A square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not necessarily a square

Rectangle - A plane figure with four straight sides and four right angles.
Square - A plane figure with four equal straight sides and four right angles.

You see that a square has one requirement that a rectangle does not have.  A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not necessarily a square.  A rectangle is only a square if all of its sides are of equal length.  So if I'm holding a square in my hand, you know it is correct to say I am holding a rectangle.  But if I tell you I am holding a rectangle in my hand, you would have to measure its sides to know whether that rectangle was in fact also a square.

What is the spiritual significance of this?  Read James 2:18-26,

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Faith will produce good works but good works are not necessarily the product of faith.  Let me say it another way:  Good works are the product of faith; not the cause of it.  However, there are other things that cause good works.  Self-promotion can cause good works.  That's why Jesus said,

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:5-6)

He said if we do things for the accolades of other people then we've already received our reward for doing them.  That is, no reward will come from God.  Self-esteem is another cause of good works.  From personal experience, sometimes I "do good" just so I feel better about myself and then I delude myself into thinking I'm better than someone who isn't as "good" as I am.

Of all the causes of good works only faith is credited to someone as righteousness.  In fact, at the judgment there will be people who have done good--maybe lots of it--and by doing so will think they are in right standing with God only to find out (to their great dismay) Jesus never knew them.  In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus makes a frightening statement:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

So you see the motivations behind your deeds is indeed critical.  But here's the thing, while this should produce a holy fear in you to examine your heart, when you look honestly at the condition of your heart I think you will see how corrupt your motivations are--not how pure they are.  For Psalm 14 says,

2 The Lord looks down from heaven
    on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
    any who seek God.
3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
    there is no one who does good,
    not even one.

When we truly understand how sinful we are (how much spiritual debt we've accrued), it takes us back to the cross where we remember our Savior died for us and forgave us of ALL of our sins (paid off ALL of our debt).  This will produce a harvest of joy and thanksgiving and out of the gratefulness of our hearts good works will come.

This is not a call to modify your behavior.  If you, like me, find that you just can't muster up the ability to love people who seem unlovable or serve people who need help understand the problem is not a lack of willpower--the problem is we've forgotten how much debt Christ paid off for us.  The process always starts with examining your heart and understanding your sinfulness.

So are you a square or a rectangle?  I hope this helps you see the harmony between the messages (faith and works) of the Bible.

The secret sauce

And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that

“they may indeed see but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.”” Mark 4:9-12

It's impossible to believe the Bible if you don't have faith.  It's that simple.  To those who don't have faith, those who trust the Bible look foolish.  Being a religion major at a university impatiently trying to break away from its conservative religious history meant studying under professors who taught the flood could not have happened, the Red Sea did not swallow the Egyptian army (Religion 11), the biblical creation story is just an amalgamation of other cultures' creation stories (Religion 310), the Bible is anti-women (Religion 360), Paul didn't really teach belief in Jesus was required for salvation (Seminar class)...

I'm sure they (the Religion department) knew the vast majority of their student body came from conservative Bible-belt areas and so it seemed their number one goal was to break us out of the Biblical box we grew up in.  In all honesty, I had grown up taking it for granted that animals came two-by-two into the ark, and hearing it was historically preposterous to even consider that as reality caused me a lot of spiritual turmoil.  If that's not true, then what else in the Bible may not be true?  All of a sudden, everything in this book I trusted was open to debate--even the ultimate question of who Jesus was and whether he even existed.

I can tell you that in every conflict of faith I've had the resolution always seemed to come through a conversation.  Not a planned conversation, mind you, but just some casual conversation with someone who was more sure of the Bible than I was at the time.  I still remember a conversation I had while I was conflicted over how I could trust a Bible that was canonized by committee.  What about all those other books that were left out?  How do I know the committee wasn't biased or out to push their cause?  Somewhere in the midst of that conversation the guy said, "The same faith that allows me to believe Jesus is the son of God, allows me to believe the Bible contains the exact books God wanted it to have."  That was all it took.  I don't remember the guy's name but I remember the peace that came over me when he said that sentence.

