To whet your appetite, here’s a sampling:

Thou shouldst have but one ambition – to love Me and to be near Me. Let Me take care of all the rest. Let Me arrange the pattern of thy life. Let Me direct thy service, and it shall be not a service of dead works and self-effort, but an overflow of divine love. This is My Father’s work. I do not require and have not requested thy work. Nay, but ye become a hindrance when ye set about to work for Me thus. Set thy heart to be near Me. Live close to My heart. Look upon My face. I will satisfy thee completely. I will keep thee from anxiety. I will heal all thy diseases. I will cause My face to shine upon thee, and thou shalt be glad.

Now, isn’t that just the best news you could hear all day?

Though a lot to take on in one message, Noble tackled adultery, friends with benefits, pornography and homosexualityas the four common sins that Christians have come to tolerate.

“In America, it’s cool to be tolerant,” he told thousands at the S.C. megachurch on Sunday. But “Jesus literally tells the church there are certain things that you are to not tolerate in the church.”

The message was meant to cause discomfort among Christians. Some even got up and left in the middle of the message in earlier services on Sunday, Noble told attendees at the evening service.

But his goal wasn’t so much to condemn Christians as it was to encourage them and help them break free from sexual sins.

“What you and I pursue will ultimately determine what we do and who we become,” he stated.

For those pursuing sexual immorality, they have ultimately turned their back on Jesus, he said repeatedly.

He called it a “spiritual impossibility” to pursue adultery and Jesus at the same time.

“Just admit that you’re not following Christ,” Noble said. “Just admit that an orgasm is more important to you than Jesus.”

While men made of the majority of those committing adultery in the past, Noble has found that more married women are having affairs. And the Internet is a big factor.

Facebook has become a big culprit, he noted. He recently spoke to a counselor who said every affair he has dealt with in the past six months began on Facebook.

“I’m not anti-Facebook,” Noble said. “But some of you have started online flirting, connecting with old flames, having intimate conversations.”

Noble bluntly told them, “Go home tonight and delete your Facebook account.”

The NewSpring pastor had harsh words for singles as well.

He told singles that are having sex that they too are turning their back on Jesus.

“If you’re doing that … just don’t say you love Jesus,” he said. “Don’t show up to church during a worship song and raise your hands when you had your hands all over a girl this weekend. Stop it.”

His advice to singles having sex: don’t date somebody for a year because it leads to sex every time you date.

“You can’t renew your mind while you’re dating. You’re going to have to fight this.”

Addressing the pervasive struggle with pornography, Noble told the church crowd that they can’t pray it away.

Making himself transparent, Noble said he battled with porn addiction for more than a decade. His addiction began after he was first exposed to it in elementary school.

He admitted that even after becoming a Christian, he still struggled. He received Christ in 1990 but didn’t break his addiction until 1999.

“You don’t pray this away,” he stressed. “You confess and you repent.”

Homosexuality was the last sexual sin he addressed.

He apologized to homosexuals for the way the church has treated them. “It’s so sad that the church has used the name of the one who died for your sins to persecute you. Doesn’t make sense.”

But he added, “Homosexuality is a sin.”

“It’s not popular in America to say that,” he acknowledged. “There will be legislation introduced … that will actually make that … a hate crime.”

Noble said he has been studying homosexuality for a year and emphasized that it is never endorsed in the Scriptures. “Anytime it’s mentioned … it’s always condemned.”

He also pointed out that he doesn’t disagree with homosexuals who say they were born this way.

“I believe it,” he said. “Because the Bible says that we were all born sinners.”

Heterosexuals were born into heterosexual sin, the pastor added.

“I was born with a desire to have sex with every pretty girl that would let me have sex with her and so was every man,” he said. “Just because you were born that way doesn’t make it right for you to act on the way you were born.”

Noble made it clear to the congregation that adultery, premarital sex, pornography and homosexuality do not bring the joy that they are searching for. Rather, they bring pain, regret and hurt.

Church attendees were given the chance at the end of the service to seek help for any sexual sin they were struggling with.

