C.S. Lewis

"The sweetest thing in all my life, has been the longing to find the place where all the beauty came from.." - C.S. Lewis

"God is basic Fact. He must not be thought of as a featureless generality. He is the most concrete thing there is." - C.S. Lewis

This from a man who at one time scoffed at the very notion that God existed.

There has been lots of darkness lately.  The headlines scream of man's rebellion to God.  Broken lives testify to God being long forgotten.  Hardened hearts remind us that many have no knowledge of God.  I feel it in moments when the quiet drowns out the noise.  The burden in my soul for the lost is pervasive.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of it.

And then I hear a story of redemption.  I hear a story of God breaking through and changing a life forever.  I read about the lost being found.

And I find renewed strength because God is not dead nor doth He sleep.  He is still in the miracle business and He still pursues mockers, loves sinners and pleads with the rebellious.  He is not overwhelmed.  He is at work.  Always.  Therein lies hope.

And so it is with our friend C.S. Lewis.  A changed man and a changed life that God has used to change countless others.  We can not have an encounter with God and remain the same.  Nothing is ever the same again.

Thank you Lord for the modern day Paul...a man who once argued against you to a man who ended up arguing for you every day thereafter.







http://good-report.com/4130/c-s-lewis-time-cover-story-from-the-archive-sep-8-1947

http://www.verber.com/mark/xian/weight-of-glory.pdf

http://good-report.com/6989/top-50-c-s-lewis-quotes-full-list-gallery

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765605350/CS-Lewis-still-has-much-to-offer-us.html

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/new-publications-relating-to-c-s-lewis

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/books/enduring-legacy-cs-lewis

An article on C.S. Lewis' brother:

http://good-report.com/5475/profiles-in-faith-major-warren-hamilton-lewis-1895-1973

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/gospeldrivenchurch/2012/07/25/the-beauty-of-conversion/

http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/2012/08/13/the-miracle-of-salvation/

http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/


"The intellectual life is not the only road to God, nor the safest, but we find it to be a road, and it may be the appointed road for us. Of course it will be so only so long as we keep the impulse pure and disinterested; we may come to love knowledge - our knowing - more than the thing known: to delight not in our talents but in the fact that they are ours, or even in the reputation they bring us. Every success in a scholar's life increases this danger. If it becomes irresistible, he must give up his scholarly work. The time for plucking out the right eye has arrived. " - C. S. Lewis

Aurora, Colorado

I awoke Friday morning, as many others did, to stories regarding the theater shooting at the midnight showing of the latest "Dark Knight" installment in Aurora, Colorado.  My first thought went to my brother and his wife knowing they live nearby and that while it was unlikely they attended the movie, it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility.  Thankfully, my brother quickly replied to my text message and he was fine.  But many others were not fine...

I have already read people who are blaming video games and a lack of gun control among the reasons why this tragedy happened.  That is not surprising given a society that is moving toward the viewpoint that evil does not exist.  But it does.  Without a belief in absolute truth and objective morality, evil seems like an outdated notion.  But it isn't.  Without the category of evil, we will forever search in vain for reasons to explain tragedy.  It will be a search with no end.

Oprah sent a tweet out this morning asking for a coordinated moment in which her followers should send "love vibes" to the victims and their families.  I am glad that Oprah was moved by this event.  I am glad she wants to help those who have been affected.  But I am utterly dismayed at the belief that love vibes, positive energy or thoughts of light will bring one moment of peace, heal one heart or dry one tear.

I understand the desire to want to help in any way possible.  Humanity cries out in moments like this.  But let us cry out to the God of the Bible rather than to ourselves.  Pray to the God who can heal inside and out.  Pray to the God who offers peace beyond all understanding.  Mourn with those who mourn.  Weep with those who weep.  But always point back to the God who has promised us that one day there will be no more tears.


http://aminiatureclaypot.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/so-you-still-think-god-is-a-merciful-god/

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/07/21/tragedy-and-moral-language/

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/07/20/the-true-knight-is-risen/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/lee-strobel-probes-why-during-first-sunday-service-after-colorado-shooting-78727/

http://www.gotquestions.org/meaning-in-tragedy.html
 
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/how-shall-we-minister-to-people-after-the-world-trade-tower-terrorism-of-september-11-2001

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/04/my-faith-the-danger-of-asking-god-why-me/

http://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2012/07/why-does-god-allow-tragedy-and-suffering/

http://thisoughtabegood.blogspot.com/2008/08/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-1918-2008.html

What is the Gospel?

We can never stray from the central point of everything...

