He is my Fortress

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Jeff Block
He is our Fortress

He is our Fortress

You may remember the post I made a while back about worship at Harvest.  I’m still listening to Andi Rozier’s “He is my Fortress” and Matt Westerholm / Lindsay McCaul’s “O Bless the Lord” pretty much every chance I get.  Both amazing songs, both with amazing lyrics and great music.

Anyway, I got the burr in my saddle to decompose one of them … specifically the bridge to “He is my Fortress”.

Here’s the whole song…yahoo_music_icon

When troubles come the Lord is near.
My cries resound within His ear.
His proven word has brought me light
and steadfast love, my pure delight.

He is my Fortress, I will not be shaken.
He is the hope of my eternal salvation.
No power can stand against the people that God defends.
I love You, O Lord, My Strength!

When sin attempts to overcome.
In weakness, Christ has made me strong.
Through blood my ransomed heart He sees,
And rescues me from enemies.

He is my Fortress, I will not be shaken.
He is the hope of my eternal salvation.
No power can stand against the people that God defends.
I love You, O Lord, My Strength!

You surround me and sustain me.
You draw me near and embrace me.
You’re before me and behind me.
You invite me in and delight me.
You prepare me and protect me.
You correct my heart and perfect me.
You befriend me, You defend me.
You are my Strength, I will fear no more.

He is my Fortress, I will not be shaken.
He is the hope of my eternal salvation
No power can stand against His love…

You are my Fortress, I will not be shaken.
You are the hope of my eternal salvation.
No power can stand against the people that God defends.
I love You, O Lord, My Strength!

And here’s the bridge with my added commentary…

First of all, God really can be the fortress into which Christians run – to be defended, surrounded, sustained, protected.  But most don’t.  Me neither, but I want to learn.  We’ve allowed ourselves to be deeply imbibed with self-indulence (which we call consumerism), selfishness (which we call independence), avoidance of personal responsibility (which we call rights), and unhealthy dependence (which we call social justice).  The sum of the whole thing is that even Christians (a group which is only a sliver of the size it claims to be – maybe 10% of those who say they’re Christians actually are) have no idea how to lay down our rights and our stuff, and run to God as a child would run to his father who loves him, protects him, and knows what’s best for him.

So, against that backdrop, here’s the bridge of Andi’s song … plus commentary from me …

You surround me

God is everywhere.  If hydrogen atoms in a distant galaxy rub up against each other, God is involved.  This is no more or less true of our lives.  The difference is that God actively comes to us.  Creation is the backdrop of His relationship with us.  All the universe.  Almost infinite vastness.  God has created all of it as an expression of His character and a container in which to relate to us.  He *pursues* us, moves toward us, surrounds us with love, mercy, provision, guidance, wisdom, amazing gifts.  So much more than we could ever ask for or imagine for ourselves in terms of useless worldly trinkets, God seeks to provide if we’ll let him.  C. S. Lewis was right: we are far too easily pleased with the trivia of our lives.

And sustain me

The Bible clearly states that “[Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Col 1:15-17)

But as before, “people” and “the universe” are two different things.  God sustains us both, but approaches us not just intentionally but relationally to sustain us.  He provides for our needs, gives us gifts/skills, jobs, families, money, food, clothing.  Even the things we buy, we buy with money God gave us the skill to earn.  He works miracles to sustain our bodies physically not only through holding the electrons in place around the nuclei of atoms but through the miraculous gift of modern medicine.  We observe gravity, but what is gravity beyond the consistent faithful hand of God to keep the earth’s orbit stable around the sun so that the atmosphere is breathable, the rain comes, the plants grow, and we have food to eat?

You draw me near

God has ordered all of creation to speak for Him, worship Him, tell about Him.  “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”  (Psalm 19:1-4)

All of creation worships God in our presence that we might be drawn to God and worship Him also … but better, more effectively … to fulfill the purpose for which we were made.  If we do not worship God, then the very stones God created would cry out (Luke 19:40) … to draw us near to God.

Not only the beautiful of creation (as the signature of an artist)… but God pursues us through His Word, by actively involving Himself in our lives.  Yes, at the molecular and biochemical level, but also emotionally.  He speaks to us through nature, but also through our consciences, by whispering in our hearts.  He demonstrates miracles before us … not just that the sun rises every day or flowers bloom or asteroids don’t pound the earth to oblivion on any given day, but also modern medicine, man’s creativity to build dams and cities and space stations.  It’s endless.  God is a pursuing lover, who woos us to draw us near.

And embrace me

More than drawing us near, God embraces us.  We are deeply loved by God.  More than protection or pointing us to Him (our most important relationship), God loves us.  “At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:6-8)

So even though we reject God … blatantly, all the time … God loves us.  And not just a fair-weather, words-only love.  God sacrificed His Son out of His deep abiding love for us.  So, beyond creating us, he purchased us back from our sin as a great price.  To me, His love for us has become obvious.  I’m compelled to respond.

Alright, this entry has become huge.  I think I’ll save the other six phrases in the bridge for a second entry.

