A Response to the Election; or, Hypocrisy, Thy Name is You, The Church

Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States. And in a stunning turn of events, Christians nationwide have thrown out their belief in God’s sovereignty, their holding to the scriptures as completely inherent, and their PRAY acronym, leaving out PRAISE and jumping straight to ASK! Don’t believe me? Take a look at Facebook statuses saying that God is now judging America or that Obama is the uninformed decision. Take a look at Facebook groups: Smell the BO? Movin’ to Mexico.

We selfish, me-centered people. My goodness! Has God been thrown a curveball? Has God conveyed to us in ANY divinely inspired venue that His plans for 2009 – 2012 are an adamant and wrath-filled judgment of the States? NO! God is still in control! Romans 13: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”

Obama has not (and will not) take away our right to free worship. Praise God for that! God is still on the throne and knew that the senator would get the election before He even named Adam! Praise God for that! God not only knew about it, but according to the Romans passage, He instituted it! Praise God for that? YES!

You of little faith! You ignorant people! Why in the world would God judge America and leave places like N. Korea, Liberia, etc. untouched? What basis do we have to think that America ever was a “Christian Nation” and is now being judged for falling away from that foundation? We have none! Sure, the first legislation and most current laws are based on biblical teachings, but that in no way makes America a Christian Nation. We are a nation run by humans. A free nation, yes. But a human-ran nation nonetheless.

Christians, we have a responsibility to act maturely as a response to this election. I don’t care if “your guy” lost. Acknowledge that hard work that Senator Obama put in to overcoming something that got another African-American assassinated not 50 years ago. Respect and praise our country for overcoming our tolerance. And pray for God’s will and God’s guidance. And c’mon! Stop this nonsense about running away! My God’s bigger than the boogeyman. I’m so sorry that He isn’t for you folks who think that Obama is an unstoppable terrorist.

1 Thessalonians 5: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Get a hold of yourselves!

Yes, I voted for Obama. I am not saying to not be sad that the man you supported did not win. Be sad. But fall on God.

The Doctrine of “Self-Esteem”

The video that I’m going to show you is a shocking one. I’ve been surfing the internet via the “next” feature (courtesy of WordPress) and have stumbled across some extreme heresies. Here is a perfect example of one:

The Spirituality of “Wait and See”

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

A while back, I wrote a short post entitled “Give Up, Give In.” In this post, I wrote of giving God the reigns of life. In a similar post, I wrote concerning the necessity of giving of our sense of lordship over our own lives to God, for it is rightfully His. I feel burdened to continue on that discussion (or, reword what has already been written…twice now, as some might say).

I worry too much. That statement alone proves such a thing because worry itself is too much; there is no measurement of “worry.” The reason I have struggled with worry is because I have battled it poorly (or, incorrectly). You see, I can recite verse after verse that talk about God’s authority, Christ’s sovereignty, and the promise of good for those who love Providence. Each of those verses, however, require something more than memorization. They require a discipline that is foreign to the human will.

Trusting in God is not pragmatic. So many times, though, we champion our “trust in God” after the ordeal is over and the blessings have arrived. Have we really trusted in God? Are the blessings really “good and perfect gifts…from the Father of lights” or are they simply “treasures on earth” that do nothing more than make us feel good for a short while, erode away, and once again create in us the desire to chase those ever-elusive happiness triggers? It depresses me to recall how often my discourse post-storm had been sprinkled with “…only by God…” or “God knew what He was doing,” when my prayers during-storm had been “What are you doing God… and why?!”

As is evident by the latter statement, so often in my life I have been anxious to get the storm over with and learn the lesson that waited for me on the blue horizon. That, that is why worry has been a struggle for me. You see, I have come to the belief that part of trusting God is a simple waiting on Him. Psalm 46.10: “Be still and know that I am God.” Isaiah 40.31: “But those who wait upon the Lord…” Psalm 62.1: “Truly my soul silently waits for God.”

I, if you will, defined this belief while reading Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot. In that book she quotes Addison Leitch:

When the will of God crosses the will of man, somebody has to die.

As much as I know that that is a reference to the crucifixion first and foremost, and following it is a reference to the casting off of the old self Paul writes about, I believe it has another implication as well. Maybe (and I’m still working through this but am confident enough to assert this), maybe the waiting part of trusting God is the death–or crucifixion–of my own biased desires. I do not believe it to be an untruth to view the “waiting” as the death of my will and the triumph (or granted Lordship) of His.

Giving God the reigns means not only do I seek His will, I also must conform how I seek His will. This is why waiting and trusting is so hard! I can blame it on the fact that I am a guy and, as a genetic rule, guys view problems in terms of solutions. Therefore, I view storms in terms of lessons I can learn from them. I can pass the buck to the fact that I am a perfectionist, and if I’m not involved in doing it, it won’t be done properly. But the bottom line is, I am to blame because I fear when my Savior cries out, “Fear not.”

Resting on that command requires a life change. I must realize that the best I can do when I am in control is mess everything up. For as Thomas a Kempis wrote:

What hindereth thee more than thine affections not fully mortified to the will of God?

An Extension on “Strike Three?”

The Mets lost their chance to go to the World Series when one of their players struck out…looking. The Tigers lost the World Series when one of their players struck out…looking. I am beginning to believe that we should swing for the fences, because missing the opportunity to do something is worse than actually attempting it but failing. You see, I have been struggling with living a life that isn’t afraid of consequence, but consequence that isn’t necessarily bad or sinful.

