Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Catdog
Confession: I like the cartoon "Catdog". It's about an animal that is half cat and half dog. They are joined at the end and thus, both have a head. It's one of the greatest evidences in America that "anything goes"! It's ridiculous and that's why I like it. It's like "Sponge Bob"..seems totally moronic but it actually represents real life. We all act a certain way and don't even know that what were are doing is not really what we think. Well, we now have a cat and a dog at our house...So I guess we really are true American's now...Or stupid. The cat was here first and is freaked out by our new puppy. Our cat "Boomer" hisses and runs from this psycho-hyper 10 week old Golden Retriever "Solomon". They don't get a long and the cat does not want to. Tell me how much this relates to the relationships in the church today? They sound too familiar. I think these cartoon writers go to church somewhere in the "Bible Belt"! We have one group saying and doing one thing and someone else doing another...lot's of hissing, running, and not getting along. And, we have the "Sponge Bobbers" coming in an letting us know that they have something innovative to do like going fishing for jellyfish. Or they take a balloon on national free balloon day and then feel guilty that they took it! May we pray church not be so "cartoon" anymore....
Thursday, February 23, 2006
The "Gospel" of the Arizona Tea Cap
I drink Arizona Tea. And for all you literalism freaks out there it's not tea that is made in Arizona but the brand of tea called Arizona...
I drink it because I like it. However much I like the tea it remains that I think their packaging is unique. In the midst of creatively designed bottles are remarkable caps. The caps on the bottled tea have a message underneath. The messages are almost always strange but alluring. They cause you to say, "What?" and then think of the many interpretations of what is being said. It seems to have no purpose at all but it actually does have a purpose. As a matter of fact we are fulfilling the purpose of the cap right now...We are talking about it! Other companies have done similar things. SoBE has lids with statements as well. They say things like "Smarter no Harder", "Bring on the Catwalk", etc. But the messages under most of the Arizona tea caps say things like "Strawberry Pulling Inside", "Laughing at Eel" , "Don't Be #11". They seem to be jargon someone made up. You read the statements and think...What? Not because you just don't get it but because you aren't supposed to get it. However, they make you look.
There are many of us who are making people look under the lid of our lives. There are churches that are crafty and are making people look. It's important to be aware of what message we put on the lid.
The gospel is being presented under the tea cap lids of our lives and the question remains are we getting the message right or is it jargon that we have no intention of trying to get it right. Yes, whether or not they get it is up to God's revealing and all illuminating power, but what are we saying? When people take a drink and look at that lid under the substance that make us what we are what do they read. Something made up or real? A marketing tactic or the reality of the genuine gospel message!
Read a tea cap lid and ask am I getting it right?
I drink it because I like it. However much I like the tea it remains that I think their packaging is unique. In the midst of creatively designed bottles are remarkable caps. The caps on the bottled tea have a message underneath. The messages are almost always strange but alluring. They cause you to say, "What?" and then think of the many interpretations of what is being said. It seems to have no purpose at all but it actually does have a purpose. As a matter of fact we are fulfilling the purpose of the cap right now...We are talking about it! Other companies have done similar things. SoBE has lids with statements as well. They say things like "Smarter no Harder", "Bring on the Catwalk", etc. But the messages under most of the Arizona tea caps say things like "Strawberry Pulling Inside", "Laughing at Eel" , "Don't Be #11". They seem to be jargon someone made up. You read the statements and think...What? Not because you just don't get it but because you aren't supposed to get it. However, they make you look.
There are many of us who are making people look under the lid of our lives. There are churches that are crafty and are making people look. It's important to be aware of what message we put on the lid.
The gospel is being presented under the tea cap lids of our lives and the question remains are we getting the message right or is it jargon that we have no intention of trying to get it right. Yes, whether or not they get it is up to God's revealing and all illuminating power, but what are we saying? When people take a drink and look at that lid under the substance that make us what we are what do they read. Something made up or real? A marketing tactic or the reality of the genuine gospel message!
Read a tea cap lid and ask am I getting it right?
Friday, February 17, 2006
How Not To Be In a FEEBLE State
In the midst of working through the works of Jonathan Edwards I am continuing on my regiment of reading. I just finished THE GLORY OF CHRIST, by the great Puritan preacher John Owen. I have put a link with this blog so you can get the book. It's fantastic and reminds us of what our occupation in life ought to be no matter what we actually do.