Posted in Psalms, Music and Worship, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Few Things I’ve Learned about Health, Nutrition and Weight Loss

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Jeff Block

Yesterday, I did my final weigh-in for the Weight Loss Challenge at my local gym, where I’ve been a member for the last 18 months.  When I joined the gym in September 2007, I weighed 305lbs – the most I’ve ever weighed in my life.  This morning, I weighed in at 242.2lb, and I’m still working my way toward my goal of 235lbs … what I weighed when I graduated high school.

This morning, I had breakfast with my beautiful wife and son at one of our favorite breakfast places.  I ordered a veggie omelette made with egg whites, vegetables, no oil, and no cheese.  It comes with hash browns, which I got dry (no oil used) and pancakes (which I got with blueberries at Faith’s request).  It’s almost impossible to get healthy pancakes at a restaurant (I make them with 110 calories and 1g of fat ech, but restaurant pancakes have 5x that much fat easily per pancake), so it was all about what she and John wanted, since I knew I wouldn’t be eating them.  Oh, and I had water to drink.  (Orange juice is 110 cal and a tiny bit of fat per 8oz glass, so if I don’t really want it, I don’t drink it – plus, I’ve learned to drink lots of water.)

I pushed away from the table having eaten about 2/3 of the omelette and hash browns, and thought I should write down a few things I’ve learned on this journey.  So, here I am.  I thought I’d share a few principles I’ve assimilated along the journey to being far more healthy.  None of this is rocket science, but it is worth talking about.  Knowledge is important, but discipline is by far the most important factor in doing almost anything hard … and if you’re like me, losing weight is VERY hard.

Lessons / Principles for Healthy Living and Weight Loss

1) You’re eating a lot more than you need.  Stop.
I discovered that I wasn’t just eating a little more than I should or “not watching portion control”.  I used to eat 3-4 times what I do now.  The omelette I had this morning would have been a 4 egg omelette (that’s just what they do). I had it with egg whites only, so it was probably double that.  Plus, a cup of hash browns.  Plus, three pancakes like 6″ in diameter.  A couple years ago, I would have eaten ALL of it, plus had a big glass of OJ, plus sampled others’ food at the table.  I know, I did that.  That’s just crazy!  One trick I like is to order a to-go container WITH your meal in restaurants.  The second your meal gets there, cut it in half and put half in the to-go container.  Your dollars stretch twice as far, and your pants stop stretching.

2) Your stomach / appetite will adjust to smaller portions.  Give it time.
Now that I’ve eaten less per meal for a while, my stomach and appetite have adjusted.  I was really too full after breakfast this morning, having eaten a third of what the “old me” would have eaten.  But you have to be patient.  In the beginning, you have to stop before your full.  But now, I don’t.

3) Eat smaller, more frequent meals.
Rather than giant meals that put you to sleep, eat small meals, and eat more of them.  I eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner.  Don’t snack at night though; it’s better to go to bed hungry.

Interesting Fact #1: Water actually fills you up.  If your hungry, drink a lot of water.  Not only will it put something in your stomach, but it will flush toxins out of your system.

4) Write down everything you eat, including calories and fat
This may be the single best thing I did to help with controlling what I eat.  I have a spreadsheet in which I write down every single thing that I eat, and I use online nutrition databases to estimate the number of calories and the amount of fat in each thing.  This means that you have to intentionally determine portion sizes, intentionally write things down, intentionally learn what the food you’re eating has in it, etc.  Notice that it’s all about intentionality, which is the close friend of discipline.

diet_journal_excerpt

5) Set limits on calorie and fat intake per day.
After writing down everything you eat, it’s easy to sum up what you ingested in calories and fat for the day.  Because I was a really big guy, I started with the “super sized” USDA limits of 2500 calories and 80g of fat per day.  As I’ve lost weight, I’ve shifted my limits to the normal-sized person limits of 2000 calories and 65g of fat per day.  My average for the last 2 months is about 1800 calories and 30g fat per day ….WAY less than the limits.  What I really try to target is about 1500 calories and 20g of fat, since I’m still working hard to lose weight.  I also try to watch the percentage of fat I take in.  1g of fat has 9 calories, so if you eat 1800 calories and 25g of fat, then 25*9 or 225 calories are from fat.  This is 12.5% of your caloric intake for the day … very good!  I generally want my fat intake to be less than 20% of total calories.  These simple limits have dramatically helped me to discipline myself and lose weight.

6) Ignore the stupid standards on weight and BMI
Two years ago, when I weighed 305, a doctor told me that the BMI (body mass index) charts dictated that I should weigh 185lbs.  I laughed and told him that my skeleton weighs 185lbs.  Those charts are absolutely ridiculous.  I’m running out of places to pinch now, and I’m still at about 240.  I can’t imagine losing ANOTHER 55lbs.  That’s crazy.  And I just crossed from “obese” to “overweight” on the BMI chart at 250lbs.  Crazy!  Every person is different.  I put about ZERO stake in these indices to indicate health.

