A Slow Trickle

The water in my shower has never been very exciting.  In the first place, it’s just water as opposed to something amazing like Hawaiian Punch or warm chocolate.  Secondly, the shower head certainly leaves something to be desired when you consider all the possibilities there are for shower heads these days.  And then there’s the problem with the water pressure.  (I should mention at this time that I’m not one to complain about apartment living.  Some of my readers who remember my apartment in Berkeley will not be surprised to hear that the apartment I’m in now is something of a luxury by comparison to other places in which I have lived.   Still, the water pressure in this case is so dramatically unsatisfactory that its story is begging to become a useful analogy in some kind of inspirational blog.  To this end I have composed this memoir, and while it may be too lofty a proclamation to call it “inspirational,” at least it will have been written.)

As is the tendency in multifamily dwellings, shower water pressure, though it is not usually as much of a problem as water temperature, is becoming an issue in my apartment.  As a thrifty and meticulous consumer, I was careful to observe the water pressure in the shower before I signed the lease.  Yet, despite all the precautions taken, the water pressure has now all but disappeared.  (A wise man once told me that if something “goes without saying,” than I would be better off not saying it.  I will, at this juncture, ignore his sagely advice.)  It goes without saying that a shower without water pressure is like no shower at all.

I’m not a bath taker; I’m a shower taker.  As a shower taker, I long for more than this.

As much as it would be tempting to end this blog here, allowing my faithful readers to glean for themselves the allegorical teaching for which it was intended, I will attend to your heart’s desire and make my point.  My point is simply that a life which is lived without the power it was intended to have is like no life at all.  We were created, on purpose, for a purpose.  Our Creator empowers us daily to attend to that purpose, but if we are cut off from the source of the power, we will be found inadequate for our intended purpose.

I’m not a timid, powerless, undisciplined, loveless shell; I’m a human.  And as a human, I long for more than this.

My life must be empowered by a close, working relationship with my Creator.  When it is, the purpose for my existence will flow out of me naturally like the water of a beautifully functional shower.  Throughout history we have found that those who have walked closely with God have started revolutions, freed nations, fed hungry people by the thousands, provided justice for the oppressed, leadership for the fatherless and the widow, admonition for the unruly, encouragement for the fainthearted and help for the weak.  Indeed, this kind of unbridled worship was the reason for which the human spirit was so carefully and deftly designed.  We are capable of more than just a slow trickle.  We were designed to pour out compassion, truth, love, justice and kindness with the same unrelenting fervor of a shower in a really nice hotel room.

“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”  – 2 Timothy 1:7

Discipleship on the Fly

As I was putting the small group discussion together last week, I started to realize the weight of what we were teaching. On the back of the torch cards is a devotional tool that will help everyone memorize and apply Hebrews 13:7.

“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.”

This presents quite a challenge; not only for the young believer to whom the instruction is given, but also to the mature believer who is to be imitated. For me, this verse reminds me of four of my responsibilities: strong leadership, biblical teaching, effective conduct, and inspiring faith. As one who disciples others, this realization can be very humbling.

I guess every now and then I need the reminder that others are watching and imitating my behavior. The funny thing is, it works that way for all of us whether we realize it or not. People are watching your behavior, even if you don’t realize it. The way you talk about your teachers, the look on your face when someone mentions your parents and the way you treat the staff at Pizza Hut is all being noticed. If you profess to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you have the responsibility to set a faithful example for other believers.

As I look at the list of responsibilities, I realize I fall short of these things more often than I’d like to admit. It really doesn’t matter what reasons or excuses I could give, if my behavior doesn’t exhibit that of Christ in my place, I’m falling short. Period.

However, what I have found over time is that there are very important moments in which I can choose to act like Christ. In those moments, if I choose to be pleasing to God, on-lookers are given the opportunity to learn what it means to be like Christ. These moments happen much more often than we realize, and when (not if) they happen to you, I hope you’ll do what is right for the right reasons.

Discipleship is a scary word in our culture. People think it means something very formal and serious. The fact is, it is formal and serious, but it happens on the fly. It happens every day in those moments, even when you don’t know someone is following you.