You see, the answer to "can I trust the Bible?" doesn't rest on the satisfactory resolution of each historical question and qualm.  It rests on whether you have done as Peter instructed in 1 Peter 3:15, that is, "in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy", which is why some people get it and some people don't.  When Christ is not the holy, all-powerful, sovereign God in your heart, your mind will never be open to trusting the Bible.  Your mind will suppress any truth your heart wants bad enough not to believe (Romans 1:18).  That's why to the faithless scholar with the PhD fulfilled prophecies in the Old Testament must have been written after the events occurred because divine revelation isn't an option.  To the faithless, Jesus could not have been resurrected because people don't come back to life after they die and divine intervention isn't an option.

Does that mean I have to just trust what's in the Bible without seeing any evidence, or even after seeing contradictory evidence?  Not at all!  As John Piper writes,

"faith is not a blind leap. Faith doesn't come to Bible and say, "Well I don't know what you say, Bible, but I'm going to believe you." That is not an honor to the Bible or to God...it takes some measure of faith to believe and embrace the inerrancy of Scripture. But it's not blind. In fact, it's rooted most profoundly in seeing, according to 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 especially:

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

In 1 Peter 3, Peter continues his writing by encouraging us to "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect".  Because of this I don't believe we should cast aside researching and investigating the Bible using extra-Biblical sources, but also as Piper says, "faith does have to suspend condemnation when it bumps into a problem that it cannot immediately solve".  Faith allows and requires us to rest in the assurance that one day all our question marks will turn into exclamation points.  As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

Over time I may find a reasonable explanation for each strange story in the Bible that satisfies everyone.  Archaeology may validate every historical detail.  But it probably won't, and I tend to believe that's by design.  Because God has orchestrated His beautiful plan such that faith is the secret sauce.  Faith requires mystery and faith isn't something someone can conjure up by her own effort alone.

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:14-17

Still to come...

Among the topics I hope to cover in the near future are:

How I view the Bible as a text
Heaven vs the resurrection
The creation account
Does the Church supersede Israel?
The end-times and why I care
...

Knowing the "What" and the "Why"

"but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.  For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil." 1 Peter 3:15-17

The Apostle's Creed is a fascinating statement.  The early church leaders wrote it because there was a need to establish some definition around what it meant to be a Christian.  I use the past tense "meant" intentionally because I think to call somebody a Christian today tells you very little about what that person actually believes.  Even recently I met someone who defined herself as Christian but told me she didn't know if Jesus was a real person.  One pastor told me that when he asks someone about their faith he specifically asks, "Are you a Christian or a born-again Christian?"  He's had to distinguish between the two because Christianity has become a cultural identification rather than a spiritual one.

Here's the Apostle's Creed:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
    the Maker of heaven and earth,
    and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
    born of the virgin Mary,
    suffered under Pontius Pilate,
    was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,
    and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
    from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
    the holy catholic church;
    the communion of saints;
    the forgiveness of sins;
    the resurrection of the body;
    and the life everlasting.

Amen.

When I read the Apostle's Creed I can't help but think the authors felt it was pretty important to know what they believed.  They didn't just want a hunch; they wanted something they could look at, read aloud, and point to and say "that's what I believe."

In the same vein, I am going to write some posts outlining exactly what it is I believe and why I believe it.  While I can usually identify something I don't agree with when I hear it, I am convicted by Peter's words that I'm not always able to explain the "why".

dream big

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.
- William Hazlitt

have you ever felt the rub of things not right? i do. every day. divorce, disease, accidents, road rage. it's just not right. deep down i know it.

think about the law. not the "don't speed" law--the biblical law. the law given by God to moses for God's people. if it's easier, think about the ten commandments.

does the law make you smile? does it bring joy into your life? or does it seem to rip joy out of you, facing the way you are up against a bunch of "should bees" and "ought toos"?

please don't misunderstand the law, or the purpose of the law. hazlitt's quote really resonated in my soul because to me it spoke as to the purpose of the law. the law wouldn't be any good for animals. because animals have no idea what ought to be. it works for humans--at least to an extent--because we humans have some clue of the way things should be. we know how people should act. and we know how they shouldn't. and we know, deep down, that the world we live in isn't the way the world should be. we are, as john mayer says, "waiting on the world to change."

