Act like men

Tags

1 Corinthians, authority, correction, criticism, ESV Study Bible, leadership, masculinity, men, Proverbs, Solomon

There is an exhortation in 1 Corinthians 16:13 that’s so simple, it’s easy to overlook:  ”act like men”.  I know there are hundreds of ways to misconstrue that exhortation.  It’s entirely possible to read cultural assumptions into it that just aren’t there.  I won’t say any more about that for now, though, than this — it would be wise to recognize the danger, and try to avoid it.

According to the ESV Study Bible, the command in 1 Corinthians is rooted in Old Testament passages that admonish men “to act with courage and strength in obedience to the Lord and with confidence in his power (see Deut. 31:6–7, 23; Josh. 1:6–7, 9; 10:25; 1 Chron. 28:20; Ps. 27:14).”

I suspect that most men, myself included, often find that harder to do than we’d like to admit.  I have wanted to be a real man my whole life, but there are times, even now, when I feel like I’m just a little boy trying to learn how to become a man.  I have, more than once, prayed the very prayer Solomon prayed in 1 Kings 3:  ”I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in… Give your servant therefore an understanding mind…”  Solomon was a deeply flawed man, but God was pleased with this particular request (1 Kings 3:10) and with the humility that lay behind it.

Below are a just a few brief (and poorly developed) thoughts about what it might mean to “act like men”.  Consider them a conversation starter.  I chose these particular qualities because I think they’re generic enough to apply to all men and young men, whether married or single.  For the record, I don’t have any of these down pat and know I have a lot of room improvement on some points.

1. I think it means becoming good at both giving and receiving correction.  When disagreement or conflict arises, most of us are naturally inclined either to shrink away from it, or to react too sharply to it.  The Art of Manliness is not a Christian website, but it contains a lot of good (and sometimes funny) articles about masculinity.  For instance, there’s a lot of good practical advice in this article on giving and taking criticism like a man.  From a biblical standpoint, the book of Proverbs has a lot to say about giving and receiving correction.
2. I think it means being an initiator — at home, in the church, and on the job.  That’s how godly men are portrayed throughout Scripture.  They take the initiative to lead, serve, resolve problems, reconcile differences, and provide for the needs of others, rather than passively waiting around for someone else to do so.
3. I think it means being submissive to authority (Rom. 13:1; Heb. 13:17).  This quality complements the previous one.  Men should aim not only to lead well but also to follow well, to exercise authority and submit to authority, all simultaneously.

A lot more could be said, but I’m out of time. Feel free to agree with, disagree with, or elaborate on anything I’ve said.

What characteristics would you add to this list?

Rise Up, O Men of God

Tags

christian music, christianity, hymns, Jesus Music, masculinity, men, music, Phil Keaggy, video, youtube

I haven’t blogged at all recently, and don’t know when I’ll return to regular blogging, but I’ve always liked this old hymn and wanted to share it with you.  Even if you’re familiar with the hymn, you may not have heard this version of it.  Scroll down past the video clip below if you want to read the lyrics.

The original hymn is about 100 years old.  Phil Keaggy wrote and recorded his own version of it for his 1981 album Town to Town, which is now out of print.  (I wore out my cassette tape copy of it a long time ago.)  Here’s one of those YouTube videos-that-aren’t-really-videos featuring Keaggy’s rendition:

———

Rise up, O men of God

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of kings.

Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
Her strength unequal to her task;
Rise up and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where His feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God!

The message is simple, really.  Men need to do what men are commanded to do — act like men.  More on that in my next post…

Davy Jones

Tags

Davy Jones, DavyJones, FaceBook, family, funny, humor, Monkees

I posted this on Facebook yesterday, but since I haven’t blogged in a while, and many of my readers aren’t Facebook friends, I thought I would post it here as well.  I have to say that I do so with some hesitation, and a caveat.  I mean no disrespect to Davy Jones, or to any of the millions of people all over the world who loved him.  My entire family is saddened by his death.  Please understand that.  This was simply one of those times when a series of unfortunate mistakes quite unexpectedly erupted into a moment of comic relief.

