And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:20-21)
In order to keep ourselves from idols, we must develop the ability to identify idolatry in our hearts. As a practical aid, consider these 13 questions from Kenny Stokes:
- What do you most highly value?
- What do you think about by default?
- What is your highest goal?
- To what or whom are you most committed?
- Who or what do you love the most?
- Who or what do you trust or depend upon the most?
- Who or what do you fear the most?
- Who or what do you hope in and hope for most?
- Who or what do you desire the most? Or, what desire makes you most angry or makes you despair when it is not satisfied?
- Who or what do you most delight in or hold as your greatest joy and treasure?
- Who or what captures your greatest zeal?
- To whom or for what are you most thankful?
- For whom or what great purpose do you work?
“The heavens proclaim [God's] righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods!” (Psalm 97:6-7)
ht: God’s Way Works
Guys, on the brink of another football season, what sort of hedges are you building around your greatest responsibilities and privileges? Husband. Father. Brother. Sower. Salt. Light. Servant.
Nothing wrong with football. Let’s just remember on Saturdays, Sundays, and Monday nights that life is more. There is an epic reality that must overshadow and define sports as nothing more than meaningless games. Let’s raise our children with that sort of framework. To search for lasting happiness and true fulfillment in the outcome of a game is vanity and a striving after wind.
“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).
One day, you will lay your armor down.
One day, you will exchange your cross for a crown.
One day, you will rejoice with all of God’s family.
One day, THE war will be over.
One day, tears and death and mourning and crying and pain will be banished as former things.
One day, you will be welcomed home.
Can you imagine the celebration on THAT day?
An excellent thought from Stephen Altrogge:
According to a recent infographic in Newsweek, in 2010 there are / will be:
- 141 million active blogs
- 2 billion daily Google searches
- 1,052,803 books published
- 247 billion daily emails sent
- 4.5 billion text messages sent
- 10 billion songs downloaded on iTunes
Or consider this incredible claim from David Kirkpatrick: “We create as much information in two days now as we did from the dawn of man through 2003.”
In the midst of this avalanche of information, I can’t help but think of Jesus’ words to Martha:
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)
We can be troubled, and distracted, and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data available to us. But when you get down to it, only one thing really matters. If all the blogs were gone, and Google went down, and teens suddenly stopped texting, it wouldn’t really matter that much.
There’s only one Word that really matters: God’s Word. We have it. Let’s never let the mass of information available push us away from the only information of eternal significance.
Good, practical thoughts from Jeff S. Smith:
When I first became a full-time preacher, I had the privilege of getting to know an older preacher who was coming our way to hold a gospel meeting.
I called him to talk over his plans, settle on accommodations and find out if there was anything specific that he would need.
“Will you be using the overhead projector,” I innocently asked?
“No,” he retorted. I won’t be putting on any picture show to entertain the brethren!
He pontificated for another twenty minutes about the dubious benefits of putting anything in front of the audience that couldn’t be erased in a cloud of chalk. The overhead projector – a dying technology twenty years later – was just too similar to a movie projector and everybody knows they have no place in the worship of the saints.
This older preacher has gone on to his reward now, but I sometimes wonder what he would think of our modern digital projectors and fancy websites. What would he think about churches sending out podcasts and uploading videos to YouTube?
The twentieth century saw preachers migrate from charts printed on white bedsheets to overhead projectors to digital projectors. Churches lived in the Yellow Pages, but then discovered a wider audience on the Internet. Sermons leapt from reel-to-reel recorders to cassettes to compact discs to MP3s. Even hymnals are falling prey to paperless versions that are projected upon the silver screen.
If time permits, one wonders where the technology will take us next.
Those advances are not confined to sermon presentation and sharing, either. Every saint now has easy access to volumes which once dwelt only in the libraries of preachers who had the hunger and the budget to collect them. Commentaries, encyclopedias, dictionaries, lexicons – all are just a click away. A generation ago, the Franklin handheld Bible invaded the pews, permitting worshipers to search for passages and terms on a little screen, but with impressive celerity. When cell phones got smart, Bibles popped up on them as well, and now netbooks and iPads offer more screen real estate for reading verses in multiple versions and doing quick searches and studies, as well as note taking.
Can you imagine a time in the future when the church has nothing paper in the rack of the pew in front of you? The Bibles may all be digital and the hymns will be projected on the screen.
There are dangers, of course. Some folks might assume that you’re playing games or checking football scores on your smart phone, rather than reading the preacher’s references. Actually, some might even be doing those very things, the way schoolchildren used to hide comics in their textbooks and chuckle through boring lectures. The potential for noisy interruptions and entertaining distractions is great, but in pious hands, these technological marvels can surely make worship a more intellectually rewarding experience. We just have to resist the urge to tune out a boring sermon in favor of playing a quick game of Pac-Man on mute.
It was not so long ago that if an emergency occurred while one was in church, he learned of it when he got home and found a message waiting. When doctors began sharing their pager technology with the rest of us, that changed a bit. Suddenly, you were alerted to call home and some would walk out of the worship to find a phone. It wasn’t very long before cell phones became affordable and small enough to carry, and then the sound of ringing phones became common during worship. The recipient would sheepishly silence the phone and try to act like nothing happened. Now, there are probably countless text messages flowing in silently to the cell phones in most every purse or belt holster in the building. Some are ignored until after worship, but others are just so urgent! When that certain someone is willing to confirm that he not only likes you, but likes likes you, well, that just can’t wait!