Today, I’m going to pray for the teenagers of this church, and I hope you do too. I’m going to pray that God would use them in the lives of others; that God would take away their fears and give them the courage to act like Christ would in their place; that they would refuse to let people look down on them because of their youthfulness, but instead show themselves to be godly examples of speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity to the other believers around them.

When the Beginning and the End Justifies the Me’s

I’ve been in a sort of funk lately.

It’s been a long time since I had trouble believing in sanctification.  I used to think that it didn’t matter how long you had been a Christian, you never grew out of certain struggles with the flesh.  Everyone deals with sin, and most people experience some victories and some defeats.  “The battle is already won,” of course, but I used to think that since the battle was already won, it was impossible to grow to any other level of maturity.  Thanks to my pastor, I’ve realized how mixed up my mental models really are.

If you have a saving faith in Christ, you’re totally justified.  God has spoken.  You are legally righteous in the only court that matters.  There’s nothing you can say or do to change that.  That which has been spoken into existence by the omnipotent God, cannot be pushed back into oblivion by someone as impotent as you.  This changes your life in at least two ways.  First, you’re connected to God on a deeper and more permanent level than you now realize.  Second, you are now on a journey with God that has no beginning and no ending, there are only milestones.

This journey, which is “new” to us but really isn’t new to God, takes place in eternity.  Since we live in time, it’s pretty hard for us to understand.  But understanding it isn’t really the important part anyway.  The important part is walking forward.

And now it’s time for practical applications with Steve, the part of the show where Steve takes this elusive concept and tries to help you understand what the poop he’s talking about in plain English.

The reason I’m in a funk is quite simple.  I’m not sure what to do with my justified self.  Do I work out my salvation?  Isn’t it already worked out?  Do I look forward to the day when God will finally step in and stop me from sinning?  Isn’t my sin already taken care of?  If God has got me covered with the whole sin thing, why do I need to “grow” in Christ?  How could I grow if I’m already declared completely righteous by the only Judge that matters?  The answer is in the walk.

You see, the reason God saved us, is so that we could go for a walk with Him.  Each step we take, that is, each thought, word, action, and attitude, is either a step along the journey He wants us to take with Him, or it’s a step away from God.  Throughout the course of your life, you will find that the more closely you walk with God, the more mature you become.  There’s no end point to that maturity.  You won’t look back someday (even if an eternity passes) and say, “Wow!  I became completely mature!”  You’ll only say, “Wow!  Look how much more mature I am now!”

The moment you consider your self mature enough, you’ll find that you really aren’t all that mature.  But as much as raw fish stinks after a few days, humility will wreak of maturity after a while.

Now, if I find myself looking for the end point at which I’ve become mature enough, I also find it to be a drag to not be there.  That’s the funk.  But if I find myself pressing into Christ, taking steps along the journey He wants me to be on with Him, then I find a very deep peace.  I don’t really understand most of what I just wrote (and if this were anything more than a blog, that would be a problem), but beyond understanding, there is a status of my heart over which I have no control.  Right now, God’s got control over it and He’s giving my peace.  But frankly, I don’t have time to worry about all that.  I’ve got to care for my thoughts, words, actions and attitudes over which I have so much control.

Today is a milestone, just like yesterday was.  I’m not sure what mile this is, but I know I’m farther along the road than I was two years ago.  I’m not sure what mile I’ll be at two years from now.  But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Social Networks

Well, I did it.  I’ve tried MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter for several months/years now.  My life hasn’t significantly improved.  At least, if it has, I’m unaware of it.  And at this point, all the reasons for which I joined the bandwagon have become obsolete or ineffective.

When I got a Facebook, I thought it would be cool to play games with friends online, but it turns out that playing games with friends is better done in person.  Furthermore, it so happens that every person I play games with online has been over to my place several times to play games.  They know that I’ll invite them over if I’m up for a game, so we don’t play online.  So much for games.

