Dear World

 I'm thankful for the offer

To join your little game
I merely think the prizes here
Are just a little lame

I don't appreciate it
The way I guess I should
But after seeing all this shit
I doubt I ever could

So go and play with matches
And watch your whole world burn
I'll look for what I won't regret
And count my lesson learned

I can't say that I've found it:
An easy, happy lot
I know I have much more than that
I've all, but you have naught

So tell me that I've lost it
Or have I? You don't know
The price He paid: so I could live,
To His life He said no

So yes, you call me different,
But really, we're the same
And now I write to you, dear World,
To save you from your pain

It's pain that I am free from,
But not by my own choice
He rescued me before I knew,
Or even heard, His voice

"Freedom isn't free!" you say
Of course not! Don't you see?
The Son of God has paid an e-
verlasting debt for me

Dear World, you've tripped and fallen,
But don't give in to shame
Just put your trust in Jesus Christ,
Who died and rose again

It's not some mystic nonsense
To go from slave to free
Your life, your all is what He wants
When He says, "Follow Me"

Believe me when I tell you
He's worth the best you have
So give it all away and find
The very peace you crave

When We Love Money More than We Love People

I read this article today on Facebook, and I must say that I'm very pleased that someone is willing to say such challenging things, particularly since it's something I've been desiring to find a way to say for the past several months. To Mrs. Schmidley's challenging words (which truly need no commentary) I would like to add some of my own inconsequential thoughts. 

Paul wrote in Galatians 2, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Consider the implications of this. Christ does not call us to simply believe in Him and testify about Him with our words; He asks us to allow His Spirit to live within us and to surrender our lives to Him. This is what He Himself says in Luke 9: "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it."

Consider Christ, our Lord and our Savior. How did He save us? He left His exalted position in Heaven, became a man, lived a difficult life in ancient Israel, was betrayed by one of His close friends, and allowed Himself to be stripped naked, whipped, beaten, and nailed to a cross, where He literally drowned in His own blood. Romans 5:8 says that "God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!" There is nothing within us that merited the grace God gave us; in fact, everything within us condemned us as Christ's enemies. Consider then that this same Love--this insane, self-sacrificial Love who cares nothing about whether the objects of His mercy deserve to receive it--now lives within us.

Does this not lend an entirely new meaning to Paul's words above? "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." If we actually stop to think about what this means, it is so much more than a statement of freedom from the death that results from sin. It is a description of how we are meant to live our lives. This is what Jesus Himself says in John 17:18: "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." What does this mean? Clearly we can't accomplish the same mission Jesus already did, since His death was enough to ransom us once and for all. A clue can be found in Christ's words in Matthew 5, during the famous Sermon on the Mount, wherein He says, "let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."

We were not saved so that we could go to church, sing songs by Chris Tomlin and Hillsong, tithe our ten percent, and serve in the nursery. We were saved so that we could show the love of God to the world around us; in so doing, we point the world back to God Himself. Paul writes in Galatians 5:6 that "what matters [in Christ Jesus] is faith working through love." Is it loving to ignore the needs of those who do not have what we do? Let me say that again, because I want to make sure I am clear. I'm not asking whether it is justifiable to ignore their needs. Clearly, we who have worked hard and made our money have earned the plenty we now experience; I'm not trying to argue that somehow we don't deserve the money we have. We did earn it! (In my case, as an unemployed college student, my parents earned it, but I still benefit from the work they have done.) I'm asking whether it is loving to then take that plenty and keep it for ourselves, when others have less than we do.

Brothers and sisters, Christ Jesus gave His life for us! Why are we as Christians not willing to give our money and our opportunities for those who have less? Paul admonishes us in Romans 12 to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God. If we are to surrender our bodies to God, how much more so those things we own that are temporary?

In Matthew 25, Jesus describes the judgment of mankind in the final days. He says that the King (who is Jesus Himself) will divide up the righteous from the unrighteous--the righteous at His right hand, and the unrighteous at His left. Hear the interaction that the King has with the unrighteous:

"Then He will also say to those on the left, 'Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you didn't take Me in; I was naked and you didn't clothe Me, sick and in prison and you didn't take care of Me.'

"Then they too will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?'

"Then He will answer them, 'I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.'

"And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

I fear for us. Yes, for us, not just for you. I'm not trying to preach something to you from a position of superiority; I am becoming aware of a cancer in my own heart and mind that is very common in the American Church today. Pope Francis pointed to this truth in a 2013 speech when he said, "The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal."

