Undone

In light of the recent exchange of comments on Ryan's blog, this is a great article that speaks to the impact of modern technology on communication and sociology. Wouldn't it be great if we had the option of deleting words that come out of our mouth after hindsight reveals they shouldn't have been said? While we can't erase words that have already been spoken or undo actions that have already been done in reality, it is a comfort knowing God can. Through the power of grace, repentance presents our error filled lives for editing by our Savior, through which he can indeed make all our imperfections "undone."

10/29/08
Undone
Jill Carattini

Merriam-Webster’s “Word of the Year” is an honor bestowed on a new or old word that is chosen for its representation of the year’s cultural milieu. Considered for this past year’s award were words such as “blamestorm,” a noun which describes a meeting that is held in order to find out who is to blame, “facebook,” a verb that means to look up a person’s profile on the popular networking site, and “pecksniffian,” an adjective which describes someone or something that is unctuously hypocritical. Ironically, the word that was chosen for best summing up the year 2007 is not in Webster’s dictionary and spelling enthusiasts are sure to be unamused by its peculiar configuration. “W00t,” spelled with double zeros, is an exclamation of joy, excitement, or triumph. It comes from a language used by computer programmers and online gamers, in which letters are replaced by numbers. Merriam-Webster’s president commented on the quirky technological choice: "It shows a really interesting thing that's going on in language. It’s a term that’s arrived only because we’re now communicating electronically with each other.”(1)

Much has been said recently on the influences of technology, blog culture, text messaging, and internet search engines on the way we obtain and retain information, the way we interact with each other, and the ways in which we think. Merriam-Webster’s choice of “w00t” as its word of the year is just one demonstration of how we are adapting; it is indeed ironic that a dictionary should choose to praise a word that is not in the dictionary. Another study on “information behavior” conducted by scholars from University College London suggests that we may well be in the midst of a reprogramming of the way we read and think.(2) Some of their observations are fascinating; others are causing due alarm. Yet however we choose to look at it, technology is unquestionably shaping the way we see the world.

As someone who spends a great deal of time on the computer writing and editing, one of my most cherished technological functions is the ability to “undo” something. With the flip of two fingers--one on “control” and the other on the letter “z”--I can remove the sentence I just added the page, take back the word that did not quite fit, or reverse the effect of every previous command and restore my document to its original condition. No matter how many actions I have taken on the page, I can undo every one of them--and this is often useful! Technologically, it is a feature to which I have grown quite accustomed--so much so, that I find myself believing that nothing is really lost, and that everything can be undone, erased, or retrieved. And I cannot begin to calculate how many times I have thought about this function when I have needed it in places far from my computer screen.

Of course, reality never takes long to jar me back into a world with vastly different rules of operation. We cannot undo words that have already been said or take back actions that were less opportune than we anticipated. Hindsight, by definition, is a vision that is no longer available to us, no matter how urgently we would turn back time and “undo” what has been done. Our actions and inactions, words, lies, and blind spots cannot be expunged like a spreadsheet or a document. The biblical resolve that our “yes” be our “yes,” that consequences be weighed, and the cost of our action or inaction be counted at the outset is a far wiser and practical vision. And of course, it is far harder work. “But which of you,” asks Christ, “intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?... Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:28,31).

Warning the crowds to count the cost of discipleship, Jesus spoke in terms that would cause the faint and the indecisive to run. He also begged them to see that how we live, what we do and say, matters deeply and cannot be undone. We cannot undo foolish words spoken in anger, the regret of a lost opportunity, or the act of walking away from someone in need. Nor can we undo a life that let Christ pass by while we had our hands on other plows. But we can choose to live faithfully today. Christ invites us to fashion our legacy as faithful and dynamic followers from this day forward, ever looking to the one who is in fact able to undo a life that is anything less.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Stephanie Reitz, “Merriam-Webster’s Word of ‘07: ‘W00t’” The Associated Press, December 11, 2007.
(2) “Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future,” University College London Online Briefing, January 11 2008, http://www.bl.uk/news/pdf/googlegen.pdf, accessed October 1, 2008.