“Those wrapped up in sexual sin … you got rocked tonight. You’ve got time tonight to repent, to stop it. You’re not trapped … You’ve got to ask for help,” he urged.

Unfortunately, the church has always been the last place where you can go for help, he lamented. But he told them that there won’t be condemnation or judging at NewSpring.

“People are going to get free tonight.”

–via ChristianPost.com, September 6, 2011

I also have it on good authority that it will happen.

Ah, I know what some of you are thinking: the you who think you know me, that is. You’re thinking I already am one of most loving people you know, but the trouble is, you don’t know me, know me. You can fool some of the people some of the time…

And those of you who do know me, well, I see that knowing little smirk on your faces! I have glommed onto your thoughts like a blind man reading braille, also. Those smiles tell me that you’ve been waiting a long time for me to see the Light—that I am like the Frost poem, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” where the subject still has “miles to go…”

Yeah, I’m onto you.

But back to my stated position. I have it on good authority that what I seek will come to be, since I have come to understand prayer as more finding the will of God on a matter and praying that back to Him, rather than a monologue of wishes on a premeditated list. It’s clear to me that this salvation journey I am on includes His bringing me into fullness. Into glory. Or, as Paul put it to the Ephesians: ‘to grow me up to the Full Man, which is Christ’ (my paraphrase from 4:13).

That, o friends o’ mine, tells me that it is His intention that I live as He lived, walk as He walked, obey as He obeyed and love as He loved. And so, as I leeched onto His will for me, I decided to pray in expectation that He will do this thing in me. Granted, He’s got some work to do.

It’s a tall order, and I have fallen woefully short.

Granted.

But back to the premise. Er, the promise. When we “pray the prayer of the kingdom” (as Evan Roberts coined it), and learn the Father’s will, we can have the assurance that what we ask is truly from Him and our asking will lead to its doing (see Matt 6:10; Matt 18:18-20; Mark 11:22-24*).

So…I aimed for the fences with my asking.

I just said to myself: Why go little, when you can go TALL?

Here’s what my journal said just the other day:

“Father, You know what I ask for me: I desire to have all envy, jealousy, bitterness, forgiveness, vengeance and offense redeemed out of me! I desire to be the most loving person people will ever meet—whether they like me or not. Whether persecuted, I bless. Ignored, I rejoice. Overlooked or bypassed, I praise. Despised, I love. Hurt, I forgive. Treated discourteously, I return kindness. Belittled (even in attitude), I submit. Forsaken, I triumph.

“Lord Jesus, I trust You to save me from myself. Your work is finished, which is my set hope for my “finished” course. I turn to You to do the impossible. With God, all things are possible. Even these hopeless, endemic, pandemic issues in my flesh.

“You will answer this prayer of mine because I know I pray Your will. You will bring me all the way into glory, victoriously, not by the skin of my teeth…”

It occurs to me that my birthday is in four days. Hint, hint. I pretty much know what I want and I have stated it here. There is no hope it will be done by September 3rd (did I mention that was my birthday?), but I have every hope it will be done in time to see Christ Jesus, for “when I see Him, I will be like Him, for I shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2)

I just want a head start.

*These each presume the pray-er has already learned the will of God

No, a good look.

What you see right now is not exactly what you’ll see 30 days from now.

They say your skin sheds and regenerates every month. Off with the old, and papa’s got a brand new bag! If you’re keeping score at home, that’s about 3 billion skin cells that wave a white flag each and every day. Why does this happen? Glad you asked. Your skin, the largest organ of your body, is also the first line of defense against the body’s enemies: dehydration, infection, injuries, air quality, and temperature extremes. Gotta keep it pristine. Durable. Resilient.

Oh, and your skin constitutes about 20% of your full body’s weight, so, technically, you lose a fifth of your mass each and every month. Before you reward yourself with that extra scoop of rocky road, remember you also put it right back on.

Sorry.

