Believe it?

In this book, I may have presented a compelling case for you to think differently about your identity. But believing it is different than trusting it.

Believing it might lead you to quote this book, tell others about it, feel better about your life, or even go back to church.

But that doesn’t mean you trust.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 8

<idle musing>
An appropriate way to end the book, isn't it? And what about you? Do you really believe that God loves you unconditionally?

Don't confuse the indicative with the imperative! God said it. Repeatedly. Throughout the Old and New Testaments. He loves you—"while we were yet sinners" as the KJV puts it. No striving for acceptance. Christ did it.

Of course, that doesn't mean you sit back and take a vacation, talking about how you are a king or queen, or whatever other self-indulgent, self-centered lie you want to believe. But, it does mean you aren't striving for acceptance anymore. You are already accepted in the beloved. Live from it—not in order to obtain it.
</idle musing>

But it just doesn't make sense

God will complete that work in me.

There is something so scandalous, so flat-out impossible about that truth that it almost becomes comforting. This is not a truth about God that I would have made up if I’d been in charge of writing the Bible. I would have made the plan something like this:God does something amazing for me, so in return He requires me to do something amazing for Him.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 8

<idle musing>
It doesn't make sense, does it? It's scandalous! That's what Paul says, anyway, so I guess we're in good company...
</idle musing>

Usurping the usurpers

But even though Jesus did exactly what God had told him to do, neither Israel nor the Gentiles around Israel accepted him as Messiah. (This theme consistently reveals that we are all usurpers and incurable usurpers.) Though Jesus was a man known to do good everywhere he went, and though he healed and rescued people from all sorts of problems, and though he brought people to the table who were forgiven and saved and healed and made new again and turned from usurpers to lovers, the descendants—both Roman and Jewish—decided they’d be better off putting him to death. They feared he’d deconstruct their usurpations, so they killed him in the most despicable of manners by crucifying him naked on a cross outside Jerusalem on Golgotha. The usurpers were in control and the descendants had descended to their lowest.

What the usurpers and descendants didn’t know was that Jesus was actually entering into their usurpations and the death they deserved for their sins. He was dying their death, he was shouldering their sins and the punishment due their sins, and he was absorbing the just wrath of God against all sin. What they didn’t know was that God could reverse their usurpations and reverse their death and start all over again. What they didn’t know was that his way of dying as a servant was to become the only true way of living and making peace in this world. What they didn’t know was that the cross was the crown and that the power comes only when it is surrendered. They didn’t know this. No one did. Not even Jesus’ closest followers. What the usurpers didn’t know was that they had met their match in King Jesus, who was about to usher in an alternative kingdom.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 151

<idle musing>
Sometimes—maybe most of the time!—it's what you don't know that counts. Deep magic from before the foundation of the world, to paraphrase C.S. Lewis.

My question is, have we learned? We still define power by conquest. We still define success by popularity. We still trample on the "other." It's easy to get discouraged sometimes, but then I remember that God is at work—especially in me!

How easy it is for me to point the finger at others in areas where I don't have the same problems...but watch out if it's an area where I have a blind spot!

We all need Jesus...and we all need revival...especially me!
</idle musing>

A Cure for legalism

It is further manifest that you are deceiving yourselves, because all true religion consists in obedience. And, therefore, however much you may approve of Christianity, you have no religion unless you obey it. In saying that all religion consists in obedience, I do not mean outward obedience. But faith itself, true faith, works by love, and produces corresponding action. There is no real obedience but the obedience of the heart: love is the fulfilling of the law; and religion consists in the obedience of the heart, with a corresponding course of life.—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
Indeed. If we are obeying from the heart, it isn't legalism. Legalism is an attempt to force conformity of external behavior in hopes of creating a corresponding internal change. It never works. Ever. No, not even then! Never.
</idle musing>

Cheap grace

It [cheap grace] functions as a pass allowing the Christian to live in the same manner as before. Life under cheap grace, in fact, does not differ from life under sin; there is no following after Christ because cheap grace justifies the sin without transforming the sinner.—Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians, 104

Spring!

Kinda...

The gusts were up to 48 MPH last night—glad we took our walk earlier! It was a beautiful day, though. The snow was coming down in big flakes, 28°F, calm, just gorgeous!

Of course, the wind made some changes. The backyard now has drifts up to six feet again and the path to the compost bin is filled in...

Word order matters

As I was spinning away on the trainer the other day, I got to musing about word order in English. Specifically, this phrase in Hark! The herald angels sing (I know, a Christmas carol on one of the first days of spring! But it snowed about 6 inches yesterday, so why not!)

Pleased as man with men to dwell...

Obviously a poetic turn of phrase, but I suspect most people read (and sing) it as if it were saying

Pleased with men as man to dwell...

Catch the difference? Subtle, but significant, isn't it? In the first version, it doesn't matter what humanity has done, the initiative is all from God. In the second version, God is pleased with humanity, so he decides to dwell among us.

That little change in word order has a profound affect on how we see God. If we see God as coming because he is pleased with us, then we end up with a performance-based "gospel."

But if we see the initiative as from God to begin with, irrespective of what humanity does, we end up with a Gospel that is grace-based from beginning to end. All God, all the time!

By the way, there are two more verses that rarely, if ever, get sung. Personally, these have become my favorite verses after discovering them a few years ago on Cyberhymnal.org:

Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display Thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.

Refrain

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.

Refrain

Isn't that great? It doesn't leave us at atonement only—it takes us to restoration. It doesn't leave us with a "sin management" gospel, but broadcasts the full deliverance from sin that is possible in Christ. That's something to sing about!

Too true...

We, along with the disciples, might see that Jesus is in our lives, but we don’t really know what that means. We see the fact without seeing the significance of the fact.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 8

There's more to the gospel...

[O]ur gospeling tends to reduce and aim at one and only one target: the sinner’s heart. Evangelism’s focus is on the individual person, and it is on getting that person to admit that he or she is a sinner and then to receive Jesus Christ as savior and solution to the sin problem. In the words of Dallas Willard, our gospel is about sin management. But the apostolic gospel can’t be reduced to a gospel of sin management because it was a gospel of Jesus-declaration (that included the defeat of sin and death).— The King Jesus Gospel, page 144

<idle musing>
Amen! Good preaching!
</idle musing>

What are we?

We are not “human doings,” but “human beings.”— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 7

<idle musing>
Short, to the point, and correct. We are before we do—and we are "holy in Christ" and "accepted in the beloved." That's good news!
</idle musing>

Would Nero take issue with me?

I agree with how Michael Bird puts this: “Nero did not throw Christians to the lions because they confessed that ‘Jesus is Lord of my heart.’ It was rather because they confessed that ‘Jesus is Lord of all,’ meaning that Jesus was Lord even over the realm Caesar claimed as his domain of absolute authority.”— The King Jesus Gospel, page 144

<idle musing>
I just ran across a nice little snippet from Finney that highlights the same thing:

You hear a man say sometimes, I am so much engaged all day in the world, or in worldly business, that I have not time to serve God. He thinks he serves God a little while in the morning, and then attends to his worldly business. That man, you may rely upon it, left his religion where he said his prayers. He is not serving God. It is a mere burlesque for him to pretend to serve God. He is willing, perhaps, to give God the time before breakfast, before he gets ready to go to his own business, but as soon as that is over, away he goes to his own work. He fears the Lord, perhaps, enough to go through with his prayers night and morning, but he serves his own gods.—That man's religion is the laughing-stock of hell! He prays very devoutly, and then, instead of engaging in his business for God, he is serving himself. No doubt the idols are well satisfied with the arrangement, but God is wholly displeased.

Again, we serve an all-consuming God who loves us and is jealous of and for us...
</idle musing>

Wisdom from James (the book, not me!)

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 2:1–9; 3:13–18; 4:1–4 NIV)

<idle musing>
I had never put these three sections of James together in my mind before today. What if we take the person with the fancy clothes and put a title like PhD, DMin, MD, or such after the name? Would that change the way you viewed them?

And what if we put high school dropout, or redneck, or fundamentalist, or Tea Partier, or some other epithet after the poor person's name?

I submit it would. I also submit to you that James is calling it sin. I need to repent! What about you?

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:7-10 NIV)
</idle musing>

Imago Dei

But we have a nasty habit of screwing it all up. We take something that is part of our imago Dei —the call to work—and make it a source of identity. Or an idol. Or an escape. Or an excuse. Or a source of self-worth. Or the engine of our consumerism.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 7

Maybe it was an interrobang

The messianic, lordly, and kingly confession of Jesus is not incidental to the Bible. It is the point of the Bible, and the gospel is the good news that Jesus is that Messiah, that Lord, and that King. We are his subjects. The question over and over in the Bible is: “Who is the rightful Lord of this cosmic temple?” The answer shifts in the pages of Israel’s Story until it comes to Jesus, and we get not a full stop but an exclamation point: Jesus is the Messiah and Lord!

Yes, the problem is our sin; yes, we need to be forgiven of sinfulness and our sins. But that sin and that forgiveness are connected to our lordly assignments and to our priestly responsibilities and to our flailing and failing attempts to usurp God’s tasks to make them ours. The only one worthy to sit on that throne is King Jesus.— The King Jesus Gospel, pages 141-142

<idle musing>
It definitely is an exclamation point, but I also think an interrobang accurately expresses the surprise that most felt at what God has done. My own response when I encountered the unconditional love, forgiveness, and new life in Christ was definitely an interrobang—"He loves me?" and, "He loves me!" in a cosmic mash-up whose repercussions are still being felt in my life 42 years later. Praise to Him!
</idle musing>

Eschatological bicycling

First a bit of background...since moving to Grand Marais, I don't need to ride my bike to work anymore—I work out of my house. So, I put the road bike on a trainer (a magnetic one that I've had for over 12 years) and ride it 3-4 times a week for 30 minutes.

Last week, while riding, I got to thinking about riding styles. I generally spend most of my time "on the hoods." That's a fancy way of saying that my hands rest on the top of the brake levers. The brake levers on newer bikes are covered with a softer rubber piece that is called a hood. I also try to spend about 30% of the time "in the drops," a fancy way of saying on the lower section of the handlebars. The drops are a good place to ride if you are fighting a headwind, but it also takes a bit of getting used to, so I practice in the winter. It really does take a bit of getting used to...generally after about 1-2 minutes, I want to change positions, but I stay there anyway.

But, getting back to riding on the hoods. I was musing on what an philologist 2,000 to 3,000 years from now would think if they ran across that phrase. What definition for "hood" would they use? There's the hood of a car, but there is also the slang term 'hood for neighborhood. What if that was the only context they had for the word?

Imagine reading about someone riding their bike "on the hoods." I've been editing a book about Persian power and it's deconstruction in the Psalms, so that turn of mind entered into my thoughts. Someone can't literally ride "on the hoods" if the hoods are neighborhoods, so obviously something else is going on. Could it be they meant "in the hoods"? or maybe "through the hoods"? I can see a whole new school of thought growing out of this debate. : )

But what if we take "on the hoods" as a symbolic phrase? It must mean that they see themselves as somehow superior to, or conquering the neighborhoods—rising above their circumstances. Maybe they are making a theological statement of what will happen in the future! Maybe...well, you get the idea.

Maybe it helps if you have read The Motel of the Mysteries! Maybe you just had to be there. Maybe I'm just nuts!

Garden? Yes, garden

Sunday morning it was -24°F here. They're predicting 6-12 inches of snow today (update: it looks like most of the snow will go south of us; we're down to 1-2 inches). The garden is under between 3 and 5 feet of snow right now (Hey, it's down from 4–6 last week!).

So what do you do? Simple! You plant seeds! So, over the weekend, I started some seeds—5 flats worth. Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, onions, watermelon, squash all nicely sitting around and getting ready to germinate.

Right now, they're in the study and office where it is warmer. Once they germinate, I'll move them downstairs under lights to grow until transplanting them into bigger pots and, eventually!, moving them outside to their permanent home.

This year I'm planning on using the greenhouse that Dave had built to grow some tomatoes. Last year I didn't get it repaired in time. I'll be using self-watering containers made out of 5 gallon food service buckets. You need to use food grade plastic buckets or all kinds of stuff will leach into your soil. Why grow your own if it's loaded with as many chemicals as the commercial stuff?

Meanwhile, in the basement, I've been experimenting with various stuff all winter. I've tried spinach, Romaine lettuce, mizuna, and radishes. Our basement has been running about 50-60°F this winter, what with the cold outside. The first planting in December didn't do too well except for the mizuna. In fact, the second planting in late December passed them by! Before we left for Wisconsin in mid-February, we had consumed all the radishes and spinach (only one cutting is worth keeping when you grow them in rain gutter). The lettuce was about half gone and we harvested the rest to take with us. Well, not quite all of it; I left about a quarter of it to die—or so I thought...

When we got back, 2.5 weeks later, I found out that the Romaine I didn't cut had survived without light or water! I turned the lights back on, watered them well, and they are growing! Amazing.

We haven't gotten enough produce from the rain gutter garden to keep us from buying produce, but it has been a treat to get fresh stuff to supplement. You can't beat the taste of a fresh radish in the middle of January—and I mean fresh as in pulled 2 minutes ago :)

But what of my hoop house? It didn't survive. In fact, it came down the first week in November. I didn't reinforce it enough, thinking that being in the backyard, surrounded by wood fence would control the wind. NOT! The wind took out a good percentage of it, so I finished taking it down. Just as well, Debbie was getting tired of looking out the kitchen window and only seeing the top of a hoop house! We harvested a good bit of lettuce and other greens before its demise, though. In fact, we took about a week's worth of greens with us to Wisconsin back in November.

Next year I will try low tunnels—3 foot high hoops with row cover and plastic. I've got to figure out a way to keep the snow from drifting over them though. Right now there is between 3 and 5 feet of snow where they would be. Of course, this winter has been unusual, but with the wacky climate change, who knows...this may be the new norm.

Where it all began

He checked you out when you were still a blob of doubling-every-few-hours cells, and He loved you. And later, before you could even form a coherent thought—before you’d done anything more praiseworthy than spit up and sleep—God still loved you. Just as He loves you today.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 6

<idle musing>
It certainly isn't performance based, is it? : )
</idle musing>

Image and likeness

Not only is Jesus Messiah, but Jesus over and over in the New Testament is the one true Eikon of God. What the apostles were telling us is that assignment God gave to Adam, the assignment transferred to Abraham, Israel, and Moses, and then to David has now been transferred to and perfectly fulfilled by Jesus.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 139

But it feels good

Here is the source of a grand delusion among men in regard to religion. They see it to be true, and they really rejoice in contemplating it: they do not enter into its relations to themselves, and so they love to hear such preaching, and say they are fed by it. But MARK:—They go away and do not practice! See that man. He is sick, and his feelings are tender. In view of Christ as a kind and tender Savior, his heart melts, and he feels strong emotions of approbation towards Jesus Christ. Why? For the very same reasons that he would feel strong emotions towards the hero of a romance. But he does not obey Christ. He never practices one thing out of obedience to Christ, but just views Him abstractedly, and is delighted with His glorious and lovely character, while he himself remains in the gall of bitterness. Thus it is apparent that your faith must be an efficient faith, such as regulates your practice and produces good works, or it is not the faith of the gospel, it is no real faith at all.—Charles Finney

Remember Eustace?

What Eustace gets right is that he needs to be transformed. The truest thing about him is that he is a boy trapped inside a dragon, and so his scales must be removed. What Eustace gets wrong, however, is the method. He sinks his own claws into his own scales, hoping to remove them and reveal the boy beneath. It’s self-surgery, and it fails.

Just as it does when we try it.

Transformation doesn’t begin with cleaning up and getting our acts together. It begins with meeting Jesus. When we do that, we are identified with Jesus and given new identities—identities based on His righteousness and standing with God.

And that is how we become who we are. Not by our own effort or achievement, but by virtue of our being hidden in Christ. When Christ is our life, then we—just like Christ—are God’s beloved.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 6

<idle musing>
Amen and amen! Good preaching! Self improvement can never remake us—and that's what we need—only God in Christ through the Holy Spirit can do that. We need to become who we are as we release ourselves to him.
</idle musing>

Usurpers all

The so-called fall of Genesis 3 is not just an act of sinning against God’s command, a moral lapse, but a betrayal of our fundamental kingly and priestly roles. Instead of mediating God to the serpent, instead of taking our assignment of ruling God’s good garden on God’s behalf, Adam and Eve tried to elevate themselves to God’s role. The issue is not just that we were sinners; we were usurpers in the garden.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 138

<idle musing>
I like that idea. Usurpers. We decided to become God—and it has haunted us ever since...
</ idle musing>

Thought for today

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:5, 6, 15, 16 NIV)

<idle musing>
Our narcissistic, materialistic world could use a dose of this...
</idle musing>

Why bother?

Aspect by itself is of little interpretive help: the author’s subjective choice of action as a whole or in process or stative gives us very little to work with unless we process it in light of broader contextual features. Even brief suggestions about levels of prominence associated with the aspects provide little help for translators and exegetes needing to probe the meaning further.

So paying attention to how aspect interacts with features of a verb’s lexical meaning or with various adjuncts used with the verb (subject and object phrases, adverbs, prepositional phrases, etc.) is essential to finding the larger significance of aspect in a specific context. It is only natural that in seeking to understand one element of a text’s meaning we would pay attention to related features and see them in their larger connections with each other. This has always been an important part of good contextual exegesis.—Buist Fanning, "Greek Presents, Imperfects, and Aorists in the Synoptic Gospels: Their Contribution to Narrative Structuring" in Discourse Studies & Biblical Interpretation: A Festschrift in Honor of Stephen H. Levinsohn; ed. Steven E. Runge; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2011.

Wrong!

“We are loved because...” That sentence is the biggest single failing of our perception of identity. The reason that’s wrong is because we try to earn love. We try to base our identity on what we do, what we have, what we desire. We try to deserve love from others and God. But we never can.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 6

<idle musing>
He put his finger on the main problem we have—performance-based acceptance. God isn't like that—he loves us. He took the initiative; he is the one who pulls us out of the pit—even when we didn't even realize we were in the pit! How awesome is that?!
</idle musing>

Exalted King

There is a huge difference between the gospeling of Acts and our Plan of Salvation approach today, and alongside that difference, the gospel of Acts has almost no similarity to our Method of Persuasion. The difference can be narrowed to this single point: the gospeling of Acts, because it declares the saving significance of Jesus, Messiah and Lord, summons listeners to confess Jesus as Messiah and Lord, while our gospeling seeks to persuade sinners to admit their sin and find Jesus as the Savior.

We are not creating a false alternative here. The latter can be done within the former, but much of the soterian approach to evangelism today fastens on Jesus as (personal) Savior and dodges Jesus as Messiah and Lord. If there is any pervasive heresy today, it’s right here. Anyone who can preach the gospel and not make Jesus’ exalted lordship the focal point simply isn’t preaching the apostolic gospel.— The King Jesus Gospel, pages 133-134

<idle musing>
Amen and amen! A.W. Tozer used to bemoan the "Jesus as savior" approach to salvation. For him, either Jesus was preached as Lord or he couldn't be preached at all—no lordship, no salvation. It's that simple. I agree.

We need the full gospel—from Genesis 3, where God takes the initiative and seeks mankind as they try to hide, all the way through the descent of the bride clothed in white at the end of Revelation. God taking the initiative, humanity responding. Always God, always love, always reaching out to us...
</idle musing>

Hit the flashing animal

Remember those early Internet adds with the flashing animal running across the banner? You were supposed to hit it and then you won some kind of prize. I never did it, so I don't know what you would win, but for the last week or so, I had a sense of déjà vu on my Macbook Pro Finder window.

When I'm copy editing, I usually have a few windows open on my desktops (I run 4 desktops). For example, on the first desktop, I'll have Chrome open with a tab for Google, a tab for WorldCat, and a miscellaneous tab or two (usually Google Books, or some such); on the second desktop, I'll have Word open with the chapter I'm working on, the abbreviations file, and the bibliography chapter; I usually also have a Finder window open in case I need to access another file. On the third desktop, I keep my style sheet, any notes from the publisher on that book, iTunes, and Accordance with the Hebrew, Greek, and whatever English text the author is using. On the fourth desktop is my e-mail and RSS feeder. So much for background...

A few weeks back, I installed Google Drive and then we left for Wisconsin—and no Internet for a week. Everything was working fine—until the day we got Internet back. That day, for the first time ever, I got a blue screen on the Macbook! I rebooted and everything seemed fine. I save continually, so I didn't loose any work. For some reason, I didn't have the Finder window open on desktop 2 and the Word windows took up the whole screen, so I couldn't see the desktop.

Over the next few days, I noticed that the laptop didn't always wake up after going to sleep and I started to wonder if I didn't have a hardware issue. I did a bit of googling (on the iPad—praise God for a second computer!) and found this on how to reset the System Management Controller (SMC). Apple says that it controls

Responding to presses of the power button
Responding to the display lid opening and closing on portable Macs
Battery management

among other things. So I did the reset. Everything worked fine—until we got home. I plugged in the Time Machine backup (I didn't take it with me, depending on Dropbox for backup of the book I'm editing). Next morning, the computer wouldn't wake up. I did a hard reset and powered back up. I got the Apple logo with the spinning whatever, then gray screen. Yikes. I tried again. Same thing. Now I'm getting worried. I tried resetting the SMC again. Nothing. I tried booting into Safe Mode (hold down the right shift key while powering up) and got in. Whew!

I started editing, and noticed that the Finder window on my second desktop would keep showing itself over the bibliography window and then disappear. Hmmm...had I been hacked? I turned off wireless just in case. Still doing it...strange. I kept editing until lunch. I made lunch and came back to a nonresponsive computer : (

This time it didn't come back with any of the above techniques. Now I'm worried. I have a book that is due by Friday and I'm 2.5 hours from the nearest Apple store. I really think it is the logic board, based on my Google results. But I ran across a post that suggested I reset the NVRAM. How in the world do I do that? Oh, here it is. Apparently resetting the NVRAM will clear any kernel panics and reset a few other things. One thing that I had noticed was that I wasn't getting the normal Mac startup chime, but I chalked that up to the possibility of a bad logic board.

I reset the NVRAM, praying the whole time! Everything came back—including the startup chime! But what could have caused the kernel panic? Maybe my Time Machine backup drive is bad? I disconnected it and turned it off. I went back to editing...and noticed that the Finder window was doing its funky thing again. I moved to desktop 4 to check e-mail and noticed that all the folders on the desktop were flashing. Weird! Could this all be related?

Quick Google check on flashing Finder and Desktop icons. Hmmm...turns out Google Drive and Mavericks don't play well together! So far nobody else has mentioned that it also affects coming out of sleep mode, but I figured its worth a try. I quit Google Drive (I use Dropbox anyway) and uninstalled it. Flashing is gone!

Great! But what about sleep mode? I didn't plug my Time Machine back in, just in case it might be the culprit. I let the machine go to sleep multiple times and it came back every time.

OK, let's try plugging Time Machine back in...just in case, I closed all my windows : )

I made supper and came back. It started right back up. Great! Now, let's try it with a few windows open. It came back!

OK, now let's open all the normal windows back up and see what happens...No problems. Great, I'm going to bed!

This morning, the computer woke up with no problem! So, it wasn't a hardware issue after all. Now to finish that book before tomorrow!

Update 3/18/14: It isn't Google Drive. It just happened to me again. Not sure what it is...but I'm experimenting.

Be yourself

We simply cannot become who we should be. It’s impossible. The only thing we can become is who we are.

It’s the high and beautiful gospel indicatives that sustain the gospel imperatives. In Christ, we can become who we are.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 6

<idle musing>
In other words, be yourself. But, we need to qualify that with be your real self—the one you are in Christ. Don't be the moody, cantankerous, selfish, difficult person you used to be; be the new person you are in Christ.
</idle musing>

More than a transaction

Peter’s gospeling also puts the life of a live body on the bones of 1 Corinthians 15, and that means his gospel involved telling the full Story of Jesus Christ, including his life, his death, his resurrection, his exaltation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, his second coming, and the wrapping up of history so that God would be all in all. The reason we have to say this is because too often we have…

reduced the life of Jesus to Good Friday, and therefore
reduced the gospel to the crucifixion, and then soterians have
reduced Jesus to transaction of a Savior

The King Jesus Gospel, page 119

<idle musing>
I would add:
reduced the Christian life to a struggle to survive until death.
and then we wonder why there is not transformation...
</idle musing>

The order of things matters

The truths of the gospel support and sustain the commands of the gospel. If we do not first understand the truth about who we are—the truest thing about us—we will be crushed by the weight of the commands.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 6

<idle musing>
I know people like that, don't you? Sometimes I'm that person...I get focused on the do and forget about the be.
</idle musing>

How it's framed

The apostles were not like our modern soterians because they did not empty the gospel of its Story, nor did they reduce the gospel to the Plan of Salvation. In fact, the apostles were the original, robust evangelicals. It all has to do with how the gospel is framed. Peter and Paul framed their gospeling through the grid of Israel’s story coming to its destination in the Story of Jesus. Neither did they frame their gospel from the perspective of an atonement theory—whether the ransom theory or the penal substitution theory. Salvation and atonement flow out of the gospel, and Paul can call his gospel the “message of salvation” ([Acts] 13:26), but neither atonement nor salvation was how the apostles framed the gospel.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 117

<idle musing>
It's interesting that what most people consider the "center of the gospel"—atonement theory—doesn't even get mentioned in the early church. They were too busy concentrating on who Jesus is and was. It's telling that the most common manuscripts of the New Testament from the early period are the gospels. We tend to think of Paul first, then Jesus. Who got it right??
</idle musing>

Christ is your life

However, Paul proclaimed something much different from that in Colossians 3. He stated that Christ is your life. He is. Fact. Done deal.

He did not say that Christ is your life if you accomplish this, give away that, and forgive those. No. None of that. Paul stated, qualification free, that Christ is your life.

This kind of statement in Scripture is called an indicative—something that has already been indicated or declared about you as a fact, a truth.

Indicatives aren’t the only kind of statement in Scripture, however. There are also imperatives. An imperative is something we are supposed to do, phrased as a command or a direction. It might sound dry to talk about types of speech, but it is hugely important for this reason: when we confuse indicatives with imperatives, we sabotage our ability to live in our new identities.

Colossians 3 is full of indicatives. You have been raised with Christ. You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ. Christ is your life. All of these things are declared about you as facts that are already true.

The minute we hear these as instructions for us to accomplish—as imperatives—we hear a lie. Some of us have the feeling that all we hear in church or around Christians are imperatives. Commands that threaten our freedom. And some of us church types actually love imperatives, but for selfish reasons. See, if we keep all the commands and rules, we can chart our progress toward holiness and present ourselves as righteous people.

But both of those approaches are wrong!

Here’s why. Every imperative in Scripture is based on an indicative. In other words, we’re never asked to do something until we’re told something true about who we are.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 6

<idle musing>
Grammar matters! He's totally correct here. So often we confuse a statement for a command and consequently short-circuit God's plans for us.
</idle musing>

The twelve

So, when Jesus chooses twelve (Mark 6:7–13) and when he promises the twelve will sit on the twelve thrones (Matt. 19:28), Jesus evokes both Israel’s prophetic expectation and the fullness of God’s covenant people. But what might be missed is this, and I think missing this is a colossal failure: Jesus does not include himself in the twelve. He’s not one of them. He’s above them. He is the Lord or King (or Messiah!) over the twelve, not just one of the twelve.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 107

<idle musing>
I had never noticed that before...
</idle musing>

Thought for the day

 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,

for the rights of all who are destitute.

 Speak up and judge fairly;

defend the rights of the poor and needy. Prov. 31:8-9 TNIV

Ain't it the truth

Great paragraph in a good review of a book:

As I approached the end of the volume [Saebø's Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: The History of its Interpretation, Volume III/1: The Nineteenth Century — a Century of Modernism and Historicism], Katharine Dell helpfully articulated what was beginning to take shape in my own head: “sometimes when we think we have a new idea we need to heed Qoheleth’s warning that ‘of making many books there is no end’ (12:12) and that there may be little that is ‘new under the sun’ (1:9) after all.” As an author who has also worked in publishing, I understand the immense effort and expense that goes into making books at all points of the process. We ought to have a significant and useful contribution to show for our investment when ideas see print, yet so many books cover the same territory using the same well-trodden paths. Knowing the story can spare us running in circles and spending our energy in vain.

<idle musing>
Far too many books I've read fall into the latter category...but then you hit a gem that makes it all worthwhile!
</idle musing>

Living a lie

You belong to Christ. You are hidden with Christ. You are God’s beloved. That is the truest thing about you, and therefore you must become that preexisting truth if you are to avoid becoming a lie. These things are true about you—now become what is already true.

Drive this truth, this identity, so deep into your psyche, your personhood, your sense of self-worth, that this truth becomes your fountainhead, the source of your life.

Become who you are.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 6

<idle musing>
Amen! Good preaching! We only need to become what we already are! I know it sounds almost too good to believe, but it is true. We are the righteousness of Christ; we are loved; we are accepted in the beloved. Believe it!

We become what we believe we are. We become what we focus on. If we focus on ourselves and our failings, we fail more. We begin to believe the lies that we can't do anything different—that we have to fail. But, if we realize that in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are more than that, we can become what we already are! Believe it!
</idle musing>

The Gospel according to Mark

Mark’s focus on the death and burial and resurrection is very gospel-like according to Paul’s and the apostles’ definition. A Greek reader feels this focus on the last week more than an English reader. The Greek reader encounters in Mark’s gospel the Greek word euthys, usually translated “immediately,” thirty-four times in the first nine chapters...It is obvious to a careful reader of the second evangelist that Mark couldn’t wait to get Jesus to the cross! Once Mark gets Jesus to the passion, the word euthys all but disappears.— The King Jesus Gospel, pages 83-84

<idle musing>
Indeed. You are almost breathless getting there, but once to the passion week, Mark slows down to include all the details. Another advantage to knowing Greek : )
</idle musing>

Thought for the day

"You know, people say that today. "Oh, I am just a saved sinner."

That is like saying you are a married bachelor. That is like saying you are an honest thief, or a pure harlot.

You can´t be a saved sinner. You are either saved or you are a sinner.

He came.

"Thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from their sins."—Leonard Ravenhill

Backwards, as usual...

As soon as we remove doing from the equation of life’s identity, we freak out. That message runs counter to everything we hear and everything we’ve been taught. As soon as we understand that it’s not what we do that primarily matters in our relationship with God, but who we already are in Christ, we can hardly believe it.

When something sounds too good to be true, many of us tune it out. We assume it must be false. Life doesn’t work like that, does it? It can’t be that easy, can it?

God is relentless, however, and He continues to call out to us. He continues to speak over our lives, just as He did for His Son, Jesus, at the Jordan River, telling us in no uncertain terms that we are His beloved children who bring Him pleasure simply by existing.

Before God tells us what to do, in other words, God tells us who we are.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 6

<idle musing>
As usual, we get it all backwards. Who we are has to precede what we do. If we try to do it the other way around, we will be like the hamster on the wheel—round and round we go, but we don't get anywhere.
</idle musing>

The Gospels

Perhaps we need to remind ourselves of a basic fact. The early Christians weren’t describing the first four books as a kind of literature, as if “gospel” was a genre of literature and already had a number in the Dewey Decimal System of ancient libraries. No, we need to say this loud and clear: they didn’t call the first four books of the New Testament the “Gospels.” Instead, they called each one of them the “Gospel.” They were saying there was one Gospel, but it was written down in four version, the (one) Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 81

Looking all around

We look around to find our identity. We want people to mirror back who we are, but this ends in distress. Or we try to look within to find an identity. We follow our desires, our hearts, our wants, and our attractions to know who we are, but we end up depressed.

When we look to God for our identity, however, we can find rest.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 4

<idle musing>
Probably why we are encouraged to fix our eyes on Jesus (Heb 12:2)...
</idle musing>

Too true

“Gospels of Sin Management” presume a Christ with no serious work other than redeeming humankind...[and] they foster “vampire Christians,” who only want a little blood for their sins but nothing more to do with Jesus until heaven.—Dallas Willard, as quoted in The King Jesus Gospel, page 76 (ellipsis and brackets are in the quotation)

<idle musing>
I've known people like that...Wesley used to say to pity them, they had too much of God to enjoy sin, but not enough of God to enjoy God!
</idle musing>

A true definition

Define yourself radically as beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is an illusion.—Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child as quoted in The Truest Thing about You

Things change

The Reformation did not deny the gospel story and it did not deny the creeds. Instead, it put everything into a new order and into a new place. Time and developments have somehow eroded the much more balanced combination of gospel culture and salvation culture in the Reformation to where today a salvation culture has eclipsed the gospel culture.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 72

<idle musing>
Things change—and not always for the better! We need to get back to a gospel-oriented foundation!
</idle musing>

King of kings and Lord of lords

Cutting the plan from the story leads to a salvation culture that is entirely shaped by “who is saved and who is not saved.” That culture is important, and I believe in salvation in Christ. But, that culture is designed by God to be a subculture and not the dominant culture. The dominant culture is the gospel culture. And a gospel culture is one shaped by the Story of Israel and the Story of Jesus Christ, a story that moves from creation to consummation, a story that tells the whole Story of Jesus and not just a Good Friday story, and story that tells not just of personal salvation but of God being “all in All.” It tells the story that Jesus, not any human ruler, is the Lord over all. Mash; The King Jesus Gospel, page 62

<idle musing>
I like the fact that Scot doesn't throw out the necessity of salvation as a part of the kingdom story. He is simply trying to realign our priorities into a biblical order. Salvation is an important part of what God is doing, but it is only part of what he is doing, not the sum total of it.
</idle musing>

The imago dei

What does this all mean? It means you have worth because you are made in the image of God. You matter to God. No matter your past, no matter your proclivities, your habits, your flaws, your temptations, your orientation. You have worth! You are not what you do. Your self-worth does not depend on what you have. You are not a prisoner of what you desire. No—what the Scriptures make clear is this: humans, created by God, are a finite, visible picture of the infinite, invisible God.

So this is the Genesis key: we don’t find our identity.

That runs counter to the stream of our culture, but it is an undeniable biblical truth. We don’t find our identity.

Rather, we receive our identity. We are given it by God. Everything true about our identity is true because it was created and gifted to us by God.

That is why our self-worth derives from the act of our creation. We are rooted in the imago Dei. You are. I am. The weird smelly guy who sleeps in the armchair at your favorite Starbucks is. Every single person who has ever lived reflects and represents the everlasting God who created the universe and everything in it. That’s the imago Dei.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 3

<idle musing>
Amen! Good preaching! Reminds me of Weight of Glory, a collection of essays by C.S. Lewis:

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization&mdsash;these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.

Pretty heavy stuff, isn't it?
</idle musing>

Dehumanizing

Every human endeavor to protect the vulnerable, disenfranchised, and oppressed—including the American civil rights movement, women’s suffrage, the movement to end abortion, and efforts toward clean water—has its roots in a belief that a human person is fundamentally valuable and consequently has certain rights that are wrong to deny. Similarly, every human movement toward repression and totalitarianism—from communism to Sharia law to fascism—grows in the soil of ignorance or intentional dehumanization that suggests certain humans matter more and are more valuable than other humans.

God works differently.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 3

<idle musing>
I don't know if his claim is true or not, but it does make sense. I know that when I dehumanize someone by labeling them, it is easier to snub them or be disrespectful of them...
</idle musing>

Limited (to) atonement

[T]he gospel for the apostle Paul is the salvation-unleashing Story of Jesus, Messiah-Lord-Son, that brings to completion the Story of Israel as found in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. To “gospel” is to declare this story, and it is a story that saves people from their sins. That story is the only framing story if we want to be apostolic in how we present the gospel. We can frame the “gospel” with other stories or categories, but there is one holy and apostolic framing story for the gospel.

This story begins at creation and finally only completes itself in the consummation when God is all in all. This is Paul’s gospel, and while it includes and encompasses the Plan of Salvation and leaves open how one might construct a Method of Persuasion, the gospel of Paul cannot be limited to or equated with the Plan of Salvation.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 61

<idle musing>
A truncated gospel, the "atonement only" or "soterian" gospel just doesn't do justice to the love of God—and it doesn't transform people. We need a fully-formed gospel—the apostolic gospel, as Scot calls it—in order to see people transformed. Anything less is a mockery of what Christ did.
</idle musing>

Nothing

Let me lay out some facts as I see them.
There is nothing about what you do that is 100 percent secure.
There is nothing about what you have that cannot be taken from you.
There is nothing about what you desire that cannot change.
Do you disagree with these statements? To me they seem beyond disagreement—not because I’m so wise and profound, but because the claims they make seem clear and warranted. As far as I can tell—and I’ve thought about this a great deal and talked to hundreds of people in all walks of life about this very issue—these three statements are solid, universal descriptions of what it means to be human.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 2

<idle musing>
Pretty much sums up the human condition, doesn't it?
</idle musing>

A complete circle

One could say the end of ends in 1 Corinthians 15:28 completes the task God gave to humans in the opening chapter of the Bible on day six (creation of humans). Humans were given just one charge: to govern this world as God’s representatives. So, in 1 Corinthians 15:28, when we are finally connected to God in this eternal union with God through his Son, humans will be doing exactly what God intended for his creation. God will be God and we will be God’s people—and the whole Story will be about God.— The King Jesus Gospel, pages 56-57

<idle musing>
God will be God—it's so simple, but we want to be God, so we end up as "foolish puppets, who desiring to be kings, now lie pitifully crippled after cutting our own strings." (Randy Stonehill </idle musing>

Thought for today

Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker,

but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. (Prov 14:31 TNIV)

<idle musing>

Those in Congress and more than a few wealthy magnates would do well to remember that...

</idle musing>

That's a serious charge

If we preach the Plan of Salvation as the gospel, we will find ourselves doing everything we can to get people motivated or, to used words from earlier, bucking up our efforts to get more people into column three, The Discipled. But, if we learn to distinguish gospel from Plan of Salvation, we will discover an altogether different world. I am convinced that because we think the gospel is the Plan of Salvation, and because we preach the Plan of Salvation as the gospel, we are not actually preaching the gospel.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 40

<idle musing>
That's a serious charge he's making—but I believe he is right! We are doing both God and people a disservice by selling the gospel as a salvation package apart from discipleship and restoration. There is no salvation without transformation!
</idle musing>

It's deeper than that

Here’s the deal with Jesus. He’s egalitarian when it comes to this issue, and He wants everyone to repent of their sexuality because everyone is broken sexually. Straight, gay, bi, whatever … if there is something truer to our fundamental identity than Jesus and what it looks like to follow Him, we’re not really following Him.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 2

<idle musing>
Amen! I've never heard it put so well before. We are more than sexual beings and we all need to repent of our dysfunctional sexuality. And far more important than our sexuality is who we are in Jesus and how we respond to his overtures.
</idle musing>

Half-baked

In this book I will be contending firmly that we evangelicals (as a whole) are not really “evangelical” in the sense of the apostolic gospel, but instead we are soterians [Greek for salvation]. Here’s why I say we are more soterian than evangelical: we evangelicals (mistakenly) equate the word gospel with the word salvation. Hence, we are really “salvationists.” When we evangelicals see the word gospel, our instinct is to think (personal) “salvation.” We are wired this way. But the two words don’t mean the same thing…— The King Jesus Gospel, page 29

<idle musing>
I think Jim Wallis calls it the "atonement only gospel." Either way, it is a defective, half truth—at best! God gives us more than that in Jesus!
</idle musing>

Fickle

What we desire, whether noble or corrupted, is not the truest thing about us. Building our identity on the foundation of what we desire guarantees that our identity will change every time our desires change.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 2

<idle musing>
We're fickle, aren't we? If we reduce who we are to what we want, then every time we see a new advertisement, we become something new. Of course, that is what the advertisers want us to think, isn't it? They are no longer selling stuff, they are selling a feeling, a new you, a new image. No wonder we buy at unprecedented rates! And the whole time we are ignoring our real needs...I'm reminded of something well over 2500 years old:

  “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.

   Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare. (Isa 55:1–2 TNIV)

</idle musing>

Decisions, decisions, decisions

I believe the word gospel has been hijacked by what we believe about “personal salvation,” and the gospel itself has been reshaped to facilitate making “decisions.” The result of this hijacking is that the word gospel no longer means in our world what it originally meant to either Jesus or the apostles.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 26

<idle musing>
To our great loss, I might add.
</idle musing>

The sum of the parts...

When we take any one of our strongly felt desires and construct our entire identity around it, we discover that we are making a part of who we are into the whole of who we are.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 2

<idle musing>
The old saying, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, is so true. We are more than a collection of felt desires—we are a unique creation of God, but he'll get to that!
</idle musing>

Truest and things

What we have—or don’t have—is not the truest thing about us.

Building our identity on the foundation of what we have means that we’ll always be focused on ourselves. A world of self-focused individuals sounds strangely like the world we live in now. . . and it’s the lonely experience of living in that very world that sends us in search of something truer.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 2

<idle musing>
What is that old saying? A man (or woman) wrapped up in himself makes a very small package. Self-focus is a dead end; we need to focus outside ourselves—of course focusing on God is the best—but as Viktor Frankl found, even focusing on others, without God, pulled people out of depression...how much more when we focus on God!
</idle musing>

Whose gospel?

Isn’t the more important question about whether Paul preached Jesus’ gospel? Moreover, there’s another problem: Piper’s assumption is that justification is the gospel. The Calvinist crowd in the USA—and Piper is the leading influencer in the resurgence of Calvinist thinking among evangelicals—has defined the gospel in the short formula “justification by faith.” But we have to ask whether the apostles defined the gospel this way. Or, better yet, when they preached the gospel, what did they say?— The King Jesus Gospel, page 25

<idle musing>
Ah, that is the question, isn't it? We revere Paul so much that we start with him rather than with Jesus or the other apostles. Not that Paul is wrong, but without the added input of what Jesus and the apostles taught, we can put undue emphasis on certain aspects of Paul that the early church—and Paul himself—didn't...
</idle musing>

I should have expected this

This showed up in my inbox this morning:

Last month, “Big Food,” in the form of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), a trade organization that represents more than 300 businesses, sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advising that it intends to petition the agency to allow foods containing GMOs to be labeled as “natural.”

Right! But if GMOs are natural, then why this a bit further in the article:

General Mills, Inc., has started producing GMO-free Cheerios. The company expects this new product, which will bear the label, “Not Made With Genetically Modified Ingredients,” to be available to consumers “shortly.” However, this change does not affect other General Mills brands such as Honey Nut Cheerios.

Anything for a quick buck...Lord, deliver us from ourselves!

Grammar musings

I'm always wondering about grammatical usage of words. The question in my mind today was which is the correct way to say something: online, on line, or on-line. I've seen it all three ways, with online being the most common of late. When I worked at Eisenbrauns we always used on line as two words. But, which is correct in the minds of the rest of the world?

Google to the rescue—or not!

Here's what one grammatical source said:

Although all forms are seen in written communications, only two forms are correct (on line and on-line); the difference between them (ie the use of the hyphen) is very important and applies to many other grammatical forms.

To say that you are ‘online’ would be like saying that a tennis player is ‘oncourt’ or that a builder is ‘onsite’, rather than saying she/he is ‘on site’. We will never see the back of ‘online’, however, and the overall situation may change. To remain consistent though…

Where the phrase is just a factual statement, we use two words.
Where the entire phrase is used to further describe something else, we must use the hyphen to show this.

Seems straightforward enough—but can you trust a source that says "ie" instead of "i.e.,"? Plus, it is a site in the U.K. and their usage varies from American usage sometimes...

How about this: Purdue Online Writing Lab which is the next site Google lists after an ESL site. They don't raise the issue, but just use online as one word in their title. What does that say?

I could cite a bunch of sites (see the pun?), but this one says a lot (two words—not alot!): what is the name of the Merriam-Webster dictionary's Internet presence? Yep, you guessed it: Merriam-Webster Online!

Or, what about the venerable Chicago Manual of Style, my constant companion? Their Internet presence is The Chicago Manual of Style Online!

And my second companion, the The SBL Handbook of Style, what do they say? It might be getting a bit dated, being published in 1999 (before the Internet became the default source for research, what with JSTOR, WorldCat, and others), but even then, in paragraphs 7.3.13 and 7.3.14, they use online as one word...

What's a person to do?

The trials of being a copy editor...the question raised by all this searching? Does one still capitalize Internet? : )

True or truest?

But here’s the truth: what we do is not the truest thing about us. Building our identity on the foundation of what we do creates an identity that can crack or break or tumble down at any moment.— The Truest Thing about You, chapter 2

<idle musing>
But that's exactly what we do all the time. We take transient things about us and make them the absolute definition of who we are. The problem is that life is full of changes—and not all of them are better! If you have a minor (or major) setback/disappointment, you have to redefine yourself. Stress, anyone? But in Christ, we don't need to accept the merely true things as ultimate—that's what this book is all about—who you already are in Christ. And it's good news!

I read this in the electronic version, so I don't have page numbers, instead I will be citing the excerpts by chapter number.
</idle musing>

With open eyes

As a result of my Evangelism Explosion experience and its aftermath in my own thinking, I developed a cynicism about evangelism. It took deep root as I continued through my college, seminary, and doctoral education. I began to pay close attention to the connection of gospel and evangelism and salvation and our methods of persuasion, which (embarrassingly at times) border on the slick and manipulative. I am convinced there is something profoundly wrong with our evangelism and so have developed over the decades a sensitive ear for anyone with a thought about this problem.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 21

<idle musing>
Isn't it sad that we feel we have to stoop to slick marketing and emotional manipulation in order to get people to become Christians? As if the God of the universe is something we can put in a neat little package and sell!

We can be so blind...
</idle musing>

Security

So many of us grew up in homes where we never felt secure. We had to work extra hard, trying to earn approval or love that never came. Our tendency is to carry that mind-set into our relationship with God. We end up anxiously working to gain approval, not realizing that we already possess it.—Francis Chan in foreword to The Truest Thing about You

<idle musing>
I'm not sure that you need to grow up in such a home to feel that way. I didn't, but I still felt the need to earn God's love. Granted, it could be culture, but I suspect it's deeper than that. I think we know we don't deserve God's love—how can we? We're just created beings and he's the creator—infinite, all-powerful, totally other—how can we hope to gain his favor? But that's exactly what the gospel is all about. We are accepted in the beloved; we are the righteousness of God, we are...you get the idea. Later in the book, Lomas will list a whole slew of things that we already are and have...
</idle musing>

The two Ds

Most of evangelism today is obsessed with getting someone to make a decision; the apostles, however, were obsessed with making disciples. Those two words—decision and disciples—are behind this entire book. Evangelism that focuses on decisions short circuits and—yes, the word is appropriate—aborts the design of the gospel, while evangelism that aims at disciples slows down to offer the full gospel of Jesus and the apostles.— The King Jesus Gospel, page 18

<idle musing>
Forget the American obsession with numbers! A thousand "decisions" that don't result in a transformed life are worthless. If a transformed life isn't the result of that raised hand, then I question if there was a real encounter with the living God...but that's just my
</idle musing>

Thorn bushes

Looking back, I can see how I’ve tried to get others to perform, regardless of their motivation. I’ve focused a lot on their work and not enough on their identity. In hindsight, I realize I was shooting myself in the foot. I was trying to squeeze Christ-like actions out of people who hadn’t been transformed by Christ. You’ve helped me remember that when we trust in Christ, and take hold of that identity, our actions begin to happen naturally—or supernaturally.—Francis Chan in foreword to The Truest Thing about You

<idle musing>
Good stuff. I've been guilty of the same thing over the years...we can't get apples off of thorn bushes. We have to let God transform people from the inside out. We are frequently trying to get people to whitewash the tombs instead of pointing them to Christ, who can make them alive so they aren't a tomb.
</idle musing>

There's so much more

Multitudes in the Church walk around as if they are in mourning—never knowing rest of soul or the peace of Christ’s presence. They picture themselves under the thumb of God’s wrath rather than under His protective wings. They see Him as a harsh taskmaster, always ready to bring a whip down on their backs, and so their lives are filled with fear, guilt and despair. They live unhappily, with no hope, more dead than alive…The real problem is our lack of faith in God’s covenant promises. We refuse to accept His unconditional love, His unlimited forgiveness, His free reconciliation. We are not willing to believe He pardons and restores us simply because He loves us. Instead, we become focused on our sin, losing all sight of what God wants from us most.— It Is Finished, pages 180-181

<idle musing>
Wow. That aligns perfectly with what I posted yesterday. We just don't know who we are and what that means. Or, more likely, we just can't believe it—it seems too good to be true.