Interesting Fact #2: Every pound of lean muscle mass you add to your body increases your resting metabolic rate by 50.  This means that your body will burn 50 calories more per day even if you’re asleep.

7) EXERCISE!!!!!
Here’s the part nobody wants to hear.  Just eating better alone will likely not get it done for you (although of course it’s a great thing).  You need to get your heart rate up and put on lean muscle, not just get rid of fat.  That doesn’t mean becoming a body builder, but it does mean burning more calories and making your body (muscles) work more.  That’s the way to be healthy, simple as that.  Here’s what I recommend as the minimum, then build from there.  Three times a week, do aerobic exercise.  Get your heart rate over 160 for 30 minutes.  That’s the bare minimum.  After that, add situps or crunches after your aerobic workout.  After that, add simple free weights on the off days.  You’re not becoming a body builder; you’re just toning muscle.  So, do 3 sets of 12-15 reps each.  Pick a weight that makes it hard for you to finish the 3rd set.  That’s it.  You don’t even have to join a gym.  Just get your activity up, focused on having an accelerated heart rate for a half hour and on a lot of reps.

8 ) Don’t skip meals.  Don’t starve yourself.  You’ll GAIN weight.
Here’s the deal.  When you just stop eating, your body will canibolize ANYTHING to get energy.  That includes muscle.  Actually, it will burn muscle before it burns fat, in many cases.  That’s not good.  Plus, when you stop eating, your body goes into conservation mode, slowing down your metabolism to save power.  Both these realities work against healthy weight loss.  Plus, as you loss muscle (remember our interesting fact about lean muscle mass), your body becomes generally less able to work *for* you in accomplishing your goals.

9) Be patient.  Metabolism takes a while to change.
I’ve noticed that everything I do has a delayed effect.  It takes about 30 days for my metabolism to change.  This means that if I stop exercising and slack off on my diet, I’ll continue to lose weight and burn calories at a decent clip for a couple weeks.  It also means that if I start from an “off the wagon” position and get strict again, it’ll take 30 days to see results.  Not only that, but I experienced a couple of significant plateaus in this process.  The bottom line is that losing weight takes the discipline to keep at it even when you’re not seeing immediate results.

Interesting Fact #3: Every pound of excess fat on your body is an extra mile of blood vessels through which your heart has to pump blood.

I thought I’d have ten, but I can’t think of another one, so I’m just going to stop.  If you’re reading this and working hard to lose weight, I applaud you.  You CAN do it!  Post a comment and let me know how your journey is going.  I’d be happy to encourage or offer advise.  Maybe I’ll post a before/after picture or two once I get to my target weight (only 7-8 pounds to go).

Posted in Lifestyle, Health and Fitness | Tagged | 11 Comments

Bacon makes everything better?

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Jeff Block

Okay … I’m as much a lover of all things royally unhealthy as the next guy, but this is over the top for me.  Especially in my newly dietary, gym-loving (read: weakened) condition, this just about put me on the double-bypass list just looking at it.  But, for you, my four loyal readers, I’ve got to share…

Enter the BACON EXPLOSION!  They call it “The BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes”.  I call it “an angioplasty waiting to happen”.  Somewhere deep in the bowels of the white house, Obama’s team is factoring this single blog entry into their health care takeover plans, I’m sure of it.

For the original post, complete with instructions and commentary:  The Bacon Explosion on the BBQAddicts blog

But all you really need is to see the pictures…

Yes, it’s a “recipe”.  Yes, these are visual instructions on how to make it.  Yes, this recipe involves 2 lbs of bacon and 2 lbs of Italian sausage.  No, I’m not sure these pictures are drawn to scale.  :-/

This the point at which I lost my lunch … the whole spinach salad.

So, I gotta ask, shall we vote to get Dave and Liz to upgrade their definition of “Bacon Fest”?

Happy Monday, folks!

Posted in Food, Fun and Games, Lifestyle, Health and Fitness | Tagged | 1 Comment

How would you “stimulate” the economy?

Posted on March 7, 2009 by Jeff Block

stocks_droppingAs much as I’ve tried not to watch the news any more than I have to, it’s hard to get away from all the talk about Washington’s “stimulus package” and the subsequent unbelievable spending that’s followed in its wake.  President Bush, proving once again not really to be a fiscal conservative, participated in the first “rescue plan” last year for hundreds of billions of dollars, which was at that time the largest single charges against the federal credit card in the history of the nation.  Now, President Obama, in no way conservative, has broken the record with a second package at about $800 billion dollars.  Both will top $1T easily when you include interest payments.  Democrats and Republicans alike (shame on those calling themselves conservatives!) have taken us from $6T to $10T in national debt under President Bush, which took 8 years.  Now we’re likely to jump another $1T in the first MONTH of President Obama’s presidency, and the new budget has the deficit at $1.6T, so the debt will be climbing from this point at a rate of over $1T per year, unless something changes.  Now, there’s talk of TARP 2.0, government taking over healthcare and the banks, the auto industry asking for more money, mortgage bailouts, and STILL the Omnibus for 2009-10 is packed with pork.  I think the latest estimate is like 8,500 to 9,000 earmarks.