Why do you think Jesus makes a point to talk about money in Matthew 5:24? "No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money."

Brothers and sisters, it is no coincidence that many of the social issues which the vast majority of American Christians most vocally oppose--universal healthcare, welfare, and immigration all come to mind--are those that threaten our finances. Can we actually honestly address the validity of economic propositions when we are so tied to our money that we feel like fellow Christians have no right to talk to us about how we use it? Christ says that we cannot serve both God and money. Money is such a danger to us that God Himself says that caring too much about it will destroy our ability to serve Him! Why, then, are we not just as vigorous--nay, more vigorous--in keeping each other financially accountable as we are in keeping each other sexually accountable?

This hits a nerve. I know it does. I'm a broke college student, and it still hits a nerve with me, because I have bought into the lie of my right as an American to earn my own prosperity. I look around at myself and at the rest of the bride of Christ, and my heart is troubled by the selfishness I see. Jon Foreman's song, "The Patron Saint of Rock and Roll," expresses it in a beautifully poetic way:

"There's a park downtown
Where the homeless get ignored
Where the church next door is a crowd
Singing, 'Blessed are the poor'
Where the Mercedes drive away
Muttering, 'Druggies, drunks, and whores'
Where the bumper sticker displays,
'My copilot is the Lord'"

My dear brothers and sisters, who have we become? Why do we love our money so much more than we love those around us that we refuse to extend to them undeserved mercy (just as God extended undeserved mercy to us)? Money is not made in the image of God. Money does not have a soul that lasts forever. Our fellow humans--yes, even the ones who are trying to "game the system"--are made in God's image. Our fellow humans do have eternal souls.

I am coming to realize, in my own immature stumbling after God, that I idolize my own comfort and prosperity so much. I cannot pretend to know anyone else's hearts, but I do see a Church that is largely populated by those who desire to restrict access to healthcare, access to finances, and access to this land of opportunity with which we have been blessed.

"Don't keep striving for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don't be anxious. For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

"But seek His kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. Don't be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won't grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12:29-34)

These are the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and it took the words of an atheistic presidential candidate to wake me up to the way in which I have been ignoring them. I do not know at this point where I stand with regards to politics and economics, but I do know that there is something very wrong with being a Christian and talking about fairness and justice in terms of making sure we are keeping our money rather than of making sure we are helping others be as successful and prosperous as they can be.

Our God and our King has commanded us to sell our possessions and give to the poor. The thought of obeying that command fills me with anxiety, but the God of the universe has purchased me with His blood. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. How can I respond but by striving to give Him glory in every area of my life?

We cannot serve both God and money. I stand before you, brothers and sisters, to confess that I serve money far too often, and I'm sick of letting it control my life. Are you sick of that, too?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible^®, Copyright  © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible^®, Holman CSB^®, and HCSB^® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Common Grace

It's really strange to me to think about the fact that God not only created me but also sustains me. I guess it's weird that I get so hung up on this fact, but the fact that He sustains me even in the midst of my sin and defiance totally blows my mind. It's not like I'm a watch that He wound up and then let go to do whatever I want; no, He continues to fill me with His breath, keeping me alive every moment of every day. This means that, even as I act in a way that is basically a "screw you" to His holiness, He continues to give me the very energy I use to sin against Him.

The Bible says that God causes the rain to fall on both the righteous and the unrighteous, but that's merely a single example of the many common graces He gives to us all. How kind and faithful He is to me, to allow me to live and breathe and walk and talk and laugh and cry in this world! One moment I use my words to praise Him, and He listens with pleasure, knowing even as He does that moments later I will use my words to curse His creation. And every time I speak, it is His breath that I am exhaling, His life that is providing the impetus for those words.

Have you ever thought about the idea of energy? Where do we get our energy from? Yes, I know about the digestive system, about this amazing body I have that converts food and oxygen into stuff it can actually use. But I am not a machine. I am not a series of chemical reactions that results in the motions I intend to make. I have a will, desires that drive me in a hundred different conflicting directions, emotions that threaten to tear me into a hundred pieces countless times each day, hopes and dreams and interests that--partially, at least--make me who I am. Where did those come from? I write these words not because a particular synapse fired in my brain, not because the chicken I ate at dinner provides my fingers with energy, not because nerves carried electrical impulses to tendons that manipulated joints. I write these words because I desire to, because I feel that I have something that I ought to say, to communicate to anyone who might happen to stumble upon my silly scribblings.

