Hey, Y'all,
Today's (somewhat crankified :-) RST is a follow-up to the "Flocks and Fields" one, but the funny thing is that it actually preceded and helped crystallize it. So anyway, here we go...
Observed the other day (for the nth time) a giant sticker in a car window stating in oversized pseudo-goth wannabe-hardcore font: "Not Of This World."
Muttered under my breath (for the nth time): "Not Of This World!" (yes, I did do the sarcastic 'air quotes' -- ask Evonne). "Not Of This World? Not of any use whatsoever!"
Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Before I get thirty e-mails explaining the concept using really small words, it's OK, Mr. Grumpypants gets it: "in" and not "of" blahbittyblah, I get it. I'm just sayin'.
It's the too-often seen underlying sentiment that perturbs me--you probably know what I'm talking about. It goes a little like this:
"Not Of This World."
I'm a little bit better than you.
I have more Light. I have The Truth.
I need to stay away from you lest you soil me because
(wait for it)
I am not of this world; I'm just holding my nose and waiting for the next one.
So why does that sticker aggravate me? Because it seems to me that that is not how we're supposed to live. Even a casual glance at the gospels shows us that Christ was very much of this world. And before I get those thirty e-mails again, let me just remind you: He is the Son of God but He also repeatedly calls Himself the Son of Man. Jesus got His hands dirty--touching lepers, making mud with which to cure blind men, relishing interaction with all manner of questionable characters (you and me chief among them, I might add :-).
And just in case it wasn't completely clear, in His "opening manifesto" (The Sermon On The Mount recorded in Matthew 5, 6, and 7) He pointedly states, "You are the salt of the earth...You are the light of the world." Salt in the shaker is of no use whatsoever; neither is a light that won't shine.
So how 'bout it: are you "of this world" or not?
You've been prayed for today...
J
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Taste and See
Hey, Y'all,
Happy Sabbath, again -- man, time flies when you're having fun (and sleeping intermittently :-) Today for no particular reason woke up feeling (aside from a mite groggy) all kinds of profound contentment; deep joy; sweet peace. I keep hearing this text in my head:
Taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 34:8
You know what? I am blessed. Without measure.
And He is very good.
You've been prayed for today...
J
Happy Sabbath, again -- man, time flies when you're having fun (and sleeping intermittently :-) Today for no particular reason woke up feeling (aside from a mite groggy) all kinds of profound contentment; deep joy; sweet peace. I keep hearing this text in my head:
Taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 34:8
You know what? I am blessed. Without measure.
And He is very good.
You've been prayed for today...
J
Saturday, July 4, 2009
InDependence
Hey, Y'all,
Happy Sabbath, and happy 233rd birthday, America. I'll admit it: I'm a patriot. I love this country, utterly...although admittedly these days it's more the ideal of this country that I love. So I thought that for starters I'd share one of my favorite quotes with y'all (if I remember right I owe this one to Linden--thanks man!). Samuel Adams, one of the founding fathers, said:
"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”
Righteous...
OK, so on a completely different tack...Had a not-entirely-random thought most ironical this morning (wait, what am I, Yoda?!?). Anyway, it occurred to me--today being Independence Day and all--that we as a nation have always valued (or at least paid a great deal of lip service to) independence: "Do it yourself." "He pulled himself up by his bootstraps." "I did it my way." Sounds good; noble; right.
Thus couldn't help but feel anew the tension inherent in trying to reconcile that mentality (or, more correctly, that work ethic) with the completely contrasting idea put forth by Christ: that dependence on God is the only path to rest, and peace, and significance.
You can race around frantically trying to achieve, to fix it (whatever "it" is), to do all the stuff you have to do. To take care of it yourself. To do it yourself. Unfortunately, it's an utter fallacy. The only thing you achieve is complete bone weariness and worn-out frustration.
Here are the verses that kept bookending my ruminations:
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
John 15:5
"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
Philippians 4:12,13
May we come to see that striving for so-called independence from God is a sure way to run yourself ragged and find yourself wholly thwarted; that only in dependence can true meaning and real peace be found.
You've been prayed for today...
J
Happy Sabbath, and happy 233rd birthday, America. I'll admit it: I'm a patriot. I love this country, utterly...although admittedly these days it's more the ideal of this country that I love. So I thought that for starters I'd share one of my favorite quotes with y'all (if I remember right I owe this one to Linden--thanks man!). Samuel Adams, one of the founding fathers, said:
"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”
Righteous...
OK, so on a completely different tack...Had a not-entirely-random thought most ironical this morning (wait, what am I, Yoda?!?). Anyway, it occurred to me--today being Independence Day and all--that we as a nation have always valued (or at least paid a great deal of lip service to) independence: "Do it yourself." "He pulled himself up by his bootstraps." "I did it my way." Sounds good; noble; right.
Thus couldn't help but feel anew the tension inherent in trying to reconcile that mentality (or, more correctly, that work ethic) with the completely contrasting idea put forth by Christ: that dependence on God is the only path to rest, and peace, and significance.
You can race around frantically trying to achieve, to fix it (whatever "it" is), to do all the stuff you have to do. To take care of it yourself. To do it yourself. Unfortunately, it's an utter fallacy. The only thing you achieve is complete bone weariness and worn-out frustration.
Here are the verses that kept bookending my ruminations:
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
John 15:5
"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
Philippians 4:12,13
May we come to see that striving for so-called independence from God is a sure way to run yourself ragged and find yourself wholly thwarted; that only in dependence can true meaning and real peace be found.
You've been prayed for today...
J
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)