Living the Gospel

Love is at the heart of the gospel and therefore, the heart of God and the theme of the Bible. The ten commandments were given in love to preserve love. The first five commandments describe how to preserve fellowship with God, the second five comandments describe how to preserve fellowship with others. Like any parent who loves their child, God does not define boundaries by “laying down the law” in order to make us miserable. He is not a tyrant and his law is not arbitrary. His law defines reality so that we may have “eyes to see” the difference between good and evil, freeing us from the deception of Satan, the father of lies and the prince of darkness.

The gospel is offensive because it is demanding and exclusive. It is demanding and exclusive because it is true; it demands a choice of either accepting or rejecting it and it excludes those who reject it. Hell is a consequence of choosing to reject the gospel, chosen by the individual who rejects the truth. Fellowship with God requires being made perfect by him through Jesus because it is the truth, the only way to be restored to him and to have the darkness of our blindness illuminated by the light, allowing us to see. Choosing to walk in the light results in fellowship with God and man as God intended according to the ten commandments. The loving manifestation of Christian fellowship is not duplicatable by the world and can only be known in the world by those who have fully embraced the truth of the gospel.

A big step that would help to bring clarity to the confusion related to the gospel would be for the Church to start living the gospel as a credible testimony of the truth. In order for this to happen, those who profess belief in Christ need to be clear about what it is they say they believe and submit themselves to be changed by it. Due to our failure to live the gospel, the world has good reason to doubt the gospel’s credibiilty. Only true fellowship will give credibility to the truth of the gospel, presenting fruit as the evidence we are connected to the vine about which the gospel story tells.


1 John 3:7-18 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Truth According to the Deceived

Yesterday afternoon, I encountered one of the greatest obstacles to sharing the credibility of God's truth while talking to the son of the guy from whom I buy my chemicals. He believes truth is relative to what he believes is true. He said God is big enough to be God for every religion, not just Christianity. He doesn’t believe in hell either. How he sees God is all that is important to him and he said we could talk in circles all day and nothing I said would change that.

Despite his confusion regarding truth, what he said in the end is absolutely true. Truth adheres to the law of non-contradiction, the same evaluation for credibility as the scientific method. Absolute truth maintains its integrity without contradiction. Relativism, on the other hand, is a contradiction. To believe truth is relative, that there is no absolute truth, requires stipulating “truth is relative” is an absolute truth. Trying to meet on the common ground of absolute truth with a relativist would be like trying to meet on the common ground of reality with a mental patient who believes he is Napoleon. In both situations, there is no common ground.

If one is not interested in absolute truth, what would give my experience credibility? If one is interested in truth, the Bible is defensible as a credible source and a source for giving my experience credibility. If experience/belief contradicts the Bible, it is not credible, thus categorizing it among fantasies and opinions. God is the source of truth and author of Scripture, making it absolute and beyond opinion, thus making a relativist’s opinion as to its validity irrelevant.

John 8:31-32 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

John 8:42-43 42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.

Being Made to Minister

The making of a minister, portrayed by the Biblical, historical and present testimonies of all who have legitimately responded to the call, is a painful, terrible, yet wonderful process. Being made is the process of our flesh being crucified, the painful throws of our impending death. Such is necessary to grow in abundant life. The abundant life is a prerequisite for inheriting the necessary empowerment and direction God provides those whom he has called according to his purpose.

Below is a poem by an unknown author, quoted by Ravi Zacharias as well as Ryan in past sermons.

When God wants to drill a man, and thrill a man, and skill a man;
when God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part,
when He yearns with all His heart to create so great and bold a man
that all the world might be amazed,watch His methods, watch His ways.

How He ruthlessly perfects whom He royally elects.
How He hammers and hurts him and with mighty blows converts him,
into trial shapes of clay that only God understands,
while his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands.

How He bends but never breaks, when His good He undertakes.
How He uses whom He chooses and with every purpose fuses him
with mighty acts induces him to try His splendor out.
God knows what He’s about.