With that said, here is a text conversation I had with my daughter Sydney yesterday:

ME: Davy Jones died
SYD: I know i saw it
ME: He was only 66
SYD: How
ME: Article I say didn’t say

(…after I sent that I realized the first “say” should have been “saw”, so I sent a follow-up text intended to correct my mistake)

ME: Saw
SYD: He died from a saw?

(…I cannot even explain how hard I laughed at that point)

Christian Carnival II

Tags

blogging, blogs, blogs and blogging, christian carnival, christianity, FaceBook, hell, Jesus

Tsk tsk.  I haven’t written a single new post this year.  I love to write, and still plan to start blogging again one of these days.  (If you’d like to browse through my archives in the meantime, you could begin with this link to some of my past series.)  With that said, it’s my turn to host the Christian Carnival, so….

Welcome to the February 22, 2012 edition of Christian Carnival II.  It may seem unnecessary to say, but I’ll say it anyway–the inclusion of a link here doesn’t imply my endorsement of any particular article or blog, although there are, as always, some thoughtful posts included in this carnival.  If you’d like to submit a post for next week’s carnival please note that there is a new submission form.

Here are this week’s submissions:

Shannon Christman presents Thoughts on Erasing Hell posted at The Minority Thinker.

Kamal Ghimire presents PC Tutorials Collection — PC Tips Tricks & Tutorial posted at PC Tips Tricks & Tutorial.

Jessica Miller presents Great Tips for Kids on FaceBook posted at Internet Service Providers, saying, “Facebook was originally created for college students in 2004. Ever since then the once small private website has grown to over 800 million uses. Not only is it for college students, but for parents, companies and children.”

Zoporia presents Radically Eccentric: Common Courtesy…USE IT! posted at Radically Eccentric.

Frank Distad presents An Impossibility posted at Mission Blog.

Jodi presents Obedience – Obey the Warning Signs posted at Meaningful Mama

devotionals

Rebecca LuElla Miller presents Backwards Thinking posted at A Christian Worldview of Fiction, saying, “Man is made in God’s image, but our nature, flawed by sin, creates backward thinking and makes it hard to recognize God’s likeness in us.”

Ashley Reid presents How to Remain a Godly Woman Through Life posted at The Real.

Frank Distad presents Wisdom and Correction posted at Ridge’s Blog.

Russ White presents Genesis 3: The Consequences of Sin (Part 2) posted at Thinking in Christ.

Annette presents The church as family, day by day – Mark 3 posted at Fish and Cans, saying, “Questions about family and Mark 3.”

theology

Christian Amit presents The Doctrine of Man in the Bible – Biblical Anthropology posted at Bible Study Exposition Online, saying, “This Bible guide is a brief study on the doctrine of Man according to bible (biblical anthropology). It discusses topics such as, four fundamental aspects concerning man, who created man? what are the chief ingredients of man? What is the chief purpose of man? What does it mean to be created in the image of God.”

Patricia Lotich presents Church Leadership – 14 Leadership Traits posted at Smart Church Management, saying, “Church leadership is about how we behave, communicate and manage others. The term is used in many forms to describe many things, but it is ultimately the act of leading people in a certain direction. It requires followers before someone can be called a leader. Successful professionals demonstrate leadership characteristics while continuing on their own personal development journey.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
christian carnival ii using our brand new carnival submission form.  Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Technorati tags: christian carnival ii, blog carnival.

2011 in review

Tags

blogging, blogs, blogs and blogging, WordPress

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.  This has been a very busy and in some ways difficult year for me.  I haven’t been writing much lately, although I hope to return to more regular blogging at some point.  I sincerely appreciate all of you who have taken time out of your busy schedules the last three years to read and comment on my posts.  If you’re interested, you can scroll to the end of this post for a link to the full Worpress.com report.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 56,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 21 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

More cowbell (and the winner is…)

Tags

books, Campus Crusade for Christ, christianity, John Piper, West Chester University

It’s time to announce the winner of my John Piper book giveaway.  The names of everyone who entered were placed in a bag, and shaken well.  My son then randomly drew a name from the bag.  And the winner is…

Tom Hudzina, a Campus Crusade staff member at West Chester University

All you had to do to enter the giveaway was leave a comment… any comment.  I enjoyed reading every single comment, and want to express my genuine appreciation for everyone who took the time to leave one.  I would also like to thank Trevin Wax for mentioning the giveaway on his blog.

