes.'
The Secret of a No Exchange Policy
"Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD."Wisdom, might and riches are usually the pursuits and achievements of our hard work and experiences more than they are the results of knowing and understanding the LORD. It's an honest mistake, too, because as we strive to bring honor to Him, they seem to be noble pursuits. What else brings more security than knowing the right thing to do all the time, or having the strength to handle any adversity, or having enough money to weather every storm?
Here is where temptation lies in wait. What better way to do the right thing for the wrong reasons? Regardless of whether or not a person is religious - these are valuable commodities in our lives. If we pursue these things instead of receive them, we run the risk of becoming like the nation of Judah who was circumcised in the flesh, yet uncircumcised of heart.
We must remember not to get the order of things mixed up. God does indeed give wisdom, strength and riches - but they are gifts, not achievements. They are the result of knowing and understanding who He is and who we are in light of who He is. When we know and understand the LORD, we do not cling or become subservient to wisdom, might or riches. We can remain faithful to Him even when we don't know what to do, feel weak and worthless, and have little if nothing to give.
When we seek things like wisdom, might, and riches as achievements, they will ultimately dominate us and become gods. We will find our security and salvation in those things and depart from our faith in the LORD. But, when we seek Him first - he adds all of these things unto us. And when we receive what He desires to give (because we have come to know and understand him), we learn the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. Then, and only then, can we do all things through Him who gives us strength and, thus, never exchange the glory of God for that which does not profit.
Freedom is misunderstood
I'm not sure I'm convinced I agree with myself here - but I wanted to get some of your thoughts on this idea . . .
This weekend I heard a lot of talk about freedom and it got me to thinking: freedom is a misunderstood gift. We understand the cost of freedom and certainly appreciate the benefits, but just like a child who receives a gift they have long asked for, freedom becomes a possession that will rarely, if ever, be parted with. Without careful consideration, it will be made into an inalienable human right to which all are entitled - and without which no soul can be truly happy. Misunderstood in this way, freedom deceives those who cling to it - making it difficult to face the inescapable reality of slavery.
Free people are slaves too. They may think and act more freely than others who are literally slaves, but on one level or another - all people are slaves to a master. Freedom, then, is the opportunity to choose your master - not to act as you please. Those who quickly realize and understand this reality appreciate the freedom that is theirs and quickly relinquish it to whomever they wish to serve (many times in thanks for the freedom they have received). Thus, they are no longer free. They willingnly give their freedom away and become slaves - of their own free choosing.
Why? Because not all masters are bad - nor are all acts of slavery oppressive. Being a slave means that you are someone or something else's property and completely subjegated to it and its influence. This would hold true of parents & their children, countries & their citizens, Hinduism & its followers, companies and their employees. We are all slaves, but not all of us have freedom to choose whom we will serve.
The opportunity to be able to make this choice has been worth fighting and dying for as long as man has had sticks and rocks. It is indeed something that every human being should have the right to. We must remember, though, that what we do with our freedom is infinately more important than how much freedom we possess. If we all thought of ourselves as slaves who used to be free, but relinquished our freedoms to God, we might be able to join with the Apostle in saying, "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." Rom 6:16-18
This weekend I heard a lot of talk about freedom and it got me to thinking: freedom is a misunderstood gift. We understand the cost of freedom and certainly appreciate the benefits, but just like a child who receives a gift they have long asked for, freedom becomes a possession that will rarely, if ever, be parted with. Without careful consideration, it will be made into an inalienable human right to which all are entitled - and without which no soul can be truly happy. Misunderstood in this way, freedom deceives those who cling to it - making it difficult to face the inescapable reality of slavery.
Free people are slaves too. They may think and act more freely than others who are literally slaves, but on one level or another - all people are slaves to a master. Freedom, then, is the opportunity to choose your master - not to act as you please. Those who quickly realize and understand this reality appreciate the freedom that is theirs and quickly relinquish it to whomever they wish to serve (many times in thanks for the freedom they have received). Thus, they are no longer free. They willingnly give their freedom away and become slaves - of their own free choosing.
Why? Because not all masters are bad - nor are all acts of slavery oppressive. Being a slave means that you are someone or something else's property and completely subjegated to it and its influence. This would hold true of parents & their children, countries & their citizens, Hinduism & its followers, companies and their employees. We are all slaves, but not all of us have freedom to choose whom we will serve.
The opportunity to be able to make this choice has been worth fighting and dying for as long as man has had sticks and rocks. It is indeed something that every human being should have the right to. We must remember, though, that what we do with our freedom is infinately more important than how much freedom we possess. If we all thought of ourselves as slaves who used to be free, but relinquished our freedoms to God, we might be able to join with the Apostle in saying, "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." Rom 6:16-18
The Omission of Comission
There are these little differences in our experiences of the Christian life today that (in my mind at least) demonstrate a wide departure from the examples of Christian living we have presented to us in the Scriptures. I don't consider these to always be intentional departures on out part - more like gradual driftings from the course we were told to follow. The result is the same though: disobedience.
Take disciple-making for example.
Mark 3:13 says, "...and Jesus called for those he wanted and they came to him." It is Mark's brief account of Jesus' selection of his disciples. Consider as well Matthew 28:19, "Go and make disciples of all nations..." These, of course, the words of Jesus to us in the Great Comission. So, what is the subtle departure in our application of this example/command Jesus gives us?
I think if we were trying to guess what Mark 3:13 or Matthew 28:19 said by the way we actually live (at least in the western church), they might read more like, "...and the 12 called to Jesus and asked Him to disciple them", and "Go and be discipled in all the nations..."
Jesus chose his disciples and gave his life away to them so they would continue to do the same. We, on the other hand, seek out people we want to disciple us and use them to get a leg up on other believers, to feel valuable, to fix our insecurities, or to just fill our heads with more knowledge. This, of course, doesn't diminish the work of the disciple-maker, but their investment made in that disciple will terminate with that disciple and not be replicated (unless someone later on down the road recognizes that disciple as someone who is 'awesome' and, thus, 'worthy' to be their mentor and the selfish process stays alive...and so on and so on).
Disciple-making is a command for every believer. You would think by observing our western American church culture today that the the command is more to be discipled. Not only is that a departure from the example Jesus modeled for us, it is self-serving, utilitarian, and (ultimately) leads to our omission of the Great Comission.
