Blogotional

Justin Taylor via Ray Ortlund quotes Jonathon Edwards:

Spiritual pride is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christianity.

Quoting further:

Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity.

Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself.

He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart.

Two things cross my mind when I read that. For one, I am not sure there have ever been more convicting words written about the world of Godblogging.

But secondly it gives me great insight into Edwards himself - because I know that the reason I write about humility so much is because it is where I struggle the most.

How suspicious are you of your own heart?

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Dan Edelen writes of fear and the church:

Take evangelism, for instance. I think the reason evangelism in this country has practically gone extinct is that many people are scared to death to look incompetent while sharing Christ in any way that borders on apologetics. The reasons for this would probably fill a month’s full of posts here, but needless to say, I think fear is a major reason why American Christians avoid evangelism like the plague.

I think the homogenization that has swept over our churches is largely due to fear. While the Bible equates Christians to sheep, we too often seek out bland flocks, as if the lack of anything distinguishing will somehow allow us to tick a mark off our spirituality checklist while avoiding being too contrarian or countercultural. I mean, the wolves go looking for the oddballs, don’t they?

[...]

I have written much about the times we live in. I think they are scary times, not only because we cannot see what each of us will walk through in the coming days, but also because our leaders (political, intellectual, and spiritual) are increasingly failing us. Too much of the world appears to be coming apart at the seams, and who are we to halt the seam-ripping?

I confess that I am fearful that I will not be able to juggle all the demands that keep hitting my household. One needs almost to be a genius to navigate the twists and turns of the countless little bureaucracies that grip us, and the number of people waiting to jump at us with “Gotcha!” seems infinite. (Honestly, I fear the mailman; he never seems to bring good news, and each letter opens to reveal another “Gotcha!”)

I agree - for many a Christian, fear is what keeps us from experiencing the truly abundant life that is promised in Christ.

One thing I know is very helpful to me is to count blessings. I recently had a day where I spent the whole day waiting for "the other shoe to drop." The fact of the matter was, no shoe had dropped for my wife and I. I had a couple of clients in serious regulatory straights, but it was their problem, not ours. I was letting my natural empathy get the better of my self-confidence.

I did an inventory of where we were and the results could only be taken as "Blessed." Yes, there were problems and difficulties, pains and sorrows - but when placed on the balance sheet of life it we were in a very good place.

I have found that to be the case so many times in my life. I am afraid, I am anxious - yes something might happen. But today, this minute, God has me in His hand and is taking very good care.

More importanly, when I review my life and see the difficulties and problems of the past, and how the overwhelming has become the barely noticeable - How can I respond with anything other than "God will get me through."

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HEROES AND ARTISTS - RAVEN

Ariel Olivetti

Bill Sienkiewicz

Joe Beneitez

Angel Uzeta

Ed Benes

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Mark Roberts writes devotionally about the "sword of the Lord":

I can’t hear the phrase “sword of the Lord” without thinking back to an odd experience during my college years. For no apparent reason, I started to receive a newspaper in the mail. It was called The Sword of the Lord. It was jam-packed with articles representing very conservative Christianity. The founder of The Sword of the Lord was John R. Rice, a Baptist evangelist from Texas. An unabashed fundamentalist, Rice graciously shared his condemnation of the sinfulness and heresies of others. Not only did he judge the secular world, but also many prominent, theologically conservative Christian leaders. Rice and his fellow journalists were proud to wield the “sword of the Lord.”

Yet in their denouncements of the manifold sins of others, I failed to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. It was as if they had grasped the “sword of the Lord” in Jeremiah, forgetting how that sword is described in the New Testament book of Hebrews. There we read, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable” (4:12-13). This passage would seem to invite a celebration of God’s judgment. Yet the next verses move in another direction: “So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (4:14-16). The sword of the Lord pierces us so that the mercy and grace might touch our innermost being. The judgment of God drives us, not to despair, but to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You and I might never publish a newspaper filled with judgment and condemnation. But most of us do single out certain people for our wrath. They might be our political opponents. They may be those with whom we disagree theologically. But before we whip out the “sword of the Lord” in censure of others, may we remember that the “sword” prepares the way for the amazing grace and mercy of God.