When God wants to drill a man, and thrill a man, and skill a man,
watch His methods, watch His ways.

Being a follower of Christ means accepting the call to be a minister. Accepting the call promises difficulty and pain, reasons why few respond to the call. Nevertheless, the call to ministry is the call of a believer, and is the only way that leads to the kingdom of God.

Matthew 7:13-14 13 "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

What is Good? Who Decides?

10/16/08
What Is Good? Who Decides?
Stuart McAllister

We live in an era of multiple images, increasing violence, and an overexposure to sexual advertising and media. The mood is dark; the feel is decadent. The very idea of goodness seems quaint, an issue of rhetoric, or a throwback to some bygone age. Perhaps we picture something like the movie Titanic, the romantic age of civility and order, yet all the while mixed with 90’s morality and behavioral patterns. “Whatever goodness is or was,” we might surmise, “it must have been something like this.”

The deeply expressed nostalgia in our culture is surely a sign of the hunger for something more solid, more lasting, and more secure--perhaps even something more virtuous. It is ironic then that much of the energy of our cultural artists and architects has gone into debunking and deconstructing all that is good and beautiful, only to replace it with the shallow, the ugly, and the ephemeral. The often culturally expressed desire for the good old days, for better times, or for people to be more civil and courteous again betrays our inconsistency. Though it has supposedly been redefined, the language of “the good” does not leave our vocabularies anymore than our hearts.

The massive contradictions and paradoxes that lie at the heart of our condition are too many to be catalogued. We seem to be experiencing a kind of cultural vaporization, where many ideas, practices, and values slowly but surely erode and then disappear. In such a time as this, what does it mean to be a sincere pursuer of the good?

I would argue that those who seek to offer hope, change, and good news to a nostalgic culture must wrestle with the issues both around us and within us. The good old days are not a lost hope, but perhaps a defining context for our lives. Nostalgia can be a misguiding illusion, or it can lead us to concrete questions about our place within this world. Where did we come from? Where are we going? Why are we here and what is wrong? What is good and who defines it?

Stanley Hauerwas speaks of the people of God as "resident aliens," a community of individuals who live aware of the past, present, and future. Those who follow Christ have come to see that he has placed us within a great story and a great creation, where it is God who first defined what is good and continues to characterize it. While contemporary society exerts enormous power and influence on defining the good, even as it proclaims who the definers of good shall be, the church proclaims another story. While the voices of a great multitude lose their hope of the future and awareness of the present in the power of a nostalgia that draws them to something else, the people of God demonstrate a community in history with a past, a present, and a future.

What does it mean to be the people of God? What is our calling and mission? How then must we live? We need to embody the Christian story and virtues in our lives and lifestyles. If we seek the heart of Christ for a way forward, those who follow in his way can be a most effective apologetic. But how we live is as vital as what needs to be said. The relational component of truth needs to be held together with propositional presentations. The power of community, rootedness, and story need to be explored, shared, and communicated to the world.

As followers of Christ, we must recover hope, model hope, and give hope, for we offer the “now” and the “not yet” of the kingdom. We offer a rich history, a hopeful present, and the best of futures: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ shall come again.

Stuart McAllister is vice president of training and special projects at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Consuming Christianity

10/15/08
Consuming Christianity
Jill Carattini

There is a covered bridge in Georgia that extends over a scenic rushing stream. A well-worn trail leads its visitors to a succession of small cascading waterfalls over a series of massive rocks. Sitting atop one of these rocks recently, my husband turned to me and asked, "Do you ever think of the springs in France when you see a bottle of Evian for sale?"

My answer caught me more off guard than his question. I really hadn't ever thought of the springs, or the production, or for that matter, the importing that goes into the 20 kinds of bottled water we see on our grocery store shelves. In fact, I don't usually think about the origins of anything I consume.

Sociologists call this growing trend of perspective commodification, the progression of thought whereby the commodities we consume are seen in abstraction from their origins. For instance, when most of us think of chocolate, we rarely see it as having a context beyond our consumption of it. The land where it came from, the conditions of its production, and the community or laborers who produce it are realities disassociated with the commodity. In a culture dominated by consumption, commodification is becoming more and more of an unconscious worldview, and one which is shaping our habits of interpretation across the board.