I don’t know about you, but my head’s starting to spin … and my stomach’s starting to churn.

Not only is this amount of debt totally irresponsible, it’s ridiculous.  It’s borrowing against the future and writing checks our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren will have to try to cover, and likely won’t be able to.  But what’s even more ridiculous to me is what we’re spending the money on, which in my view will NOT “stimulate the economy”.  I didn’t like the first stimulus/rescue/crazy spending plan (whatever you want to call it) under Bush, and I like the official Obama stimulus plan even less.  And I don’t even want to think about a third, which DC is already doing.  If it were up to me, I’d recommend less government involvement in the free markets, not more.  In my view, it’s not capitalism that’s failed here, it’s government’s interference with capitalism that’s (once again) been clearly shown to lead us down the wrong road.  My concern is that we’re finally getting to the stretch of road where Socialism replaces Capitalism, and we get to be like France and Canada … yippee!

So, as much as I’ve tried not to blog political lately, I really do want to try to understand how what we’re doing right now makes any sense at all.  I have a few ideas on what I’d do to stimulate the economy if I was king for a day, and they’re all totally opposite what we’re doing.  But rather than posting those (and fighting over them), I’m more interested in getting answers to two basic questions…

First, how will what we’re doing actually stimulate the economy? I truly don’t understand the thinking here.  First, it seems like we’re spending when we’ve already overspent.  It’s like gorging yourself on the all you can eat buffet, and then when you feel sick to your stomach, someone prescribes that the solution is to chase lunch with a 3/4 pounder from Fuddruckers (with extra fries and those awesome cookies).  How does that make any sense?  If you came to me and said that you had credit card debt equal to 2/3 of your annual income, and I told you that what you should do is increase your spending by 60%, you’d laugh in my face.  But that’s exactly what we’re doing.  National debt is $10T, 2/3 of the GDP which is roughly $15T.  2008-09 budget was $2.9T (already insane).  Obama’s proposed 2009-10 budget is $4.6T, an increase of 60%.  How does that make any sense?

And Obama’s stimulus plan doesn’t make any sense to me.  Even if I concede to his declaration that there are NO earmarks (a debatable point) and believe every word about the jobs he claims he it will create (another debatable point), still all the jobs will be government jobs and temporary at best.  If the bill funds building a new road, then the government pays a construction company to build a road.  That’s good.  But when the road is done, the construction company is no better off than before the road was built.  It seems like we’re asking for a cycle like the auto industry is in…  Come ask Uncle Sam for money, spend it, then come ask for more.  That’s the wrong idea.  Wouldn’t it be better to use government money (if we’re going to use it at all) to give private industry the tools to create more jobs, open more lines of business, create new markets, etc?  Doesn’t seem like we’re doing much of that.

All I see when I look at the current “stimulus” plans are short term fixes and more dependency.  What am I missing?

Second, what would you do if you were in charge? How would you guide / lead America right now?

I’ll give you an example to get us started.  If I were in charge, I would create a couple year window during which you could deduct 100% of capital investments.  Currently, you have to ammortize your deduction over several years.  If all of a sudden companies could buy a new piece of equipment or build a building and deduct the whole expense immediately, wouldn’t they be incented to expand NOW rather than wait to do so.  Wouldn’t that create new jobs and expand business immediately and entirely in the private sector, without creating increased dependence on the government?

Another example:  I’d increase military spending by 10%, not decrease it.  Then we’d spend more money on planes and tanks and other equipment, which American companies could build.  Why wouldn’t that stimulate the economy?

But I want to hear your ideas.  What would you do?

Posted in Business and Finance, News, Politics and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | 28 Comments

God’s Latest Lesson in Upsidedownness

Posted on January 28, 2009 by Jeff Block

I have been reading through the book of Matthew lately. In my time with God yesterday, I was in Matthew 13, which are (what I call) Jesus’ agriculture parables. In this chapter, He tells the Parable of the Sower, the Parable of the Weeds, and the Parable of the Mustard Seed. All are great stories that teach deep lessons about the Kingdom of God (the very definition of a “parable”), but I think the Parable of the Sower is the most well-known.

Here it is, for your reference (in Jesus’ words, because I don’t see me telling it any better)…

A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop’a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.

Jesus’ disciples were perplexed by His story, so He took them aside and explained the parable…

Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

The phrase “the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth” really stood out to me as I read.  It has taken God years to work on me in terms of the “deceitfulness of wealth”, and I still don’t feel like I’ve arrived per se.  For the last 24+ hours, I’ve been meditating on “the worries of this life”.

