03.12.21 - week 96
(i think) god told me
it should be an uncertain thing to baptize your behavior in the water of ‘god told me to do it.’ the reason should be obvious, but when a person frames their choices that way, there really is no way for anyone to disagree with them or give a different opinion. it’s a trump card that when played essentially forces everyone around you to acquiesce to your desire lest they disobey god’s will. in this way of thinking, god is consistently speaking past his revealed word into modern day and continuing to direct us day by day.
yet, the opposite, which is more common to folks i have spent my life around is to pray and then do what you desired to do anyway. as long as a proof text verse or morally upright sounding way of framing the decision can be found, you are released to do whatever you like. god’s word is written and what he wanted to say to us, he has
already said.
i recognize that those frames are a bit binary and there is plenty of in-between space. yet, we want god to speak don’t we? want god to keep moving us forward into new wine and new miracles and new revelations of his truth?
i propose a slightly adjusted but important word choice.
‘i believe god is leading me to … ‘
this allows those with a different revelation or wisdom to speak in to your life. this allows you to avoid blaming god if you end up misunderstanding and making a bad choice. this way of speaking eliminates the sheen of pride that tends to accompany loud proclamations of certainty.
i believe god led me to take this job
i believe god led us not to have any more children
i believe god wanted me to break up him
i believe god wanted me to vote for X
this way you can be free to pray and genuinely ask god to work in your heart and mind .. yet not be a jerk in how you apply it.
phillipians 2:13
for it is God who works IN you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
KG Korner
(a few wise words from lady kristen macdonald)
The other day we were getting a new couch delivered and in preparation we needed to move the old ones into the basement. Unfortunately for us our basement stairs curve and although the railing can be removed, it’s not the simplest process of getting things down the stairs. We took the feet off the couch and we tried to come up with a good plan for how to proceed and to our demise our plan didn’t work as we’d hoped! Have you ever seen the Friend’s video , PIVOT?!! Basically that was us as said couch made two holes in the wall on it’s way down. Talk about ‘good news in the neighborhood’ when some neighbors blessed us with their muscle to shift the couch literally out of the wall and down the stairs.
I feel like if there’s one word that describes 2020 it’s PIVOT!!!! Whether it was working from home, homeschooling your children, learning how to use ZOOM just to see people, or mask-wearing and temperature taking we have had to shift into a landscape that looks very different from what we knew before. Who am I telling? You’ve lived your version of 2020. Pivoting is tiring (can I get an amen?!) and sometimes feels like you have a couch on top of you and you’re not sure you’re gonna make it out of the situation in one piece. But, congrats, you made it through ONE WHOLE YEAR of pivoting!
I know I have shared this verse before but I found myself back here this week, Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden (from pivoting - paraphrase mine ;)), and I will give rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” After the isolation and pivoting we have all experienced, we can easily forget that we can come to God as we are with hearts that are needy. He desires to meet you right in that place and in turn give rest. He doesn’t want you to journey through it alone. He wants to join you, partner with you, carry the weight so that it’s not all on you.
Most invitations come with more questions: What do I need to wear? What do I need to bring? Who is going to watch my kids? Will so and so be there? Do I wear a mask? But, his invitation doesn’t require more, He just says to come. He wants to share your specific load. Maybe before you move on from scrolling through this newsletter you need to bring your burdens afresh to God. You’ve prayed for others on your mind but have you told him that vulnerable thing only you know you’re carrying? You feel the weight in your shoulders, the endless cycle of worry on your mind, and the anxiety of how you’re going to do it all on your heart. Don’t miss his gentle and kind offer, it never expires, it’s always on time and his presence will in fact fill your soul with peace.
#cupofleadership
often we starve someone we claim to be wanting to save. withhold from them the approval, acceptance, forgiveness, relationship etc we know they are craving.
‘if i just withhold approval from you enough, you will wise up.’
'until you seem to be as upset about what happened as i think you should be, i can’t engage.’
‘unless you are willing to agree with my version of the story, don’t bother calling’
jesus didn’t starve our brokenness, he came to save it.
i’m wondering if maybe our desire to be right propels us to behavior that doesn’t really make the problem better, but merely makes us feel better in our rightness.
book review
my book reading is a bit behind … lol, crazy few weeks … instead i wanted to encourage with this book again, my very favorite of the last few years
even in our darkness by jack deere
the story of losing and finding faith through valleys and peaks most of us will never reach, ‘even in our darkness’ moved me in a way i haven’t experienced before.
as of the moment i’m writing this, i have never read a better book. the prose is crisp and bright. the story unfolds in surprising directions. the subtlety of the ‘preaching’ hit me between the eyes over and over. last week, i spent an evening reading the last 3rd and broke down crying over and over. i woke up in the morning and cried some more. if that sounds bonkers to you, just imagine what it looked like to my wife watching it happen from across the room.
i’m sure the traumatic events in my life over the last few years, theological fights and severed relationships and dreams unrealized had some effect on my experience, but i bet you feel the same. it’s filled with real faith. not ‘bless your heart’ saccharine or performance art skepticism both of which can be so self-indulgent, this work just screams authenticity. so little of our theological writing has that unbaptized rawness we crave, especially when the author finds hope in the midst of hardship. jack deere is painfully candid and i will be thankful for a long time that he was.
#superchristianguy
stuff to click on
kevin deyoung has tried to frame our cultural christian cultural splintering on the topics of race/gender/politics into an understandable and charitable chart. i found this article very useful
the mac boys + i are PRETTY excited about the return of march madness … check this history of big upsets to get you in the vibe —