Author and cultural observer Vincent Miller writes of how such a manner of seeing and interpreting is making us more comfortable with engaging religion as commodity, lifting certain portions of a religious tradition from its context and historical background.(1) Thus just as chocolate or bottled water is easily and unconsciously viewed as detached and even different from its origin and context, parts and pieces of religious traditions are increasingly being seen as goods from which we can pick and choose, commodities disassociated from the historical reality and context from which they arise. Such habits of interpretation might explain the current fascination with diverse and isolated spiritual practices; it could also explain the man on television who recently expressed his desire to design a tattoo portraying his version of the Crucifixion. Jesus, the Cross, and the resurrection become commodities isolatable from first century Palestine, detachable from the context of the Old Testament or the Christian story at all.

It is this ability to isolate and compartmentalize that also allows people to simultaneously affirm beliefs that would otherwise be contradictory. Miller cites an example from a Canadian survey that reports almost half of its participants asserting beliefs in both reincarnation and resurrection. Even a slight understanding of either concept would recognize them as incompatible, but in removing each from their traditions, the consumer mindset disorientedly and groundlessly insists on finding a way to embrace them both.

Someone once told me that the most comforting premise of the Christian worldview was, for her, the assurance of a beginning. The very first words of Scripture boldly claim that we are not lost and wandering in a cosmic circle of time and chance, isolated from any meaning beyond consumer preference. There is one who stood at the foundation of the world, who with wisdom, majesty, and purpose, caused life and history to begin. There was a first word, and it was uttered by one who continues to speak--not in detached fragments but in fullness--telling us who we are, where we came from, what is wrong with us, and how we can be made whole. There is a story that emerges from the beginning, and we have a place within the whole: "Indeed," concludes Peter, "all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed'" (Acts 3:24-25).

In Christ we live as recipients and guardians of a way of life in which belief and practice are intertwined with history, meaning, and hope. There is an origin to the grace we cling to; we are made whole because in Christ we are given a context, a story, a Source.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia. (1) Vincent Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in Consumer Culture (New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005).

Every Tear

The article below gives answer to one of the most often asked questions of God: "Why do we suffer and what does it mean?" The meaning of suffering is found in the heart of the gospel and is the only place where legitimate and lasting healing can be found; hope is born of suffering, exemplified by God himself.

10/13/08
A Slice of Infinity
Every TearJill Carattini

My heart sank as the young mother told the interviewer how proud she was of her daughter. "She solved her own murder," Erin said with a proud but pained sincerity. Five year-old Samantha was the victim of a cruel and tragic murder, and her own tears were the evidence that sealed the case against her abductor. DNA in the form of teardrops was found on the passenger-side door of the killer's car, irrevocably making their mark on the crime scene, and poignantly making their mark on everyone that imagines them.

I don't know how to read stories like this without retreating to the deepest why's and how's of life. The abrupt ending to Samantha's life is another wretched symptom of a sick and desperate world. The problem of evil is a problem that confronts us, sometimes jarringly. But something else jolts my numbed mind awake in the midst of this story.

I had no idea our tears were so personally our own. Samantha's tears solved the case because there were none others like hers. They were unique to the eyes they came from, intricately a part of Samantha herself. In the pains and joys that cause us to weep, we leave a mark far more intimate than we realize. We shed evidence of our own makeup, leaving behind a complex, yet humble message: I was here, and my pain was real.

The problem of pain is only intensified by the personal nature of our experience with it. In our tears we all leave the markings of our existence within a broken and despairing world. Traces of our very makeup cry out for an answer to suffering, while at the same time pointing to the intricate and intelligent design of the one who made us. The thought stirringly brings new depth to the image of the sinful woman weeping at the side of Jesus, washing his feet with her unique tears.