Technological advancements are wonderful. Never before have we been so capable of taking the gospel into the whole world at such little expense (Matthew 28:18-20). A single congregation can do today what seemingly required church-splitting unscriptural arrangements a short time ago. Yet, the potential for abuse is also so apparent.
Gossip and false doctrine can now spread faster than a regional wildfire – at the speed of light all the way around the globe (James 3:1-12). There is something clean and sweet about the simplicity of the gospel that is disturbed by the presence of so much pulsating technology (2 Corinthians 11:3). So much noise and imagery can detract from the message and the spiritual task (see Luke 10:40).
So, we’re seeking to balance the availability of new technologies with the solemnity and dignity of worship and evangelism (1 Corinthians 14:40). We are tasked with presenting the gospel to a generation raised with game consoles and flashy television programs. Without sacrificing the essential gravity of the gospel, we face the challenge of being heard over the din of the Wii and the iPod.
Where Paul was concerned with sympathy for the Jew, the lawful, the lawless and the weak, we must apply ourselves to reaching Generation Y and Generation Next by presenting the gospel as relevant, urgent and useful, “as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). Paul wrote, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings (1 Corinthians 9:21-23).
While we cannot afford to be left behind technologically, neither can we afford to go beyond the will of Christ or cheapen the Bible’s truths. This is one technological challenge the scientists won’t be able to solve for us.
Good thoughts below from Andy Sochor:
On April 20th, an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico causing oil to begin spewing into the water from the floor of the Gulf, about a mile underwater. After more than eight weeks, the oil is still flowing. BP is working to try to stop the leak while other efforts are underway to try to deal with this disaster both in the water and along the coast.
No matter what work is done at the surface to deal with the oil that has already spilled into the Gulf, all of the efforts will be in vain unless/until the leak is stopped. The cleanup is important, but the cleanup will never be successful if the oil keeps spewing from the leak.
This disaster provides an illustration into the problem that we must deal with of sin. James tells us that sin originates from our lusts.
“But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death” (James 1:14-15).
The terrible consequences of sin (death) should motivate us to correct the problem. But we must start with our heart and make sure it is not in such a state as to prohibit us from overcoming sin.
“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
If we do not change our heart, we cannot hope to overcome sin. The Proverb writer goes on to talk about the need to be pure in all that we say, all that we choose to see, and all that we do (Proverbs 4:24-27). But if our heart is not right, we will be perpetually fighting a losing and unwinnable battle against sin.
As Paul said, we must become “renewed in the spirit of your mind” and be “in the likeness of God” (Ephesians 4:23-24). If we want to clean up our lives and overcome sin, we must shut off the flow of lust from our heart. We must do this with diligence. The consequences of failure will make those of the Gulf Oil spill seem trivial.
It’s been an incredibly rough week for the people of Guatemala. The Big Picture blog summarizes:
In just the past seven days, residents of Guatemala and parts of neighboring Honduras and El Salvador have had to cope with a volcanic eruption and ash fall, a powerful tropical storm, the resulting floods and landslides, and a frightening sinkhole in Guatemala City that swallowed up a small building and an intersection. Pacaya volcano started erupting lava and rocks on May 27th, blanketing Guatemala City with ash, closing the airport, and killing one television reporter who was near the eruption. Two days later, as Guatemalans worked to clear the ash, Tropical Storm Agatha made landfall bringing heavy rains that washed away bridges, filled some villages with mud, and somehow triggered the giant sinkhole—the exact cause is still being studied.
Take a look at this giant sinkhole that opened up in the middle of Guatemala City, swallowing an intersection and a 3-story building (click to enlarge).
The sinkhole is estimated to be 30 meters wide and over 60 meters deep. It formed on Saturday, swallowing a clothing factory about three miles from the site of a similar sinkhole three years ago. The clothing factory had closed only an hour before it plunged into the Earth.
As heartbreaking and terrifying this scene is for the people of Guatemala City, these photos provide striking perspective on an incredible account from Numbers 16 in the Old Testament. The entire context is reprinted below with the most relevant details (in light of these current events) in bold:
Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?”
And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”
And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, before the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. And let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, 250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.
And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”
And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.
Let’s pray for the people of Guatemala City. But let’s also stand in reverent fear and worshipful awe of the God who, in the words of the psalmist, “looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke” (Psalm 104:31-32). Let’s have eyes to see and ears to hear the spiritual truth preached by his Son in Luke 13:1-5 when similar tragedies had occurred in ancient Jerusalem:
There were some present at that very time who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
My thanks to the readers who’ve sent links to the article below that was recently printed in the National Review. It was written by an anonymous female psychologist who lives with her five children in Virginia.
