Nuggets

I just got back from a conference for church planters called "Exponential." And there were just a couple of ideas/nuggets that really stuck out to me, and will stay with me for awhile, probably because they were just reminders about what God has been teaching me for awhile.

1. How you live tells me about what you believe.
What we believe about God (theology) is incredibly important. Everyone believes something about God. But don't just TELL me what you believe. Show me how that affects how you live. This is what the entire book of James is about. I can say that I believe that I am saved by grace through faith and not by my works, I can write a paper about it, and I can teach you a workshop about it. But then why I am so anxious and worried when I don't get people's approval? I say I believe in this right doctrine, but I actually am living like I am saved by people's approval, not by grace through faith. Ask this question: If I REALLY believed the truths revealed in the bible about God, how would that change the way I live? We need to love God with all our heart, soul and mind (Matt 22). Think and live. Live and think.

2. We're all addicted to something.
We live in an age where we have more channels on TV to watch than ever in history, more clothes in our closets, more food in our fridges, more computers/smartphones/ipads than ever. Yet we are more bored and empty than ever. A speaker said -- "our stuff just numbs us from our real heart problems." So one person uses heroin to numb him from the fears and difficulties in his life. And another person watches four hours of tv or surfs the web for hours. And another person cleans or organizes obsessively. Is it really any different? Procrastination is just another form of addiction. What do you use to escape, to run away? We're all trying to numb ourselves from the real issues in our hearts we don't want to face.

The Subtle Effects of Porn on a Relationship

A sobering testimony I read today...

I have not mentioned the effect of lust on my marriage. It did not destroy my marriage, did not push me out find more sexual excitation in an adulterous affair, or with prostitutes, did not ever impel me to place unrealistic demands on my wife's sexual performance. The effect was far more subtle...

I stare at a Playboy centerfold. Miss October has such a warm, inviting smile. She is with me alone, in my living room. She removes her clothes, just for me, and lets me see all of her. She tells me about her favorite books and what she likes in a man.

Because I have... gone over every inch of Miss October as well as the throng of beauties that Madison Avenue and Hollywood recruit to tantalize the masses, I start to view my own wife in that light.... I begin to focus on my wife's minor flaws. I lose sight of the fact that she is a charming, warm, attractive woman and that I am fortunate to have found her.

Beyond that, lust affected my marriage in an even more subtle and pernicious way. Over time, I began to view sex schizophrenically. Sex in marriage was one thing. We performed OK, though not as often as I liked, and accompanied by typical misunderstandings. But passion, Ah, that was something different. Passion I never felt in my marriage.

If anything, sex within marriage served as an overflow valve, an outlet for the passion that mounted inside me, fed by sources kept hidden from my wife. We never talked about this, yet I am sure she sensed it. I think she began to view herself as a sex object - not in the feminist sense of being the object of a husband's selfish greed, but in the deprived sense of being only the object of my physical necessity and not of romance and passion.

- "The War Within", Anonymous, Leadership Magazine, Fall 1992

Time Management Tips?

So one of my new year resolutions, really one of my life resolutions, has been to manage my time better. Here are a few things that I'm trying to do (that I usually don't do) that I'm finding really make a difference. They sound like no-brainers, but I think most of us don't actually do them, especially in our one-second-attention-span culture.

1. Make to-do lists in order of priority.
2. Do the hardest tasks before the easiest tasks.
3. Always finish a task (or a chunk of a task) completely before moving on to another task.
4. Check email and favorite internet sites less (i.e. limit facebook, ESPN, and CNN to once a day).
5. Preach the Gospel to myself. (If I find it difficult to do 1-4, it's b/c I'm not doing this.)

What have you found to be helpful?

Hobby with the City

"Ever notice how churches tend to create their own Christian version of hobbies in their city? If they like to cycle, then instead of joining one of the countless cycling clubs [in the city], they create a Christian cycling club! Instead of joining a Run-Tex club, they form a Christian running club. Church League sports. It’s pathetic. Instead of joining a city league, churches create their own leagues so they can play one another!"

Compelling quote from Jonathan Dodson, a church planter in Austin, on how to get out of your Christian ghetto and live missionally.

Books About Theology You'll Actually Read

I have to read a lot of dull, dense, and technical books about Theology. And although I learn a lot from many of them, I could never recommend them to someone who isn't a Pastor or a scholar. But here are some books that I think do a great job of making good theology accessible and interesting. My wife Rachel has read three of these and would agree.

1. The Prodigal God, by Tim Keller. The essential message of the Gospel told afresh -- and in only 133 pages with a huge font!
2. The Baker Pocket Guide to World Religions, by Gerald McDermott. Ever wonder what all the religions actually teach? Precise and concise -- 138 pages.
3. The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis. My favorite Lewis book -- a thought-provoking story that will challenge your understanding of sin and hell. 146 pages.
4. The Reason for God, by Tim Keller. Hands down the best book to read or give to a friend if they have doubts about Christianity. Long, but fascinating -- 336 pages.
5. Confessions of a Reformission Rev., by Mark Driscoll. The autobiographical story of a church planter. Driscoll is rude and crude and will make you laugh out loud! 185 pages.

Here are some I haven't read yet, but have heard also fall into this category:

1. You Can Change, by Tim Chester. On gospel-centered sanctification.
2. Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask), by Eric Metaxas. Witty and satirical thoughts about doubts on Christianity.
3. Counterfeit Gods, by Tim Keller. The doctrine of sin told afresh.
4. Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaardner. This one's about the history of philosophy -- but told in the form of a novel to a 14-year old girl.

Anybody else have one to recommend?

The Wonderful Exchange

"This is the wonderful exchange which, out of his measureless benevolence, he has made with us;
that, becoming Son of man with us, he has made us sons of God with him;
that, by his descent to earth, he has prepared an ascent to heaven for us;
that, by taking on our mortality, he has conferred his immortality upon us;
that, accepting our weakness, he has strengthened us by his power;
that, receiving our poverty unto himself, he has transferred his wealth to us;
that, taking the weight of our iniquity upon himself (which oppressed us), he has clothed us with his righteousness."

- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.17.2

Do I really need this?

I really want a magic mouse. I played with one recently at Best Buy. That thing is just plain awesome. It doesn't have any buttons. You can swipe with two fingers and you can go back and forth between web pages. It really is magic.

I read this from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity recently --

"I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give [Regarding how much money a Christian should give away]. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small."

The other day, one of my classmates asked this question -- "Do people in the church really live any differently, spend their money any differently, than people outside of the church?" Honestly, I think the answer is no. We have all the same stuff, phones, cars, houses. We justify it by saying we aren't extravagant, we're just average. Just like everyone else.

The real question is why? Why do I want that mouse so badly? Why do I keep looking at the Apple website? Do I seriously really need that mouse, when I have a perfectly fine mouse right now? Maybe one day I will buy that mouse. I even asked for it for Christmas. Notice Lewis doesn't say that we should all move the desert and live off of bugs. But the point is, what is my heart captured by? Where do my thoughts drift when I'm not thinking about anything in particular? Are they captured by the cool stuff that I can buy? Or are they captured by something so much greater? If our hearts have been captured by something greater, shouldn't we be living differently? God, wean my heart off of these fallen things that will never satisfy...