Monday, I had lunch with a good friend of mine.  I spent a lot of that conversation talking about politics and economics, railing on the policies of the new administration, expressing concern and fear and doom-and-gloom over the coming economic storm.  (As an aside, I firmly believe that we are just beginning to see the “bad” when it comes to the economy, since every policy on the table to “fix” the problem comes from the people who helped cause it and will have exactly the opposite impact as intended, not to mention transfer an unprecedented amount of private ownership in this country into the hands of the government.  But I digress.)

The next morning as I read these words of Jesus, God convicted me about my thought life.  I’m becoming painfully aware of how much time and energy I spend thining about these and other worldly topics.

One more flashback to tie in…

Last week at small group, I talked with the group about judgmentalism.  God has been strongly convicting me lately that I spend too much time sitting as self-appointed judge over people in my life.  Or even not in my life, such as some of the leaders of our government or people I see on TV.  I seem to feel like everyone should be like me, and when they’re not, I judge them harshly, sometimes even spending real time sputtering and muttering to myself in the car or just in my own mind.  I can’t believe how much judgment and sometimes even anger simmers in my average thoughts.  It’s such a selfish, wrong-headed approach to life, which I deperately need God to “transform by the renewing of [my] mind.” (Romans 12:2)

Against these two backdrops, God spoke very clearly to me about that phrase in Matthew 13:  “the worries of this life”.  In seconds, God gave me the following word picture to describe the transforming work I believe He has laid out before me.

Worry → Prayer
Whining → Action
Judgment → Service

And the longer I thought about these six words, the more I wanted to blog about them, in order to provide for myself accountability and to provide perhaps for others a fresh window into the upsidedownness of the Kingdom of God.

Worry → Prayer

Especially in relation to economics, especially lately, I realize that I’m spending a lot of time worrying.  I don’t think this is a new thing, but rather just exaggerated by the present.  For a long time, I looked at Jesus’ warnings about loving money to be targeted at the person who has $10 but wants $12, or the guy who needs to start tithing or become more generous.  God has finally begun to see some victory over this kind of thinking in my life.  But evidently whatever love of money is seeded in my heart, it goes far beyond this kind of Stewardship 101 stuff.  Jesus is also talking about the guy who totally stresses out over what to invest in next so that he will stop bleeding money from his 401k and return to an upward climb.  It’s about the person who, whether he admits it or not, believes that it’s his IRA or Social Security that will take care of him when he’s 75, not God, who promises to provide everything we need.  It’s the guy who poors so much money into savings, investment, paying ahead on the mortgage, etc that the legitimate needs of his family are overlooked.  At some level, there’s goodness in all of these things.  Retirement accounts are important.  Becoming debt free honors God.  But the love of money can become the root of these activities, rather than the love of Christ, and then they become the worries of this life which choke the fruitfulness of the gospel in a human life.  I want that (not honoring God with my life) to terrify me way more than bad economic policy or shrinking IRA balances, and I don’t think right now it does.  But God is at work.

How much more fruitful in the present and productive in eternity is the act of prayer!?  Jesus was clear.  Ask and it will be given to you.  Seek and you will find.  Knock and the door will be opened to you.  (Matthew 7:7).  BTW, this passage immediately follows Jesus’ exhortation not to judge others.  Of course, when He refers to asking, seeking, and knocking, He’s not talking about the next fancy toy or other material possession.  He’s not even talking about financial security.  He’s talking about the Kingdom of God.  He’s saying that if we want what God wants, then ask away.  As our thinking and heart becomes aligned with His, then we can ask for pretty much anything, and He’s on it.  This, coupled with the promise that I am more important than sparrows (whom God takes care of from first to last), means that I really don’t have to spend time worrying about what I’ll wear or eat or where we’ll live.  God’s on it.  My job is to learn to actually believe that this is true.  (See Matthew 6 for more on this.)

Prayer is our way to commune with God.  Instead of worrying about what I think I can provide for myself in circumstances I truly can’t control, facing a future I truly can’t see, God is calling me to just be with him.  Read His Word.  Spend time with Him.  Become more like Him.  His claim is that I can pretty much rely on Him for the rest of it.  Do I have to make wise decisions?  Yes, but with wisdom that comes from God.  And even if my decisions are wrong, and my whole IRA disappeared tomorrow, God would provide for me and my family.

Whining → Action

The rants about the morons in Washington have got to stop.  I spend hours and hours and hours of my life that I’ll never get back watching the news or listening to talk radio and being TOTALLY stressed out by the horrifically poor judgment and power-hungry selfishness / corruption of many of our leaders.  This is a circumstance I cannot change.  It’s also a circumstance the Bible assures me is inevitable before the end of the age.  So be it.

The opposite of a complaining spirit that whines about what’s wrong is the courageous spirit who does something about it.  I have the responsibility to vote and that requires some level of being informed.  Also, God has called some to take up the political fight as an offering to God, as a part of their calling.  I’m not one of them.  My responsibility, and I’ve known this for a long time, is to the church and to the faithful proclamation of the Word of God.  Rome is not my concern, and I need to turn my eyes away from it.