Tom was one of a small number of entrants who chose to inject a little humor into his comment.  The title of this post is based on his comment, which he posted in the form of a quote:

“I need more Piper (cowbell)!!”

I’ve confessed my general cultural ignorance before, so it may not surprise you that I had no idea what his comment meant; however, Google made it easy enough to find out.

Congratulations, Tom.  May the Lord richly bless your ministry to the students at West Chester University.

Are you a Gregory?

Tags

advent, christmas, Early Christianity, Greek, gregory, Jesus, second coming of Christ

My mother’s maiden name was Gregory, so the title of a post over at BibleDude.net caught my eye today.  Now that I think about it, it’s a little odd that I’ve never really wondered what my mom’s family name meant.  Oh well… now I know.  Turns out it’s a perfect name for the Advent season.

In [Mark 13] verse 33, Christ declares, “Be on guard, keep awake.”  And in verse 35, “Therefore, stay awake.”  And finally our text closes with, “And what I say to you I say to all:  Stay awake.”  Jesus message to his four disciples that day was to be alert and watch for his coming.  His message is the same for us today.

The last word in our text is the Greek word gragoreo.  This word when translated may mean to be watchful, be on the alert, be wide awake, or to be alive.

The early Christians reminded themselves of this message of Christ to be alert for his coming by naming their sons after this word gragoreo.  This word is where we get our name Gregory.

In verse 33, Christ declares, “Be on guard, keep awake.” And in verse 35, “Therefore, stay awake.” And finally our text closes with, “And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” Jesus message to his four disciples that day was to be alert and watch for his coming. His message is the same for us today.

The last word in our text is the Greek word gragoreo. This word when translated may mean to be watchful, be on the alert, be wide awake, or to be alive.

The early Christians reminded themselves of this message of Christ to be alert for his coming by naming their sons after this word gragoreo. This word is where we get our name Gregory.

You see we are all to be Gregory(s). We are all to be alert, wide awake, and watchful for Christ coming. We, in a sense, are called to be Gregory.

Advent is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the coming of Christ.  We look back and celebrate the first coming of Christ, and long for his second coming.

I don’t think I always take the commands to be alert and watchful seriously enough.  Jesus reinforced those commands with a strong warning in the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13).  If you haven’t read it lately, take a minute and click the link.  It really is a sobering admonition.

I want to live up to the family name.  I want to be a true Gregory.  Come, Lord Jesus! (Rev. 22:20)

Advent and Christmas Music (Part 2)

Tags

advent, christmas, Friction Bailey, Future of Forestry, holiday, holidays, music, Pie Jesu, Spotify, Sufjan Stevens

A few years ago I posted a pretty extensive list of some of my favorite Christmas CD’s.  Recently, Under the Radar posted a list of the 6 best Christmas albums of 2011, which made me think I should update that old list of mine, originally compiled three years ago.

So, here are a few more CD’s that have become Christmas favorites:

• The Silent Night– Friction Bailey
  Very nice acoustic folk sound with some new arrangements of old songs, and a couple of good original tunes
• Over The Hills And Everywhere: A Christmas EP — Seabird
  Traditional Christmas hymns with distinctive new Seabird melodies
• Advent Christmas EP — Future of Forestry
• Advent Christmas EP, Vol. 2 — Future of Forestry
  Both of these EP’s apply Future of Forestry’s trademark sound to the traditional melodies of Christmas hymns. Volume 2, I think, has a little more variety and better musicianship than the first, including a beautiful organ-backed rendition of Pie Jesu, and a fantastic original song, “The Earth Stood Still”.
• Songs for Christmas[Box Set] — Sufjan Stevens
  It’s Sufjan (need I say more?)