Followers of Jesus also shed and regenerate every day. I like to read Watchman Nee and Oswald Chambers and Paul because they inform me that life in the Spirit is about subtraction. The crucified self. I also thumb through Guyon and Spurgeon and Paul because they bring out the renewing power of Christ in me. So I thought I might sate your palate with a menu that is rich in vitamins and minerals to get us ready for what awaits outside that door in the mean streets of life today.

The following items are more than tools for daily renewal. They are organic, when utilized in the grace of God, to filter, expel and rebuild. They are fuel. They enable us to shed unwanted pounds and take on muscle and bulk. These, then, become the first line of defense against laziness, flabbiness and gluttony, whilst taking up the offensive against the dark rule of the empire. Yeah, it’s that big!

So before we hit the floor or the door, it may behoove us to take our breakfast in bed.

• Early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You…(Psa 63:1)

• In the morning my prayer comes before You…(Psa 88:13)

• Morning by morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; morning by morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation…(Psa 5:3)

Breakfast, it would seem, is the most important meal of the day for God-warriors too . Regardless of time or place, our day should be shaped by the good grace this diet brings. It’s guaranteed to get you, uh, bikini-ready, spiritually speaking. It’ll fine-tune those abs. Flatten ‘em out. Promise.

Start your day, end your day, bookend your day, or fill your day (as the case may be) with these disciplines of grace:

1. A TEACHABLE HEART – come before the Lord with an “amen” in your heart; tell Him “Lord, whatever it is You show me, I will do it.” Open every crack and crevice, corner and closet to His gaze. Come open, ready, repentant, worshipful. Lord, I want a heart that is reachable, a mind that is teachable and a faith that is unimpeachable!
2. THE BIBLE – The Psalmist promises “the entrance of Your Word gives light” (Psa 119:130); it opens up blocked corridors and fills the house with the Presence and fragrance of Jesus who is the Christ, for the Scriptures testify to Him (Jn 5:39). While reading plans are helpful, don’t try to read to accomplish a goal, but for illumination. Stay on a verse or passage. Ask His Spirit to breathe on the scripture and give it life for you. Await His marching orders.
3. A JOURNAL – What else are the scriptures but the journals of His servants who wrote as they heard the living, breathing Word? Your journal is the record of your journey with the Shepherd and a pictorial of the places He takes you and where He lays you down in pastures of grace. On my library shelves sits literally thousands of pages of journaling—my prayers, raw expressions of faith and tables of His mercies in my life—my own books of remembrance that shape my life and keep me in the love of God (Jude 21).
4. A HYMNAL – Certainly the Psalms—the hymn book of the Bible—are a great place to sing back to God the attributes He possesses and the marvels of life in Him; an iPod or CD loaded with worship music is greatly beneficial but get yourself an old hymnal. How rich is the devotion of saints in a bygone era and how much we can learn from their own disciplines! The time with God should not be rushed but nourished and cultivated with overtures of love back to Him.
5. AN EXIT STRATEGY – What good is it to stare at yourself in a mirror, have it reveal what must be seen, then move on without dealing with that cowlick or bit of lettuce in your teeth? Do we rise from our session with Jesus, pat His back and say, “Good talk, Lord”? Here is where we put an exclamation point behind our “amen” and seek His grace to live through us. Did He reveal someone of whom we must ask their forgiveness? The first thing we do must be to grab the cell phone and set up a coffee with them. What did we hear Him say? Faith is not only hearing but doing. What is our takeaway? Our benediction is to follow through with our Shepherd’s instructions. Did He remind us we are not condemned but loved? Then all through the day we must confess those things that reflect that.

Far too many in the professing church today are hoping in a false security for all their eternal wants and wishes. Because they prayed a prayer, lifted a hand at a pastor’s behest during an invitation or filled out a decision card, they feel they are “in” and that’s all there is to it. There is no coming under the reign of Christ. They live as they good and well please. The Gospel of Heaven has replaced the Gospel of the Reign of Christ in the modern church.

When John the Baptist came preaching an “at-hand” Kingdom of Heaven, it was clear to him that a characteristic of a Kingdom citizen was one who was continually brought under the Lordship of the Son, the King of that Kingdom, Jesus the Christ.