You and I are sinners.  We have all fallen short of the glory of God.  We do not measure up to the holiness God requires.  Not us in our worst, but we at our best are still not righteous enough for the favor and justification of God Almighty.  So God in Christ makes a way.  He imputes to us the righteousness of Christ.  Your righteousness is inadequate, so if you could check off all those things on your box of what Christians do, the Bible still says your righteous deeds are as filthy rags to Him.  So we're going to need a righteousness that goes well beyond our own
righteousness, and we get that in Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives to us His perfection. He gives to us His righteousness. Then on top of that, on the cross of Christ Jesus takes from us the wrath of God due us for our rebellion against Him. So you have imputed righteousness, wrath-absorbing death, and in the resurrection we see the great exchange is complete.  Here is the most spectacular part of it all: You didn't do anything to get that. So God saved you. God rescued you. God opened up your heart. God revealed this to you. You played no part in your salvation except glad submission.

http://theresurgence.com/2012/08/14/why-the-gospel-is-offensive

"The gospel is not that Jesus Christ comes to earth, tells us how to live, we live a good life, and then God owes us blessing. The gospel is that Jesus Christ came to earth, lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died." - Tim Keller

The Infinite Becomes Intimate

I borrowed a phrase from last Sunday's sermon at The Journey because it is perfectly said.  Last night, I was listening to this song and it brought tears to my eyes though I have heard it many times...



I think we are sometimes so focused on our faith, on our sin, on our struggles, on our needs, on our response to God, that we fail to see things from God's perspective.  It is true that God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours and there will always be an inability for a finite sinner to grasp the infinite holiness of God.  But God shares His heart with us through His word.  We get glimpses of His purity, power, goodness, justice, mercy and grace.

So, take what you know about God from the Bible and immerse yourself in how He must see you and think of you in order to do what He has done for you.  When I do that, all the other stuff fades into the background and I am left with a perfect Father in heaven who came to rescue me at a cost to Himself that I can never comprehend.

He gave everything.  He did everything.  There is no price He did not pay.  It is finished.

And this is the sermon I referenced earlier.  It is one of the best sermons I have heard on who God is and what He has done for us.

Subtle Idolatry

"Wanting forgiveness of sins is idolatry if we don't want it as a means to enjoying God." - John Piper

“Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols.” – John Calvin

"Unless it is Him, that which we long for more than anything else will not satisfy. It will only enslave and disappoint." - Eric Geiger

"It is possible to avoid Jesus as Savior as much by keeping all the biblical rules as by breaking them." - Tim Keller

I wrote on deeper idols about a year ago and it is worth revisiting before reading this post:

 http://thisoughtabegood.blogspot.com/2011/07/idolatry.html

So, I mentioned in my most recent post (Idolatry Part 2) that God is continuing to show me the idols in my life.  Some have been easier to see than others.  As the Spirit reveals and convicts me on my more obvious idols, introspection continues into what is yet deeper and ultimately at the root of all my idolatry.

I mean...if you are Christian, does it not simply boggle your mind that, regardless of your age or the amount of time you have called Jesus your Savior, you continue to choose things over Him?  You continue to place your trust in yourself instead of Him?  You continue to doubt that what He has planned for you is better than your own ideas?

It does boggle my mind.  It gnaws at me.  What is it that I am not believing?  Why am I not fully trusting?  Do I not truly grasp Jesus' death and resurrection?  Do I not comprehend that every breath I take and every involuntary beat of my heart is a constant reminder of mercy and grace?  Or is it that I am not fully satisfied with the way my life has gone or what happened yesterday or a disappointing experience just moments ago?  Am I still clinging to my ideals rather than what God has made real?

From John Eldredge's "Beautiful Outlaw" (page 79)...

Late into the night, early in the morning, walking down the road, in the middle of his supper, at home, abroad, Jesus offers.  His time, his words, his touch, flowing like the wine at Cana.  To appreciate the reality of it all, remember, this is not Superman.  Remember his loneliness, his weariness, his humanity.  This is utterly remarkable - particularly in light of the fact that this is a man on a life-or-death mission.  He is lavish with himself.

And that's the key, right there - that giving of himself.  That is what is so precious.  Moses offered leadership, and tirelessly.  Solomon handed out the rarest of wisdom free of charge.  Pilate seemed willing to toss to the crowds anyone they wanted.  But Jesus gives himself.  That is, after all, what he came to give, and what we most desperately need.

What do we most desperately need?  Jesus.  That's it.  Yes, we need other things - provision, love, purpose, rest.  But they all start and end with Jesus.  Any of those things separated from the One who made us will offer no fulfillment, no peace, no hope.

Oh, but we have become adept at pretending that they can offer what we need.  We can pretend to the point of addiction (that blog is coming next).  But why do we pretend when deep down we know that only God can truly satisfy?  I can only believe that it is pride...that desire to elevate ourselves above our Creator that ushered sin into the world and haunts us to this day.  My desire to be the center of the story is unrelenting.