If you use Spotify and would like to hear some of the new albums mentioned by Under the Radar, as well as some of those I’ve listed here, you can check out this Spotify playlist.

‘Tis the season… John Piper Book Giveaway

Tags

books, calvinism, christmas, free, giveaway, John Piper, theology

I love books.  Always have.  I have a lot of them.  Maybe too many (if that’s possible), and almost certainly more than I will ever live to read.  So I’ve decided (since it’s almost Christmas) to give a few of my books to one of you.

All of the books, booklets, and tracts in this giveaway were written by John Piper.  All are brand new.  The lot includes:

• Finally Alive
• This Momentary Marriage
• Filling up the Afflictions of Christ (hardcover)
• TULIP: What We Believe about the Five Points of Calvinism
  (booklet, out of print)
• 4 copies of For Your Joy
• 4 copies of In Our Joy
• 25 copies of Rain (tract, out of print)

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave any comment below.  The contest will end two weeks from tonight, at midnight central time on December 15.  I’ll draw a name and announce the winner in a new post on December 16.

Since I have no idea what it might cost to ship internationally, the winner will have to provide a U.S. shipping address.  I’ll mail the books promptly (once I receive your shipping information) by media mail, which means, unfortunately, that you probably won’t have them by Christmas… but then I never said I was Santa Claus.

“You will explode”

Tags

autobiography, books, C.H. Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon, christianity, Jesus, Katie Davis, Kisses from Katie, orphans, quotes, Uganda

As I was thinking about writing this post, it occurred to me that explosives may have inadvertently become a recurring theme here.  I once wrote about Christians who unwittingly play around with TNT; another time I quoted Charles Spurgeon’s criticism of preachers who explode rather than expound Scripture.

Today’s explosive post comes in the form of an excerpt comes from the book, Kisses from Katie, by Katie Davis.  We’re reading it out loud together at home right now.  On a side note, do someone a favor this Christmas and pick up a copy of this book for them.  Get one for yourself, too, if you haven’t read it.  I may not always see eye-to-eye with Katie theologically, but her compassion and Christ-like, sacrificial service are not only deeply moving, but also very challenging and humbling.

In chapter nine Katie describes the endless barrage of questions that her adopted Ugandan children constantly unleash on her.

One of the questions that surprised me most was this: “Mommy, if Jesus comes to live inside my heart, will I explode?”

“No!” I proclaimed as the children and I headed to the Nile River for a few of them to be baptized that day.

Then I thought about the question a bit more.

“Yes, if Jesus comes to live in your heart, you will explode.” That is exactly what we should do if Jesus comes to live inside our hearts. We will explode with love, with compassion, with hurt for those who are hurting, and with joy for those who rejoice. We will explode with a desire to be more, to be better, to be close to the One who made us.”

It may be more accurate to say that whether Jesus lives in your heart or not, you will still explode, and whatever is in your heart will come out.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45 ESV)

Sometimes, I’m sorry to say, I find my heart exploding with things that are unworthy of Christ.  Today, I pray for the grace to explode “with love, with compassion… and with joy” — the kind that can only come from Jesus living in me.

Flying with Electrical Gremlins

Tags

Christ, Denver, family, fear, flying

A couple of years ago, I compiled a list of random facts about myself. In that list mentioned that I had never flown. I can no longer say that. I recently flew to Denver (twice in a week, in fact).

I’ve always been a little apprehensive about flying. Heights don’t bother me at all. High rates of speed don’t bother me. The thought of plummeting toward the earth at several hundred miles an hour, however, bothers me. I know, I know, airplanes are safer than cars. I’ve never found that very comforting, though. I have a chance of walking away from a car wreck; I don’t have much chance of walking away from a plane crash.

Okay, now that you know how neurotic I can be, you’ll have a much greater appreciation for what I’m about to tell you.

