Archive for August, 2009

h1

Being Jesus, at Home.

August 29, 2009

Why is it so much harder to live like Jesus, at home?  I pondered this question as I passed through my neighborhood, on my way home from the grocery store.

I was thinking about one of the kiddos a couple of blocks away who spends quite a bit of time at our house.  During the Summer time, he leaves his house when he gets out of bed, and doesn’t really go home until dusk.  Half the time, we’re feeding him dinner and giving him basic adult supervision.  And at least three times per evening during the school year he rings our doorbell, wanting to play.  He’s pretty respectful to my wife and I, but doesn’t play real well with our boys, especially when other friends are visiting.  If often find myself frustrated with him, and especially with his lone parent who spends more time with potential mates than with the kids.

Why do I have such a hard time acting like Jesus, at home?  When at Church, I get to help people in such circumstances all the time.  And I generally do it with a cheerful spirit.  When I see single moms, or struggling families, or broken lives, my heart breaks for them.  I want to reach out to them, help them, serve them, and hopefully restore them.  But when I’m home, it’s a lot harder.  Would hypocrite be the operative word?  I hope not.

Why do I have such a hard time acting like Jesus, to my family?  It’s not just toward the neighbor kid, but toward my family as well.  I’m much more gracious with the kids at church than I am with my own kids.  I’m much more forgiving with the people at church than I am toward my own wife.  And I’m much more generous with the folks at church than I am with the folks in my home.

So what’s the deal, anyway?  If you have good answers to any of these questions, I would appreciate your responses.  I don’t really know the answer.  But I do no that I’m not as much like Jesus as I’d like to be!  My most natural self is evident at home, and that’s the hardest place for me to live like Jesus; which means I’ve got a long journey ahead of me, in my pursuit of “Christ-likeness.”

Posted in church, Family, religion, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

h1

Hand Sanitizers & American Christianity

August 21, 2009

In a micro-biology article, Regina Bailey tells us that: “Antibacterial hand sanitizers are marketed to the public as an effective way to wash one’s hands when traditional soap and water are not available.  These waterless products are particularly popular with parents of small children.  The manufacturers claim that the sanitizers kill 99% of germs.  Since you naturally use hand sanitizers to cleanse your hands, the assumption is that 99% of the [harmful] germs [on your hands] are killed by the sanitizers.  Recent research, however, suggests that this is not the case.

“Hand sanitizers work by stripping away the outer layer of oil on the skin and prevent bacteria in the body from coming to the surface of the hand.  However, the bacteria normally present in the body are not the kinds of bacteria that will make us sick.  In a review of the research, a professor at Purdue University, who teaches safe sanitation practices, came to an interesting conclusion, noting that hand sanitizers do not significantly reduce the bacteria on the hands, and may [actually] increase the bacteria.[1]

When I read this article I chuckled to myself for two reasons.  The first is because I’m nearly addicted to this stuff and apparently it isn’t doing me any good at all.  The second reason is because the parallels between hand sanitizers and traditional American Christianity are endless.

It’s like we’ve got this substance that can destroy all the bad stuff in our lives and in our world, but we have no idea how to actually make it work.  And so we smear it on the surface of our lives, and it might make us look clean and it might even kill some of the surface problems, but it doesn’t really sink in and make a difference.  So we interact with Christianity, and we get this pure-clean feeling, but we’re just fooling ourselves. Too often we are like the religious leaders that Jesus called “white-washed tombs.”  We are shiny and clean on the outside, but not on the spiritual inside.

It makes me think of the people addressed in 2Timothy 3:5 who “have a form of godliness” but “deny it’s power.”

 

[1] Accessed at, http://biology.about.com/od/microbiology/a/handsanitizers.htm, on August 20, 2009.