This desire, this feeling of ought-ness, this desire to communicate ideas transcends any one particular culture or people group. It is something all human beings have in common, from the articulate President of the United States, to the boy from Malaysia with a cleft palate, to the deaf women gesturing at a fast food counter. Some ideas are mundane, silly even. Others are vast; they carry the weight of a million souls with them and transform the world forever.

N. D. Wilson wrote a book that I am reading: Notes from the Tilt-a-whirl. In this book, he talks about how our world is spoken by God, how we are all parts of a story He is telling, a song He is singing. In light of this, I cannot say that the idea of a spoken world is my own idea; rather, it is an idea that he planted in my mind. But if what he says is true, and God continues to maintain us through speaking, would it not make sense for us, the words, to desire to communicate? That is, after all, what words are designed to do. If this life is a novel, then the things that I say, that I do, that I contemplate are all motifs and themes woven into the body of the book that is the extent of my earthly existence.

Which means that, in a roundabout way, these come from God. Not to say that all our thoughts are godly or righteous: rather, it is simply to say that He breathes life into us, He crafts our minds, He knows our thoughts, and He Himself designs every thread of the tapestry. There is no other weaver, only the One who holds all threads in His hands. So when I look lustfully at a woman, it is another thread God is weaving into the tapestry: an ugly one that, to me, appears to mar the beauty of my segment of this magnum opus that He is crafting. But from God's perspective, this thread and others like it--envy, insecurity, self-harm--will only add to the final beauty of this piece. The story goes by many names, but I think the best one is "Glory be to God." Or perhaps "Praise the LORD." (If you prefer the Hebrew, that's "Hallelu Yah.")

You see, we breathe and eat and poop and sing and swear only because God has designed the breathing and eating and pooping and singing and swearing that fills our days. And the part we can't see is that it's all about His glory, His praise. That's why, when kings conspire with one another, when they rise up and band together against my God, He laughs at them. He knows that all their conspiring, all their defiance comes to naught. They breathe the air He gives them, speak the lines He writes for them, make the plans He designs for them. And ultimately, through their downfall and His victory over them, they bring Him the glory He desires for Himself.

Every disgusting thread Yahweh God uses only adds to the wonder we the audience will feel when we see the extraordinary, unbelievable beauty of the finished product.

The Top Ten Steps to Academic Success

I received this list upon my graduation from high school from a family friend who has worked in the public school system for many years. I wanted an easily accessible electronic version and thought others could benefit if I put it up here.

1.   Make Your Health a Priority
Budget your time to make sure you get enough sleep. Eat well. Make time to exercise. Relax. Cut down on stress. Don’t forget that the trick to success is learning how to balance work and play and still find time to stay healthy.

2.   Be Yourself
Be an individual and make your own decisions. Think and act for yourself instead of conforming to other people’s expectations. Take chances that will help you grow, and accept responsibility for your actions. Above all, do things that make you happy.

3.   Be Patient with Yourself
No one has ever gone to school without making mistakes. You won’t either. Don’t get discouraged, and look at setbacks as part of your success. Be proud of your achievements, and learn from your mistakes.

4.   Get Involved
Join a student organization. Volunteer in the community. Play intramurals. Be part of activities. A large part of the college experience takes place outside the classroom.

5.   Listen to Others
Listen to and learn from advice, criticism, and praise from your counselor, teachers, friends, and family. These people are some of the most valuable resources you have.

6.   Do Not Procrastinate
Break down long-term assignments into smaller tasks and include them in your study schedule. Try not to postpone assignments until the last minute and study for exams prior to the night before. Your teacher will expect you to put more effort into the assignments they give you more time to complete.

7.   Budget Your Time Well
Learn to balance your time. Take a few minutes each day or at the beginning of the week to make a schedule. It could save you stress in the long run. Your planner is a very valuable tool—use it every day!

8.   Know the Rules
Unawareness of expectations isn’t an excuse for not fulfilling them. Ask questions first.

9.   Learn about Your School and What It Has to Offer
Your school is a valuable resource and has innumerable support services to help you in your academic transition. If you have a question or a problem, more than likely there is someone who can help you. Take the initiative to find out from your counselor, teachers, or principals.

10.   Go to Class
Boredom, lack of sleep, and poor preparation are frequent excuses for skipping class. Avoiding these habits and going to class are the first steps toward academic success.