To all those who have genuinely been saved by Christ he issues this summons: "let us regard it as our duty to meditate frequently on HIS glory. It is the neglect of meditation that keeps so many Christians in a feeble state, regardless of their privileges." (pg 34) In my journey I have made it a strong practice. Yes, I said practice. That's the key to unlocking the use of this treasure seeking tool. I have learned I must train myself to meditate on God's Glory in His Word and in His creation. Over the past few years of enjoying the work of meditation, I have noticed a significant change in my awareness of HIS presence. I have always sought to know Him and taste His glory. But meditating on His glory and His Word have only enabled me to sense and see what He has already been doing all around me. I am becoming more aware of who He is and what He is doing because of the quest to see and know Him deeply. I don't want the casual that I have become all to comfortable with. Many of us want the "more" in life or the "all". Well, it's right there in front of you. It's the ultimate reality: GOD HIMSELF. He is disclosing so we must not be posing! So many times I have missed the disclosure of HIS Glory only because I was poising before the mirror of my thoughts, ambitions, and cares. I cannot pose my self in the mirror of life and look at myself but look at the Glory of God and see the beauty of Him. I pray that I will continue to pursue with the most stringent passion what Owen has said: "let us regard it as our duty to meditate frequently on HIS glory. It is the neglect of meditation that keeps so many Christians in a feeble state, regardless of their privileges." Meditation is not emptying the mind but having a pestering resolve to think through and with the "mind of Christ" embedded in you as a follower of Christ. I don't want to be in a feeble state. Meditate on His glory and His Word!
To all those who have genuinely been saved by Christ he issues this summons: "let us regard it as our duty to meditate frequently on HIS glory. It is the neglect of meditation that keeps so many Christians in a feeble state, regardless of their privileges." (pg 34) In my journey I have made it a strong practice. Yes, I said practice. That's the key to unlocking the use of this treasure seeking tool. I have learned I must train myself to meditate on God's Glory in His Word and in His creation. Over the past few years of enjoying the work of meditation, I have noticed a significant change in my awareness of HIS presence. I have always sought to know Him and taste His glory. But meditating on His glory and His Word have only enabled me to sense and see what He has already been doing all around me. I am becoming more aware of who He is and what He is doing because of the quest to see and know Him deeply. I don't want the casual that I have become all to comfortable with. Many of us want the "more" in life or the "all". Well, it's right there in front of you. It's the ultimate reality: GOD HIMSELF. He is disclosing so we must not be posing! So many times I have missed the disclosure of HIS Glory only because I was poising before the mirror of my thoughts, ambitions, and cares. I cannot pose my self in the mirror of life and look at myself but look at the Glory of God and see the beauty of Him. I pray that I will continue to pursue with the most stringent passion what Owen has said: "let us regard it as our duty to meditate frequently on HIS glory. It is the neglect of meditation that keeps so many Christians in a feeble state, regardless of their privileges." Meditation is not emptying the mind but having a pestering resolve to think through and with the "mind of Christ" embedded in you as a follower of Christ. I don't want to be in a feeble state. Meditate on His glory and His Word!
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
"Experimentally Acquainted" with Jesus
I have been reading through the works of Jonathan Edwards. It will take a great deal of time to do but I have a deep resolve to continue to glean from the droppings of his table! I have been captured in thought by a statement Edwards made in reference to the seemingly many out there who profess Christ as Savior but don't seem to have an authentic faith. He calls them "experimentally acquainted" with Jesus and the gospel. If you think about the levels of insight in this statement you begin to fathom what seems to be missing in so many who say they are "saved". They have the right lingo, they subscribe to the right compartmentalized fashions in the church, they have good moral tactics, and many seemingly Christian behaviors. But it seems as though a level of reality is missing. It seems something did not happen to them that was permanent or truly life changing. They, like the child that experiments with something to see what it will do, have "experiemented" with Christ. They "gave him a try" but it hasn't changed the essence of their being or caused them to become an worshiper of Jesus with every fiber of their life! They are just "experimentally acquainted" with Jesus but don't truly know HIM as a legitimate child of God. I will continue to ponder the implications of this thought given to us from the table of Edwards feasting on God! Contemplate with me.
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