Nonsensical Ramblings of Mark

Well, that seemed to work. Yet another blog entry from Word. Through and through – our walk and hearts need to be in line. Eventually we act the way we think and believe. Is it a flash of anger at home? An apathetic glance to the man on the corner who is more hungry than proud? An afternoon of idleness instead of doing what we ought to be doing? Yes, we will act out what we believe. It will come to consume our hands and eyes. Soon we will be overtaken. Such is the course of a white-washed tomb. We tiled our bathroom. When we were looking for tile we looked at the edge of the ones we were buying. The cheaper tile had the color on the very top and maybe a third of the way through the depth of the tile. The more expensive ones had the color through the entire tile. These were the ones we wanted. These are the ones God wants. His true instruments are never out of tune. His true Instrument never was. He was, through and through, God’s Son and this sinner’s Savior. I don’t want to be full of...

This is my first time using the Word plug-in for Blogger, so we’ll see how it goes. One of the things that I am grateful for in attending a Regular Baptist Church is their view of the magnificence and awesomeness of God. Even thought I may not fall into line with their views on absolutely everything about how God works, I can say that never in my life have I been able to put the pieces of the more important questions in place like I am able to do know. Putting pieces in place is all we can do – for God is much too big for us to understand everything about anything. I had a conversation last night with some family members about the reason why God created the world. Given our incessant focus on the revealed truth of God in the Bible, we turn to it for the answers. The Bible paints a startling picture of God who created the world because He wanted to. And what were His motives for doing so? Desire begs the question of why someone desires to do something. Why did I make coffee this morning...

As a Baptist I do not have much in common with my Christian brothers and sisters on the more "liberal" side of things. Doctrinally it just seems like we are miles apart on a whole host of issues. But there is one thing that they grasp just makes me almost want to stand up and shout "Amen"! They so rightly connect the Christian life with the pursuit of justice. Individually the pursuit of justice can take on a plethora of forms, but it often plays itself out in what is commonly known as generosity. The Christian life should be a life filled with thanks and a life overflowing with generosity. James hammers this home when he laments the condition of the rich man's soul in Chapter 5 of his epistle. Paul also encourages the rich to be generous redistributing the riches that God had given them lest they become a snare. The United States has a great abundance of wealth, yet we are not as generous as we ought to be as a Nation. More importantly we are not as generous as...

I was listening to NPR this morning on the way to work and heard something I had never heard before. Ted Koppel is set to leave the show Nightline and I guess the producer for the show is set to leave too. We had always known that the popular (read "all") news media is run by advertising. In fact, the news in the United States is not here to inform - it is here to make money. As soon as it stops making money it will go away. This producer mentioned that advertisers do not pay to attract viewers that are not in the 18-49 year old category. He said sometimes they get paid for 52 year olds, but not all that often. So if you are 0-17 or 50-100 you are not sought after by the advertisers. That's okay....to a point. What we then have is all of the programming on the airwaves geared towards the 18-49 crowd. I am 35 so I am in the sweet spot of this programming. But when I am 50 or 60 (if I ever get there) I will not be. I will be deemed expendable by big business and their money...

The problems I have seem to stem from this: I love myself. I am so in love with myself that I throw the benefits that I can bring to other people to the depths and ramble on about how I have been wronged; how I have been trampled on. Incessant nonsense pours from my lips and spills over into action. I think to myself, "OK, good, I have a time to sit down. Just a little sleep, just a little slumber, just a little folding of the hands to rest. Try to catch me idleness. You'll not consume me." So I tempt him, and he snatches me in a moment. And soon, that moment defines me and my defiance is swallowed up in horrid acquiescence to the dance I perform for him. But it is just not idleness that sings his sweet tune. No, I can be so busy for me. So busy performing for me that I couch it in spiritual terms and wonder why no one else sees it quite like I do. Yes, Christ died for me so that I may live. Life is found in death and that death is a dying to me that goes beyond these ...

We get so disappointed at times when our friends or others who do not have a relationship with God through Christ act in a way that is contrary to the Bible. Why? Is this not to be expected? Do we have unrealistic expectations of the non-redeemed or are we just feeling concern over their spiritual state? Why shouldn't a dog bark and a bird sing? Which leads us straight back to us - to me. I have been bought, I am a child of God, yet I often am that barking bird. People ought to question me either out loud or in their hearts when I do not act as I should. But they can't understand the war that rages in my heart; they can't fathom the depth of the cries for satisfaction that my flesh screams. Right, negate my responsbility with the "but". See how bad it can get? The introduction of Christ into our lives is an invitation to a foretaste of the blessed life that He intended all of His creation to have. It is also an invitation to struggle. No wonder in Miracles C.S. Le...

It is so easy to ramble on and on about the fact that we put God in a box. It is so easy to project our own "God box" on the likes of safe targets: politicians, preachers, family members we don't agree with, charlatans; the list goes on and on doesn't it? The real work is done when we focus hard on our own lives and try to figure out what box we need to take God out of. What compartments have we put God in? Where have we said to Him, "This far and no more?" And not only where, but why have we done that? When we examine the what that is more of a scientific pursuit. The why of our actions is where the Spirit lives and where Christ wants to invade. Only then can we truly be called one of His - when we let Him overthrow our fleshly "whys".

So when will the Christ be "rescued" from the Republicans and Democrats? As if God has a political affliation at all. We have a tendency to put Him in a box a label one politcal group the full expression of Him. The Gospel is bigger than a political view. It is much bigger than a particular denomination or point of view. We need this generation of born-again Christians to stand up a reclaim the Jesus that was a radical and that that shook the establishment to the very core. The One that showed us there was a holy God that would not be trifled with, a God that equated love for Him with love for humanity, and that showed us the least of the children in the inner city was where His Son could be found.