Music

A little while ago I was thinking about how much I listen to worship music and how little I actually worship. I mean, what a gift, to have these worship songs on cd or iPod. They are songs that God inspired within peoples' hearts. Some were songs that people worked really hard on while others were songs that God may have given someone in ten minutes. These songs have words meant to direct the gaze of my heart towards Christ and my Father. And yet while I might comfort myself by the thought that I am atleast listening to such music, I know in my heart that I am not taking full advantage of it. As American Christians, it seems we have all the Bibles and worship music sitting right in front of us, but how little it is put to joyful excercise! I just finished reciting 2 Corinthians 3 to myself out loud and just felt led to put my heart and soul into its' reciting. It was amazing! There are times I have listened to worship music focusing on the words, applying them to my heart, applying them to my view of God, more fully surrendering my heart to Him, crying out to Him, and then quietly listening for His voice. Amazing things have happened during such times. When I write all this I do not have before me the goal of merely spending more time in these activities. My goal is to surrender more of my heart to Jesus, to have greater passion for His glory, and to give Him the worship He so dearly deserves. I do all this because He has loved me and gave His life for me. I love Him because He first loved me.

Leaving This World

I left today out to sea. I don't know for how long. A cold sensation hits me as I now begin seeing the days I had on land in a new light. What did I do with them? What did I live for? For now I have left that world and only what was done for Christ brings me joy as I look back. If I feel so now, how much more will I feel so when all my earthly days are past, never to be regained! What will my pursuit of earthly comfort and cowering under fear of man afford me then? Nothing but shame at having denied my Savior. And so I feel that mixture of shame and joy. Shame at having not been more bold during my last days and given all my heart-love-passion-surrender for his glory. But there is also joy at having been bold at times, having denied the world in exchange for surrender of all my person, love and being to Christ.

My unworthiness in both circumstances but for Christ, leaves me feeling the exhilarating weight and release of grace. Grace pushes me forward toward Christ in the days ahead which are passing just as quickly and the ever-flowing joy of the cross overwhelms the shame and joy that came with pursuing holiness during my last days. Have you ever seen a waterfall? Powerful, refreshing, peaceful. There is a waterfall of grace at the cross that falls powerfully into my heart when I will but stand under it. With such a waterfall, who could help but run this race with all their heart?

Peter must have oft recounted his repeated denial in the face of temporal wordly pressure. And yet he writes what must have been his resolved response to such remembrance.

"Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
1 Peter 1:13

What follows in his writings are strong passionate words which condemn the fleeting world and exalt Christ. Peter, having faced past denials of Christ, tells us to place all our hope fully on the grace in Jesus Christ. It is a grace that overflows in determined, sober-minded action joined with passionate, joyful, suffering love for Christ. He is basically telling us to quit it with half-hearted wandering around. Get under the waterfall and His Spirit will lead you.

"All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord remains forever."
1 Peter 1:24-25

"For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did revile in return; when he suffered he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were staying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
1 Peter 2: 21-25

Reasons For Each Step

If I were asked what my reason for living is I would answer that it is Jesus and bringing Him glory. But how about if I were asked what my reasons for individual steps I take in the days and weeks of my life? What if you were to zoom in and look at the decisions I make, the words I use, not to mention the thoughts that run through my head. As you take a closer look at my life, I think I would be quite stupid to try to fool you with such an answer as living for Jesus and bringing Him glory.

So what are my reasons for each step? Pleasing others, appearing spiritual, my own comfort. Those things encompass a large part of my motivation for doing things. I have to admit that it feels foolish to confess such motivations. It reveals how stubbornly I avoid repentance and how blind I am to my sin to begin with. Bringing my actual motivations to light and seeing just how foolish they are seems to be such an important part of true repentance and change. I realize that if I am going to truly live a life for God's glory, the individual steps of that life must one by one become for God's glory. Those steps must first shed their sinful motivation and then put on a motivation for the glory of God and source of all joy. A life lived for God's glory is made of individual grace-filled steps, each of them passionate for His glory.

Lord, reveal my sinful motivations and bring them to light. Take away my spiritual blindness and allow me to see not only my sin but the nailprints on your body that conquered and did away with sin's dominion over me. I am under your dominion now Jesus and you have filled me with your Spirit. Redeem each step of my life by your Spirit to be lived for your glory and joy. I know there no greater joy than in You!!

Passion

I just added the Passion 268blog to my bloglist. They are in the middle of a tour spreading the Gospel to college students around the world. So far they have been to Manila, Jakarta, Johannesburg, and Cape Town. It's so encouraging to read about! I seriously was brought to tears looking at it all. Some of the posts have over 1,000 comments on them from people. That is crazy!! Amazing to see pictures and read comments from people my age around the world who are growing in passion for the cross and their Savior. I pray that you are encouraged as well and inspired to fully surrender to Jesus and let Him give you His vision for your life which is so much bigger than your own.

"Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls."
Isaiah 26:8

Memorizing With Joy

Take a look at these kids reciting 1 Corinthians 9:24-27! As I watched them reciting, I was seriously in shock. Now, I have heard kids recite scripture before but these kids were so excited as they recited it. Not only that, but they had the coolest body motions to go along with the verse. :)
I felt like I was being passionately preached to by a group of little kids. Their recitation was reminiscent of how C.J. Mahaney preaches, especially as they motioned and recited, "Run in such a way as to get...the...prize!" I was soooo blown away and encouraged to not only memorize but to memorize with joy and passion that comes naturally with the life that the verses bring. You be encouraged as well! If these kids can memorize and do it with passion and joy, so can you! Run in such a way as to get...the...prize!