Dorothy Sayers offers a most compelling description of the God willing to take on the limitations and suffering of his creation. In her book Creed or Chaos, she writes: "For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is--limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death--He had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile."(1)

I know of no equal comfort in the midst of life's sorrow, no other answer to the problem of pain. The Son of God is as unique and personal a savior as the tears we shed crying out for him. Every tear is marked with the intricacies of our Creator. Every cry is heard by the one who wept at the grave of Lazarus. And in the promise of Revelation 7:17, we find the image of this hope brought finally to fruition: "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Dorothy Sayers, Creed or Chaos? (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1949), 4.

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

Lauren sent this story to me in an e-mail. Keep in mind when you read it that God's truth can be found anywhere, including other religions and even in the "you can do it!" motivational genre. The trick is to find what is in agreement with Scripture and apply it within a Biblical context.

The moral of this story concerns the limitless number of possibilities that become achievable simply by deciding not to complain. If such potential can be reached through the power of the human will, how much more through the power of God?

Related to our topic this week of fellowship, how many relationships have we destroyed due to our complaining? Gossip and slander are motivated by self-righteous complaining, pointing out the faults in others and complaining why they are not acceptable. Look for bad in situations and people and you will find it. Likewise, look for good in situations and people and you will also find it.

There is profound truth in the office cliche "attitude determines altitude." Knowing how high God is and his promise to give you wings if you trust him, how high are you willing to go? Complain and you will never leave the ground.

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." John Piper

Galatians 6:7-10 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

No one can make you serve customers well. That's because great service is a choice. Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

Mackay was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey. He handed me a laminated card and said: “I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk, I'd like you to read my mission statement.”

Taken aback, Harvey read the card . It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment. This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup ofcoffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.” I said jokingly, “No, I'd prefer a soft drink.” Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.” Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I'll take a Diet Coke.” Handing himhis drink, Wally said, “If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.”As they were pulling away, Wally handed me another laminated card. “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.” And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature wascomfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

“Tell me, Wally,” Harvey asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?” Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining!Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.'

“That hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. Ilooked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”“I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said. “It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previousyear. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and 20 told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting. Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

Are We the Body?

Acts 2:42-44 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

In verse 44, notice it says they had "all things in common." Think about those you are closest to, whether someone you are dating or a best friend. You feel close to them because you have a lot in common with them, you feel a connection, you feel comfortable with them. Trust grows with time and familiarity, resulting in the feeling like you could share just about any part of yourself and feel safe knowing they would not reject you because you are confident in their faithfulness to you. You feel like there is nothing to hide.

Unfortunately, such faithfulness and trust is not so easy to establish with people we don't know very well or with people that are different from us. This is human nature. Even lovable house pets like dogs are wary of strangers and require "getting to know" new people who come into their home. If the master isn't there, most dogs viciously bark their heads off and snarl to ward off strangers, except the friendliest dogs which we often refer to as "stupid" or simply call them a bad guard dog. Some don't take too well to strangers even if their master is present. It amazes me how much people and animals have in common.

Even more than 40 years after the civil rights movement, it is rare to find a church that has a balanced representation between races. It is also rare to find a church that is diverse in representation between the economic and social classes. Consider even how our small groups are segregated to the familiar, divided by age, marital status, gender or common interest. Our human nature draws us to the familiar where we feel safe, just like dogs.

However, verse 42 states the first church of the devoted had "all things in common." What could have caused such a breach of normality that even the most different among them felt they had everything in common? Read in the beginning of chapter 2 and you will see the source from which unity was born: the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, " For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." The Holy Spirit creates unity out of diversity, erasing the boundaries of segregation by drawing everyone together through the commonality of spirit and truth no matter age, gender, race, social or economic status, resulting in one body with one purpose.

Why is today's church not like the first church as described in Acts? The answer is in the word that described their level of commitment: they were devoted. We must remember our human nature is our sinful nature. Though wanting to be comforable is natural, it is not spiritual. Jesus made it clear following him would be anything but comfortable. The Holy Spirit dwells in the heart and defines the character of a fully devoted follower of Christ. Devoted followers reach out, not in because they have their master in common. Like dogs, when the master is present, everyone is family.

