The Fear of The Lord

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
-Proverbs 1:7

“The conclusion, when all has been heard is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13

How often do we seek wisdom without remembering where true wisdom comes from? If we have a question about dating, we read a dating book; if we have a question about money, we may even crack open a bible and look for what the bible says about money, but how often do we really stop and think about where that wisdom is coming from? Are we looking for an answer for our own selfish gain? And is it possible that we may even try to apply those principles to our lives without actually fearing God, or realizing He has given us those principles because of His immense love for us?

John 14:15 says, “If you love me, you will keep My commandments,” but so often I find myself acting like “If I keep his commandments, then He’ll love me.” This is so incredibly warped and extremely selfish, especially when asked, Jesus said the greatest commandment is to LOVE GOD (Mark 12:30).

Lately God has been showing me my own depravity and exposing my heart of areas where I am not living with an appropriate fear of Him, and it has not been fun or easy, but I am excited for the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

“Do not be conformed any longer to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you can prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
-Romans 12:2

None is righteous…

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Romans 3:10b-12

So often I fall into a religious game where I start to believe that I don’t fall into that category because of things I’ve done.  I claim to believe that I am “saved by grace through faith,” but so often neglect to realize the very depravity that I’m saved from.  How ridiculous is it that I, a person that is capable of nothing good outside of God through me, forget that I am depraved?  Its just stupid.

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Colossians 3:13,14

How awesome is that verse?!  A loving father decided to save people that are capable of nothing good without Him!  I don’t think we can understand the sheer magnitude of love and joy found in the gospel if we don’t constantly remind ourselves of our own depravity.  So, we suck, and we should have so much freakin’ joy because our loving father has graciously “transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”

Action/Reaction

“Most of us spend more time listening to lies than we do speaking truth to ourselves.”

-C.J. Mahaney from the book, Humility

That idea has just been crushing me on so many different fronts since I read it a couple weeks ago.  From exposing areas of my life where I am allowing sin to be in my life because of poor emotional reactions to difficult situations, to what rabbit trails I allow my mind to wander down that are not healthy for me, to just my thought life in general.  I have realized that I spend a lot of my time being yanked this way and that by just being reactionary to what is going on in my life.  Some would say that’s not a big deal.  Ya know, its ok to let your mind just go wherever it wants because life is a rollercoaster that we’re along for the ride on.  The problem comes in when I (we) claim to be Christ-followers and that we hold the bible as absolute truth and the bible says things like “…take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).”  

Just so you know, taking captive every thought is an insane amount of work and being intentional.  It stresses me out just thinking about it… then you flip over to Phillipians 4 and it says this in verses 6-7: “Be anxious in nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

So, basic summation of this, when you come upon a situation or something happens (an action), don’t just let your mind react, but instead, speak the truth of the gospel and the truth of God’s word into your own life, take the request to God and let the Holy Spirit take captive that thought and make it obedient to Him.

Gardening Tips From Mark 4

“Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.”

Mark 4:7

In this passage in Mark, Jesus is not simply giving gardening advice to his audience, but describing how the gospel falls upon different people (soils).  He lists 4 soils (for more on this listen to Midtown’s latest podcast).  The part that hit me most about this passage was the seed that fell among the thorns, and how easy it is even for seed that fell among good soil to become choked out by thorns.  Now I don’t pretend to know the first thing about gardening, but God did show me a pretty cool way to think about this passage.

From reading online of how to get rid of thorn bushes, I have found that the only way to really get rid of them is to cut them off at the source.  You have to entirely remove their root system.  Any other method of removal (burning them, cutting the visible part, removing part of the root system) will only further stimulate their growth, making it more difficult to remove them later and creating more thorn bushes.  In order to get the entire root system takes persistent digging and patience.  So how does this apply to us as believers?

Over and over in the bible, we are told to confess and repent of our sins.  This is essentially when we are asking God to uproot the sin in our lives that is controlling us.  This is THE ONLY way we will be able to experience freedom from our sin.  If we modify our behavior (mowing over the thorn) our lives may look better on the outside, but we are every bit as controlled by the root sin that caused the behavior.  Not only that, but believing that modifying behavior is freedom in one area will only allow more thorns to arise in our lives because we are setting a precedent that if we modify our behavior we have freedom.

This was just a cool reminder to me of the importance of daily repentance (letting God dig the thorns out of our lives) and heart examination.  Letting sin go unrepented for only allows the root systems to become stronger and stronger, making the removal more and more difficult.