when God gave us the law, he gave us a glimpse of the way the world should be--a world without all the "bad" things. imagine a world where the word "murder" wasn't defined. or a world where marriages were marked with total purity. imagine a world where there was no jealousy, and everyone--everyone--loved God.

sometimes i find myself feeling guilty, and i blame it on the law. i think, "if those stupid commands weren't around, i wouldn't have to feel guilty." that's just wrong thinking. i was guilty before God gave me the law. i fell short long before the law. the law just gave me a measuring stick to see how far i fall short. so nothing really changed condition-wise.

now you may be asking, "what benefit is it to me if i know how guilty i am? ignorance is bliss!" well, not in this case. because understanding how guilty i am is the first step to making the world what it should be...by making my life what it should be. because my guilt makes me vividly aware of my need for God...and more specifically, my need for the work of Christ on the cross--making up for my deficits. and it is only after i understand my need that i can come to Christ. (what good is God's forgiveness for the person who doesn't think they need it? forgiveness in that case doesn't change the life.)

here's a word-picture: which would make me more grateful: if someone paid for my $7 lunch tomorrow, or if someone paid off my $40,000 student loans? you get it now. so the larger the debt, the more forgiveness means to the forgiven.

but we haven't even touched on the best part of the law yet. yes, the law shows me the way the world--and my life--should be--and thus leads me to Christ. but even better, it shows me the way the world--and my life--will be. it's a glimpse of heaven. it's a glimpse of God's Kingdom.

so if the law rubs you the wrong way, just remember, it's not an indictment of the law, it's an indictment of the condition of your heart. embrace that feeling, follow it to the cross, to Christ, and then dream big. dream of heaven.

pick your own

apple picking. my wife and i went apple picking yesterday up in the north georgia mountains. they say you can pick through mid-november, but it was apparent to us that all the easy-to-pick apples were already taken and all that was left was the ones way up in the trees dangling at the ends of fragile branches. they had bags of pre-picked apples we could buy, but if i wanted pre-picked apples i could have gone to kroger a mile from my house. so i climbed the trees. i felt like the guy on that show survivorman. the one who climbs trees and eats bugs to survive. i didn't eat any bugs, so maybe i was only half a survivorman, but still. i would climb and pick and then drop them down to katie and she'd bag them. we picked a peck.

today i'm eating the apples we harvested. these apples are sweeter than the ones from kroger, and not just in taste. we harvested them.

but as sweet as they are, i can only dream of how sweet they would be if we sowed them also. then we would truly be tasting the fruit of our labor.

some people sow, some harvest. that's the way it works. i wouldn't be enjoying this apple right now if someone hadn't come before me to do the hard work of sowing.

i know that some people who plant don't get to pick their own, and so we must be grateful, because we do, and not because we did anything to deserve it.

Contradictory? I think not

Usually, when people think of "predestination" they think "no free will". Actually, the Bible speaks of both. Consider Ephesians 1:4-5, 11-12...

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
...
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

And Matthew 11:27-28 (still predestination)...

27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

And Acts 13:48...

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Now for free will, well, I'm sure you know some...

Both choice and election are described in the Bible, so the question is not "do we have a choice?", but rather, how can God choose us yet we still have a choice?

Think of my little 4-year-old nephew, Owen. One night Owen sits down for dinner and his mom places two plates of food in front of him. The first has a handful of peas on it. The second has a cupcake on it. Let's say she gives him the choice of which one to eat. Which one do you think he is going to choose? Probably the cupcake...in fact, that's probably a no-brainer. In fact, it's almost guaranteed that he will choose the cupcake every time if given the choice. Even though the peas are better for him from a health perspective. He will choose the less healthy cupcake because to him it is more enticing. But imagine if Owen was able to truly understand what would happen if he ate healthy food all the time. Imagine if he had the foresight to know what a diet of cupcakes would do to him in the long run... If his "eyes were opened", so to speak, then he'd be far more likely to choose the peas. Not to say the cupcake wouldn't still be tempting. And at times he might still go back to the cupcake, but his overall perception and dislike for the peas would change. He would begin to enjoy eating them because he would know how good they really are.

