GENRE: CHRISTIAN LIVING
PUBLISHER: CROSSWAY
PUBLICATION DATE: JUNE 30, 2009

Have you ever listened to someone you know is right about everything they’re saying to you, but they’re saying it in such a fashion that you feel like you’re being bludgeoned with a tire iron? Rather than a steady drip, you’re hit with a shotgun blast from a fire hydrant? That’s how I felt when I was reading Think Biblically!: Recovering A Biblical Worldview. There was very little I disagreed with in this title, but I found myself having to put the book down and do something else every 15-20 minutes or so. It’s just a lot to take in at once. Very few people can have what they’ve thought to be a viable worldview—even a Christian one—and have it stood on its head and not have some serious unraveling happen on one level or another.

In this book, John MacArthur and other scholars and teachers from The Master’s College encourage Christians how to learn to “think biblically”–to distinguish which voices lead toward a godly life and which lead astray, to embrace a mind-set absolutely and exclusively dedicated to an understanding of the world based on biblical truth. The authors discuss the outworkings of that worldview in issues of postmodernism, gender, worship, psychology, science, education, history, government, nationalism, economics, and the arts and literature. Each writer also suggests resources for further study.

Essays such as “Why a Scriptural View of Science” and “Why Christian Education and Not Secular Indoctrination” will likely appeal to the already converted, but at least the former is not exactly what one might expect. Instead of simply parroting ideas about Creationism and “godless science,” the essayist attempts to consider the nature of scientific hypothesis and the various integrative approaches believing scientists can take as they consider their discipline and their understandings of Scripture. However, the next chapter starts out with the obligatory “Christian child challenged and eventually corrupted by a secular education” horror story that causes so many people to send their kids to Liberty University to learn to combat the godless liberals. From here, the chapter is exactly what you’d expect it to be. And while I disagree with very little in the essay itself, it still comes across as rather reactionary.

Grant Horner’s “Glorifying God in Literary and Artistic Culture” is my favorite essay in the title, as it speaks to the heart of this reader and to the philosophy that pushed me to create The Christian Manifesto in the first place. By taking the time to look at the depth of culture itself and the place which the arts and literature have in it, especially in relation to believer’s creative call, it is an appropriate closer to the book.

Bottom line: As much as I don’t think many people in the younger evangelical world will appreciate the approach of this particular volume of essays, they will be very hard pressed to refute much of what is said. It is dense and chock full of proof texts, references, and important tangents. No argument is flawless, though. There will always be a point-counterpoint that keeps healthy debate and dialogue going. But, the contributors have staked their claim, stood their ground, and delivered thought-provoking treatises on a number of topics in order to help us recover the Biblical worldview that is being eroded from within and without.

We encounter the unbelievable on a regular basis: the tropical fish that can survive out of water for months at a time, the child born with eight limbs, the man that ate his way through an entire car, rust and all.

Lorraine is 95 years old. She is slumped in a wheelchair now, but her body holds the residue of soft fluid lines, shoulder to hip, hip to knee, knee to ankle. Arms hang akimbo, each jutted in a slightly different direction. Her hair is swept around at the nape of her neck in a soft bun; her mouth, down-turned at the edges and mostly unresponsive. But her eyes, those gray eyes were sharp. And they cut me that day.

When I opened the waiting room door to wheel her into the examination room, she surprised me with the unbelievable. She lowered her voice conspiratorially, struggled to raise her neck, and looked up, her eyes unclouded.

“You know, I was a dancer once,” she said. She shifted her gaze to her spindly legs, mere straw shafts under loose fitting stretch pants. Her metal cane made a hollow scraping noise against the spokes of the wheelchair as we turned a corner. “I began dancing when I was seventy-five years old. My children and grandchildren had grown up and I realized it was time to do what I was created to do. I was just a little bit late.”

The joy moving over her face was unbridled. No longer was she 95 and wheelchair-bound, reserved and uncertain. All signs of anxiety visibly drained from her face as she stopped to remember the pirouettes and petit allegros. She had known what she wanted and went after it. Recklessly.

What’s holding us back from living a life of such complete reckless abandonment, a life that is so filled with the passion and drive that we only look to the future, rather than becoming weighed down with the past? What’s it going to take for us to make bold moves for God outside of the normal routine? For us as a generation to rise up and execute a peaceful revolution, one grounded in God’s love, grace, and faithfulness?

I think part of it lies in understanding what God created each of us to do.

So often I forget that God has a unique plan for each one of us, one that allows for the dual purpose of serving Him in heaven and His people here on earth; a plan that allows us to use our His gifts for His glory, no matter the talent; a plan that will bring us unspeakable joy just by following His cues.