I’ve recently spoken out in a new book about the challenge of defeating sexual temptation from a Biblical point-of-view, and I continue to be encouraged by the positive and constructive feedback. In recent weeks, I’ve especially been encouraged to hear that several summer camps are planning to use the material in appropriate forums. While obviously a difficult and sensitive subject to address, it is not a subject we can afford to ignore. Perhaps something in the book would be helpful to you or someone you know who is presently struggling with this very real temptation.
Here’s an excerpt of the National Review article:
Imagine a drug so powerful it can destroy a family simply by distorting a man’s perception of his wife. Picture an addiction so lethal it has the potential to render an entire generation incapable of forming lasting marriages and so widespread that it produces more annual revenue—$97 billion worldwide in 2006—than all of the leading technology companies combined. Consider a narcotic so insidious that it evades serious scientific study and legislative action for decades, thriving instead under the ever-expanding banner of the First Amendment.
According to an online statistics firm, an estimated 40 million people use this drug on a regular basis. It doesn’t come in pill form. It can’t be smoked, injected, or snorted. And yet neurological data suggest its effects on the brain are strikingly similar to those of synthetic drugs. Indeed, two authorities on the neurochemistry of addiction, Harvey Milkman and Stanley Sunderwirth, claim it is the ability of this drug to influence all three pleasure systems in the brain—arousal, satiation, and fantasy—that makes it “the pièce de résistance among the addictions.”
Torrent is one of those words we don’t use very often, until we’re searching for a word to describe the extreme. Webster defines torrent as:
- a stream of water flowing with great rapidity and violence.
- a rushing, violent, or abundant and unceasing stream.
- a violent downpour of rain.
- a violent, tumultuous, or overwhelming flow.
One of the most compelling and frightening pictures circulating the web after the torrential weekend downpours across Tennessee and Kentucky is of Andrea Silva and Jamey Howell, two teenagers clinging to the top of Howell’s jeep in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Thankfully, both were safely rescued. I would imagine they have a new appreciation for the word torrent.
Torrent is used 12 times in the ESV translation of the Bible:
- Judges 5:21 — the song of Deborah and Barak describes the defeat of the kings of Canaan.
- 2 Samuel 22:5-6 — David’s song of deliverance from the hand of all his enemies.
- Job 6:15-16 — Job describes his “brothers.”
- Job 14:18-19 — in his despair, Job brings his lament before God.
- Job 22:23-25 — Eliphaz encourages Job to repent of his perceived wickedness.
- Job 30:6 — Job describes the men who mock him.
- Job 38:25-27 — one of God’s challenging questions to Job.
- Psalm 124:1-5 — David encourages Israel to recognize the source of their deliverance.
- Jeremiah 47:2 — God warns his people of impending destruction.
- Lamentations 2:18 — Jeremiah describes the intense grief of his people following the destruction of Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 38:22 — God’s prophecy against Gog.
Of particular beauty and encouragement are the words of David in Psalm 18:1-6. As pictures continue to circulate of the devastation in the Southeast and reports of daring rescues and heartbreaking loss continue to surface, may David’s words continue to echo in your mind:
______I love you, O Lord, my strength.
______The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
____________my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
____________my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
______I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
____________and I am saved from my enemies.
______The cords of death encompassed me;
____________the torrents of destruction assailed me;
______the cords of Sheol entangled me;
____________the snares of death confronted me.
______In my distress I called upon the Lord;
____________to my God I cried for help.
______From his temple he heard my voice,
____________and my cry to him reached his ears.
A good reminder from Edwin Crozier:
I need to share a concern with my fellow Christian Facebookers, MySpacers, Pleonasters, Twitterers, texters and other social media types. “OMG!” doesn’t mean “O Majestic God” or “O Magnificent God.” It is not a means by which God is honored. It doesn’t even mean “Oh my goodness.” When people read that, they see and hear in their minds the phrase, “Oh my God.”
Please recall that under the Old Covenant one of God’s ten laws was, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). God’s name was to be held in honor or God would curse His people (Malachi 2:2).
The New Covenant demonstrates the same principle of honor for God. 1 Timothy 1:17 says, “To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 4:11 says, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” In Revelation 7:12, the angels, elders, and living creatures cried out, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
I’m seeing a trend that concerns me among Christians online. More frequently I see Christians using texting shorthand for taking God’s name in vain—“OMG.” I just want to ask you to think before you type that shorthand on your computer. If you typed the longhand phrase, “Oh my God,” would it be appropriate? Would you think this use of God’s name was intended to honor Him, to give Him glory and praise?
Certainly there are times when saying “Oh my God” is appropriate. We have songs that use that phrase. As we pray, we may praise God by calling out to Him, “Oh my God.” We are recognizing that He is our God; we are not. We are recognizing that He is our God; money is not. We are recognizing that He is our God; idols are not.
However, when someone has said something surprising or said something that really resonates with us and we want to accentuate it simply by typing, “OMG! That’s amazing,” are we really calling on God and honoring Him? Were we even addressing Him? Or were we just taking His name in vain because it was so easy and every one else does it?
God’s name is not meant to register our surprise, our shock, or our amazement. God’s name is meant to be held in honor, to bring glory to Him, to address Him.
Please think about this before you type your next status update. Let’s honor God in our speech and our online posts. He deserves it.
