Busily persevering…

Today was one of those days, as Saturdays usually are.  We checked to-dos off of the never ending list that parents never warn you comes with adulthood.  We provided shelter, food and education for our children, most of it never fully being appreciated, a lot of it messy, and quite a bit of it smelly.  We pressed through those messy, bratty, smelly moments for the unadulterated joy of just one “I love you Daddy” and ketchup-in-my-hair hug.  We breathed several hundred breaths of crisp winter air, longing for Spring, or at least some snow to give the cold a purpose.  Oh, and at the end of the day, we ended up one day closer to death.

I don’t know about you, but my thinking moments don’t come when my head hits the pillow, but rather are formed in the midst of everyday existence.  It may be a Christian power-slogan, but in pressing on to make Christ my prize, there is always in the back of my mind a tugging.

Life.  Becomes.  Intentional.

And busyness is not intentionality.

I tend to wear circles in the carpet with my mental pacing, taking one step at a time to nowhere in particular.  The lens of silence reveals my wandering, so I try to avoid doing nothing at all costs.  Entertainment, useless information, or just plain activity all blur the silence, but again:

Busyness is not intentionality.

So I sit here and ponder these thoughts, and I am again reminded of Jesus’ tendency to withdrawal to quiet places for contemplation.  It makes sense that we must pull ourselves away from the constant in-your-face power the world has to distract us from Reality.  I long to meditate on Christ not to free myself from thought, but to pierce through the clouded veils of this present illusion and make Him my lens.  Silence is a terrible lens of its own accord, for it only allows us to see the shadows.

On Christmas eve, my pastor, Matt Chandler, related this to Plato’s allegory of a cave.  In this allegory, Plato talks of prisoners who are chained to the wall of a cave, and are only able to see the shadows of things passing in front of the cave.  Most of the prisoners begin to ascribe life and meaning to these shadows, and eventually forget about real life entirely.  There are, therefore, two types of beings – those who are content with the shadows, and those who strain to see the shadow-casters.

As Christians, we must go one step further – we are not trying to find the casters, but the Light!  This is our one indwelling passion, and worship does not exist unless we are not satisfied with less than Him.

This is how to, as Paul advised the Thessalonians, to pray without ceasing – to make Christ our sole treasure.  All emotion, direction, and passion are made captive to this one beauty – the joy of Christ in all things.  We do not need a list of moral codes or fifteen-minute quiet times to be righteous.  We need only have our goal be glorious enough.  If it is, our love for God and our joy in being satisfied in Him will breed obedience, submission, success, righteousness.

If it is not, we will achieve our goals in this present time, and with no place left to go, will fester in our “success” and breed pride and narcissism.  Hey, but at least we will look really good.

From someone who thinks he looks really good at times, please pray for me.

-MB

Absence makes the heart grow fonder…

So after a six-week pause due to myriad circumstances keeping me from thinking clearly, much less posting, I will again attempt to log the musings de Matt (Aside: In searching out the correct use of “myriad,” I discovered it can be used both as a noun and an adjective.  Therefore, “myriad circumstances” and “a myriad of cirumstances” are both correct.  Thought you might want to know.)  Since I wanted to go back and reread what I wrote previously anyway, I thought I would give you a recap of past posts:

Preface – “About Matt” – If you want to know something about me, read this.  If you would rather try to piece together a picture of me from my writings, don’t.  So mysterious…

1. May 8, 2008 – “From a tiny spark…” – For my first post, I wanted to give the reader a sense of where I am coming from when I write; a sense of my desire to worship in purity while not misleading the reader into thinking I already do so.  The “Why Flame Blue?” page repeats many of these same thoughts, with a challenge for you, the reader, to journey along with me.  From what I can tell, it is a long (eternity, anyone?) journey.

2. May 9, 2008 – “For my joy…” – Perhaps my most difficult post to relate in full.  I still have to read it twice to make sure I believe myself.  I do.  Please do not take this post the wrong way.  I do not think Christianity to be a man-centered pursuit at all.  However, I wanted it to be offensive to nominal Christianity, so it may be a bit over the top.