Why then do we have such a hard time grasping all that God wants to give to us?
This is a call for action: for the artists, the number-crunchers, the musicians, the handymen (and women), the teachers, the socialites, the librarians, the computer scientists and the political scientists alike. For the weary and the strong, the shy and the outspoken, the healed and the broken.

Embrace the talent that God has instilled in you. Use it to bring glory to His name, to reach out to each other, to form lines of mutual understanding and edification.

Don’t give into the unbelievable– dance recklessly. Know the song that’s on the tip of your tongue. Sing it boldly, just as you were created to do.

Can this be true?
Could this be real?
The Lord has set me apart?
What should I do?
How should I feel?
A new song is filling my heart!

It’s hard to explain
Harder still to refrain
The refrain that is making its start

I love You with all of my heart!
I love You with all of my soul!
I love You with all of my strength!
I love You beyond my control!

Can this be true?
Could this be real?
The Lord came to earth to dwell?
What should I do?
How should I feel?
His blood has redeemed me from hell!

It’s hard to explain
Harder still to refrain
The refrain that rings out like a bell

I love You with all of my heart!
I love You with all of my soul!
I love You with all of my strength!
I love You beyond my control!

All of it’s true!
All of it’s real!
My Father wants you and I!
So here’s what I’ll do
With joy and with zeal
Preach Christ ’til the day that I die!

Spirit come like hard rain
My own life I disdain
May my actions and refrain comply

Cause I love You with all of my heart!
I love You with all of my soul!
I love You with all of my strength!
I love You beyond my control!

Heavenly Father,
You have been my comfort this week. Lord, even when I have felt so weak, small and unworthy, You remind me that I am Yours and that You love me so much more than anyone else ever could. God, my heart has been so heavy, yet You have shown me that You help me carry on. I’ve seen You open new doors that I have been afraid to go through and close doors to show me the way You want me to go. You are awesome! Thanks for never leaving me and loving me no matter what.

Written in the journal from the Prayer Room during 40.

I am so very thankful for my life and how it turned out. I am doing great, in a great place, with a great job and surrounded by great people. I have to admit though - as much as I don’t want to acknowledge my past at all, there are still parts of it that hurt me to this day.

I struggle with completely overcoming my past because parts of my past cause me to ride my own emotional roller coaster. It’s an interesting ride through past events that have positively and negatively affected my life. Even though the past cannot be changed on this ride, I can relive those episodes; almost every time it is traumatic for me.

For 19 years I struggled with the concept of God. One supernatural being, able to hold the whole world in his palm, with everything under His control while JJ’s innocence was being stripped from him piece by piece. Don’t Christians call Him a “fair” and “just” God, an “all loving” and “merciful” God who created us and knew us before we were born?

Since then I’ve come to realize that God has a plan and a purpose for my life but that it’s up to me to fulfill it. Now my life is dedicated to helping others in any way I can. At the moment I work for this amazing nonprofit called FosterClub. Now I am using my story to help others, and I can appreciate what God has done in my life.

Now as I use my story for what I consider His will, it hurts me and brings up many things from my past I do not care to address here. I’m still navigating the battlefield logic and emotions that clash between my past and present. My passion causes me pain, my joy causes me sorrow- only sometimes.

I don’t know what my point is, probably because I am still in the midst of the emotional wreckage, and I’m not sure exactly how to clean it up. But God gives me the strength, power, creativity, inspiration & energy to move on, move forward. I can honestly say that I am perfectly content with being broken and restored as needed. It just feels good to be alive.

Why did you choose me, Hosea?
When you know what I am
When the boys call me over, ‘Hey Gomer’
I’m not your innocent lamb

This darkness inside me, it eats me alive
And when you live in the real world it’s how you survive
But I’m sorry my husband
I wish this weren’t true
I wish that I could love
As faithfully as you

Why did you choose me, Yeshua?
When you know what I am
My sins call me over and over
And I’m no innocent lamb

This darkness inside me, it eats me alive
And when you live in the real world it’s how you survive
But I’m sorry my Savior
I wish this weren’t true
I wish that I could love
As faithfully as You

These words are the deepest, the darkest, the true,
They paint a picture of hope, like that day I met You.

I knew not a Father or brother, a sister or Mother,
But when You show her to me, I promise I’ll love her.

I thought I was invisible, just a stranger, no name,
But when You walked into my life, it was never the same.

I believed I was a mistake, I questioned, I doubted,
But when You saw me from a distance, You ran and You shouted.