Either way, less talk, more action.  Less word, more deed.  Less focus on how someone in Washington is screwing up America, and more focus on how to lead myself, my family, my friends, and my neighbors to Christ – both in terms of their salvation and their sanctification.  Whatever role I play there, God willing, bears fruit that will last.  I don’t know how to say anything even remotely similar about politics, economics, sociology, or any of the other stuff that seems to occupy so much of my mind.

Judgment → Service

So obvious in my life.  I must really think I’m all that, and it’s getting old.  God help me, I’ve gotta get down off this high horse before I ride it off a cliff.  Let him who is in need need Christ, not me.  Let him who needs to change change to be more like Christ, not like me.  May I care more that someone was helped than that I was the one to help them.  May I point to Jesus, not to myself.  May I allow God to do the same work in others that He’s doing in me.  And may I not bruise fruit that cannot yet be picked.

There’s a lot of need in the world, but it isn’t need to be more like me.  It’s need to be more like Jesus.  How broken is the human heart and spirit that we sit on God’s throne in His place even in such subtle ways.  How great and gracious and loving is our God that each time He doesn’t just strike us down immediately, as would be His right.  If my life only ever pointed only ever to that truth, it would be a full and fruitful life.  But right now, I’ll settle for steps in that direction.

Wrapping up

So, I find myself pretty self-conscious about publishing this entry.  I get carried away and a little colorful of speech, and I end up writing things that sound melodramatic and (depending on your perspective) either self-debasing or self-aggrandizing.  I hope this entry is none of these things, but rather something that points to God and to the way He looks at the world, which is almost always upside down in our view.

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Can you still be a Christian in our culture?

Posted on January 25, 2009 by Jeff Block

Short answer: yes.
Real answer: There’s probably not a short answer.

Last Friday, Faith and I attended a new small group for the first time (she’d been there before, but I had not, so let’s just call it “our” first time).  Anyway, the topic of practicing the presence of God came up.  For those reading to whom that might be a new phrase, it simply (HA! – far from simple) means to engage in ongoing communion and conversation with God throughout the day.  To have an intimacy with God that is unlike any other relationship, because we are in constant connection and cooperation with Him.  Brother Lawrence, who wrote a series of letters over 1,000 years ago which were eventually bound in a book to become the watershed-if-not-definitive work on this subject, puts it this way:  “continual conversation with God”.  My favorite definition is simply “walking with God”.

So, this topic came up in small group, and the question was implied, “Is this even possible?”  An excellent question!  I was thrilled.  I don’t know how many times I’ve sat in circles of people (small groups, church meetings, whatever) and talked about things like this only to be met with blank stars or the “your from Mars, aren’t you?” look.  I was all the way in on this  conversation … and thinking about it over the last few days has prompted me to want to share some additional thoughts here.

I found it noteworthy that the concept of constant communion with God was considered foreign or difficult, it’s potential even questioned.  This practice has been largely lost in our day (by myself included), I would submit, due to two factors.  I have no idea which came first, but A) Christianity has been totally redefined (repeatedly) in the 2,000 years since Jesus walked the earth, and B) the social and technological development of our civilization has resulted in a culture today which naturally works against the concept of walking with God.  I brought the latter of these up in small group, and we had some interesting conversation, but like I said, it left me wanting to blog.  So here we are with my question…

Is it even possible to be a Christian anymore given these circumstances?

To answer that question, I guess we first need to ask, ‘What is a Christian?”  This speaks to the point A above, and the fact that we even has to ask underscores the reality I’m describing.

A Christian is a “little Christ” or “follower of Christ”.  Somewhere in the 50-75 years after Jesus went to the cross while most of the New Testament was being written, His followers became known as “Christians”.  I think of when Peter denied Jesus in Matthew 27 and other places.  Three separate times, someone who was part of the “Crucify him!” crowd looked at Peter and said, “This fellow was with Jesus”.  That’s a Christian; someone who is with Jesus.

Now, that doesn’t really answer the question, because now we can ask, “What does it mean to be ‘with’ Jesus?”  Well, Jesus was very clear that those who bear good fruit and bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Luke 3:8) are His followers.  Just saying that you follow Jesus (are a Christian) doesn’t mean you are.  Those who bear the marks of Christianity are the real followers of Christ.  Jesus made this very clear in Matthew 7: 15-23 NIV (in a passage that I’m sure our modern ears don’t like to hear)…

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”

In other words, the God who sees through outward appearances and looks on the heart knows the heart of man.  He knows now and will know in the moment we all stand before Him in heaven to be judged, the condition of our hearts.  If we were with Him in this life, He’ll know us and welcome us into heaven.  If we were against Him in this life, He’ll give us what we’ve wanted all our lives, which is to be left alone – separated from him in hell.  And this passage further makes clear that if we are truly with Him in our hearts, then our words and actions and perspectives will increasingly reflect that.  As my pastor (James MacDonald) frequently says, “not perfectly, but increasingly”.

