For My Brothers and Sisters
It’s thunder when we fight; pounding through the clouds. It’s fire when we curse; devouring all that is beautiful. It’s murder when we say, “I’ve always hated you.” We fight with our hearts; from its depth the mouth speaks.
Brothers and sisters, you’re my brothers and sisters. One day Father will call us home.
The Wisdom of Fear
The other night, I felt I was really lacking in wisdom and guidance, and I felt led to read Proverbs 1. These are my notes.
–Wisdom begins, and is, the fear of God (v. 7). Fearing God is not a phobia type fear, but an understanding of God that humbles us in order that we be brought closer to the joy and peace that is gained through our reverence and awe of God.
–There is no wisdom in sin and evil (v.11-19). Do what is right in God’s eyes according to his commands so that you may gain knowledge of him through your faithful works. Dead men pursue evil and a sinful life (v. 19).
–Wisdom brings reproof, or conviction, upon our sinful hearts (v. 23). Through that conviction, we seek the spirit which is poured into us as we gain wisdom in God. It moves us and lightens the soul.
–Through wisdom, we can see that there is a passive wrath of God (v. 24-31). This basically means that we rebel against God and believe the lie that we are our own God which is the cause of death for all mankind, and God simply says, “Alright, fine. Go ahead.”
–There is no peace that can be found in foolishness, but godly wisdom offers a peace beyond our wildest imaginations (v. 32-33). It is unfathomable and magnificent. It rules the universe and appeals to all who hear and see the spirit.
Read Proverbs 1 and tell me your thoughts and what things stand out to you about this passage.
#6
It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything. A lot of times I write on paper first and then transfer it to my blog, but I have nothing written down. Lately I’ve been depressed, confused, and frustrated. A lot of things have been happening in my life that make my heart twist and turn painfully inside my chest.
One of the bigger things I have been troubled over is the whole idea of dating. My view of dating has changed dramatically since my high school years. Back then dating, for me, was the belief that I can get a girl to like me if I was nice to her and bought her stuff all the while hoping for some kind of reward (usually in the form of physical contact). Sounds familiar with the idea of prostitution, doesn’t it? My high school days, and even my first semester of college, were full of dead end, physical, self-centered relationships. The were sinful and rebellious against God.
These days, through much counsel and dwelling in God’s light, my view has really changed to a more realistic, God-centered idea of dating, or Christian dating, if you will. Mark Driscoll says that the ultimate goal of Christian dating is marriage, the unity of one man and one woman as a symbol of God’s unity with the church (Ephesians 5:25-27). The idea is that a man will “pursue” a woman, and he will learn about her heart and soul for God–an attractive, godly woman is more attractive in her fear of God (Proverbs 31:30)–with the goal of marriage in mind. Now this is not to say that because a man decides to pursue a woman they are guaranteed marriage. I have a friend who was engaged to another woman when he met his current wife. He ended the relationship with his fiance and pursued this other godly woman and they ended up getting married after only a month of dating. Needless to say, there is no “the one” when it comes to Christian dating. There’s only the one you marry.
Lately, I’ve grown really attracted to a friend of mine. She is a beautiful, godly girl who strives to seek Christ in all of her circumstances. Here’s the problem: I’m a coward. In order to pursue a girl, I must be bold. I need to find my strength in God and trust that his sovereign will takes hold. My pursuit of God needs to be first and foremost. There is no escaping God’s will. So my faith should rest in that. I must have patience and peace.
It’s so hard.
My God will help me.
Deactivated
I deactivated my Facebook account! For the most part, this is exhilarating. I’ll practically be forced to be social with people in real life. Facebook isn’t a terrible thing. It is helpful in that it keeps people connected to the lives of their friends, families, and even people they hardly even know. The problem with it: it’s addicting, makes people a little more anti-social, and it gets annoying. At least half of the emails in my inbox are from Facebook notifications of someone posting a comment on a comment on something I posted on someone else’s wall.
It is easy to hide behind the Facebook identity that everyone creates for themselves. Facebook does make it easier for people to communicate with others, no matter how anti-social they are, but it becomes a problem when that is your ONLY means of communication. There is no communication with the outside world on a personal, emotional level. Emotion cannot be communicated through your Wi-Fi. The only way to communicate emotion without seeing a person is a phone call. I personally prefer in-person conversation, particularly when it is something serious or formal.
Last, but not least, an addiction to Facebook is terrible. Speaking from personal experience, it’s a waste of time. I already have a terrible habit of procrastinating, and Facebook is just another way to do that. I’ve seen people spend hours on Facebook. What is there to do on Facebook for even an hour? It starts to prevent people from being good stewards of their time.
Then again, Facebook is not the worst thing in the world. I, by no means, want to encourage you to deactivate your account if you have one. Just be careful with it. Limit your use of it. I deactivated my account because I want to start changing the way I communicate with people. I want to start being more up front and personal in conversations. I want to engage the emotional aspects of socializing. This even means less text messaging. The only way you can get a hold of me now is email, phone, and through my blogs. I think I might enjoy this. But who knows? Maybe someday I’ll decide to start another Facebook account.
Transferring Media
So I decided to make a separate blog that would touch on any and all media I come across. Be sure to favorite/bookmark this one.
Death Set To Music
“And the whole multitude of them, rising up, led Him to Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We have found this man perverting our nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he is Christ the King.”
“Art thou the King of the Jews?”
“Thou sayest it.”
“I find no cause in this man.”
And he sent Him away to Herod.
Herod questioned Him in many words. But He answered him nothing. And Herod mocked Him, putting on Him a white garment, and sent Him back to Pilate. And Pilate calling together the chief priests, said to them: “Behold, nothing deserving of death has been committed by Him. I will chastise Him and release Him.”
“Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas.”
And Pilate again spoke to them, desiring to release Jesus. But they cried again, saying:
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
“Why, what evil hath this man done? I find no cause of death in him.”
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
–Death Set To Music: Masterworks of Bach, Brahms, Penderecki and Bernstein; the Bible
The Desire To Start Over
I’ve been reading through my old posts and thinking about why I put them on there. I started to get the feeling that I should start over. I didn’t feel satisfied with what I had been saying, mostly because I don’t get a lot feedback (Thanks to those of you who have been keeping up and giving me feedback). It sounds annoying to just start over, and I mean annoying to the three people who actually read this regularly. I’m not prideful in my blogging. I just wish more people would interact with their ideas, thoughts, and opinions. That’s why I started it in the first place, to get reactions.
Maybe I should just stop blogging for awhile and keep to my numerous personal spiral notebooks. Even that doesn’t sound like a desirable thing to do. After all, I will be working for the NT Daily, the University of North Texas school paper, next fall. I might be too busy to blog when that time comes around.
I don’t know. Seems like such a simple decision to just delete this thing and move on. I have such a hard time making that decision though.
Guess we’ll know in a few days or so…
#5
May I propose an idea? Smaller churches. Not that larger churches with three campuses across the DFW metroplex is a terrible, God-forbidden thing. By all means, be blessed that God has brought so many to seek Christian fellowship and community, even if they aren’t really seeking it. The problem, however, is just that. Too many people. So many people, in fact, community gets lost in the midst of differences such as stereotypes, age, and music interests, and not on purpose most of the time. I’ve noticed a lot how I am too comfortable with my current friend circle and the fellowship I have with them. Because of that overbearing comfort I feel like I keep other people out, the very people who are seeking new community, or that there isn’t another circle of people with which to have community.
A smaller church community would be much easier to manage. And by smaller I mean no more than 50 regular attenders. Closer relationships develop when there are less people. However, I do not condemn the larger churches. The Village Church, throughout each of it’s three campuses, has approximately 5,000 to 6,000 people every Sunday, and the story of how we achieved that number and these campuses is an amazing story of God’s love and blessing. I am grateful that so many people come to grow together within a single part of Christ’s body, yet, I always notice the newcomers, loners, and the groups of people that always sit together. I want to break out of my current friend circle and meet the newcomers and welcome them to the family. I want the loners to realize they are not alone. I want the groups of people who always sit together to become a part of my current friend circle so that we can be just one big group.
It’s interesting that there is this idea of living missionally within the body itself rather than just outside of the body. People are lost within the walls of the church, especially when it comes to community.
Time to feel uncomfortable and experience awkward conversations with strangers.
This Is A Dream?
I’ve decided that I don’t like America, particularly it’s consumer culture and it’s government. I’m not an anarchist. Government is useful in certain situations. I just wish it was a unified government. I’m tired of a divided Congress where everyone argues about, well, everything. I don’t like how money controls everything from sexual satisfaction to basic survival. I don’t like keeping helpless, hopeless immigrants from getting in because they simply don’t have the proper requirements or enough money. I don’t like Obama; he takes too long to do what he says he’s going to do. JUST DO SOMETHING! I don’t like choosing between left and right. I agree with some things from both sides, but neither is better than the other.
I don’t like America. I don’t like Congress. I don’t like Obama. I don’t like the stock market. I don’t like democracy. I don’t like liberal/conservative spectrums. I don’t like consumerism or capitalism. I don’t like political arguments. I don’t like America’s sex culture. I don’t like immigration laws. I don’t like abortion clinics. I don’t like America.
I like a culture of love. A culture that exemplifies the love that Christ first revealed to us on the cross. Where is that culture?
Just Do Something
“Men, if you want to be married, find a godly gal, treat her right, talk to her parents, pop the question, tie the knot, and start making babies.”
–Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something
HA! Easier said than done.