I said I was ugly, “where’s the beauty in me?”
But when You wrapped me in Your arms, it’s only beauty You see.

I surrounded myself in silence, I felt so alone,
But when You spoke to me with love, my heart found a home.

I walked down dark alleys, it’s where I slept every night,
But when You saw me there, abandoned, You shined down Your light.

I cried, I feared, I couldn’t hold back the tears,
But when You held out Your hands, You wiped away all my fears.

I was hungry and thirsty, I begged and I stole,
But when You heard my tears dropping, You provided me whole.

I became broken, I stumbled, I constantly fell,
But when You guided my steps, I became stronger and well.

I cut myself open, red ran down like a flood,
But when You gave up Your life, You saved mine with Your blood.

I grew weak, then weaker, the worst was the weakest,
But when You showed me Your grace, You presented true meekness.

I bruised, I bled, I screamed, and I pleaded,
But when You calmed my aching heart, it was all that I needed.

I had my heart grow the coldest, so malice and dark,
But when You softened my soul, I felt serenity spark.

I tossed and I turned, I felt so depressed,
But when You whispered, “I Love You,” I began to find rest.

Then I woke from this dream, and I realized it all,
You Saved me by Grace, that’s the beauty in the fall.

You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book ~ Psalm 139:15

The word clean is an adjective and if one was to look up the word on a formidable web site like dictionary.com, they would come across a definition that reads something like follows;

Clean - free from dirt; unsoiled; unstained

Actually that is the definition one would come across verbatim, because I went to the site and copied and pasted the first definition; writing comes with its nuances.

Anyway, let us be done with the grammar frivolity and move forth to things of a more spiritual importance.

Not too long ago I was enjoying an early morning Bible study in which we were studying the book of Nehemiah. The brilliant and wise professor who was leading this Bible study expounded upon Nehemiah 13 one morning and his words on the passage are the inspiration for what unfolds below.

The chapter begins by telling us that a law had been written not allowing any Ammonite or Moabite admittance into the assembly of God. This may sound a bit harsh but when one recollects the persecution that fell upon the Israelites from these tribes of people then the law makes a little more sense.

As we continue on we read that before this law was read aloud from the Book of Moses to the assembly that a priest by the name of Eliashib had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of God. Eliashib took a large room that was to be used for the storing of grain offerings, temple artifacts, and other valuable items and instead allowed one of his close associates to stay in this storeroom in the Temple. Eliashib’s associate was a man whom went by the name of Tobiah the Ammonite.

Yes, that is correct! The same Tobiah the Ammonite who had plotted to destroy & kill Nehemiah and the Israelites was now living inside the house of God. And it wasn’t like some young, dumb punk had admitted him into the Temple. Eliashib, the high priest who had been around and taken apart of the rebuilding of the walls (see Nehemiah 3), who knew about Sanballat and Tobiah’s distaste for the Israelites, freely lets this evil man come dwell in the house of God.

Nehemiah was not in Jerusalem when this had taken place, but when he was finally given permission from Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem, well, lets just say he was not too pleased with what had gone down. Nehemiah was furious and he threw Tobiah and all of his household goods out of the room. Nehemiah then gives order to purify the rooms and to restore the room to its proper way.

This story in Nehemiah makes me think of the passage in 1 Corinthians 6 - you know, the one about our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit and how we should honor God with our bodies. I’m sure you’ve heard it before. Anyway, I’ve actually heard this passage used several times before to stress how we should not smoke or drink alcohol or do other things to damage our bodies either externally or internally and that we should exercise and eat right and so on and so forth. Well those are all good points, but in light of the story from Nehemiah there are far more important implications to this passage.

Nehemiah became furious at the very thought of something evil residing inside the house of God. He throws this evil out and then purifies and restores the house of God to its rightful way. So since we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, should we not also become furious when something evil comes and resides within? Should we not throw out and rid ourselves of such evils and atrocities the we allow to dwell within this most Holy temple?

The simple answer is yes, the more complicated answer is why don’t we. Why are we more like Eliashib, being closely associated and welcoming in evil and less like Nehemiah, a warrior for holiness, getting furious at its very presence.

We welcome in tiny bits of unholiness each and everyday. Everything from what we watch to what we wear to why we say certain things to certain people to the way we think of ourselves. We soak in lust, greed, apathy, pride, lies, fleeting beauty, social standings and plenty more traces of impurities.The sad thing is that we so easily reason away why we do these things or why we allow these things to happen. We seem to use God’s standard as the standard for big decision making, but we lose focus on the “minor” details. I fear that we lose focus because we are afraid, afraid that our stance will come off as legalism or afraid that we will come off as over-spiritualizing nuts. But just because there have been and there are those who have skewed such things does not give us the right to downplay and reason away the importance of taking a furious and passionate stance against unholiness like Nehemiah did.