“He must increase; I must decrease.”
(John 3:30)

The interesting thing about that passage is its Greek construction. The first phrase is a present active reality. “He must be increasing.” Simply put, the Baptizer knew this about the Kingdom economy: its citizens MUST be seen flourishing in the Life of Christ and He must be seen thriving and thrumming in them. The Good News is, this is not something we can work up on our own.

In the second phrase, the mood switches to the passive, morphing the words into these: “I must be BEING decreased.” I cannot break myself nor can I bring holiness to myself. It is the Lord’s doing.

Be forewarned. Those who would follow Christ are ripe for the anvil since we are all rife with self. Paul of the Damascus Road once shouted with his reed: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection (He must increase) and the fellowship of His suffering (I must be being decreased)…”

And still, still after years of hammering and hurting, scraping and scouring, being cast down, cast out and cast off, this hearty old apostle could say at the end of his days it had been “a good fight.” How can you kill a man who’s already dead?

When young Gypsy made Christ Lord of all His Life, it stuck. He made it his life’s pursuit to know Christ.

Eternal life is not gained by the mere lifting of a hand but with a life that abides in His Love (John 17:3). And it is a restful abiding, to be sure. Our work is only to yield (though that seems like hard labor in a prison yard at times as self is so unrelenting!). But His work is to deliver us all the way from Egypt and to Promise.

And one day, maybe a few hundred miles from this moment, or just a few perhaps, may we also turn to a would-be inquirer with glowing face and smiling eyes and give witness to a life well lived.

A life that, by God’s needful grace, never loses the wonder.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
–Paul, mid-1st century

“Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day.”
–2 Corinthians 4:16, Amplified

The math is easy.  Two thousand and seven minus nineteen hundred and sixty equals forty-seven.  I did that without using my fingers, a calculator or calendars.  When you get to be my age, you hesitate a little longer when someone asks how old you are.  In a few years I’ll hesitate when someone asks my name but so far I’m good on that front.

Today I turned 47.

I hopped in the van this morning, headed for some TWG (Time With God) and as I locked my wheelchair into the driver’s side, I stole a quick glance into the rearview mirror.  It may have been the way the sunlight highlighted the right side of my head but I had to do a double-take at the increased number of silvery strands that reflected back at me.  Did it bother me?  No, not one bit because I quickly referenced in my noggin the times that gray hair is meant to be a good thing in the Bible, even desirable. 

Now, balding?  That’s another matter altogether.  I’ve moved from a hair brush to just moving some hairs around with my fingers.  Soon I’ll just need a washrag.  God is pretty much silent on the subject, too.  Some people’s hair he numbers.  Others (like me), He puts an asterisk beside.

(Total is pending.)

Sometime after my two older sisters came to be, my Mom suffered an unfortunate miscarriage.  Had that child been born, I may not be here today.  So, in celebration of this auspicious day in my life, come along with me into the courts and inner chamber of the Maker of Life.  I’m SO glad to be alive!  Even though I can squint and see fifty, and though flecks of gray are gaining momentum, I rejoiced today that with each passing year, I’m a little less ’dead’.  I’m so tired of carrying about this body of death that every turn of the calendar means I’m getting that much closer to putting on immortality!

Please indulge me for yet another entry into my prayer journal:

My Father, God and King,

This is the life!  Early Fall, temperatures are becoming more civil…the color of the world even seems to have changed into richer tones…and I’m here with You on my birthday, looking forward to Your Presence to hold me and reveal more riches and the richness of Your grace and Life.  Show up, Lord!  Speak to me.  Let me hear from Your Throne and heart; I invite You to tarry with me here this while.  Walk with me and expound Truth to my ears and heart that I might gain a fuller revelation of the Son of God and may my heart BURN—burn on and burn out—for You. 