3. May 14, 2008 – “Love endures…” – Hmm… It is so interesting to read my own writings, albeit nearly 3 months later, and not remember fully the thoughts behind the words.  There is so much more here to be explored…

4. May 15, 2008 – “Revealing the darkness…” – I LOVE this quote from Chesterton, but I’m not sure if my thoughts added anything to his idea or not.  You tell me.

5. May 17, 2008 – “How long O Lord…” – An afternoon of grief over the pain of the world around us.

6. May 20, 2008 – “Epic sacrifice…” - My most disappointing post (at least in my eyes) to date.  The idea behind it simply wasn’t full quite yet, and I tried to force it.  I will revisit this in the future.  I would appreciate any thoughts you might have.

7. May 28, 2008 – “A life laid bare…” – I enjoy writing poetry when the impulse comes.  From the pages of an “ancient” journal.

8. June 4, 2008 – “Of pleasure and puddles…” – My most difficult, most edited, and, to me, most fulfilling post to date.  It is long, but there is so much in this thought, and much left to be said.  If you haven’t read it yet, think about this question first: What is the opposite of lust?

9. June 9, 2008 – “What Jesus Demands #1…” – OK, maybe this is my most difficult post.  Again, it can be very difficult to pull an argument around from thought to conclusion in a single page.  Really, this is a (poor) attempt at a summary of the beliefs of John Piper on the doctrine of salvation.  I also used this post to explain why I am a “Calvinist,” or whatever you want to call me.

10. June 11, 2008 – “Law of Fading Consequences…” – Man, I really like the idea behind this post.  We’ll certainly come back to the foundation of it at some point.  To summarize, it is really difficult to endure with patience the race set before us without, like so many hares before us, stopping occasionally to take a nap.

11.  July 16, 2008 – “Impacts and things…” – 10 posts in 34 days, then nothing.  This post is a simple summary of the most impacting teachings and websites I could think of at the time.  Not really a new thought.

Well, there you have it.  Now you only have to read the posts that interest you.  Or not.  Or maybe no one is reading this and I am talking to myself.  Oh, the life of an amatuer blogger.

Peace. MB

Impacts and things…

Per recommendation from a friend, I have decided to post a list of the most impacting resources I have come across over the past few years.  I pray they are a blessing to you as well:

1. While attending college in Abilene, TX, I began going to a large weekly meeting called Grace.  The worship was good, but everyone went to hear the speaker, a guy named Matt Chandler.  At the time, my love of God was not strong, so not much of what he said stuck.  Then in passing, a friend of mine told me Matt Chandler was a Calvinist, meaning he only thought he was preaching to the “elect.”  Well, I had never heard of Calvinism, and it sounded like a cult to me, so I stopped going.  Two years later, this sermon by Matt Chandler became my first, major introduction to the sovereignty of God and how that lined up with the Bible.  Truthfully, I have listened to every sermon by Matt in the past 5 years, and have almost never disagreed him.  He is easy to listen to, but always tells deep truth.
2. John Piper’s website, Desiring God Ministries has a HUGE amount of resources – articles, books, blogs, and every sermon he has preached for the past 25 years (many with video).  Piper is a huge Jonathan Edwards disciple, so his writings are largely based in Edwards’ theology (good thing, since Edwards was one of the most intelligent theologians who ever lived).  I highly recommend reading the book Desiring God as a foundational understanding of God’s relationship with His creation.  Also, the two Piper sermons from this year’s Resolved conference are outstanding (both are on Hell).
3. Discerning Reader.com is a great site started by blogger Tim Challies for quick book reviews by several men I agree with on major theological issues, so you can see what to watch for in a book.  The review of The Shack is excellent.  Although not from this site, this is a 2-part critique of Wild at Heart that outlines the major theological issues.  I’m not sure if I agree with every point, but it is well done.
4. As far as books I recommend, I really haven’t read many that I really liked.  I do recommend anything by C.S. Lewis, John Piper, Tim Keller, and the major dead guys – Luther, Edwards, Bonhoffer, Tozer, anyone else whose works are shown powerful and scripturally sound.  Biographies of great Christian men are good, too.  Piper has a sermon series called “Men of Whom the World was not Worthy” that outlines the lives of heroes of the faith.  It is staggering to read about the men who God used to champion the gospel throughout the ages.  It is also being put into book form in The Swan is Not Silent series.  On the fiction side, I love Ted Dekker’s stuff, as well as Randy Alcorn & Frank Peretti.  Mainly, I read lots of pieces of lots of different books and enjoy seeing the connections between the different ideas and Scripture.  I need to be better about reading entire books.