The same is true in our lives when we have the choice of Christ or self. When we are dead in our sin we look at the plates and self looks far more enticing than Christ. Each time we're given the choice we will choose self. 10 times out of 10. The reason is because we are sinful beings and our master is the sinful nature. When you're dead to sin the last thing you want to do is live for Christ.

Now, once God does an act of "regeneration" in our hearts and brings us spiritually back to life (something only God is able to do) we see the plates a little differently. Once God has brought our hearts back to life, Christ becomes irresistible. Only then are we willing to choose "the peas" (Christ).

So you see, free will and predestination can both be realities when it comes to our salvation. The predestination part is God making a dead heart alive. The free will is there throughout.

The common reaction to predestination is "God is so unfair if He chooses one over another!" Paul confronts this exact thought in Romans 9. The whole chapter is pertinent but I will only take an excerpt...

10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— Romans 9:10-23

Here Paul is explaining why God is not unjust for choosing one person over the other. His main point is that since God is the creator He can do whatever He wants to do. He is the potter. If he wanted to break the pot to pieces he would have every right to do so because it's His pot. He created it. Even so, however, God, out of his mercy--even though he has no obligation to do so--chose some that would be adopted as His children.

sushi

the other day my friend randy and i were eating lunch in a sushi restaurant we enjoy. the tables were close together and sitting next to us was a lady, mid 40s with shoulder-length blonde hair. across the room was a table of highschool girls. though by room placement seemingly unrelated, i came to find out one of the girls was the daughter of the blonde lady. the daughter walked over to her mom.

"mom, i can't find a pair of my abercrombie jean shorts. have you seen them?"
mom asks for a description.
"they are jean cutoffs."
"oh those. yeah, i've seen them. i threw them away when i was doing laundry."
"MOM, those were $50 abercrombie shorts!" (growing louder than was polite in a sushi restaurant)
"and they were way too short for you to be wearing around."
"MOM, how could you do that??!" (in loud, ultra-whiny tone)
"you shouldn't be wearing shorts like that."
"MOM, you owe me $50 for those shorts!"
...
daughter continued to yell at mother for throwing away her shorts, then stomped out of the restaurant with her onlooking friends.

i was a little irritated by the commotion, especially considering the topic. and i questioned what could be at the heart of such a conflict.

about five minutes later, a man walks in to the restaurant and sits with the mom. the mom says, "your daughter was here a few minutes ago. and she yelled at me for throwing her shorts away..." the conversation was short.

the man's phone rang. rather than mute it, he picked it up, and proceeded to talk for several minutes while the mother ate by her lonesome. he eventually hung up. a few words later the mother's phone rang. she picked it up and began conversing while the man ate alone. this continued for about 45 minutes. i'd guess that over the course of their meal, the couple talked for less than 5 minutes total.

all of a sudden, the first scene between mother and daughter made way more sense.

debrief:
i base the following points on my snapshot view. this is just what i think, but may or may not be entirely accurate. just think about it...
1.there was a lack of love/respect between mother and father.
2.father was too busy for mom indicating he is probably too busy for daughter too.
3.lack of love from father causes girl to seek other means of validation.
4.girl resorts to wearing indecent shorts to attract attention from boys, hence validating who she is.
5.mom is too uninvolved in daughter's life to have conversation about shorts.
6.daughter feels disrespected by mother because rather than talk about the issue (this requires a conversation, mind you), mother threw shorts away.

interstate 85

this morning a blue acura TL merged onto I-85. there was a blonde girl at the wheel. as she merged onto the interstate she entered the far right lane. it was a decent lane. smooth pavement. wouldn't disappear for a few miles. her speedometer read somewhere around 65 miles per hour. 65, however, wasn't quite fast enough. there was a car in front of her. she began changing lanes to the left. about that time i saw blue in my peripheral vision. by the time i turned my head her mirror was about two inches from my door. i quickly turned my wheel, entering the lane to my left. she noticed at the same moment, and curved back into her lane. i had a hunch she knew what almost happened. mainly because the rest of my drive, she stayed about three car lengths behind me.

was i angry? not really, i make stupid mistakes while driving too. i was disturbed. primarily because my gut-instinct reaction was wrong. to prevent her from hitting my car i swerved out of the way. the thought of 'what if' entered my mind.

what if there had been a car in my left lane?