As I walked down the street to Whole Foods a few weeks ago, I found myself having an inner dialogue that is unfortunately not terribly uncommon.  "Why have things gone the way they have?  Why do I find myself single and struggling at 39 when life was all laid out for me to be successful on every level?"  And then the Spirit intervenes and says, "You have God."  You see, my sense of entitlement shows how quickly, how easily, my heart can replace God with myself.  If you want to know whether or not you have made yourself the center of the story, just pay attention to how you react when someone treats you in a way that you don't think you deserve or when you feel taken for granted or when you aren't patted on the back for a job well done or when a driver cuts you off in heavy traffic.  Even worse, what is your stance toward God when life doesn't go the way you want?

My first reaction, all too often, is to lash out because being the center of the story means that everyone and everything else, including God, exists to serve me.  And when they aren't serving me, there is a big problem.

The idea that we exist to be served by others is not usually something of which we are truly aware.  It is embedded deep down and has become such an integral part of the way we live and think that it is extremely difficult to isolate and decipher.  The more I think about it, the more this is key to everything.  We will always be miserable if our sense of entitlement continually puts demands on everyone around us that they were never meant to carry.  We will always be disappointed if we put expectations of joy and fulfillment on our idols as they were never meant to bear that weight.  The creation was made to point to the Creator but our greatest temptation is to stop our worship at the creation because to go one step further is to admit that it is not about us.

I have said it to many people.  The idea that "it is not about us" is the most difficult lesson for any human being to earn.  But once you see that there is greater joy from giving up yourself for the sake of God and others, your eyes begin opening up to the purpose for which we were created.  All of the angst, frustration and despair we encounter in defending our "rights" starts to melt away.  It is replaced with peace, gratitude and joy.

"Christianity is voluntary crucifixion." - Darrin Patrick

"There is nothing that makes you more miserable (or less interesting) than self-absorption." - Tim Keller

Why are you strivin these days?
Why are you tryin to earn grace?
Why are you cryin?  Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you lookin for love?
Why are you still searchin as if I'm not enough?
To where will you go child?
Tell me where you will you run?
To where will you run?

Cause I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
So please don't fight
These hands that are holdin you
My hands are holdin you

http://sukofamily.org/?p=3048

Father's Day

"My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it." - Clarence B. Kelland

"Father! - to God himself we cannot give a holier name." - William Wordsworth

"It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons." - Johann Schiller


To learn to be a father and a husband
Is not an easy task
Particularly when one's own father
Is not someone you should ask
Required to learn in the midst of the job
And overcome what you have seen
In order to break the cycle of anguish
And bring reversion to the mean
But my Dad was able to do just that
With a godly wife by his side
A man who learned over many years
The joy that comes from losing pride
Although his earthly father was broken
With difficult issues and regrets
He found his peace and ultimate worth
From the Father in heaven who protects
Every man should leave a legacy
For his loved ones to thank God above
My father's greatest gift to me
A living example of THE father's unfailing love

In a way that mirrors my Heavenly Father, my earthly father has stood beside me through all my trials, sins and imperfections.  Thank you Pops.  I love you.


 Hear, O sons, a father's instruction,
    and be attentive, that you may gain insight - Proverbs 4:1

http://patrickmorley.com/blog/2014/6/15/7-lessons-i-learned-from-my-dad

http://www.rzim.org/blog/cultural-issues/a-noble-four-letter-word/

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scottysmith/2014/06/15/a-prayer-for-fathers-day/

Tim Keller Evangelism Tips

1. Let people around you know you are a Christian (in a natural, unforced way)
2. Ask friends about their faith – and just listen!
3. Listen to your friends problems – maybe offer to pray for them
4. Share your problems with others – testify to how your faith helps you
5. Give them a book to read
6. Share your story
7. Answer objections and questions
8. Invite them to a church event
9. Offer to read the Bible with them
10. Take them to an explore course

What Keller also advises is that we (generally) start with 1-4. If people are interested and want to talk more you can move them to stages 5-7. If they’re still interested go on to stages 8-10. Sometimes people will want to go straight to 10, but often people start from way back and need some time to think and discuss things in a non-pressured way. We often think that only stages 8-10 count and invest all our energy there. TK suggests that to get people at stages 8,9,10 you have to put the work in at 1-4. Sometimes you’ll have to keep going round the loop multiple times.






http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/that-awkward-moment-when-we-speak-the-gospel

http://kellerquotes.com/persuasion/

http://www.danieldarling.com/2013/03/what-evangelism-is/

http://magazine.biola.edu/article/14-summer/how-can-we-be-better-disagree-ers/

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/08/07/when-will-christ-return