This is only the beginning of the list.  I will add to it as I think of things.  MB

Law of Fading Consequences…

Isn’t it amazing how quickly the consequences of an action are diminished in our eyes. The further in the future the application of those consequences lies, the less it inhibits our actions. For instance, consider a prominent man who is about to commit adultery on his wife…

• the most distant consequence, eternal separation from God, although it is the most extreme and long-lived of any possible consequence, affects him almost not at all.
• the consequence of losing his wife and family, a definite possibility in the coming days, is constantly on his conscience, but if the possibility is low enough or he justifies it long enough, the pleasure begins to outweigh the loss.
• the consequence of losing standing in the community, of high importance to any man, seems highly unlikely in the face of the pleasure before him.

What Jesus Demands #1…

Look away from yourself. Seek from God what he alone can do for you. Moral improvement of the old you is not what you need. New life is what the whole world needs. It is radical and supernatural. It is outside our control. The dead do not give themselves new life. We must be born again. – John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World (ch. 1, pg. 39)

Through the counsel of my wife, I will attempt to write this blog with gentleness. My greatest desire is to see the glory of God proclaimed and known, and any way that God chooses to use me to help do so I will do in love.

Of pleasure and puddles…

At the basic level, I tend to search not for answers, but rather deeper questions. It is a desire of mine to break down every doctrine, question, idea, and opinion into its foundational structures. For instance, if two men are standing next to each other and both say “I am a Christian,” the listener knows nothing more than he did before, since he has no idea what the foundations of this statement may be. Discovering those foundations is vital to understanding the gospel and the Kingdom. What are the foundations? Do we even believe the right ones? If not, is our salvation in question?

In light of these questions, I was recently asked “What is the opposite of lust?” 

A life laid bare…

I found this in a journal; not quite sure when I wrote it:

I’m tired of lies, spun tightly and clumsily in the darkness; lies to myself, my God – my treasured.

I’m tired of wasted moments strung like Christmas popcorn – Christmas perfect that will never come because I refuse to accept beauty as anything but a reflected lie – the popcorn rotting and stringy mud – stinking of death. Yet I wear it proudly!

I’m tired of hurting those I love yet refusing to acknowledge the hurt in light of my smiles and stupidity – refusing to reveal the love for fear of the hurt. How stupid a smiling fool am I!

I’m tired of holding back the dreams of my treasured! I should know and strive more readily in my youth, yet I stagnate like an old hobo, tired from doing nothing - tired from not trying!

I love life: the veins in the leaves of a towering oak, the laughter of my treasured as she dances with her Savior. But why will my wall not fall? Where is the willingness to scale its towers? Will no One destroy it?!? Or do I not see the door, plain and open right in front of me? I’m tired of being blind.

I will not be blind, for I once knew a blind man.

He died without a Light.

Please God, turn on the Light…

-MB

Epic sacrifice…

We speak often of the epic, a mystic tale of heroism and glory. Men desire to be the protagonist, women long to be the desired, history makes literary altars to the greatest epics of all. Yet, when it comes down to it, very few truly understand what it takes to embark on the journey towards an epic life and what they would find if they did.

How long O Lord…

Just pause for a second, and think about the how blessed we are.  We are rich, we are healthy, we are educated, we are safe.  Yet in the past two weeks:

• Upwards of 150,000 people died in two catastrophic acts of nature.  This doesn’t even count the wounded or countless numbers who are dying of sickness and starvation due to the same events.
• 350,000-400,000 children died due to poverty.
• Over 575,000 children were orphaned due to AIDS.
• Over 1.6 MILLION abortions were performed worldwide!

The statistics are harrowing and nearly unbelievable when we look at them as a whole.  Yes, it is horribly sad when a cyclone wipes out an entire region, but the truth is death and disease and suffering are the norm, not the exception.  Once again, we are blessed.

Revealing the darkness…

“Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, “Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good—” At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post, the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmediaeval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp-post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, today, tomorrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we might have discussed under the gas-lamp, we now must discuss in the dark. – G.K. Chesterton