My mom died 2 years ago today

The tag line for this blog is “reflections on life, death, and everything in between.”  If you’ve been a reader very long, you know that’s an accurate summary of the things I write about.  We live, we die; and everything that we say, do, think, and believe in that incredibly brief span of time between life and death has eternal implications.

In our weekly prayer meeting a couple of days ago, we read this verse as part of our corporate Scripture reading:

The memory of the righteous is a blessing, (Prov. 10:7a)

My mom died two years ago today.  She was righteous in Christ, and her memory is a blessing to me and others who knew her well.  Most of my friends who visited her during her 5 year battle with leukemia told me they came away feeling like she had encouraged them more than they had encouraged her.

Mom is with Jesus now.  I don’t base my confidence in that fact on sentimentalism or wishful thinking.  When Mom was young she did what the Bible says everyone who wants eternal life must do—she repented of her sin, and gave her life to Christ.  He became her Savior and her Master.  She loved him and trusted him and followed him (imperfectly, like all the rest of his followers) until the day she died.

I’m afraid there are many who think that as long as you believe in God and try to live a pretty good life, you’ll go to heaven.  I want to say this as bluntly as I can—that’s a lie.  My goal in this post isn’t to preach a sermon, but if you believe something like that, I can’t urge you strongly enough to pick up a Bible and read one of the gospels.  When you’re finished, you might as well go ahead and read the rest of the New Testament.  It might save your life.  I would love to talk to any of you reading this about what it means to follow Christ.  Please feel free to contact me any time, either in person or through this blog.

But for now, I just want to say that I’m thankful for the time I had with my mom.  I’m thankful that her body is no longer broken and racked with pain.  I’m thankful that she is at this moment indescribably happy; she is, I believe, humbled and amazed and thrilled that she will get to spend eternity worshiping the One who gave his life for a sinner like her.

November 20 two years ago, the day mom died, was a Tuesday, just two days before Thanksgiving.  There was no shortage of tears that Thanksgiving.  But tears don’t necessarily preclude gratitude.  And I guess what I’m trying so hard to say, as another Thanksgiving approaches, is that I’m thankful for my mom: for her life, her legacy, and even for her death, knowing that it was her entrance to unimaginable joy in the presence of Christ.

I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Christmas presents that ALSO help the needy

Most people seem to me to have a tendency to think about the needy at Christmas time.  That’s good.  Unfortunately, it also seems that many have a tendency to think about the needy only at Christmas time.  As Christians, our concern for those in need should be apparent every day of the year.   The biblical commands to care for the poor are numerous and clear and certainly not limited to once a year.

I don’t say any of that, of course, to discourage anyone from remembering the needy at Christmas.  Rather, I hope to encourage you to remember the needy all year long.  Since Christmas is quickly approaching, though, I want to point out a few simple and rather painless things you could do this holiday season to help those in need.

Buy Coffee

Freshly roasted coffee makes a nice, fairly inexpensive gift for the beloved coffee addicts in your life.  If you’d like to buy coffee and help the poor at the same time, you have a couple of options.

Christian Carnival CCCII

Welcome to the 302nd edition of the Christian Carnival, a weekly collection of some of the best posts of the Christian blogosphere.  This carnival is open to Christians of Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic convictions.

You can find detailed submission instructions here, join the weekly reminder list here, or just dive in head first and submit your post for next week here.  Only posts published between midnight EST Tuesday night, November 9 and midnight EST Tuesday night, November 16 are eligible for next week’s carnival.

PLEASE NOTE: A few posts were not included because they didn’t qualify for inclusion under the submission guidelines. Remember, you may only submit one post per week, and it must have been published to your blog within the specified time period for that carnival.

Disclaimer:  As you might expect with a carnival like this, I don’t agree with all the views expressed in every post, but I’m always more than happy to host it.  There are many excellent, thought-provoking articles every week.  If I had time, I would comment on some of the posts with which I disagree, but I don’t have time, so this disclaimer will have to suffice.

I should note that today is Veteran’s Day in the U.S.  Before proceeding, I simply want to acknowledge my gratitude to all those who have served, or are currently serving their country in the armed forces.

Conflicts of all types are very real.  Appropriately enough

Angels and Demons

St.Michael and his Angels Fight the Dragon, by Albrect Durer

The title of this post isn’t a reference to Dan Brown’s novel, or the movie based on it.  It’s a reference to real demons and real angels.