That is my prayer, that we would be warriors of holiness, cleaning out & cleansing what we’ve been blessed with to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

So, what this Book is telling me is that we’re supposed to endure trials and difficulties without fear or worry? How does that work? I’ve struggled with this question for a long time and learned in elementary school that if I wonder about it, others probably do too. Well, where do we go from here? The only answer: to a place where we’re truly in submission. That’s the only way this is possible. Followers of Christ, laying down their own lives, taking up their crosses, are called to surrender all to Him. Not our urges to please ourselves. Not our desires to be accepted, loved, appreciated, wealthy, attractive, lazy, sought after or what have you…all of it. Even our fear and worry?

But what if I get made fun of? What if I get rejected? What if I get killed? No worries mate. There’s more to life than the mortal mountaintops man has created. The Super Bowl, triple-platinum records, ticket sales, Oscars, mansions, whatever - there’s more to God’s green earth than achieving these trophies. Why do you think so many celebrities develop drug habits and identity issues? Seriously, why is that? It’s because they believe that once they have their names attached to a magazine or a seven-figure bank account, their lives will be satisfying, but it’s just not true. They’re still unfulfilled. So they pop pills to help deal with stress or they stop eating to be more attractive or they party hard ‘to forget about life for a while.’

What if you made your millions, what would you do? When I hear that question, I always think of the guy in Office Space who said he’d do absolutely nothing. He wouldn’t have to work anymore so he wouldn’t; he’d just chill. Some take up drug habits or gambling addictions. Others collect cars, buy sports franchises or invest to make more money, but what for? Does this eliminate worry and promote rest or just temporarily consume time to ignore what really matters in life?

Jim Dahlke mentioned in a message recently that Christians are willing to trust God for their eternal resting place but not for day-to-day decisions. Sounds crazy but it’s true. We’re wired that way aren’t we? We have faith that God will accept us as His children in heaven but not for Him to provide for us things in this life. I know I rely on myself far too often rather than asking God to walk with me through everyday activities and conversations. He’ll carry me, and I just forget it sometimes. But the key is not to use God as an excuse to do less, but a reason to do more.

Doing nothing is easy. Surrendering everything is hard. But when we do hand it all back over to God’s kingdom and make ourselves cognizant of the fact that our lives and bodies don’t belong to us, then we can begin to really live free. We get over our fears though we’re more likely to face resistance. We get over our worries though we’re willing to take more risks. But we’re risking for the right reasons. We’re risking to make a difference. No more excuses; no more fear; no more worries. Just our hearts, minds, souls and strengths sold out ’til death. There is peace, joy and hope to be found in this world; it’s just not ‘in this world.’

Sometimes I think about how Jesus drew out hope from the souls of people: the woman who was instantly healed from bleeding after touching His cloak, the paralyzed man whose friends lowered him through the roof. What must it have been like to be another weathered face in a crowd of people, longing to be noticed but trying to decide if it was worth it? To feel that inner struggle between anonymity and a desperate faith that propelled them forward? Which one mattered more?

In the end we see that their faith won out. Jesus breathed hope into their weary hearts, healing their physical ailments and mending their emotional scars. In the text (Matthew 9:2, 22 NLT), Jesus makes mention of their faith and then goes on to say, “Be encouraged.”

Be encouraged. This resonates with me. I picture Jesus cupping the woman’s cheek and lifting her chin, forcing her to meet His gaze. “Daughter, be encouraged. Your faith has made you well.” I envision my Savior bending down on one knee beside the paralyzed man and smoothing the hair off his brow, looking deep into his eyes. “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.”

I want to learn how to draw out hope from people like Jesus did. To hone my sensitivity, compassion, and listening skills. To learn how to ask the right questions at the right times. To break the stereotypes of today, as Jesus shattered the perceptions of yesterday. I’m learning that it hurts when my heart breaks for those who don’t have hope – but that it’s ok, because Jesus shows me how to give it away.

Everybody has a story that is just waiting to be told. Jesus knew the hearts of the paralyzed man and bleeding woman. We don’t have that luxury today with the people we encounter.

So Jesus, show us how to draw out hope from those around us. Fill our hearts with sensitivity and compassion so that we can pour Your encouragement into others. Break our hearts and fill the fractures with Your hope so that we can give it all away.