So, that brings into sharp contrast the difference between Jesus’ definition of a Christian and most people’s (society’s) definition these days.  There are millions of people out there who think that if you fly the American flag at your house, are generally nice to people, not an axe murderer, and make an obligatory visit to a church on Easter, then you’re a Christian.  Another whole swath of our culture thinks that if you religiously show up at the right place every Sunday morning and chant the right things or make the right hand gestures or say the right superstitious incantations (which they call prayer), then you’re a Christian.  Still another large group feels that if you’re involved in all kinds of activities at your church, give to the poor, have a good family, are pro-life, vote republican, and don’t drink, swear, or smoke that somehow that makes you a Christian.  Jesus didn’t talk about any of these things really.  He talked about our being His.  Even more insidiously, there are those who believe that the academic ascent to the set of facts that describe Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection somehow saves you.  Jesus doesn’t want you to know in your mind that He is Lord and then go about your business … like you know that the pyramids are in Egypt, because you read about it.  He wants you to KNOW HIM, the way you know your kids or your grandma or your best friend – actually more than that.  He wants you to ACT as if He’s God, to worship Him as God, to give Him what He has always been due in your life – everything.

Jesus didn’t go to the cross so that our behavior could be 5% better than it was before we came to understand that He died for us.  That’s why most polls show very little difference between the behavior of non-Christians and the behavior of those who claim to follow Christ.  Same number of divorces.  Same proliferation of swearing, drinking, R- and even X-rated “entertainment”.  Same books read.  Same amount given to the poor.  Same compassion for the down-and-out.  Same total lack of the transformation Paul talked about in Romans 12:2…   “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  That’s because most of the “Christians” they polled to get those results aren’t in fact Christians.  I know nobody wants to hear that, but it’s true.  Jesus went to the cross so we could be HIS.

(Now the *really* sad truth is that many who ARE Christians don’t behave much differently than all this, but that’s another topic for another day.)

We could treat these topics endlessly, but let’s get to the heart of why I am writing this entry:  Can we be true Christians – men and women who walk with God, who submit to His authority in our lives, who become living sacrifices, who remain under God’s discipline, who bear fruit in keeping with repentance, who demonstrate the superiority of the life lived in Christ, who actually believe with actions not with words or the mere academic acknowledgment of facts – in our culture today?

Well, of course we can, but it’s hard.

Technology has shrunk the world and sped it up.  100 years ago, people were born, grew up, lived, and died on the same street or in the same town.  Now, we fly all over the world on a whim.  High school students from “middle income” families visit other continents for spring break.  Jobs (or mere preference) move us thousands of miles from our families.  Opportunities and choices are presented to us in quantity and quality that past generations couldn’t even have imagined, and those still living from those times still reel from them.  We are connected to one another in endless new almost-meaningless ways (blogs, Facebook, IM, cell phones, texting, etc), and have become totally disconnected from real community (sit on the front porch together and talk away a Sunday night).  We don’t know our neighbors, but we call people friends who live around the world but who play the same video game we do.  We date online because we don’t even know how to find a person in the real world.  Our jobs demand more hours than ever before, while our pay remains constant.  And we have bought the message of consumerism so thoroughly that our savings rate in America is heading into negative territory.  We have more advanced technology, bigger houses, nicer cars, better degrees, fatter healthier pets, more toys, and more convenience than ever before in the history of man.  Of course, we can’t actually afford to own many of these things but we buy them anyway (another discussion for another day), and now we work harder (or more of us work), sleep less soundly, and spend significantly more time and energy stressing about how we’re going to pay for it all.  And it goes on and on.

This culture threatens our walks with God.  Those who are serious about pursuing Christ have learned or are learning (this is me – just beginning to figure it out) that choices will have to be made.  Jesus described the Kingdom of God to be like a pearl of unequaled worth (Matthew 13:44-46).  If you were a pearl collector, someone who loved pearls, and you learned that a pearl of such value that it couldn’t be measured was buried in a field somewhere, would you not sell everything you have to buy that field?  If that is true, then what might we need to “sell” in order to “buy” life in all its fullness?  This is, of course, what Jesus offers.  (John 10:10)

I think the biggest problem is that we don’t really believe Jesus when he says that real life is found in Him.  I think, if we really look deeply inside (even true Christians), what we find is the belief that we want Jesus in addition to this world, not instead of it.  I’m certainly guilty.  It’s easy to obey Christ when it doesn’t feel like it costs us much, but when it really costs us something, we turn on the rationalization and the equivocation and the “let me get one more person to pray about that and see if I can’t get a different answer” -ification.  Or, am I the only one with this problem?  I believe Jesus’ words to the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-29 apply to us today.  It may not be money, but there are a lot of other things that can be made a god in our culture besides cash.