Angels and Demons

Even though I’ve never personally seen a demon or an angel, and would be perfectly happy if I never did, I take it for granted (precisely because the Bible does) that both exist, and that neither are to be trifled with.

Angels are not cute, chubby little creatures who fly around shooting benevolent arrows at people, causing them to fall madly in love.  They’re not people who’ve died and float around on clouds, or come back to earth to comfort someone who’s troubled.  In fact, they’re not people at all, and never were.  They are an entirely distinct order of created beings, and there’s nothing cute and cuddly about them; they are fearsome and awe-inspiring.  Much of the contemporary view of and fascination with angels

Biblical Character Qualifications for Church Leaders

Hey everyone, Derek here (a.k.a. “Mr. THEOparadox“).

One of the oft-overlooked qualities essential for any pastor is that he “must have a good reputation with those outside the church.” (I Timothy 3:7). This past Sunday I heard a testimony that demonstrates the fruit of possessing this qualification.

In our men’s Sunday School class, our pastor’s neighbor shared the reason he recently started attending our church. He said that he had waited two years before coming to the church because he wanted to “see if this man really was who he claimed to be.” After observing and interacting with my pastor during that time, including a spirited dispute over a fence line, he saw something authentic and impressive (no doubt it was the image of Christ, unobscured by human pride). My pastor passed the reputation test, and he’s won the opportunity to effectively share the Gospel as a result. God uses the qualifications He requires.

For several years, I was part of a very solid family of Reformed charismatic churches. There, I discovered a peculiarly strong emphasis on the Biblical qualifications for church leaders. I saw these qualifications accurately described and defined, and I watched as my pastors were held accountable not only to attain the qualifications at the start, but to maintain them all the way through. I know of specific cases where church discipline was applied because leaders failed to remain “above reproach” in areas like finances and family discipleship. All of this was very refreshing, especially in light of my Pentecostal background. Back in my Pentecostal days,

Another budding thespian in the family

The Music Man

Last year I told you about my daughter the director.  Now it appears that we have another budding thespian in the family.

My youngest son was selected last winter to play the part of Winthrop in a Sikeston Little Theatre production of “The Music Man.”  It was his first play.  He had always been a little shy, so I wasn’t sure how well he would handle being in the spotlight.

As it turned out, he handled it pretty well.  In fact, I want to tell you a couple of “behind the scenes” stories.  If you’re interested in those, continue reading below the video.

This video consists of six excerpts from the play, beginning with the introduction just before the opening curtain (read by my son as Winthrop, with his trademark lisp).  The clip includes “Gary, Indiana” and a portion of “Wells Fargo Wagon.”  Keep in mind that this is a small town amateur theater; it’s a lot of fun, but it’s still amateur through and through.

Two things about my son’s effort during this adventure made me very proud.  The first was his unassuming attitude.

Halloween: A Trick…or a Treat?

Every year as Halloween approaches, a familiar controversy resurfaces.  Should Christians celebrate the holiday, or not?  Is Halloween a trick—a subtle doorway into the dark world of the occult; or a treat—a good time with family and friends and the neighbors we otherwise seldom see?

My blog spotting this week consists of posts (both old and new) written by Christians with widely divergent views on the origin, customs, and advisability of celebrating Halloween.

There are those who believe everything about Halloween is demonic and irredeemably evil.  I consider that an extreme position.  I thought about linking to a recent article as an example, but decided I didn’t want to take a chance on somehow dignifying it in the process.  (I’m still shaking my head over some of the mind-boggling statements in it.)

But setting aside bizarre and extreme views, I think there’s real value in hearing what godly men have to say about whether or how a particular holiday should be celebrated.  I think it’s a legitimate question:  Should Christians celebrate Halloween?

Some say NO, some say YES, some say…MAYBE

Dan Edelen doesn’t like Halloween, as he made clear a couple of years ago with The Obligatory “Halloween Is Bad” Post …he also doesn’t see much point in Halloween alternatives.  He tells why in this post:  The Church and the Halloween Alternative Party

Al Mohler also urges caution, reminding readers “that evil spirits are real”:  Christianity and the Dark Side–What About Halloween?