Overwhelm me with waves of mercy, grace following grace, glory to glory and faith to faith.  Baptize me in Your deep, deep waters and bury me in them that I might rise in power with You.  O God!  Fill me to fullness!  Complete me!  Finish Your work in me!  May Christ be fully formed in me…pull me into Yourself that I might come to the complete measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ with no vestige left of Scott-the-old-man.  I want You.  I long for You.  I can even say in this moment that my soul aches for You—please don’t let this ache go away!  Bubble up through me, O Living Water!  Fill me up to overflowing.  I worship You. 

My…

Faithful God.
Wonderful Friend.
Caring Shepherd.
Loving Companion.
Patient Counselor.
Ever-present Helper.
Constant Hope.
Loyal Defender.

I feel deep pools rising up within me.  Look at me when Your eyes look to and from on the earth because I’m raising my hand so You can spot me.  I’m here, looking at You, beholding You.  Come to me, O One Who reigns!  I owe my whole life to You and bathe in Your grace.  Take me deep into Your waters but as they rise to find their level, raise me with them. 

I’m not after counterfeit and make-believe or manufactured holiness or any ‘virtual’ oasis in this desert.  I want You to reign in me and through me.  I can’t wait for the day when Your Kingdom truly comes in all its fullness to me and completely shatters and displaces all the flesh and mortar kingdoms of my heart.  I long for the day when You reign supreme and there is no rebellion, hypocrisy or conditional love in me.  I cry for the day when Your radiance is so seen in me that “I” become transparent—yea, removed—that all that is seen is divine glory, and the fragrance of Christ so permeates me that all stench is removed.  When LOVE pours out of me in measures only known in Heaven.

Thank You for life! 

Thank You for bringing me into existence that I might feel Your Touch, love and redeeming grace.  Thank You for allowing me to be “in the story” and for giving me a place in it where I can demonstrate Your Life and not be stumbling around in the darkness along with the whole of humanity.  Praise You!  I love living and today is an opportunity for me to tell it to my heart… 

I’m a little more gray today but a little less ‘dead’, too.  Each passing year gets me closer to removing entirely this body of death and to be fitted for the garment You are tailoring for me.  I only ask for fabric that breathes, that is porous enough to more readily, quickly and noticeably display Your glory abundantly throughout eternity…“Not unto me, O Lord.  Not unto me.  But to Your Name I give the glory—“ (Ps 115:1)

A little more gray.  A little less dead.

Today, as I look forward from this place in the time I have left, I recommit myself to these things:

·         A little more death, a little less me
·         A little more praise, a little less indifference
·         A little more surrender, a little less selfishness
·         A little more patience, a little less judgment
·         A little more intention, a little less waste
·         A little more passion, a little less paralysis
·         A little more glory, a little less relevance
·         A little more love, a little less self-protection
·         A little more fasting, a little less indulgence
·         A little more worship, a little less preoccupation
·         A little more pilgrimage, a little less Egypt
·         A little more faith, a little less rationalism
·         A little more poor, a little less rich
·         A little more listening, a little less noise
·         A little more God, a little less theology
·         A little more risk, a little less resignation

Thank You for my life, Lord.  It’s Yours.  Thank You for Your Life, Lord.  It’s mine. 

Giver of every breath I breathe
Author of all eternity
Giver of every perfect thing
To You be the glory
Maker of Heaven and earth
No one can comprehend Your worth
King over all the universe
To You be the glory
And I am alive because I’m alive in You

It’s all because of Jesus I’m alive
It’s all because of the blood of Jesus Christ
That covers me and raised this dead man’s life
It’s all because of Jesus I’m alive

–“It’s All Because of Jesus”
The Altar and the Door, Casting Crowns  

What about you?  What do you need a ‘little’ more of?  A ‘little’ less of?

Serenity Now! 

I shared with a friend today that this is not the life I am wired for.  At heart I am a cave-dweller, needing much alone time with the Lord in order to have order and integrity in my interior life.  And so, even to the point of near rudeness to decline yet another meeting this morning, I “stole” some much-needed intimacy time with the One who, sadly, all too often gets shoved into the “to do” pile of my life. 