We are unable to uproot the thorns in our lives, but we need to allow God’s love to come into our hearts, remove the thorns that have taken root, and use us to yield a crop for His kingdom.

Trendy 25

So, I’m a little late in the game, but here’s my 25 list thing.

1. I’m originally from a town called Frisco (near Dallas, TX) which was named because of the railroad that started there and ran to San Francisco.

2. I’ve wished for a long time that I could do a backflip.

3. I never hit the shift button on the left side of the computer keyboard.

4. If I had the option, I would probably wear clothes from the store H&M every day.

5. I have smaller hands and feet than most girls, and am finally ok with it.

6. Up until fairly recently (within the past year), I was more passionate about music than anything else, including Jesus… that was really dumb.

7. I wish I had the time and money to study Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

8. I wore a lot of flat-billed hats and had subs in my car in high school, but wasn’t really into rap culture. It was the cool “scene” thing to do at the time.

9. When I was in fifth grade, I made an unassisted triple play to win a little league game, and I can’t wait to tell my future grandkids about it.

10. If I don’t have my Sigg Bottle with me, I forget to drink fluids for the whole day.

11. I hope to go outdoor climbing some time soon.

12. My BlackBerry is the only thing that keeps me from completely forgetting about everything I commit to.

13. I’m not sure what God has in store for me next, but I’m stoked to see what’s to come.

14. Currently, I am listening to Taylor Swift’s new album, recommended by my good friend Seth Taylor.  Its a good POP (not country) album.

15. It bothers me when people don’t say goodbye.

16. Some times I read too much in to small things (number 15 for example).

17. My dad took me to a P.O.D. concert when I was in 6th grade, and it was one of the best times I’ve ever had.  He’s a really good dad and didn’t get mad when I told him he was head-banging wrong.

18. I enjoy learning from what is written in books, but don’t enjoy reading them.

19. I probably listen to more Justin Timberlake than I should.

20. I firmly believe that Jon Foreman’s Seasons Ep’s might be in my top 2 (if i had a list) musical releases of all times.

21. I have $9 memory foam slippers from Wal-Mart, and they are incredible.

22. I love playing drums, but some times wish I played something that allowed me to jump around more.

23. I sat on my sunglasses a couple months ago, and am accepting donations towards a new pair.  My old ones were $10. Make it happen.

24. I am extremely blessed and humbled to come from a line of such loving, Godly men. Maybe I’ll write a blog later and tell you about my family.

25. Peter Matthias and I decided at the end of last summer that we were gonna make Coke & Lime the new big thing, and I’m so glad it caught on because it is one of the best drinks in the world.

There ya go, 25 things you may not have, and probably don’t care to know about me.

Pessimism, Cynicism, and Escapism

So, because I don’t fully understand the gospel and the love of Jesus all the time, and don’t live with that as the primary focus of every aspect my life, I use pessimism and cynicism as ploys to escape a lot of things that I should be learning.  I realized that I can sit and discuss everything that I perceive as wrong with everything in the world for hours.  That is not to say that I believe we should just accept everything we hear as truth (Matt. 10:16- “shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves”), but if I spend my whole life critiquing the things I see as wrong, I will never be able to appreciate and learn from the things that are done right.  For example, there are some methods that some teachers use that I do not agree with, but if the man is speaking biblical truth and is doing his best to allow the holy spirit to speak and teach through him, who am I to say that his methodology is wrong?  Furthermore, why should I let petty methodology of teaching distract from something the holy spirit could use to teach me something that I need to learn?  Its just dumb when I step back and think about it.  

Basically, I need to learn to be analytical and inquisitive without being pessimistic and cynical.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me out of your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. -Psalm 51:10-12

Did you know…

The Giant Panda Bear doesn’t hibernate because it only eats a certain kind of bamboo found in a particular area in the mountains in China, and can not store enough fat to afford hibernation.

Some cacti in deserts store up to 5 tons of water in their trunks after heavy rains.

When stalagmites and stalagtites (sp?) grow together in a cave its called a column (boring name), and that snotites drip sulfuric acid.

The US is home to a cave system with the most magnificent gypsum stalagmites and stalagtites in the world, and that Mayan Indians relied entirely on water from a flooded cave system.

I hope to see many things in my life, but I hope to never experience a swarm of locusts, which can grow up to one billion strong.

Planet Earth series on Blu-Ray… watch it

Family Vacay Review

Instead of an incredibly long list of all the details we thought of, a longer list of the ones we didn’t, and how much more work we should’ve done before-hand, here is my summary statement of Family Vacation, mine and Kent’s first project as Midterns:

God uses really messed up people, a little bit of planning, a little bit of faithfulness, and more than anything, God gives the strength and energy, to bring Himself glory.

