Bible Study Magazine Contest

Bible Study Magazine and Mars Hill are giving away 20 copies of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Not only that, but they are also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of their Bible Study Library software! Enter to win on the Bible Study Magazine Mark Driscoll page, then take a look at all the cool tools they have to take your Bible study to the next level!

What is the recession for?

Seems like longer that a few days ago, but just Monday Nate suggested we check out John Piper’s message, What is the recession for? (this link will take you to the text, or from there you can select to either listen to or even watch the message – which I highly recommend because the text fails to convey Piper’s passion).

Not only have I ‘borrowed’ his title, but I am going to ‘borrow’ some of his words, too. Piper points out five of God’s purposes behind the recession:

1. He intends for this recession to expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.
2. He intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.
3. He intends to relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods, in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.
4. He intends to advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church—precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory.
5. He intends for the church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.

The rest of his message goes on to break down these five lessons God has for us. Again, please listen to it, my take on it is weak at best and my hope is to stir some thought about our thoughts on money.

Here’s something to think about. Add up your total expenses (rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance, food, etc, etc) and figure what you spend per day. I’m going to use the average American income of $26,000 for my calculations, as well as assume the average American does not save (yours may be more or less). Only making $26,000 still gives the average American $71.25 per day on which to live. Thinking about Piper’s second point above, 50% of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day. 80% of the world lives on less than $10 per day.

To further put things in perspective, a single person household making less that $10,400 living in the lower forty-eight, is considered living in poverty. At that amount, one still has $28.49 per day on which to live. In the poorest countries on the world, the poverty line is set at $1.25 a day ($2.50 a day in developing countries).

For a family of six in the lower forty-eight, here in America, the line is set at $28,400 a year or about $12.96 per day per family member and easily in the richest 20% in the world.

All this to say: when was the last time you complained about your financial situation? Being employed in a profession directly related to the number of homes being built, I know I'm guilty, especially as my overtime hours have dwindled to nothing. And not just that, but how much longer am I going to have a job?

And that, sports fans, is exactly what is so incredible about this recession (Piper’s 3rd point listed above), it will help me refocus on Him instead of my wealth, my stuff, my comfort.

To be honest, I’m a bit nervous. The opposite of comfort is pain, and I’m not a big fan of pain. But it’s like the dangerous prayer of asking God to do whatever He needs to do to so that you might draw closer to Him. My list of ‘whatever items’ are giving up cable tv, living in a small home, etc – they’re things I’ve already done. God’s list of ‘whatever items’ tend to be different that ours (what did Jesus ask of the rich young ruler? or John and James? etc).

It is the hope He promised and the truth that He works all things for the good of those who love Him that I can truly pray: God, I don’t know how the economy is going to pan out, but You do. I pray You use this time to turn the people of this nation, and the world, away from our sin and, instead, toward You. Please let Your light shine through Your people. Amen.

The two sources I used for the facts mentioned above are: http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States

Blogger: Hope and a Future - Create Post

Not much time for something funny…this is a quick giggle for the moms.

Blogger: Hope and a Future - Create Post

What Entertains Me?

I’ve enjoyed project playlist the past month or so.  As I reconnect with old friends on facebook, it’s been fun listening to the songs I enjoyed 20+ years ago.  But as I listen to some of these songs, they tear at me, at my faith, at a holiness God has called me to pursue.

Several weeks ago a friend on facebook posted a John Piper quote that has stuck with me: “there are almost no movies that don't ask me to be entertained by attitudes, motives, & actions which Jesus died to eradicate.”

I hate that quote, or better, my flesh hates that quote.  It forces me to think about the idols I’ve spent years tenderly nourishing.  It brings to mind 1 Corinthians 6:12, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything.”

The problem with thinking about idols is that, as a Christian, you’re bound to realize they’re a problem, that they separate you from God, that they’re purpose is to be smashed.

But, I’ve built parts of my life on a foundation of idols, despite the Sunday school song!  If I go smashing up these idols, I might mess up this comfortable life.  I’m kinda happy here.

Enslaved?  Boy, Paul nailed me on that one.

Despite the painful cry of my flesh, I know that with each idol smashed, I’ll find myself closer to Him, Jesus Christ, the only source of true Joy.