To my delight, what I found in my holy ground place (my van, you recall) was not a miffed Potentate thumping His watch and pumping His crossed legs impatiently.  He was not in a tizzy, giving the cold shoulder until just enough groveling had embarrassed us both.  No, I found a Lover patiently waiting by, already coming toward me as I shyly crossed over the threshold, and just like that, we were in the moment.

Blessed Father,

I come to You to worship and praise the God of all gods and every living thing.  I worship the One God who rules over all and is a Jealous Lover.  The skies spread prostrate before You, the stars pulsate with the energy of Your love, the trees bow and wave to the King who rules, and the seas move in the rhythm of the One who sings over them.

You are God forever and none can compare to You.  You are manna from heaven, water from the Rock, the Way through the wilderness, Rivers in the desert, the pillar of fire and cloud who goes before Your people to lead them to their Eternal Rest.  You are the Eternal Shabbat and I call You Lord, Savior and Lover of my soul. 

You are good and Your love endures forever!  In You is ALL my soul should ever long for, pant after and need.  The world and all its pleasures are passing away!  All that is this “world” is opposed to You and if I am friendly with it, then I am against You.  God, may this not be my enduring testimony but may I always and ever seek only after You and may the “One Thing” of my heart’s confession be to find You and be found by You.  To live only for Your pleasure and awake in Your likeness. 

Oh God!  May Christ be fully formed in me!  Oh, that I would come into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and that my inner man might be built up in You and may I be sanctified wholly, finished and completed and be found blameless!!!

As a bride adorned and festooned with the jewelry of righteousness (not her own), incandescent with the touch of the holy on me, wearing the fragrance of Christ, giving no doubt to all that I have been with Jesus, wrestled with You, not letting You go without Your breath to fill me inside.  I declare in this moment of eternity that I want You to be my First Love without a close second.  Woo me today.  Seduce me and romance me!  I am here, in my chambers, a virgin bride, kept and waiting for the Day of Your Arrival.

There is oil enough for the night—is there?  I pray so.  That’s why I come to this place of our meeting to express my heart’s yearning for You.

God, my Lord and King, I pray for ALL ties to anything that hinders me from running to Your embrace to be broken.  ALL!  I am so attracted and dis-tracted by passing pleasures and the siren calls of other lovers and I would not have it this way.  This is why I cry for Christ to be fully formed in me—until I am so consumed by Your Life that I see through Your eyes, hear only Your voice, follow hard on Your steps and taste only Your wine and Your lips.  Until I am heartsick for You, and have NO appetite except for Your Presence to linger always as close as my own breath. 

I am ever Your Shulammite, struggling to turn from Solomon’s overtures because love—real love—is found in my Shepherd Lover.  Solomon is relentless and greedy.  He has a harem and wants to make me “one of many” but You are in pursuit of me and will spare nothing to lay hold of me, breaking even Solomon’s bewitchments and enticements so that I remain single-eyed for the True Lover of my soul.

“Arise, my darling…” You say.

“Come away with Me!” You call.

Lord, please find that place in my heart where is a sincere desire—a protected secret place—where I want and will to go away with You and truly leave all this far behind…Woo me today.  Seduce and romance me!  I pray You will not turn away and leave me for Solomon’s consumption.

You are a great, high and holy God!  You are ever near to the cry of Your servant and faithful to accomplish all that You’ve begun and with all that Your servant cooperates with You to do.  DO ME, Lord!  Baptize me in the deepest waters You have!  I want this old man to die away!  For good!  I want him to be belly-up and bloated in the Red Sea along with Pharaoh and his hapless army.

God, my King, do this and draw me into the reality of such a conquering of myself.  I repent, Lord, of my own self-rule and taking the Throne when You alone have the right to rule.  Reign over me, over my life, over my family!  And over all I am attracted to…Reign, O Lord!

In Jesus’ Name, amen. 

Good reminder to be sure.