20 or 30 minutes after we boarded my very first flight, the pilot made an announcement over the intercom. “We’ve been fighting some electrical gremlins this morning. We have a lot of computers on here and we need to restart them. I’m going to have to power down the plane, so you’ll be in the dark for a little while. We hope that’ll take care of the problem.”

I briefly panicked. Great. I’m on a plane with a defective computer. We’ll get three miles up in the air and the stinking gremlins will strike again. How are you going to restart the plane then, captain? We’re all going to die. Little did the unsuspecting lady sitting beside me with her baby know when she boarded this plane that no one would ever see them alive again.

Then, as suddenly as it departed, my sanity returned. Eventually we took off, and I loved every minute of the flight. The turbulence didn’t even bother me. I had a window seat and saw things I’ve never seen before. One of the most amazing sights was the surreal alien landscape formed by the top of the low lying clouds near Denver. It was like a vast, sprawling field of something resembling heads of cauliflower, with a variety of other formations dotting the landscape. Here and there were what looked like the ghostly hulls of sunken ships, jutting up through the field of cauliflower. Off in the distance were mountain ranges and a huge lake, composed entirely of clouds. It was beautiful.

I saw a lot of other things too. I saw as I have many other times that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above ( and below!) proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1)

I also saw that my faith can still be very weak, in spite of my confidence in the goodness and sovereignty of God. I’m thankful that Christ sympathizes with us in our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).

I may tell you in another post at another time about my second flight, and the terrific thunderstorm that diverted it.

Christian Carnival CDXI

Tags

blogs, christian carnival, christianity, Jesus, religion

Welcome to the 411th edition of the Christian Carnival.  Christian blog writers share their best post (one post only) from the previous week.  Topic is not necessarily about Christianity but must reflect a Christian worldview, and the writer must be Christian to qualify.  You can see who’ll be hosting future Carnivals (and/or submit your own post) on the Christian Carnival home page.

I’ve been a bad blogger lately if blogging consistency counts for anything (and it does), so I have no post of my own to add to this carnival.  There have been a few changes to the Carnival in the last few months, including new categories for submissions and a new Facebook page.  Here are this week’s posts, arranged in the order they were received, and within the categories to which they were submitted by the authors.

Devotionals

David R Wells presents First Fruits, not Leftovers posted at Revelation 3:10 – Blog, saying “Today’s passage… is about giving God our first and not our last.”

Raziel presents Lessons from the three Temptations posted at Pens Or Swords

Joe Plemon presents How the Golden Rule Could Fix Everything posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying “Could the Golden Rule REALLY fix everything? There is a huge IF involved.”

Josh presents 25 Great Waiting Quotes posted at What Christians Want To Know, saying “We all struggle with waiting. Whether it be waiting in line or waiting on God it is a struggle for us all. Take a look at these great quotes and verses.”

Koty Ray presents Too much people-pleasing posted at Teen Devotionals

Cindy Jeffrey presents Prayer for Patience and Calmness posted at Christian Prayers, saying “This site provides Christian prayers daily.”

Charles Chua C K presents 10 Keys to Live a Balanced and Happy Life posted at All About Living with Life

Christian Amit presents Jesus Heals the Woman with Blood Issue posted at Bible Study Lessons | Free Inductive Study Guide, saying “Bible study lesson on healing of woman with the issue of blood on Mark 5:24-34. Her faith in Jesus. Why did she touch Him? How was she instantly healed? Faith lessons and life applications.”

Zowada presents The Eternal Sunrise. posted at Zowada Blog, saying “In order for one to live in sight of eternity, one must also live in sight of their own imminent earthly demise.”

Russ White presents Adam and Maslow posted at Thinking in Christ

Adam Faughn presents Powerful Prayer posted at The Faughn Family of Four

Brandon Peters presents Putting My Future Fully in His hands posted at INSPIKS, saying “The end of December 2010 was probably the craziest time of my life. After getting home from Bible school I told God to do whatever He needed so that I could fully live for Him. I found out that is a very dangerous prayer.”