I find Mark's approach here fascinating. I am not entirely sure that theology, even really bad theology, is a sin or weakness requiring grace and/or judgment. While bad theology typically leads to bad action, I think it the action the requires grace/judgment, not the underlying thought. But let's grant the point for a minute.

One thing I know for sure is that we all suffer from bad theology at some point. The sword prepares the way for grace precisely because it cuts indiscriminately. If we dare to wield it, we must in fact fall on it. Who are we to pretend to know exactly the mind of the Lord?

I think there is a reason even those God chose to call as His prophets, those that proclaimed His wrath in the Old Testament lived such miserable lives that generally needed in such awful circumstances - they were themselves condemned by the words they declared.

That is when I will know I have encountered a true prophet - when his or her declarations result in personal humility. That I have yet to encounter - myself included.

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Maggie Gallagher wrote a while back about the role of politics in reclaiming culture:

Both the Christian left and the Christian right are wrong, according to Hunter: Wrong in imagining that a Christian can engage in politics the way it is routinely practiced today: by demeaning opponents, caricaturing their views, instilling and fanning base fears, raising utopian hopes, and promising followers power and prominence. Christians in politics have become "functional Nietzscheans" he says. How can followers of a penniless and crucified master lust for power?

[...]

Here's my problem with Hunter's conclusion: Politics does work. Abortion remains a live moral and cultural question in America in part because of politics.

Hunter's critique of politics cuts deeply with me. Three years ago I started a political organization, the National Organization for Marriage. On the whole, I am proud of how NOM has engaged in this fight. People fight over symbols because symbols are the stuff out of which reality is constructed.

To my way of thinking, both Gallagher and the man she is critiquing, James Davison Hunter, have a point, but both are missing the bigger picture. Hunter is right - politics, of itself cannot carry the day. Gallagher is right - politics is a vital part of the solution. Gallagher also paraphrases Hunter in this fashion:

Worse, the Christian right's theory of culture is simply false. One cannot "engage the culture" by converting individual hearts and minds or accumulating majority votes. Culture simply does not work like that. Culture is the power to "name reality," and that power is in itself inevitably intertwined with high cultural status. Culture is a product of elites, not of moral majorities.

There in is the big picture - we don't just convert individual hearts and minds, we convert elite hearts and minds - or even better we help those we convert to become among the elite.

Christianity should define culture, but to do so we have to be among the elite of the institutions that define culture. And this is where Gallagher is really right - we have abandoned those institutions, political and otherwise.

As Christians we are called to a vocation, but for the sake of using evangelical language - let's call it a ministry. Some minister in church and some int he capital. Some minister in hospitals and some in movie houses. Some minister in universities.

As Christians we have chosen to isolate ourselves. Either we isolate our faith to Sunday or we isolate ourselves in Christian branded business and universities. We may not be of the world, but we are IN it - and we need to start acting like it.

We are the best and the brightest if we would just start acting like it.

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Dan Edelen writes that faith is the opposite of control:

You see, faith is the opposite of control. Faith says, “I do not know what tomorrow will hold. I cannot even control today. Instead, I will live by the Spirit. I will live with the uncertainty of the world and instead exercise the muscle of faith that I have let atrophy for too long. Christ is in me; therefore, I have hope.”

This I agree with utterly and completely. I must however take some exception to Dan's depiction of what offers success in our nation. It has been my privilege to know many extremely successful people - from a President of the United States to Nobel prize winners to athletes of many championships to some of the wealthiest people the nation has ever produced. Most of the truly successful I have met fully understand they have met with good fortune - not all will name the Lord, but all have a humility about circumstances that led to their success.

An important thing to remember here, I am not talking about people that have made a big splash and then gone broke, or suffered a failed marriage, or some other tragedy - I am talking about people who have succeeded and not seen those types of disappointments.

There is, I believe a justice in God's world. I'm not sure if God rains tragedy on those who develop success without humility, but I do know that deep abiding success comes only with that humility.

Which brings me back to Dan - see I do not think faith means to choose less than success, nor does it mean to not work hard - these things are not mutually exclusive. Faith means simply to know we are not in control and to rest in the arms of the Almighty. If we do so, I believe He will supply us with the success most suitable for us. It may not be wealth, power or fame - but it will be success.

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