If you have the song below, listen to it and meditate on the lyrics.

"If We Are The Body" Casting Crowns

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girl's teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the bodyWhy aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgemental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the road

Jesus payed much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ
Jesus is the way

Do You Think It's Funny?

Ravi Zacharias presented in his most recent sermon an evaluation I have paraphrased below that is also helpful for determining the position we have placed God in the order of our priorities :

If Jesus is not lord, our body becomes our soul, the source that defines eternal importance. Consequently, our emotional responses are deformed, turning them upside down in their expression. What provokes laughter and what breaks a person’s heart reveals their perception of eternal value and earthly priority. One who is a slave to righteousness will not find joy in an abomination, trivialize the sacred, or respond to blasphemy with indifference. Therefore, is it possible to be a devoted Christ follower and be entertained by what Hollywood is offering as entertainment? The ability to handle emotions in legitimate expressions is evidence of a heart and mind surrendered to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Harmonized Priorities

A disciple is a student who imitates the doctrines and identity of their teacher, who submits their identity and will to the authority and leadership of their master, thus informing their order of priority.Prioritizing starts with what is most important and works down from there. That’s why the day should start with our greatest priority - meeting with God, gaining eyes to discern eternal value, bringing everything into its proper order underneath. Without adjusting our perspective, we are consumed by temporal matters: order is lost, major becomes minor and minor becomes major; the result is chaos. Is there any question as to why so many who claim to be Christ followers complain they don’t have enough time and money when they have failed to apply the basics, seeking and submitting to God’s eternal view by coming to him on his terms? Ravi Zacharias says, “. . .if you do not know how to worship in spirit and in truth, even God will disappoint you, because you will end up using him, you will end up not coming to him on his terms.” True worship is the means through which we gain access to the perfect pitch required to sort through the noise, to be able to harmoniously resolve the dissonance in our life and world, eliminating the waste of time and resources due to being tone deaf. When you are in tune, you will find yourself dancing to the music.

The Risk of Thirst

10/1/08
A Slice of Infinity
The Risk of Thirst
Jill Carattini

"Air is our element," writes Frederick Buechner, "but water is our heart's delight."

I grew up in a town less than a mile from Lake Michigan, where a lake--if not the Lake--was almost always nearby and often the essential ingredient of our pastimes. Even on the hottest days of summer, water was never in short supply. I don't remember having to take turns with our neighbors to wash cars or water lawns with the intention of rationing the water supply like we do in Atlanta. I remember well-watered parks, the intricacy of the color green, and Lake Michigan as a seemingly endless body of water.

The first time I left West Michigan, I was struck with the sickly feeling of being confined and dehydrated. I was landlocked in Israel, and found myself dreaming often of water.

Israel is an arid land where water is scarce and fought over, its dry season is unrelenting, and its rainy season short-lived. In fact, even in the height of the rainy season, the average is only 2-5 days of rainfall a month. Most of the year there is no rainfall at all. “My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,” sang David, “as in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1). As I panted through the Negev and breathed the dust of Jerusalem, this was not the only scripture that came to life.

The Israelites were a people who knew well the pang of thirst and the uncertainty of dry-spells, and they found it a fitting metaphor to understand their spiritual geography. "As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?" (Psalm 42:1-2). Likewise, the God of Israel found it a telling description for the restless and wandering children of Israel. "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).

I had never thought much about my relationship with water before my path to it was narrowed and its costliness filled my dreams with thirst. But in the dust of Jerusalem, I realized just how a similar resemblance this bore to my relationship with God. Christianity suddenly seemed a worldview that was asking so much more of me than I knew as a teenager in West Michigan surrounded by wells of faith and belief. Christ suddenly seemed to be likening himself to a very particular kind of water--one I could not readily find myself, one that had no substitutes, and one I desperately needed. Standing in a dry land, I saw my weariness, my urgent thirst, and the difficult way of the one who satisfies it. The longing of a soul for God was suddenly more specific and demanding than I realized.