The trouble is, when he made his point, the corresponding words that flashed on the television screen were slightly different.  One little word was altered which changed the meaning completely.  The person in the multimedia department who was responsible, and for whatever reason, flashed the words: “Learn To Travel In A Fog”.  I’ll bet they wished they had caught it before it went to broadcast!

That seems to be the general atmosphere among the church scene of the 21st century.  We yawn our way through Sunday and sleep-walk our faith throughout the week.  Cobwebs grow along the cavernous chambers of our hearts.  There is no bite, no vim and vigor and little passion in our love affair with Christ.  What love affair?  We’d rather keep it on the down-low, not wanting to turn it into something that will raise eyebrows or elicit exclaims of “what’s happened to you?”  We prefer, many of us, to keep the thermostat on 75; not too hot, not too cool.  Just right.  Cozy, even.

I’m not posing that we look to emotionalism as being the savior of the church.  Lord knows we have churches that pump up the jam, jump and shout amid lasers and stage lights and still have no more effect on cultural transformation than how a frog’s hopping in the woods would cause someone in town to turn his head worried over tremors and earthquakes.  Whether the fog is on the stage or in the pews, no matter.

I am positing, however, a return to a high view of God.  His being transcends all and if we lift our eyes above the fog, we will see Him.  Tony Evans, pastor of the Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, said he went to his neighborhood Wal-mart recently to shop for a few items.  He didn’t want the hassle of long lines so he left his house early to avoid the hubbub but when he arrived, the parking lot was full.  Groaning and not a little puzzled over why so many would be out shopping so early, he went inside to discover the reason: there was a store-wide clearance sale.

While waiting in one of those cursed long lines, it dawned on him that this is how most people approach their commitment level with Christ.  If you can get God at a reduced price, they’re all for it.  Keep God cheap and they’re in.  But offer me a God at retail, or worse, an inflated price, uh, no thanks, I’ll just sleep in.

Say what you want about the Puritans, I have a strong appreciation for my forebears concerning the esteem to which they raised and praised God.  It sounds out-dated I know, but they feared Him something fierce!  Sure, at times they went a little overboard with the language of we humans as low-down dirty worms and worthless, but they really knew how to exalt the Almighty to the highest place and give Him His due honor. 

Over the weekend, I heard some Christian girl group from the UK sing about Jesus as being their “sunshine”, all the while dancing and looking worldly and seductive; and though the sound was catchy, the lyrics were so nebulous one could easily think they were singing about a boyfriend.  We want to package Christianity so close to the world’s comfort level (“keep Him cheap”) thinking that will hook them when all it does is muddy the waters a good deal more.  Christianity then gets so assimilated into all other religions and worldviews it has lost its potency.

Ah, but go to the airwaves or workplace and herald Christ as the Almighty, omnipotent, transcendent Lord, the only way and only hope for mankind, then heads will turn and the fog will clear.  Our culture is saddled with many gods, none of which can save the human race.  We, the people of the only true God, must get God out of the bargain basement and elevate Him in our lives, our homes, and our weekly places of worship. 

Who wants to fall in love with “Sunshine”?  No, beloved, but I certainly can swoon and blush at the thought of creation’s Creator fighting and conquering all enemies just to win me for His Bride!  And to think He’s coming for me—any day now!—makes me want to be ready and clear-headed. 

Though I’m dark You say I am lovely
Though I’m poor You say I am beautiful 

Somehow my weakness has overwhelmed You
Somehow my weak glance has stolen away Your heart 

That’s reason and motivation enough, wouldn’t you say?  Oh, and if you catch me napping, remind me of these things.  And if I look like I’m in a fog, do me a favor and slap some sense into me. 

Imagine a slave being given his freedom. Now imagine that same slave telling his master, “No, Master, I love serving you! My place is here with you. May I stay?” When the novelty of Christ wore off on His audience and His popularity waned, particularly when it dawned on them that His mission was not to come and make us feel better about ourselves but to make us holy, He watched a steady stream of “wanna eats but not wanna bes” walk away from Him and hitch a ride onto the wide road. We’ll just find somewhere else to take our business to, they sniffed.