I am a creature of habit. I tend not to wander outside my norms very often. I don’t go rock climbing because I have an intense fear of falling. I don’t do things on a whim. I don’t attempt much unless it is planned and unless I can control the outcome. But, ever since the lecture we had in Old Testament Literature on Ecclesiastes, I have been wondering how much I really am missing out on—not attempting much, not trying, not swinging for the fences. And it hit me: even if I miss the ball when I swing, at least I don’t have to live with the, “What if I would’ve swung?”. And that has made all the difference in the world.

God, in His rich grace and mercy, love us so much that, although we are living under/in a curse, He still wants us to enjoy the mortal life we have been given. He wants us to swing for the fences, He wants us to glorify Him by enjoying life, by living life. It is one thing to not want to do something because it is morally or biblically wrong, and those consequences should be taken to heart. But doing other things that aren’t biblically, morally, or culturally unacceptable…WHY NOT? What do you have to lose?

Ever since that lecture, my mind has been running a million miles a second. There are things that may hurt us emotionally or physically if we attempt, but with every chance bad, there is an equal chance of the outcome being “good.” And the question I have wrestled with is, “Does the opportunity for the good (let’s call it a homerun) outweigh the negative consequence that has an equal chance of occurring (let’s call it striking out)?”. I have to come to the conclusion that I will strike out every once-in-a-while—everybody does—but unless I chance it, I will not ever see a homerun.

God, I believe, wants us to swing for the fences. Abide by His Word and walk in the Spirit, but live life. Obey His commands, but enjoy life. Ecclesiastes 9.7 says, “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.” Its time I start living that command.

I’ll close with my favorite line from one of my favorite songs: “I’m gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have and cannonball into the water.” Swing for the fences, because missing the opportunity is far worse than trying and failing.

Adding “Life” to “The Christian…”

“The felt joys of obedience exceed the felt pleasures of sin.” Is that true? Does serving God bring happiness all the time? Does the church marquee that reads, “We are too blessed to be depressed,” really sum up the Christian walk? I adamantly believe that each one of those statements would only be true if we lived in the Garden still. Otherwise, I must disagree with all of them. The Christian life is not some happy-go-lucky, smiles-all-the-time experience. If it were, adding “life” onto the end of that first statement would be a lie. Bad days do exist, and I believe that as a Christian, it is wrong to assume that having one is inherently sinful. That, to me, is a lie.

The book of Job is a story that imposes upon the reader this question, “Why do you serve God?” That question is relevant to all generations, to all times, to everyone. If we serve God because we want to get to heaven, we are serving God for the wrong reason. If we serve God because we don’t want to go to hell, we are serving God for the wrong reason. If we serve God because everything will work out for the good of those who do, we are serving God for the wrong reason. If we serve God because we believe that doing so brings about a never-ending joy as well as prevents us from ever experiencing elongated pain or even the “worldly” bad day, we are serving God for the wrong reason!

I completely agree with what Larry Crabb writes in his article, “On the Occasion of a Friend’s Retreat into Sin,” “If we live for an experience of joy, if we elevate desire to central status and live for nothing higher than its felt satisfaction, then we no longer are living by faith. We are idolaters worshipping desire. We are no longer living for God.” Amen from the Southern Baptist! Thinking and expecting everyone to have a peachy-keen life with no problems or no bad days or no sadness or no pain or nothing negative is a lie bigger than any I have heard! Living for God should not be based upon what joy you can get out of it. Living for God should be based upon the joy that is in Christ Jesus!

When I came to my university, I hated it. I felt that everyone believed that life is so good as a child of God that being upset, being hurt, feeling pain, or having a bad day was not only against the culture of my university, but against God Himself. I remember thoroughly breaking down in front of mom pleading for permission to transfer halfway through my first semester because I didn’t fit in. Everyone else had good days all the time. Everybody else’s away message said how great they were after quoting an old hymn or new praise song. Everyone else was “fine.” I wasn’t. I had bad days—visibly bad days.

Praise be to God, though, that I found a circle of friends that had bad days as well. Praise be to God, though, that I found a group of men and women who admitted that they had a hard time always being happy. God is good in the end, but sometimes we as Christians suffer and have bad days…and that, in my mind, is not a sin. I’ll close with the chorus from Casting Crowns’ song “Stained Glass Masquerade”:

Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade.

hand in HAND; or With Whom Do You Walk?

I have noticed something. When a person loves another, they will frequently go out of their way to spend time (“love on”) that other person. They will schedule around that person, they will cancel plans, they will do almost anything to be able to see that significant other every once in a while. Why is that? The obvious answer is because they love that person. If you love someone, you will attempt to be with that person and “love on” that person as often as you can.

My question is, why do we as Christians (which can be defined as lovers of Jesus) struggle with spending time with God? Why is it that we will rearrange our personal lives to be able to go on a walk or eat dinner with our mortal lover but we find it hard to go to chapel or wake up for church? Why is it that we have to work extra hard to be sure we are “loving on” God, but when it comes to “loving on” our significant other, no questions asked…we are there!?

Maybe I’m being cynical. Maybe I’m being pessimistic. But in all honesty, I struggle with spending time with God. I struggle with “loving on” God, which brings me to my next question: “Do I really love Him?” (AGH! What a terrible thing to admit.) Seriously, why am I struggling with this? John writes in His first epistle that “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God…” I don’t know what else to say to that. I had a whole dialogue I wanted to share, but I just can’t get it out.

On a totally different note, I heard from my brother (best friend) today. I miss him so. I wish we were as close to each other as we were back in high school. I don’t know if I really wanted to hear from him because now I consciously miss him. Sadness…

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God!” Maybe, just maybe, once I start living that verse, my shadow dance will be a bravura performance.