I don’t want to fool around any more.  No more games.  On June 22, I will have been a Christian for 15 years.  I’m embarrassed by the lack of real faith my life demonstrates even at age 15.  How many days and weeks and months and years has God waited for me to truly get serious about life with Him!?  It’s way past time.  I’m going to have to start talking in terms of decades soon, and that’s unacceptable.  So, I’m getting rid of some of the things that have been distracting me.  World of Warcraft was a great example.  There’s just no need for that in my life.  It’s not inherently evil, necessarily, but I want to have way better things to do with my time.  Getting out of debt is another thing.  I don’t have “bad” debt (there is only my mortgage), but I don’t want it using up emotional and financial resources anymore.  It takes away the freedom to have a job that pays less than mine does if God were to call me to that.  I want fewer side projects – fewer things demanding my attention and make me feel like (with my personality) they need to get done.

It means investment in taking Sunday truly off, because work can wait til Monday.  It means investment in devotional and prayer time with my family, rather than time for hobbies or more work.  It means investment in reading the Bible, both for myself and for my son, which means turning off the TV and the music and all the other things that would be “easier” to do.  Etc.

I want my life to be intentional.  I want to be willing to answer God “yes”, no matter what He asks of me.  I want to be paying enough attention to God to hear Him when He asks.  And I want to actually remember to ask God about even little things during the day.  I want to hide His Word in my heart, so that it’s always there to be the wisdom that I speak when someone needs it.

The question was also asked at small group…  Doesn’t God need Christian CEO’s out there to reach non-Christian CEO’s?  This was asked thinking that “practicing the presence of God” might mean that I have to sell everything and move to an island to be alone with God.  Far from it.  Of course God needs and wants Christian CEO’s (just picking on them as a type of job that seems really far away from “monk”, but it could be anybody in any role anywhere).  But let it be God who makes you a CEO, rather than making yourself a CEO with or without God.  It’s not about isolating myself with God, it’s about knowing the difference between these two conversations…

—–

Conversation 1:  All about God

Me:  “What do you want from me, God?”

God:  “I want you to be a CEO.  It’s who I made you to be.  Now be one with all your heart, and remain connected to me in doing so.”

Me:  “How do I worship you all day everyday as a CEO?”

God:  “Glad you asked.  Let me tell you.  I am the Vine, you are the branches.  If you …….. ”  (see John 15)

—–

Conversation 2:  All about Me

Me:  “God, I want to be a CEO.  Bless me so that I can be a good one … for you.”

God:  “Uh … okay … you know, that’s not necessarily what I had in mind.  Let’s talk about this first.”

Me:  “What, God?  I think you’re breaking up.”  (speaks aside to self)  “I’m really smart and have all these gifts.  Surely God wanted me to be a CEO with these gifts?  Not everyone has them, you know.  Besides, God needs CEO’s on his team, right?!”  (speaks back to God)  “Okay, I guess our connection’s fuzzy, so I’ll go ahead with my plan.  Don’t worry though.  I’ll do a few more good things, give a little more money at church, and ask a few people to pray for me that I hear your will more clearly.  That way we’ll be better connected, and I’ll be able to say I’m following you while I do what I want to do.  Okay, I’ll be in touch.”

God:  “Good luck with that.”  (speaks aside to self)  “There goes another one.  It’s okay, though.  He’ll come around.  Time for some hardship and trials in his life to get his attention.”

—–

So, obviously, I’m being a little facetious.  And I’m not talking about anyone in my small group.  I’m talking about me.  This has SO been the pattern of my life, though I hate to admit it.  And what makes this worse is that the longer you head down this road, the harder it is to hear God when he speaks.

Okay, what’s my point?  I feel like I’m rambling.  The point is that we’ve got tough choices ahead of us.  Many of us have spent at least a generation, steeping ourselves in luxury and unrealistic expectations of more luxury.  The average American’s baseline expectation for what he deserves in life is about 5,000% more than the average has been throughout history, and we’re grumbling because we feel like “the man” is cutting in on our groove and forcing us to set our sights low.  Maybe if we just get the government to bail us out and give us some more free stuff, then that’ll fix it.  But I digress.   My point is that the level of “I deserve” in this country and in my heart are OFF THE CHARTS, and it’s really starting to get to me.  Especially when it’s my heart that trumpets the demanding expectations.  I can’t take it anymore.

I want the pattern of my life to be about what GOD deserves.  How about that for a MAJOR shift in thinking?!  That’s the question (God help me) that I want to ask today, and tomorrow, and going forward.  What does God deserve from me, and how am I going to pony up?!  Of course, I’ll never “arrive”, but even if not perfectly, may this be what my life increasingly demonstrates.

So that’s where I’ve been going in this long-winded rambling blog entry.  I want a life that’s all about God, not me.  That’s what Jesus’ life was.  That’s real Christianity.  And I just don’t see, in the 21st century, how I’m ever going to be able to give God my whole heart unless I get it back from all kinds of other preoccupations – some not even inherently bad, but still way too distracting – I’ve given it to over the years.  And I don’t think I’m alone.

If you want to pursue this topic further, there are people far more insightful and in tune with God than me who have written some very good works on the subject.  I would recommend the following…

  1. The Practice of the Presence of God (short, print it free) by Brother Lawrence
  2. The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg
  3. Almost anything by Ruth Barton
Posted in News, Politics and Culture, Theology | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments