Do Something

I’ll be honest, I’m the most guilty party of this, but I’m recovering…

In fear of discounting the Grace of God, the conservative evangelical church often dismisses good works as anti-Christian, as something left for our catholic or liberal brothers and sisters to do.

Early on in my faith, I was just elated that God would love me so much that I couldn’t help, but to respond in worship. I would read my Bible, pray, serve others, & do as much as I could, because I was just utterly thankful for the Grace of God in my life. Somewhere down the road, I began to understand more of the intricacies of the faith and study more of the Bible. As my head started to grow, my hands seemed to have limped. I began to think that I couldn’t possibly earn the Grace of God, so therefore I need not to do anything for fear of discounting it. What resulted was a life that was completely devoid of any “doing”. I did absolutely nothing, in hopes that I might lift up the Grace of God. But in so doing, I’ve come to realize, I have ironically discounted God’s Grace in my life. For grace leads to good works. Works are a sign of faith, and not a credit in order to buy faith. They point to the very real and powerful work of transformation that is occurring in the invisible places of my soul. I had the arrows all jumbled for a long time. In pursuit of delight, I forgot about my duty… I was created to display the works of God in me, not just keep it hidden under a jar.

Lord, help me be a light.

The Problem With Truth

The problem with truth is that most people don’t like it. In fact, they don’t like it so much that they’d rather make up their own truth.

In fact, in a book I’m reading for one of my classes I read a quote that shocked me. Charles Kraft writes, “I have contended that words do not contain their meanings but are assigned meanings by those who interpret them” (Communication Theory for Christian Witness, p. 99-100). So does that mean that I can understand the words in his book to mean whatever I want. That nothing he’s said is of any objective value, because if I say it’s meaningless, it becomes so? Are all the words of his book then for nothing? Are we to read his book then? Why did he write it? Do you see the black hole that we fall into when we do away with the objectivity of truth?

Truth is real, not what I make it out to be.

Vote To Win $2000

Unfortunately, you don’t win a thing for voting… BUT you DO help one of my good friends win a $2000 prize!!

Whether you know them or not, the process is easy and painless.

1. Click Here. (http://www.wayneyuan.com/2009/06/our-giveaway-finalists-announc.html)

2. Enter Name.

3. Enter Valid Email (no spamming, i promise)

4. In the comment section write “STORY #1″

5. THAT’S IT!

2 minutes of your time and you’ve done your good deed for the day. You’ve helped someone win $2000!

Renewed Affections

It’s always refreshing when God fans the dying embers of your heart to renew your affections for Him. Apart from Him, my heart is so prone to wander. But I know that He upholds me and sustains me with His sovereign grace.

I’m glad my salvation is not up to what I do. If it were, I’d be in some trouble.

Stripping Down the Wedding

It’s wedding season. And as I am in my mid-20’s I find myself at a wedding ceremony ever weekend from May to August. It’s kind of a cool thing, but in some ways a bad thing. You get to celebrate one of the best days of your friend’s life with them, but it also takes a huge toll on your wallet. I guess in life, there’s nothing that doesn’t come with a price (accept God’s Grace, that is).

But as I sit through more and more weddings these days I’m beginning to evaluate our societies expectations of what a wedding is, compared to the Biblical model set forth for us. Ask any bride going through wedding plans and she’ll admit the pressures are unbearable at times. We need to top the last wedding we went to by adding another layer on our cakes, having a bigger dance floor, or more colorful flowers in our bouquets. It’s pretty ridiculous how much weddings actually cost. But is this all really necessary? I’m sure many brides will agree with me when I say ‘no’. And it seems that the Biblical model of a wedding concurs. So what are the essentials? Let’s see…

1. A Giving into Marriage (Gen 2: 22, “And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.”)

2. Exchange of Vows (Gen 2:23a, “Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”; Gen 24:58, “And they called Rebekah and said to her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ She said, ‘I will go.’”)

3. Name Changes (Gen 2:23b, “Then the man said…’she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’”)

4. Leaving of Families & Creation of a New Family (Gen 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”)

5. Exchange of Wealth/Gifts/Dowry (Gen 24:53, “And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments”)

6. Worship of the God of the Covenant (Gen 24:52, “When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord.”)

7. Feast (Gen 24:54a, “And he and the men who were with him ate and drank”; Gen 29:22, “So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast”)

8. Consummating the Marriage (Gen 24:67, “Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her.”)

So what are we to do about the ornate wedding cake? floral archways? fancy centerpieces? satin chair covers? Still trying to figure that one out…but what I do know is that sometimes the main thing needs to remain the main thing. We can’t lose sight of what a wedding really is and that’s a making of a covenant between a man and a wife before the Covenant King, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth.

Happy Wedding Season!

God is Love

I’m serious when I say this, but I really think these two messages changed the course of my life…

Jesus Christ & the Rescue of Joy (Part 1) – Why God is not a megalomaniac

Jesus Christ & the Rescue of Joy (Part 2) – Why pursuing God as our ultimate joy is not selfish

John Piper came to Park Street Church in Boston on April 19th, 2009 and I walked out with a whole new paradigm on life.

My Conviction in a Nutshell

Preposition #1: God is the ultimate good or else He would not be God. Then our joy is most complete in Him, because He is the ultimate good.

Preposition #2: Love is only true when you are looking out for the best interests of the other person. Therefore, for God to glorify and magnify Himself, it is not megalomania, because He’s simply loving us in working all things for His glory.

Conclusion: For God to reveal more of Himself to us and point our joys in His direction, is the ULTIMATE expression of love. And when we pursue God in this way, there is no greater calling and act of service then to allow for others to see the glories of God.

“What if God was one of us?”

remember that song? i forgot who sang it.

I was waiting until a little after Easter to post this… in reverence of the Holy Day. But, with a sense of humor, this is pretty on point.

click on the picture to download the whole PDF

Learning to Follow

hey, it’s been a while.

I’ve been thinking more and more about the next several years of my life especially in light of this summer when I’ll be wed to the most beautiful girl on the face of this planet. So i’ll be married in about 4 months, that’s about 120 days left of my single life. While it makes me pause for a second about how much my life’s going to change, I also get incredibly excited for the prospects of this new journey that I’m about to embark on with Caroline. I think back on all my youthful desires and often naive dreams, and I now look at them with sober eyes and I begin to wonder, “What was I thinking!?” But then a part of me wants to believe that those dreams are to be held on to, that I should never let go of them, no matter how unrealistic it may seem to me at the moment. Doesn’t the saying go, “The moment you stop dreaming, you start dying”? I have to believe that God was planting a seed in me in my youth so that those visions and dreams could grow into a mature state by the time I begin to doubt the validity and reality of them ever coming into fruition. So all that to say, I’m really excited about what’s next. For the first time in my life, I really don’t have a very strategic plan or a well thought out scheme, but I’m learning how to live depending on the voice of God to lead me. I hope my ears remember how to listen…

Lead me, God. I’ll follow.

John Piper’s Greatest Sermon

I really think this has been the greatest sermon he’s ever taught. And all he did was to recite Scripture from memory for the first 15 minutes. Talk about cut to the heart…

Video of “If My Words Abide in You” :: Desiring God

Shadows of the Son

At Seven Mile, we’re doing a sermon series called “The Jesus Biographies”, in which we’re exploring the ways that the OT is pointing to Jesus, the fulfillment of all the Scriptures. So out of that sermon series there was a song birthed out… here’s the live version. good stuff!

Shadows of the Son