Boasting... Pride in action

This article powerfully summarized our tendency to boast about so many things in life! However, it is Christ who is our boast and nothing else... please read this!

Boasting in Lesser Loves

I don’t always love to boast most about God. I love to boast about tricky anagrams. (Can you anagram diesel? What about brides?) I love to rave over my cute little boy. I go on and on about happy hour at McCormick and Schmick’s. I tell every Christian I know about John Piper.

But none of these things are God. So there’s a limit to how much I ought to praise them. I don’t want to make people sick with my exuberance about word games or babies. I don’t want to promote happy hour or Piper so much that people will be disappointed when they actually try for themselves. I sometimes have a feeling inside me that asks, “Are these your idols?”

But one day all of this will change. I won’t have to worry that these pleasures are competing with God in my heart. Our lesser joys will fade away when we see Christ before our own eyes.

Anagrams? Christ is the author of life!

My son? Christ is the image of the unseen God!

Happy hour? “Come and I will give you rest!”

Piper? Well, he’s still pretty cool. But Christ is the one who knit him together!

Suddenly our greatest ambition will be God himself and it will finally be right for our praise to be limitless. We will be at the happy intersection of highest admiration and highest praise, and that joy we had praising our lesser loves will finally be redeemed and realized when we boast in our great God.

- Taken from "Desiring God"'s blog

A Thought on the Love of God

God's love for us is incredible! Even when our perceptions of Him are inaccurate, He seems to give us opportunity to be corrected if we are humble enough to receive correction. God's love for us is not about making much of us but rather saving us from self-centeredness so that we can make much of God and enjoy Him more than anything else in this life.

Look at 1 John 4:7-12:

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." (emphasis added)

Is it not fascinating that whenever John mentions God's love toward us and shown through us it is always qualified with God-centered and others-centered love. This is no surprise if you remember what the greatest commandment is in Matthew 22:37-40:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment.
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

God's love for us is not a man-centered love, but rather a God-centered love. There is tremendous practical follow-up from this point: how do I demonstrate love toward others, how do I worship God, how do I witness to others... Do I do these things in a man-centered way or in a God-centered way...? Join me in asking ourselves the tough questions...

Work hard and give all the credit to God!

This is the verse of the day:

"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

God does not honor passivity. Rather, we are to "work" out our own salvation, or in other words "fight the good fight of faith" (1 Timothy 6:12). At the moment when you see victory over sin or freedom from the cares of this world or moral excellence in your life, do not make it all in vain by taking the credit and glory for yourself. It is God who works in you! It is for His good pleasure!

May God receive all the credit and glory and praise for any good thing that comes from my life!

A Week in Las Vegas

Las Vegas definitely lives up to its name: "Sin City". Although, in retrospect, I think that it would more accurately be called "Skin City". Pornographic images were everywhere and the entire culture was centered on sensuality and deviousness.

Although this last week was jam-packed with lessons on our culture and its values, there were several moments where I sensed the grace and providence of God.

Moment #1 - Arriving
Having a baby has its advantages when traveling. We had to get a cab to take us to the car rental place and instead of waiting 30 to 45 minutes we were shoved to the front of the line because of our "traveling with baby" status. A small miracle for us in the midst of a lot of craziness! (also, coming back home we experienced another expedited security checkpoint that shaved off an hour's wait in the Las Vegas airport - praise God!)

Moment #2 - The Bellagio
The buildings there were amazing (until you realize they were paid for by the millions/billions of dollars that come streaming in second by second via slot machines, card tables and bets). Standing in front of this massive structure, Tara and I watched the water show that has been widely known because of the popular movie "Oceans 11". During the show, two men were standing behind us sharing the gospel and praying with anyone who would come up to them. Although their methods (including a sandwich-board with abusive language) were less than God-glorifying, I was reminded of the real reason Tara and I were there (or perhaps I should say the real reason that we exist at all times) which is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever!

Moment #3 - Conversations at the Pool
Tara's extended family (her mother's side) accompanied us to Las Vegas ( or more appropriately, we accompanied them due to their generosity!). All of them, to the extent of my knowledge and discernment, do not know God, and most of them would admit that they are not Christians nor desire to become one. To get to the point, I had several conversations with one of them in particular concerning my position on certain cultural/ethical issues (which are really side issues which reveal deeper and stronger worldview convictions). Some of them included capital punishment, dinosaurs on the ark and the end of the world. Although fire did not come down from heaven and burn up the deceit and falsehood that was present, I did sense an openness to Scripture that probably was not there before - praise God!

Moment #4 - Tara and Jacob
Ok, so this wasn't just a moment- it was the entire week. I got to spend a lot of quality time with my family! We did a lot of swimming, wrestling, eating, sleeping... but what was so great was that it was hour upon hour of uninterrupted time with the two people closest to me! This was tremendous for me ( and I know that it was tremendous for Tara and Jacob too... although Jacob wouldn't be able to put it into words). Even more importantly, Tara and I were free to talk about our incredible God and spend a huge chunk of time reading Scripture and studying what God has been teaching us as of late... knowing God through his revealed Word is sweeter than honey!

Lesson Learned: Although some places seem to be more wicked than others, God can be sensed and experienced and pursued and enjoyed at any time and any place. - even in "skin city"

May God encourage you all wherever you are and at all times!