Ed Renk presents God Does Big Things in Small Places posted at InFaith’s Mission Blog

Narratives

Lahesha Williams presents 5 Tips for Proper Time Management in College posted at Lahesha Williams, saying “Many students do not know how to manage their time while they are in school. They think they have loads of free time, when in fact, they are just procrastinating all of their homework and tests. Here are 5 tips to develop some time management skills.”

LaTisha D Styles presents Fun Trivia: Books of the Bible | BiblicalFinances posted at BiblicalFinances, saying “Can you find the names of the books of the Bible in this paragraph?”

Ridge Burns presents Sounds of a Funeral posted at Ridge’s Blog

Henry Neufeld presents Why Justin Quit Reading the Bible posted at Jevlir Caravansary, saying “Does our encouragement of young people always have the results we expect?”

Uncategorized

Richard H. Anderson presents Matthew misread the Book of Zechariah posted atdokeo kago grapho soi kratistos Theophilos, saying “one in a series of articles on the priority of the Gospel of Luke”

Lisa Battista23 presents The Top 40 Informative Forums for Theology Students and Educators posted at Theology Degrees Online, saying, “You don’t have to be studying theology to be confused and curious about different religions and beliefs. From the most devout to the most skeptical, many people have questions about their own beliefs as well as others. These incredible forums offer information from experts as well as bloggers who are interested in sharing their knowledge with others.”

Engelbert Hudson presents 30 Incredible Q&A Sites to Help You Understand the Bible posted at Biblical Learning Blog, saying “The Bible is not an easy area of study. With thousands of years of history and various versions, students often have many questions. That’s where the use of Q&A sites come in. These 30 sites are incredible resources to help you better understand the Bible, and they are written by Bible experts, writers, preachers and other professionals.”

What impression will we make tomorrow?

Tags

christian, church, corporate worship, God, Jesus, Religion and Spirituality, worship

I normally lead the corporate singing at our church.  Occasionally after a service someone will say that they enjoyed the music.  There’s probably nothing inherently wrong with that, but this post by Mark Altrogge made me think about the kind of impression we leave on people when we gather for worship.

Are people impressed with us and our excellence (or lack thereof, as the case may be), or are they impressed with Jesus?  Mark quotes an excerpt from Jonathan Leeman’s book Reverberation and concludes with this thought:

When people leave our churches tomorrow, may they not say, “What moving worship, what a great worship band, what an incredible preacher, or what a cool building” but may they say, “What an incredible Savior.”

Read it all: What Will People Say When They Leave Our Churches Tomorrow?

An iPad Experiment

Tags

blogging, iPad 2, technology, travel

This will be brief.

This is an experiment. Due to the lavish generosity of a dear friend, our family owns an iPad 2. Right now I’m on the road without a laptop so I thought I would try to write a post using the iPad and the WordPress app. I didn’t think I would like it, but it’s not bad. The worst thing about it is having to use the small virtual keyboard to type. I’ll say a little more about the road trip in my next post.

That’s it.

Even if it breaks our hearts

Tags

blogs, christianity, death, God, loss, sorrow, sovereignty, suffering

I’ve never met this young couple, although I once knew several members of their extended family well.  This is a deeply moving story of one young family’s loss, and a sovereign God’s tender care for them.  I want you to read it for yourself.

Start here.  You might want to read every post on the blog (there are only twenty at the moment).  But whatever you do, don’t miss this recent post.  Here’s an excerpt:

The day that I sat in that dreary room and  they told us there was nothing that could be done for Sadie, a quote came to mind. At the end of the new Pride and Prejudice when Lizzy is talking with her father about her betrothal, her father sat crying and said, ” I could not part with you, my dear Lizzy, for anyone less worthy.” Oh how worthy is the Lamb who was slain! How worthy is He of our all, even if it breaks our hearts, even if it feels as though it is ripping us into pieces.

This powerful story of God’s grace is still unfolding.  There was a funeral today.  I’m sure a lot of tears were shed.  I’m also sure God was glorified.  Many lives will never be the same.  Eventually the story will reach its conclusion in heaven, when the Lord “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4)