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Actually Memorizing Scripture

Okay, let's do some pretending for a second. You are told that in one year you will have your Bible taken from you and you won't have one for the following year. What chapters or books of the Bible would you memorize? Notice I didn't say verses, but what chapters or books would you memorize? I think if I were in that situation I would probably spend some time in prayer and ask God what scripture He would have me memorize based on what issues of sin he was showing me and convicting me of. This is essentially what happened with my decision to memorize 1 Peter. I felt God leading me to and it began making more sense as the book seems to focus on instructing Christians how to live amongst unbelievers. Now, I have been trying to memorize 1 Peter for quite a while now, probably for almost a year, and God has put other scriptures on my heart along the way but I have learned so much through it. I have seen the depth of my own laziness and in contrast seen the abundance of God's grace in my weakness. You see, to actually memorize scripture and get it to stay you have to wrap your heart around it and meditate on it word by word. The labor of memorization forces you to and so it all seems perfectly designed for having the Word penetrate and change your heart.
And it is labor. I must stress that point. Yes, my motivation is love for Jesus but true love inevitably involves labor. I would encourage you in that the labor of memorizing scripture is made lighter, more enjoyable, and more focused by a companion. Many times on long trips in the car me and a friend will pick a section of scripture and recite it back and forth to one another, taking it in sections, until we both have it memorized. Often we both find ourselves talking about how it is already affecting out heart in that moment. Whenever I see the person from then on there is a bond of joy at having shared in seeing and savoring Christ together through His Word that is wonderful.
One of the reasons I have grown in love for memorizing scripture is that so many times my heart feels dead and lifeless. It is during these times that it longs most for the words of life to fill its' dry walls with water. Be encouraged to pick a section of scripture to memorize, whether it's a chapter or one of the smaller letters of the apostles, whatever God is leading you to do. May your heart be filled with the living water of Christ by His Spirit through His Word. May you see and savor Christ and as you behold His glory may you be transformed into the image of the One you behold.

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed in to the same image from on degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."
2 Corinthians 3:18

Memorize Scripture

I spent this past week in Pennsylvania and it was one of the most refreshing weeks I could have had and a gift from the Lord. General and Mrs. Buckingham had a bunch of us young folks over for dinner one of the nights. They are always such a sweet and encouraging couple and have never stopped serving the Lord together. After dinner they made us some of their famous milkshakes and then General B led us in a devotional. One thing that has stuck with me was an encouragement to memorize scripture. He said many young people come to him for advice looking for direction in their lives especially in the area of waiting for their future spouse. He said he always encourages them to memorize scripture and that the Lord will speak to them as they do. I was like, "Yes, that is so good!" I have always experienced the Lord speaking me to in profound ways as I memorize scripture. As I seek the Lord for what he has for my life, he is already giving me vision as I seek Him in his Word. Thank you General and Mrs. B for encouraging us and pointing us to where our true joy is in the Savior!

Wasted Lives

What do wasted lives look like? In John Piper's book, "Don't Waste Your Life", he tells the story of an old man in his town who finally came to salvation near the end of his life. The old man wept as he received Christ saying, "I've wasted it! I've wasted it!" John Piper was affected by this sight at a young age and also by a plaque that hung in his house. It read,

Only one life,
'Twill soon be past
Only what's done
for Christ will last.

What does this mean? To be honest I don't know exactly what it means. I think I know some things it doesn't mean though. I know it doesn't mean sitting on your butt watching tv. I know it doesn't mean building a mini-kingdom of earthly things that satisfy us and bring us pleasure. I know it doesn't mean living a lukewarm life of going to church and working a job that fills your bank account so that you can give your 10% to the church and spend the rest on yourself. I give all these examples in such detail because I have been guilty of all of them. I can tell you that there is absolutely no lasting joy in any of these things. So when I say I don't know exactly what the quote means, I guess I mean to say that I don't know exactly what it will look like for everyone. I think it will involve a whole lot of sacrifice and a whole lot of joy. I have tasted some of this joy of offering my body as a living sacrifice and there is no other joy like it. The comfort of middle-class American life is nothing compared to the exhilarating joy of being caught up in God's glory.

So what will living out the above quote look like for you who are reading this? What wonderful visions might God put into the heart that is wholly offered to Him! God will give you a vision and will lead you. Do you dread the thought of whole-hearted surrender to God that could leave you as a missionary in China or better yet, a sold-out risk-taking evangelist in your own workplace and neighborhood? Why do you dread the thought of your Savior's call? Is it that you suspect your Savior's call will be different from what is currently in your heart and you hesitate to give it up? But Christ is your source of joy and your heart must learn to know this! He will lead you down some crazy hard paths but He will be with you. Do you see what this means? It means that your source of joy will be with you!

In another book, John Piper poses the question whether on not we would be happy in heaven if Jesus wasn't there? That is a very revealing question. We would be miserable in heaven without Him. Jesus is the source of all lasting joy and I want to learn to follow Him more as such.

Jesus, lead me out of my comfortable and selfish life and let me lose myself in You and your glorious plan for my life. May I bring You glory, Lord, as I find my joy in Christ in all circumstances.