Homeschool Family

Where Do You Fight Your Battles?

Several days ago while reading Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, I ran across the idea of where battles are fought. He suggested that battles are to be fought internally, before God. If you wait to fight it externally, you’ve already lost. Today, scanning through radio stations, I found Ravi Zacharias on Focus on the Family. I only caught the last thirty seconds of the show, but he referred to fighting private battles.

So where do you fight your battles? Lately, I feel I’ve been bumbling from one battle to another, accidently turning from certain defeat into another front, all the while miraculously keeping my head like some mixed-up combination of Maxwell Smart and Mr. Magoo. Some I have not fought privately first. The others, I cannot seem to remember the lessons the private battle taught, nor the techniques for victory it revealed.

What these battles have reminded me is the importance of preparation. The first to Biblical examples of battle preparation that came to mind were David rejecting Saul’s armor, then selecting the stones prior to battle with Goliath and the second, God trimming the number of Gideon’s troops before his battle. Both examples ignore human reasoning, but instead both David and Gideon are left to rely on the only one that could win the fight.

In The Green Letters, Miles Stanford suggests that once you try to fight a battle you’ve lost. Though we may not see the immediate victory in our battles (and I dare suggest that what we would consider a victory, may not be what God has decided would be a victory), they are complete and we are victorious. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 ESV)

Not that we shouldn’t prepare. Paul even uses the imagery of battle preparation in the sixth chapter of his letter to the Ephesians when reminding them (and us) to “be strong in the Lord.” But more on preparation later.

Lustful Thoughts

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you, by the gazelles and the wild does of the field: do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time. Song of Solomon 2:7 (HCSB)

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you, by the gazelles and the wild does of the field: do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time. Song of Solomon 3:5 (HCSB)

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you: do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time. Song of Solomon 8:4 (HCSB)

I've been reading Mark Driscoll's Porn-Again Christian. It's a short (and very frank) e-book written for men about God's view of sex presented in stark contrast with fallen man's view of sex. I don't know if I'd recommend it to any female. If you're married and you're curious, have your husband read it first; he'll know if it will offend you or not. I've read some to Emily. Almost from sentence to sentence she'll flip from "that's good stuff" to "he's a chauvinist pig". That's the extent of my warning.

It sounds as if his church is mainly 20-somethings, typically unchurched, and apparently sex, God's view of sex, is a common question presented to him. On the Mars Hill Blog, there is a Christian Sex Q&A (another thing I've read to Emily where she responded as I mentioned above) and also a sermon series called The Peasant Princess: A Love Story from the Song of Songs.

Anyways, some where while reading through all this literature one point really jumped out at me: "do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time." In other words, we should not stir up sexual/romantic passions outside of marriage.

In Porn-Again Christian, Driscoll says, "The purpose of pornography is clearly lust. And, lust for anyone but your wife is condemned by God as a grievous evil repeatedly throughout both the Old and New Testament."

Lust.

I happened to be around three woman, probably all in their thirties, the other night as they discussed Twilight.

"The Twilight thing is not going to work out this weekend," said one.

"Don't worry about it," answered the second. "I've already seen it twice."

To which the first girl said, "Me, too." Followed by a round of schoolgirl giggles and some Twilight movie commentary that was basically addressed in this manner (I hope I'm remembering the names right):

"Ooohh, Edward."

"Well, I prefer Jacob."

"Mmmmmm."

"Why would these two guys be fighting over such a stupid girl?"

Lust. The stirring up and the awakening of passion outside of marriage. There may not be sex, but just like pornography for men, these books, after reading numerous blog comments by women who have read them, stir up passions and awaken desires that are to be only for your spouse. And to market this to our teen girls, calling it acceptable because of the lack of violence and physical sex, is dangerous.

As to what stirs the passions of a teen boy vs. a teen girl (or even a husband and a wife), I'm guessing most of us know. To allow a teen girl (or woman) to stir up her passions through the 'romance' of any book series, is the same as giving a teen boy a copy of Playboy and calling it okay. Both of these kids can be intelligent enough to recognize the object of their lust is fictional, but the lust exists just the same.

Credits: The image above was taken from Mark Driscoll's Blog.