she changed lanes slowly. slow enough that i could react. i changed lanes fast. too fast for someone to avoid me. ironically enough, my reaction was potentially worse than the error causing me to react. and we were both guilty of the same fault: changing lanes without looking.

sometimes i find myself in a situation with no good options. i can choose A or B, but neither one offers me the ease i desire. legally, i should have just let her hit me. i could have honked my horn (for some reason, i never do. it just doesn't occur to me that's what a horn is for), but i shouldn't have changed the direction of my car in any way. if she had hit me, it would have been her fault, and hopefully i wouldn't go spinning out of control. that option stinks for obvious reasons. no one wants to get sideswiped going 65 down the interstate. the other option was what i chose, but it had potential to cause more damage to my car than letting the acura hit me, and it would have been my fault.

these situations crop up every now and then, and i was reminded this morning that ultimately, when it's all said and done, even when we make bad decisions, God is still capable of working them together for good.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
romans 8:28

christ is my spotter

last night i was at the gym lifting weights. it was about 9 pm--the time when only serious lifters remain--and i'm doing the bench press with individual dumbbells. i had already done two sets, so i was pretty tired, but my third and hardest set still remained. i laid back on the bench with the bells on my chest, then lifting them up, i proceeded to bench...1...2...

rep 3 proved too heavy. i lifted maybe 20% of the way up and then hit the glass ceiling. the bells wouldn't go any higher, no matter how much more blood flowed to the already over-capacitated veins in my head. i was at my limit.

then the amazing happened.

a man i had seen earlier doing a similar exercise--but with much heavier weights--grabs my arms and yells "PUSH IT!" adrenaline pumped. i had a new confidence. with his help, up they went...3...4...5...6. he didn't make it easy, mind you. i needed it to be hard. but he added the strength i needed to finish, and finish well.

as the bells finally hit the ground, i looked up and said a simple "thanks". he doesn't know this, but christ made an unexpected visit to the gym last night.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 2 corinthians 12:9

in the gym, when you know you're going to be lifting to the point of exhaustion, you grab a partner and you say "spot me". the spotter's job is to make sure you don't kill yourself, and if he's good, he'll push you more--adding strength you don't have. sometimes i see guys lifting without spotters--like i did last night--and i think about how pride keeps us from asking for a spotter. we don't want to admit we need the help. we can do it...wait...no, we can't.

it's the point in our lives when we are pushing as hard as we can, but we've hit the point of complete muscle failure...the glass ceiling. jesus loves it when we hit this point because it's our first realization of our dependence on Him. he is glorified (acknowledged for who He is) when we "can't". beautiful.

spot me, Jesus.

benefit of the doubt

i desire to be understood. i think it's one of my strengths. it drives me to write and speak as clearly as i can. it causes me to think a lot about what i do, say, and think. intentionality.

"i like you." (for example)

it's also one of my biggest weaknesses. when i'm not understood it frustrates me. to the point that i will attempt to explain until there are no words left to use. then i'll try rearranging words. put them in a different order. maybe that will help.

"you like i" no that doesn't help. rarely does it.

i can hardly sit still when someone misunderstands me. my mom says i should give people the benefit of the doubt. i take that to mean i should assume they are smart enough to get what i mean. they'll figure it out.

when i really think about it, it's a faith issue. can God really work it out even if i'm not understood? will the world really keep spinning? yeah, it will robby. believe it or not. jesus was misunderstood. big time. lots of times. but then again, i think that frustrated him too...but of course, if you misunderstand jesus, your world might actually stop spinning...

weight gainer

in an effort to bulk up my body a bit, i've started drinking a weight gainer shake after i work out. if i have a full serving, the shake provides 1850 calories full of vitamins, minerals, carbs, and of course, PROTEIN. it's kind of like drinking chocolate concrete mix. mmm mmm good.

my muscular roommate made the comment, "people think they can get big just by lifting weights, but if you're not putting the right foods in your body, hard weight lifting will only tear your body apart." (right now my roommates are all arguing over whose the "muscular" one...) i've been told if i eat and work out correctly, i can put ten pounds of muscle on my body in twelve weeks!

there's a phrase i've just recently been introduced to..."weightier christian". i want to be a weightier christian. unmoveable. deep roots. solid foundation. my physical regiment tells me that if i'm to become a weightier christian it'll take a combination of filling my body with the right food (truth, scripture), and hard core exercising (applying the knowledge i've stored up).

and just as it is with physical strength building, i won't see a difference on a daily basis. when i look in the mirror with my shirt off each morning (come on, you know you do it too), my pecs don't really look that much bigger...but i bet if i didn't take my shirt off for three months, i would notice a measurable difference when i finally did (and i bet i'd stink a little too!).

"Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?" 1 corinthians 3:1-3

prison

the office building i work in blocks all internet traffic to email websites. this means gmail, yahoo, and hotmail are all blocked. luckily for me, however, there's the slightest wireless signal coming in through the walls, probably from an apartment complex next door. seriously, on days when i am insanely bored at work, gmail is the only thing that keeps me sane. imagine, if you will, being in a prison cell with only one tiny window. every now and then you press your mouth up to the window to get a single breath of fresh air. just enough to allow you to continue a little while longer.

yesterday the wireless disappeared. all hope left me. fear of insanity crept over. it was like someone bricking in the single tiny window that allowed me to breathe. oh, the agony!

then i rebooted, and it worked again. i said a prayer in thanksgiving.

Glorify? Huh?

I've often been confused about the word "glorify".  To say, "they glorified God." What does that mean?  What does it mean to glorify God?  Can we humans really give God more glory than He already has?  Can we actually take some glory away from God?  That would give us an awful lot of power, don't you think?  Does God need us to glorify Him at all?  To me, the word "glorify" carries with it the connotation that we are adding a quantifiable substance (here, glory) to a pool of glory that God is in possession of.  So then when we praise Him we put more glory in that pool and when we are sinful we take some glory out of that pool.

After researching the Greek I think this is where English has failed me.  Perhaps a better word to use is "acknowledge".  The word "glorify" in Greek is "doxazo" (δοξάζω Strong's 1392).  One of the meanings is "to cause the dignity and worth of some person or thing to become manifest and acknowledged."  I replaced it with "acknowledge" (or one of its derivatives i.e. acknowledged, etc) in each verse where the word "doxazo" is used.  The verses made more sense to me than they ever had before.  Here's an example:

54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’  John 8:54 (ESV)

Now replace it with the word "acknowledge":

54 Jesus answered, “If I acknowledge myself, my acknowledgement is nothing. It is my Father who acknowledges me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ (Robby's translation, I guess)

Based on these thoughts my point is this:  I don't think we can add to or take away any glory from God's pool...regardless of what we do, think, say, or believe.  I think when we "glorify God", as it says in our English translations, we are actually acknowledging the glory God already has and deserves.

"WOW God! You have more glory in your pool than I can possibly comprehend!"

Think about it and consider how this line of thinking might affect things.

whack dating

the christian dating culture is askew. let me tell you why. this is the story i hear from both sides over
and over
and over
again.

guys don't ask girls out. (i'll get to the "reason" in a moment.) girls complain that guys don't ask them out, and rightfully so, because guys don't. a guy decides, despite the "reason" (still to-be-defined), that he will ask a girl out because she intrigues him...mind you, not necessarily because he is interested in her on a romantic level. guy asks girl out. since guys don't ask girls out in general, girl figures guy must really like her. this scares girl. too much, too fast in her mind. girl assumes guy has major intentions and the "reason" happens. drama. girl either...

a) turns guy down immediately
b) goes on date but doesn't have very good time because she's too concerned about guy's intentions

either option further facilitates original statement: guys don't ask girls out.
an exception to this (perhaps THE exception to this) is if the girl likes the guy before he asks her out. in which case, neither "a" or "b" take place, but rather an unusual "c", whereby the girl goes on the date excitedly.

so, the question might be asked, "what caused this culture, robby?" and i would then give my theory..."the ever-so-popular gospel that one shouldn't date unless they are pursuing marriage."

now, before you Christian-non-daters freak out at me, let me unpack that statement. the point of that gospel is to prevent someone from wasting his (or her) time and, more importantly, making an idol of girl after girl after girl and getting their heart broken time and time and time again. but, as we people tend to do, we've taken what is a good principle and taken it to the extreme. now, the guy thinks, "i shouldn't ask a girl out unless i'm sure she's The One" and the girl thinks, "i should turn down the date unless i think he might be The One". the end result is we begin seeing people for who they could be, rather than who they are.