When nary a soul remained He turned and saw His ragtag band of wannabes (save one) standing pat. “I’m not going to make you stay, fellows,” He offered. “You may leave anytime you wish.”

I can visualize Peter grouping The Twelve together in a sort of huddle and the subsequent whisperings, sometimes strained but mostly quiet and orderly. Then, I see as the small clutch of disciples breaks and they watch as Peter approaches the Master. “Lord, we’ve talked about it and pretty much all of us agree: where else could we go? You have the words of life. May we stay with You?”

In the Old Testament, when a slave of Judah was granted their Jubilee pardon, and one decided to stay put in his master’s household, he (or she) would place their earlobe against the doorpost of the master’s house and with a hammer and awl, the master would open a bloody hole in that part of the ear and after inserting a gold or brass or silver ring, the slave was his for life. By choice.

I take you now into the Upper Room on a melancholic Passover evening in Jerusalem’s first century, not too long after the aforementioned conversation. There we find thirteen men lounging around a table laden with the customary lamb, the herbs, the wine, with Jesus as its head. Judas is on one side and John is at His breast. The arrangement is quite telling. At Jesus’ back is Judas. At His front, near His heart, is the beloved disciple. Now, don’t miss this: John’s earlobe is pressed against the Master who has called himself in John’s gospel—and in his gospel alone—the Door. The picture is too good to miss. Here is John, by choice through intimacy, intentionally making himself the Master’s bondslave.

I’m not sure if this was ever attempted but I wonder what it would say of a slave if he or she was to tell their master, “Not just this ear, Master, but my other one as well. I want everyone to see, from all angles, that I belong to you and desire Your reign over me.” I could see an impetuous Peter, a doe-eyed John or a decisive Paul doing just that.

That’s freedom’s cost: a bloody ear. So how free do you wanna be?

One ear or two?

If you took a listen to my IPOD today, you’d find an eclectic mix of Christian music with artists like SCC, Michael W. Smith, Derek Webb, Avalon, Jaci Velasquez, Jeremy Camp, Brooklyn Tab, Lincoln Brewster, Mark Schultz, Matthew West, Chris Tomlin, MercyMe, Michael Card, Steve Camp, NewSong, Passion, Petra, Steve Green (only time you’ll see the last two in the same sentence!), “Voice” (thank you, John Piper) and Wayne Watson. There’s even a smattering of Josh Groban (one song) and Mandy Moore (one song). I suppose the most heady music I have is some downloaded songs off U2′s “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.”

Yeah, that kinda baffles me, too.

I have to say, however, that I can really worship to some of the stuff on this album, especially “Yaweh.” Just peruse these lyrics and tell me there’s not solid Truth in them. Yeah, Bono and The Edge are ‘out there’ and their lyrics can be artsy, methaphorical and layered with meaning, but I believe I have picked up on a not-as-subtle surrender ballad here. Think of it as a “Take My Life And Let It Be” for the postmodern generation.

Take these shoes
Click-clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes and make them fit.

Take this shirt
Polyester white-trash, made in nowhere
Take this shirt and make it clean.

Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul and make it sing.

Yaweh, Yaweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yaweh, Yaweh, still I’m waiting for the dawn.

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands, don’t make a fist.

Take this mouth
So quick to criticize
Take this mouth, give it a kiss.

Yaweh, Yaweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yaweh, Yaweh, still I’m waiting for the dawn.

Still waiting for the dawn…sun is coming up
Sun is coming up on the ocean
This Love is like a drop in the ocean
This Love is like a drop in the ocean.

Yaweh, Yaweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yaweh, Yaweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city if it be Your will.

What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

I know it’s a style, a method of communicating, but I like it a whole lot better when I don’t have to read between the lyrics to find out where someone’s faith lies. Gleaming cities on hills are pretty evident to everyone, not at all vague or opaque. They’re loud, too. Lives lived in the key of heaven tend to be noticed and the residents of such a city like to rock the house and wake the neighbors.

A city should be shining on a hill, indeed.