I also thought that participating in social networking sites would help me stimulate relationships, shallow as they may be, with people to whom I’ve been trying to minister but haven’t shown interest.  As it turns out, their acceptance to my attempts at reaching out to them is more a function of circumstances than media.  Those who will be interested in being served know where to get it, and those who are not interested don’t change for the sake of a new medium alone.  So much for outreach.

I thought that Facebook and Twitter would be a great way to encourage those who are interested in being served with a quick thought for the day, a reiteration of a lesson from IGNITE, or a thought provoking question to spur them on to love and good deeds.  As usual, good feedback is hard to get, (even harder on the internet) but from what I’ve seen so far, the people who take these things seriously are the silent minority.  Since new media is hard to consume at first, the jury is still out, but it doesn’t look promising.  So much for encouragement.

Finally, I thought I could at least keep in touch with friends who have moved away.  I’ve got lots of people who are my friends on my Facebook and MySpace with whom I used to share something in common.  But the fact is, our lives have changed.  These people don’t know me anymore and I don’t know them.  I am friends with those who are within my circle of influence, my oikos, but if you’re not there, you’re not there.  You don’t need to be; it’s not “bad” for you to drift away, and we can still be friends on a shallow level if we happen to meet up again, but true koinonia happens when people are doing life together.  Web-based social networking is many things, but it is not koinonia.  So much for fellowship.

Still, there remains an appeal for the masses toward social networking.  At this point, I’m still in the stage of asking questions.  What is the draw?  Why are you on Facebook?  Why did you decide to start tweeting?  Are you still using your preferred social networking media for the same reason you started?  How does it benefit you?  Are you fulfilled?

I’m not a sociologist, but I’m dying to know reason for this movement.  And I’m dying to know why it’s become so ubiquitous.  Because if it’s as big as I think it is, and if it’s permanent, this changes everything.

What say you?

Texting for Small Youth Groups

It looks like my “elders and wisers” have some differing opinions on the use of texting and twittering during weekly meetings.  Contenders on both sides of the issue seem to have valid grounds for holding their particular view.  It’s hard to argue with the statements made by Josh Harris about the importance of listening and receiving during a message.  And it would be unconscionable to ignore the fruit that Ron Merrell has seen from the use of this medium in his ministry.  These examples alone give rise to serious discussion, but the ever-increasing interest our culture has in social networking media and instant communication technology has me scrambling for a response.

In this issue, there are two serious mistakes Christians can make.  The first mistake would be to completely ignore the modern trend to technology-driven social networks in an effort to maintain “separation from the world” (as though that were the only biblical issue at stake) and inadvertently sacrifice our ability to communicate God’s truth to an ever-changing culture.  The other mistake, and perhaps the more devastating, would be to dive in head-first to the social networking media in an effort to engage a new generation of people while sacrificing the validity of face to face, life to life discipleship on the altar of relevancy.

Before we go sacrificing anything on any altars, it is important to note that there are strong differences between face to face communication and texting/microblogging.  Anyone who has ever misunderstood an email because you couldn’t hear voice inflection and read facial expression knows that texting/microblogging leaves out some important facets of communication.  Those of us who have lost touch with a friend because they moved two cities away and aren’t as easy to hang out with anymore know of the benefits of microblogging to a relationship.  No matter how you see it, this issue is a lot more complex than some of us would like to believe.

While the Christian approach to shifts in modern culture has always left something to be desired, there remains here an urgency that compels us to action.  The culture around us is changing.  This is not merely a new technology; this is not a microwave or a toaster oven that merely enhances what we already would do otherwise.  Social networking media change how we communicate with each other.  We are seeing relationships form new dimensions with new rules.  The truth-bearers of our time must apply the original Christian principles to these new relational dimensions.

All this being said, I’m curious as to how the application of texting/microblogging technology might be helpful in a small youth group scenario.  Certainly this would work with 250 people in a room, but what if there are 20 or less?

Texting, Twittering during messages

Why should I waste my time trying to type something interesting when others who have gone before me have used up their valuable time to do the same thing?

Ron Merrell (the man, the legend) on texting during messages. Check out May 4th for his first post and June 1st for the rebuttal.

More on this later.