In his novel The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis portrays a picture of the risk required of the thirsty. Jill was parched with thirst and staring at a stream whose sound and sight seemed almost to call her name, but she did not run forward. "I daren't come and drink," she said. And she had good reason to hesitate. Sitting beside the stream was the motionless bulk of the Lion. To her utter surprise, he responded to her. "Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion of her refusal to come. "Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then." "There is no other stream," said the Lion.

For the people of Israel, God was both their physical and spiritual hope: "I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water" (Isaiah 41:18). For a girl with the abundance of Lake Michigan in her heart, God is the same: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’" (John 7:37-38). The invitation is risky, the water is costly, but for the thirsty, there is no other stream.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
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The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I found this on Ryan's blog - it defines my heart's cry, my passion, my commitment. I pray all of you can embrace it for yourselves.

"It is purported that this confession was found in the journal of a young pastor in Zimbabwe who had been martyred for his faith. It is the most compelling commitment to Christ I know."

I am part of the “Fellowship of the Unashamed.”I have Holy Spirit power.The die has been cast.I’ve stepped over the line.The decision has been made.I am a disciple of His.I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity.I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.I now live by his presence, lean by faith, love by patience, live by prayer, and labor by power.My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear.I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed.I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.I won’t give up, shut up, let up, or slow up ’til I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ.I am a disciple of Jesus.I must go ’til He comes, give ’til I drop, preach ’til all know, and work ’til He stops.And when He comes to get His own, He’ll have no problems recognizing me-my colors will be clear.

Eyes to See

First, if you haven't already, read the post "Shock and Awe." The excerpt I included from The Chronicles of Narnia describes how perception is skewed by the desires of the heart. Desiring God results in the desires of our heart being changed, making us hungry for and finding desirable what is good, revealing what we once thought was good as rotten, maggot infested garbage, leaving little question as to why we were sick. In the presence of God, we are as children in the arms of their parent - safe, loved, protected, fulfilled. Knowing God yields the humility that the most powerful force in the universe, creator of the heavens and earth, the most creative and masterful of artists, not only knows your name, but calls you his child.

Truly, one would have to be blind not to see him given such overwhelming evidence. However, like the witch, blindness is caused by a shroud of evil which originates in the heart. Facing the evil inside, crying out to be saved from the darkness, lifts the shroud, revealing such sight you can hardly breath, leaving you speachless, finding no words that could possibly communicate such wonder. Having gained such sight, there is also remourse, realizing that despite the crowds of people around you, you are one of the few who can see the obvious, such that you may wonder if perhaps you are halucinating.

Psychosis (a condition in which a mentally ill individual lives within their own obviously fictional reality) is the end result when society accepts relativism as the norm. To deny absolutes is psychotic, just as denying laws for the common good of man is anarchy, or denying the laws of science absurd. For example, the result of one who chooses to reject the truth of the law of gravity, choosing to believe they can fly, then jumps from a building, will meet reality head on as their head smashes like a pumpkin on the concrete. The only superman was Jesus. It is only in him one can fly.

In every academic discipline, every construct of thought, and every evaluation of historical validity, the life, claims, and truth of Jesus are the most consistent. Galileo, Socrates, Einstein, etc. are remembered historically as ahead of their time but were persecuted while they were alive because the truth they discovered was so strange to their peers. What confirms the reality of what I have and am seeing, what I have learned and continue to learn, that I'm not hallucinating or imagining it, is the same undeniable, verifiable consistency of the truth. Jesus could not have been an ordinary man or even an exceptional teacher. His life proved him to be anything but ordinary and his claims were either true or a lie; if they were a lie, he was not a good teacher at all - he was a lunatic.

Truth is stranger than fiction, meaning the fact I see the truth, am defined by it, and define reality in agreement with it, lead the blind to believe I'm also crazy, as if I live in some fairy-tale reality of my own making. The blind believe if they can't see it, it is not "really" there. Reduced to the challenges of understanding and navigation intrinsic to darkness, they wander through life bumping into obstructions and each other, falling into holes, and getting lost in the woods. It would be funny if it were not so sad, especially when they say I'm seeing things.