Though at this point, I am as tired mentally and physically as I can remember being, I would happily start family vacation again tomorrow if given the opportunity.  Dustin recently wrote a blog about having a dream job.  Well, for me, my dream job would be putting all of my time and energy into enabling people to grow closer to God and closer as a family.  The hand full of times in my life where that has been my primary focus, have easily been the most content and fulfilling times I can remember having.

I am incredibly thankful that God has put me in a family that trusts something like family vacation to a couple punk kids that don’t know anything about anything.  God is way bigger than our procrastination and small brains, and I am so glad he slapped me in the face with that fact this weekend.

In addition to all that stuff, I also got to have good conversations with some awesome guys that I don’t get to talk to often.  I knew the weekend would be busy, and my one hope was to get to have at least one meaningful conversation.  I got to have 2, and they were both such a blessing.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

-Galatians 2:20

Also, if you haven’t heard Jon Foreman’s ep’s, you should check them out.  They are incredible.

Lame

So, I’m sitting here at work again, bored, with nothing to do because the big boss man is not back in the office from being on vacation (things wouldn’t be much different if he were here though).  I just checked his hotmail e-mail account (yup, had one of those in 5th grade) and started poking around on the msnbc.com website.  I learned all sorts of cool stuff.  There is a restuarant in Tokyo that employs 2 monkeys as waiters, 2 guys base-jumped off of Mount Everest and both received $24,000 tickets, and a street worker in Washington found a giant salamander in a cone that was 11 inches long.  Fascinated by this plethra of new information, I continued to look around the site and saw a tab called how we worship.  This tab contained pictures from the various major religions in the world.  So I landed on the Christianity one and looked around.  Saw mass baptisms in Israel, a man “nailed” to a cross in the Philipines, and a picture of good old Joel Osteen peddling his prosperity crap to 16,000 people at their campus in Houston, TX.  After going through the 20 or so pictures of “Christianity” which ended with a few about Mormons that doesn’t really make any sense, but that’s for another post, I came to the ones about Islam.  Obviously I don’t agree with the Islamic faith or think that it is in any way going to get you to heaven, but I do have to respect the faith in some aspects.  The things I respect about it have little to do with their beliefs, but more to do with their actions.

The little that I know about Islam (probably shouldn’t be ignorant and should learn more) is that they have time set aside to pray every day, have set aside times for fasting every year, and in some cases, the women have to cover themselves.  Like I said before, I do not believe these things will get them any closer to heaven because I believe Jesus IS THE way, the truth and the life… not ONE OF THE ways.  I do have to say that just from the outside it seems that Muslims get something that I don’t a lot of the time, and I feel like many Christians don’t get.  Their faith defines their life.  Its not something they do once or twice a week (or once or twice a year) its a continually active commitment.  This is not to say that I believe Christians should implement required prayer every 1.5 hours and that we should have religious ceremonies once a month that require every one to fast or anything like that, but maybe we should learn what it means to truly make Christ our life; not what we do an hour in the morning, a couple hours on Sunday, and a couple hours another night a week for lifegroup.

So, conclusion for this blog is that a lot of the times I don’t make Christ my life and instead just one aspect of my life, and that is LAME. Also, its pretty cool that God can use random crap like the msnbc.com website to teach me stuff.

I am a…

So, for some reason today I just got to thinking on how strange it is that we feel the need to define ourselves by what we like.  When I meet someone and they say something to the effect of “who are you?” my answer, depending on the situation is typically, “I’m a drummer; I’m a hardcore kid; I’m a Texan; I’m a Carolina fan… .”  Shouldn’t my first answer be that I’m a Christian; that I’m striving to follow the teachings of the bible and look more like Jesus Christ?  It just seems really crappy that so often the phrase, “I’m a Christian,” can so quickly get lost in our ridiculously long list of personal definitions.  Should it not be the one thing that defines us?  Should we not find our security and acceptance from the creator of the world that wants to have a personal relationship with us as opposed to some group of people that for whatever reason we think is cool and want to be associated with?  Often times I don’t, and that just sucks.

This was not to say that being a fan of something is wrong, or saying that you enjoy something is wrong… more of just a way for me to question my own motivation for things.  I believe God creates us with interests and gifts that are different from others, and that he wants us to be able to enjoy those with people.  I just feel like too often I’m way more inclined to define myself as everything else before a Christ-follower and that’s dumb, I should be more bold about my faith.