Part of the problem is the way the "gospel" has been presented to us (I put gospel in scare quotes for a reason). We are told that God-is-mad-at-us-and-hates-us-and-we-are-on-our-way-to-hell-unless-we-turn-and-repent-right-now-because-Jesus-may-come-at-any-moment-and-you-don't-want-to-go-to-hell-do-you?

Who in their right mind would turn down an offer like that! But that isn't the gospel! That is a small portion of the gospel—the salvation part of the gospel. The gospel is the story of God at work in the world from Genesis 1 through Revelation and beyond. The gospel is the good news that God loves you—always has—and wants to restore you (and all of us) to what we were in the garden. And he won't stop until he accomplishes that.

That's the final snippet from this book. Tomorrow I'll begin pulling stuff from Scot McKnight's The King Jesus Gospel. He goes on at length about what the gospel really is and how we got to where we are today. Good stuff...
</idle musing>

It's true

I just finished reading a new book (relaased February 1). I rarely read popular Christian literature, and even more rarely read a new release. But, Olive Tree offered a free book last Friday. Now come on, who can resist a free book?! But the funny thing is, I actually read this one! (Be honest now, how many of you have at least a hundred free books stashed in your computer/tablet/phone that you've never even opened!?)

And you know what? It was actually a good book!

Yep. A popular Christian paperback that I liked. And has good theology. And is practical. And is readable.

OK. Enough hype : ) You get that I liked it...

The name of the book is The Truest Thing about You, written by David Lomas and published by David C. Cook. That's right, the Sunday School people. Well, that's how I always thought of them anyway, but they've been doing some good non-Sunday School stuff in the last 10 years or so. When I worked at Eisenbrauns, one of the reps who called on me (Jerry Gortmaker—a great rep!) also represented them; we didn't carry their stuff—not academic enough—but he would periodically offer me an advance reading copy. One I remember especially is The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning.

Anyway, the thesis of the book is that there are many true things that can be said about you, but only one is truest—who you are in Christ. The whole book is an outworking of what that means and what it should look like in your life. Good stuff, and I'll be excerpting from it for the next few weeks or so. But, right now, I'm going to jump to the very end and throw in the last few paragraphs, because this is usually where books like this fall apart. Ready? Here we go:

At this point in the book you might expect application points. A “to-do list” of identity. Some journal questions. Five things you can do in the next five weeks to actualize your new identity.

But that’s not what this book is about. Unless you drive the single message of this book to the core of your being—beyond belief, to the place of your deepest trust—no application will stick.

So here it is.

You will not find your identity in what you have, but in who has you. You will not find your identity in what you do, but in what has been done for you. And you will not find your identity in what you desire, but in who has desired—at infinite cost to Himself—a relationship with you.

Christ is your life. He gives you a new identity and will work that new identity out in your life until the day when He appears. On that day you will finally see clearly, as Christ sees you now. You will know as you are known.

And you will understand that the truest thing about you—that in Christ God called you His beloved in whom He is well pleased—has been true all along.

And is now true forever.

Believe. Trust. Base your entire identity and worth on that fact.

Isn't that great? No long (or short!) list of "things to do to make this real" or other such garbage! You get the idea that he actually believes what he's writing! Once you know who you already are in Christ, you will begin to live like it! In the words of Augustine, "Tolo! Lege!" (Pick it up and read it!)

Almost too good

The secret of the Lord is a life-freeing revelation of His lovingkindness toward us at the point of our failures. It is the Holy Spirit enduing us with a powerful revelation that nothing can separate us from the covenant love of God. He is not mad at you, so get your eyes off your sin and gladly receive the free access you still have to the Father, through the cross of Christ.— It Is Finished, page 171

<idle musing>
The Hebrew Bible has a word for that: ḥesed
<rabbit trail>
Note the dot under the h; it sounds like the ch in loch, so you'll sometimes see it as chesed. A nice exposition of it is in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT), both BibleWorks and Accordance have TWOT by default, not sure about Logos because I don't use it; Strong's number 698 (but don't use Strong's dictionary!) for those of you who don't do Hebrew.
</rabbit trail>

This does not mean he is easy on sin! Quite the opposite! God hates sin because it is contrary to his nature and destroys the ones he made imago dei (in the image of God—his image). He hates sin so much that his intent is to destroy it in you. He will stop at nothing less! That's why we are a new creation in Christ; that's why the old is gone. That's why we need to fix our eyes on Jesus, not on ourselves. It is only as we we fix our eyes on Jesus that we begin to realize the riches we have in Christ. That is the gospel—good news! I'm not a better me. I'm a new me, clothed with righteousness and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit!

Can you tell this stuff gets me excited? : )
</idle musing>

There is no way

God did not say, “Shame on you, Elijah; you have fallen too far, reproaching Me in the eyes of this heathen people. Now you’re on your own until you wake up to your sin.” Instead, the Lord said lovingly, “Elijah, what are you doing in this cave? I want you to gird yourself and get back to work.” There was no harshness in these words. God’s call to Elijah was meant to restore and redirect a man in the midst of seeming failure and deep despair.

Here is the secret of the New Covenant: It is not some sudden rush of a supernatural power in us, enabling us to resist an overwhelming temptation. Rather, it is God’s still, small voice, revealing His love to us in the midst of our failure and testing.— It Is Finished, page 167

<idle musing>
We're always looking for a big splash, or in the words of Steven Curtis Chapman, are we "waiting for lightning" and "listening for thunder while he quietly whispers your name?" (Complete lyrics:Waiting for Lightning.) I suspect we are; we love a big splash—that's probably why we don't often get one...
</idle musing>

Then why even ask?

When I was a pastor, persons of the church occasionally asked me for advice on what the Bible has to say about various matters, and whether we are obligated to follow its views on these matters or not. I often asked a counter-question: if my answer was yes, were they willing to follow those admonitions in the Bible? In other words, I asked them, would they be willing to accept the Bible’s judgments on their behavior and act accordingly? If not, then, of course, the Bible would not function as a canon for them; they would simply be asking historical questions that they might, or might not, choose to follow when answered. Formation of the Bible, page 161

<idle musing>
I like his response; it cuts to the heart of the issue. Are we or are we not going to submit to the authority of scripture? If not, then don't even pretend that you want to hear the answer...
</idle musing>

Learn it all

A believer can memorize all the glorious promises of the New Covenant, master complex theological outlines and trace each of the biblical covenants for the Adamic to the New. But only a few will set their minds to seek the Lord diligently for understanding of His life-giving New Covenant.— It Is Finished, page 158

<idle musing>
If study doesn't lead you to worship, then it is just a dead end.
</idle musing>

The best translation

I am often asked which translation of the Bible is the best one to read today. My response is often “the one you most enjoy and read most often!” Formation of the Bible, page 141

<idle musing>
Excellent advice! The truth is that most all of the translations out there today are good. I would quibble with some of the choices of all the translations—some translations more than others, but they are all adequate.
</idle musing>

Is this what you believe?

God is faithful to fulfill His promise to cause every enemy to flee from us. Think of Israel standing on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. The enemy was closing in, trapping God’s people, allowing no way of escape. Do not think that at that point God said to them, “I’m sorry, Israel—I can’t deliver you. You have thousands of little golden idols packed away in your luggage. You have to get rid of your idolatry before I’ll bring deliverance. Otherwise, you’re as good as dead.”

The very thought that God would respond in this way is impossible. What kind of God would refuse to deliver His own people because they still struggled with a lust?

God will not abandon you at your Red Sea. Your temptations, habits and besetting sins may look like impossible roadblocks before you, but the Lord promises to deliver you, for His own name’s sake. Our God is faithful to keep His covenant.— It Is Finished, pages 154-155

<idle musing>
But, isn't that the "gospel" we too often preach? "Clean yourself up!" "Get your act together—God can't hear your prayer until you stop sinning!" And, my favorite: "God made the first step, now it is up to you to make the next one." Semi-Pelagianism, anyone?

Why is it so hard for us to get it through our thick skulls that God loves us?

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:6–11 TNIV

By the way, Michael Bird has a great post today on sin.