guys, why not take a girl out to make her feel special, and show her a good time? don't worry about what she could be...just enjoy who she is. if she could be, and she's meant to be, then she will be without you having to worry about it. girls, same principle. an acorn grows into an oak tree without worrying about how...it just happens...that's how God made it.

i think the marriage pursuit is an active-passive deal. actively, you desire it, pray for it, and take steps you believe might lead to it (in faith). passively, you wait for it, knowing that in the big picture it's way more about God doing something in another person's heart than about anything you can control.

objective: to enjoy what i do.

the store my roommate works at was closing and so, being the diligent man he is, he updated his resume and began passing them out to various potential employers. as any well-organized resume does, his resume gave his personal objective at the top: "to enjoy what i do". how profound, and obvious, yet so few people actually do it.

he told me, "if they can't offer me that, i'm not interested." stick it to the man, roomie!

men at work

half the elevators in the building where i work are under construction. this means when i click the down button, half the time the doors open the elevator is already full and there's no room for me. at lunch today i managed to squeeze on. the guy next to me says, "worst commute in atlanta...georgia 400 to marta to these elevators...i can't get to my desk! every one of them is under construction." i thought i had it bad.

poopy

my trip to seattle started out poopy. literally. i had a serious case of the "hershey squirts". i woke up at 6:30 sunday morning, my stomach rolling over and over. i was to catch a flight at 6:45 that evening to seattle. a five-hour flight. ugh.

i debated cancelling and spending the week at home, but eventually decided to just drug up with immodium, advil, and pepto bismol. problem solved. i was clogged for about two days after that.

so tomorrow is day 3 of my seattle adventure. i'm here for training. i'm learning a lot about the culture of my company, about how to resolve conflict, about teamwork, and tonight i learned about cooking. i spent 3 hours at a cooking school creating dishes such as sweet beignets, gnocchi, and beef and mushroom papillotes.

yesterday i drank a caramel macchiato from the world's first starbucks, stood underneath the space needle, and saw mount rainier from a far distance. not to mention i saw jacob moody, a friend from college i hadn't seen in almost 3 years.

i'm spent. so i'm going to hop in my king-size bed with the oh-so-plush pillows and bid adieu.

here i list a few quotes that have motivated, inspired, and encouraged me over the past couple weeks...

"'Almost' carries no weight, especially in matters of the heart." -charles dickens

"Small hinges swing big doors." -anonymous

"This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it." -ralph waldo emerson
a comment on this last one. it's my favorite quote of all time (that i've read). i read this quote in my 11th grade english class as it was placed under the chapter heading of my textbook. it hit me like a bolt of lightning. for the first time in my life i realized every new moment holds the same potential as the last. whether that potential is realized is largely determined by how i choose to spend my time. live intentionally.

spiritual streaking

throughout my christian life, i've always been told, "don't be a spiritual streaker." by this my instructor meant, don't divulge my most intimate struggles, desires, etc to anyone and everyone who will listen.

i think i've done pretty well so far. but lately i've had some experiences with people that make me question that seemingly wise ultimatum.

every time i go downtown for homeless ministry i meet guys who tell me about huge struggles they're having. not necessarily because i ask them, just because they are broken guys. they tell me about issues that, were i struggling with them, i don't think i'd have the guts to tell anyone.

these are the types of people i believe will fill the kingdom. the ones who know they struggle, and are so broken, they'll be honest with anyone and everyone. conventional wisdom aside, they don't own a mask. they don't own much of anything. but they know they need help, they just don't know where to get it.

one thing i know for sure...they are authentic people.

ok, so there's two extremes here:

hiding everything, not being authentic with anyone. vs. telling everyone everything about you. it's an intricate balance. hiding everything destroys community, and prevents you from experiencing the grace God has for you. but if the community isn't ready to handle it, streaking can send you packing. what's more, there's another dimension involving what's permissible to share with the opposite sex! finding the right middle ground is key, and i think it requires living intentionally.

all things considered, it's no wonder i sometimes find myself tipping the balance.