For three consecutive years, 2005, 2006, and 2007,  Tim Challies took a slightly different approach, expressing his conviction “that it is a very poor witness to have the house of believers blacked out on Halloween.”

Michael Patton got a little fired up in his post a few days ago, chiding those who consider Halloween irredeemably evil.  Lots of comments on this one: Jesus with His Lights Turned off on Halloween

Pete Wilson says he enjoys Halloween:  Can Christians Celebrate Halloween?

Randy Alcorn offers a little food for thought in A Perspective on Halloween

Greg Koukl (unlike Dan) thinks alternative celebrations are probably a good idea:  Christians and Halloween (video)

Finally, in the interest of lightening up just a little, Ben Witherington thought if would be fun to re-post an article from The Onion (yes, that Onion) for Halloween a couple of years ago:  Just in Time for All Hallow’s Eve– Ezekiel’s Skeleton People Show Up

You might hate Halloween, or you might love it.  I think you have every right (and maybe even a responsibility) to argue your point, and argue it passionately.  But for those of us who are Christians, we need to be careful not to pass judgment on those brothers and sisters who might beg to differ with us.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God (Rom. 14:5-12).

What about me?  I guess I’m somewhere in the middle.  I think Halloween can be harmless fun.  And I think Halloween can be full of occultic darkness and godless debauchery.  In one sense, Halloween is what it is; but in another, perhaps, it is what we make it.

Devotional Christian Book Giveaway

I’ve never met Tony Kummer in real life, although I now believe he’s a real person, and not a zombie, as I had once wondered aloud here on this blog.

Tony has been active for several years on various blogs and social networking sites.  He’s encouraged me, both directly and indirectly, to see social media as a good way to engage people in important discussions about Christ and the Bible.

In conjunction with the relaunch of one of his previous projects, Tony’s giving away a great selection of devotional books.  The website, known as Devotional Christian, is a combination of original articles and RSS feeds for some of the very best online devotionals.

Here’s just a small sampling of the books that will be given away:

1. Golden Treasury of Puritan Devotion: Selections from the Writings of 13 Puritans by Di Gangi, Mariano
2. Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional (Hardcover) by Luther, Martin
3. Search the Scriptures: A Three Year Daily Devotional Guide to the Whole Bible
4. Day by Day with the Early Church Fathers (Hardcover) by Hudson, Christopher D.
5. Teach Us to Pray: 365 Prayers from the Bible (Paperback) by Beals, Timothy J.
6. Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (Hardcover) by Keller, Timothy
7. The Fruitful Life: The Overflow of God’s Love Through You (Paperback) by Bridges, Jerry
8. In Christ Alone: Reflections on the Heart of the Gospel (Hardcover) by Sinclair Ferguson.
9. The Loveliness of Christ (Soft Gift Edition) by Rutherford, Samuel (foreword by Sinclair Ferguson)
10. The Hope of Glory: 100 Daily Meditations on Colossians (Paperback) by Storms, C. Samuel
11. Lord and His Prayer by Wright, N. T.

I encourage you to check out Devotional Christian, and add it to your feed reader.  If you’d like to enter the giveaway, click here for details.

Pride, that epidemic vice

After a week of fall break, or “fall reading days”, things are once again back in full swing here at Southern.  Our latest lecture in Biblical Counseling concerned the putting off of pride, and the putting on of humility.  Dr. Scott, I believe, very accurately described pride as an “epidemic vice”.

The question we have to ask ourselves is not whether or not it exists in our lives, but where and how much.  Amy Carmichael once said, “Those who think too much of themselves don’t think enough.”  We can see this is a huge problem in our culture, and modern therapeutic methods have only thrown gasoline onto the proverbial fire.

The definition we used for pride is the mindset of self: a focus on self and the service of self, a pursuit of self-recognition and self-exaltation, and a desire to control and use all things for self.  (See any key terms here??)

We went through 31 different manifestations of pride, including

Movie Reviews: Where the Wild Things Are

I’m planning to take my 9 year old son to see the new movie based on Maurice Sendak’s 1964 Caldecott Medal-winning children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are. My son, who’s somewhat timid by nature, loved the book.

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but since the book consists of only a few sentences and some exceptional artwork, I realize that turning it into a movie required a significant amount of imaginative story development.  From the reviews I’ve read it seems that Spike Jonze has done just that, and done it well.