Posted in church, culture, religion, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments »

h1

The Real Meaning of “Christian”

August 19, 2009

One of the primary tests of Christianity is that we walk in the footsteps of Jesus.  Not just that we believe in Him, not just that we trust Him for salvation, but that we walk in His steps.  I’m not talking about His culture and customs, nor am I talking about securing salvation, I’m talking about our life-patterns.  Do our habits and patterns look anything like Jesus?  Do we care about the things Jesus cared about?  Do we talk about the things Jesus talked about?  Do we seek out the kinds of people Jesus sought out?  Do we love the things that Jesus loved and hate the things that Jesus hated?  Do we live like Jesus called us to live?  Real Christians walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

1 John 2:3-6 says: We know that we have come to know Him if we obey his commands.  The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar and the truth is not in him.  But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in Him.  This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.

We can sum up this Scripture into three tests of Christian authenticity: (1) Real Christians obey His commands; (2) Real Christians embrace His truths; and (3) Real Christians walk in His footsteps.

1 John 2:3 makes it clear that true followers obey the commands of Christ.  It’s pretty simple: If we don’t obey Christ, then we aren’t true Christians.  The biblical word for obey in verse 3 means “to watch, to observe, and to keep an eye on” something.

When I was a boy, and when my mom would suspect that I was up to no good, she would say, “Matt, I’ve got my eyes on you!”  And then when I’d get caught for something I was sure I’d gotten away with, Mom would say, “I’ve got eyes in the back of my head.”  If you’re a parent then you know how important it is to keep your eyes on your children at all times.  Whether they’re in the house, or outside playing, or away at school or at some sporting event, every parent bears the responsibility of keeping their eyes on their children.

True Christians likewise bear the responsibility of keeping their eyes on the commands of Christ—that’s what obedience means—that they observe, watch, and consider His commands as they go about their lives.  1 John 5:3 says, “This is love for God: to obey His commands.”

Obedience plays itself out in two ways: We embrace His truth and we walk in His steps.  We accept what He says as gospel truth, even if it conflicts with our own values and preconceived notions.  And we pattern our lives after His life, even if it means that we have to change some of our habits and behaviors.

Real Christians obey His commands, embrace His truths, and walk in His footsteps.  Sadly, I think there are many people who wear the name “Christian,” who are nothing of the sort.  May this not be said of me.  What say you?

Posted in church, culture, religion, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Tozer on “The Importance of Self-Judgment”

August 11, 2009

Right now I’m reading a lot of material authored by A.W. Tozer who seems a bit grumpy at times, but a bit prophetic as well.  The following are some excerpts from his book “The Incredible Christian” that talk about the importance of looking inward and discovering (and judging) our true selves.

“Hardly anything else reveals so well the fear and uncertainty among men as the length to which they will go to hide their true selves from each other and even from their own eyes.”

“Self-knowledge is so critically important to us in our pursuit of God and His righteousness that we lie under heavy obligation to do immediately whatever is necessary to remove the disguise and permit our real selves to be known.”

Rules for Self-Discovery (We may be known by the following):

1. What we want most.  “Ask your heart: What would you rather have than anything else in the world?”

2. What we think about most. “The true test is what we think about voluntarily.”

3. How we use our money. “We must pay taxes and provide for the necessities of life…, but whatever money is left to do with as we please—that will tell us a great deal indeed.”

4. What we do with our leisure time.  “Most people waste [free time] staring at the television, listening to the radio, reading the cheap output of the press or engaging in idle chatter.  What I do with mine reveals the kind of man I am.”

5. The company we enjoy.  ”Where we go, when we are free to go where we will, is a near-infallible index of character.”

6. Whom and what we admire.  “We can learn the true state of our minds by examining our unexpressed admirations.”

7. What we laugh at.  “Lacking a sense of humor we fall that much short of healthy humanity.  But the test we are running here is not whether we laugh or not, but what we laugh at.”

Warren W. Wiersbe (ed.), The Best of A.W. Tozer, Book One, (Camp Hill, PA: Baker Book House Co., 1978), pp. 109-111.

Posted in church, Family, religion, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

h1

This Post is Worth Reading

August 8, 2009

I’ve been mostly busy and out of town the last month so I haven’t had much time to Blog.  But this blog is worth reading.  I hope you will check it out:  http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2009/08/bait-and-switch-of-contemporary.html

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.