And while we're mentioning some good posts, you really ought to check out Robin Parry's take on Intelligent Design. I agree with him—we end up with a God-of-the-gaps, not a transcendent God.
</idle musing>

Derived authority

What Jesus said and did was authoritative for the early Christians and his authority was never transferred to any other. The literature that comprises the New Testament largely focuses on Jesus, his significance, and the implications in daily life and ministry for what it means to follow him. The literature of the New Testament points us not to itself, but to Jesus who is the final authority for Christian faith (Matt 28:19). Formation of the Bible, page 89

<idle musing>
Amen! Good preaching!
</idle musing>

Thought for today

Finney was asked what he thought about double predestination (that God sends some people to hell for no other reason than his glory) . Here's his response:

It presents not the real and true God, but a different being. It is practicing  a deception on him, by holding out  the idea that God desires his  damnation, and he must submit to it; for God has  taken His solemn  oath that He desires not the death of the wicked, but that he  turn  from his wickedness and live. It is a slander upon God, and charging  God  with perjury. Every man under the gospel, knows that God desires  sinners to be  saved, and it is impossible to hide the fact. 

Some thoughts

I just don't get it. In the 1970s Coke did the "I'd like to teach the world to sing" commercial. Nobody thought it was terrible—at least I don't remember it. I suppose there might have been some who claimed they were promoting an antichrist world order, but I didn't hear about it.

Now, they do a similar thing and it's the end of the world as we know it? I haven't seen it and don't intend to—after all, it's all about selling a sugar-laced drug that will make you sick and fat. Why should I watch it? I don't buy their product and I don't need to buy their worldview, either. It's bankrupt. But rather than argue about the commercial, why not live a life that shows how bankrupt that worldview is?

All I see is people who buy the same worldview arguing about who's in and who's out in a boat that is sinking. There are enough lifeboats around to rescue them all, but they are ignoring them and drinking their way to death. OK, bad analogy and bad logic. But really, how is the current situation in the world any worse than the first century was? Do you hear Paul, Peter, Barnabas, James, etc. arguing in this way? No. They present Jesus as the alternative and then draw out the ramifications of what that means.

Forget the "culture wars" and live for Jesus in your daily life. The rest will take care of itself. Just an
</idle musing>

Laying your cards on the table

As a matter of full disclosure, let me say at this point that I view the Bible, both Old and New Testaments in all of its teachings, as the church’s sacred and authoritative Scripture. Christian faith is bound to this book in all that we believe and practice as Christians. While we recognize that the Bible is an authoritative and sacred book, we also recognize that this authority is a derived authority and that the final authority for all Christians is Jesus Christ (Matt 28:19). He is the Lord of the church (Rom 10:9) and the Scriptures accurately reflect his teachings, his life, his fate, and his significance for the church today. We do not worship the Bible, but the God to whom the Bible directs our obedience, worship, and praise. Formation of the Bible, page 17

<idle musing>
What a great way to start a book on the canon and its formation!

Thanks for Bobby at Hendrickson Publishers for the book—way back when! It got put on a bookshelf when we moved up here and didn't get read as quickly as it might have...I'll be pulling a few snippets out over the next few days.
</idle musing>

Not what you think

The only weapon that scares the devil and his armies is the same one that scared him in the wilderness temptations of Jesus. That weapon is the truth of the New Covenant—the living Word of God. Only the Lord’s truth can set us free. He promises to be God to us...to cleanse us, forgive us and cast away all our sins...to fill us with His Spirit...to lead, instruct and guide us by His Spirit and put within us all the power we need to walk in holiness and obedience.— It Is Finished, page 153

<idle musing>
Got ya! I'll bet your thought he was going to say "quoting from scripture" or "the Bible" didn't you? That's what you've been taught, isn't it? But only Jesus, the living Word of God, can face the enemy and temptation without losing. You can quote scripture until you're blue in the face, but without the living power of the Holy Spirit inside you, you'll still lose; I know, I've done it in the past—many times...always lost, too unless I allowed the Holy Spirit to control my thoughts and actions! You can win too, but you have to stop worshiping the Bible and start relying on the Holy Spirit!
</idle musing>

The cost of unforgiveness

Or, the devil may try to convince you that you have a right to hold on to bitterness because you have been wronged. He will try to destroy your marriage by persuading you, “You can’t endure this relationship any longer unless your spouse changes.” If you keep listening to his lies, you will begin to believe them after a while. And once you buy his evil argument, it will become embedded in your mind and heart—and then it will become a stronghold. This will keep Satan empowered over you through your thought life. He does not have to possess your body; all he needs is a foothold in your mind. Soon you will not be able to worship or praise God anymore, because his “worm” of a lie will constantly twist and turn in your mind, tormenting your thoughts.— It Is Finished, page 152

<idle musing>
Forgiveness is so important. We need to remember—continually—the parable of the ungrateful steward, reproduced here for your enjoyment and edification:

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of golde was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.a He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive a brother or sister from your heart.”—Matthew 18:23–35 TNIV

</idle musing>

The higher the cost...

But it is not merely that more demanding religious groups attract and hold more members than do the less demanding faiths. They recruit them! That is, their members are sufficiently committed so that they seek to bring others into the fold, something members of the less demanding faiths seem reluctant to do. Nearly half of all members of the various evangelical Protestant denominations report that they have personally witnessed to a stranger within the past month and two-thirds have witnessed to friends. The Triumph of Christianity, page 363

<idle musing>
That explains the draw of cults, doesn't it? So it's a two edged sword—true Christianity demands everything, but so do a lot of the cults. We definitely, desperately need the Holy Spirit to enlighten us!

By the way, that's the last excerpt from this book. Not sure what I'll be extracting from next. I guess we'll all find out tomorrow, eh? : )
</idle musing>

What they don't tell you

Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. (Acts 14:21b-22 NIV)

<idle musing>
When was the last time you heard someone in the USA preach a sermon on this text?!

Our gospel is defective if it doesn't allow for—scratch that—if it doesn'twarn you that you will endure hardship in order to enter the kingdom...
</idle musing>

Too good to be true?

Have you accepted this incredible truth? Do you believe that Jesus agreed in covenant to keep you from falling, guaranteeing you would never be forsaken, and you would be able to obey Him fully and live in victory? Believe it—because He guaranteed it on His own worthy name. You were not the one who made a worthy oath, who provided a co-signer, who found an attorney. God did all of this for you, and now He wants to use it all to redeem you fully from the dominion of sin.— It Is Finished, page 117

<idle musing>
Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it? That's probably why most people don't believe it. Oh, they may say they do, but if you look at their lives, it doesn't line up with what they're saying.

I'm not faulting anybody here, just observing. We look at our experience; we look at the world around us; we look everywhere but into the face of Jesus. That's why we don't believe it's true.

But if we look at the face of Jesus and remember that "all the fulness of the Godhead" dwells there—that the Father is just like the Son—then, and only then, can it become believable.

And a funny thing happens. We become like what we are gazing at; we become more Christlike. We become saints—which is what the Bible always calls Christians, by the way. We become a light in a very dark place...
</idle musing>

As we were

In 1776, on the eve of the Revolutionary War, only about 17 percent of those living in one of the thirteen colonies actually belonged to a religious congregation; hence more people probably were drinking in the taverns on Saturday night than turned up in church on Sunday morning. As for this being an “era of Puritanism,” from 1761 through 1800, a third (33.7 percent) of all first births in New England occurred after less than nine months of marriage, and therefore single women in Colonial New England were more likely to engage in premarital sex than to attend church. The Triumph of Christianity, page 353

<idle musing>
Talk about an interesting little tidbit, eh? What does that do to the "let's get back to the founding fathers" mentality!

And remember, just because they were members, doesn't mean they attended! So, probably you were 2–4 times more likely to be having premarital sex than to attend church. That doesn't seem to be too much better than where we are at now, does it? The "good old days" don't look so different from today when you look at the actual facts and records.

Of course, we don't do that; we look at the past through an ideology. And the dominant ideology of some is that the past was an ideal time that we should try to get back to—whether you are a Tea Partier or a secular person; it doesn't seem to matter, because if you ignore the facts, you can find something to bolster both sides...

No wonder we need the Holy Spirit! Only he can remove the blinders from our eyes so that we can see the truth...
</idle musing>