Reactions to the movie vary widely, as they typically do to movies based on a book.  Here are links to some of the more thought-provoking, and occasionally poignant and/or informative reviews I’ve read.  All of these are written from a Christian perspective:

From WORLD Magazine:  Not so Wild

Carolyn Arends reviewed the movie for ChristianityToday movies. com

Brent Thomas writes a review at his blog:  Where the Wild Things Are

I don’t know who this is, but it may be my favorite review of all:  Where the Wild Things Are

Southern Seminary professor Russell Moore suggests the movie might not be wild enough:  Where the Wild Things Aren’t

Plugged In offers 3 different reviews (in an audio, video, or a more thorough print format):  Where the Wild Things Are

Have you seen the movie yet?  I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.

Jerry Bridges on “The Pursuit of Holiness”

There have been times throughout my life, right up until the present, when I feel as if I’ve utterly failed to lead a holy life.  That’s sobering, since Hebrews 12:14 clearly admonishes us to “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.“  In light of passages like that, falling into sin can be disheartening, to say the least.

In his last post, Isaac gave a brief overview of some of the different ways Christians have interpreted (and attempted to obey) the biblical commands to be holy.  Isaac will resume his biblical counseling series soon, but in the mean time I want to follow up on a comment I made on that last post.

I referred to an illustration in Jerry Bridges’ book “The Pursuit of Holiness.”  It wasn’t a major feature of the book, but for some reason I’ve never forgotten it, even though I read the book over 20 years ago.  It’s encouraged me on those occasions when I’ve been deeply discouraged by my own apparent lack of progress.  I couldn’t find it online anywhere, so my son duplicated it for me in a Word document.  (This may be the only place on the internet where you can find it!)

Here’s the illustration, followed by Bridges’ explanation of it from the book.

Some feel that such statements of Paul’s as “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15) are too strong for a Christian

Saved From God

Hey everyone, Derek here.

This week I listened to C.J. Mahaney’s sermon, “Christ Our Mediator.” (Click here to download it free from Sovereign Grace Ministries)

C.J. quoted three definitive Gospel summaries . . .

“The glory of the Gospel is this:  the One from Whom we need to be saved is the One who has saved us.”   – R.C. Sproul

“Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice.”   – John Stott

“The debt was so great that while man alone owed it, only God could pay it.”   – Anselm

The results: God’s holy wrath is satisfied, so believers have peace with God and no condemnation from God.

Got nothing to add to that. Thank God.

I, too, thank God for C.S. Lewis

One of the jewels I found browsing around a Christian bookstore in the mid-70s was C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity.  In one of my very first blog posts, I quoted a line from the book, which, to my surprise, led to a lengthy and rather spirited discussion in the comments.  In a subsequent post I expanded the quote to include some of its surrounding context.

In the first chapter of Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper offers a thoughtful and articulate assessment of Lewis’s impact both on his own life and on Christian thought in general.  I could try and try (and try some more) and still never express my gratitude for Lewis nearly as eloquently as Piper does here, although I have a sneaky suspicion that the depth of my gratitude may very well rival his:

Someone introduced me to Lewis my freshman year with the book

It’s dangerous to play it safe

The paradox in the title of this post is true.  It’s a dangerous thing to go through life playing it safe.  If you carefully try to preserve your life, you’ll lose it.  Jesus put it like this:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (Mark 8:34-38)

Give your life away for the sake of Jesus and the gospel, and you’ll certainly save it.  In this video clip Francis Chan exposes the folly of playing it safe by using an analogy from the Olympics.  As surely as Olympic gymnasts stand before their judges, we will stand before a greater Judge.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Cor. 5:10)

Watch the video, then scroll down for some additional links.

HT: Laurie

Few people address the subject of risk in the Christian life better than John Piper.  Here are a couple of good links:

Risk and the Cause of God

Don’t Waste Your Life – Chapter 5

He’s Only Mostly Dead (Princess Bride)

The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favorite movies.

Recently I noticed that Andy Naselli used this clip to illustrate a key theological concept.  Before God saved us we were not “mostly dead.” We were not simply near death, but still able to respond to Christ’s call.  We were “all dead“–unable to respond.  We were “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind… dead in… trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:3c, 1).