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.

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.

Gobena Coffee

The events surrounding the adoption of their daughter inspired the Lehmans, in their words, to…

start this ministry where 100% of the net profits are reinvested in the lives of orphan children throughout the world. Each time you purchase a bag of coffee, you are providing hope and life to children who do not have parents caring for them.  (Find out more here)

Bolaven Farms

Inspired in part by the ministry of John Piper, Bolaven Farms is a coffee grower with a heart for the poor.

What the poor want is not aid, but jobs – real jobs, not subsidized ones. This is the dignity and self-reliance we are equally created for. Embracing this revealed desire of the poor, Bolaven Farms is committed to labor with our Resident Farmers, to put an end to poverty, one family at a time.  (Website here)

Buy Homemade Earring Holders

Whose wife doesn’t have lots of earrings?

Blog team member Isaac Johnson’s wife has a friend who is trying to help a refugee family from Iraq pay for much needed dental work by selling home made earring holders.

If you or anyone you know is interested in purchasing an earring holder for a suggested donation of $20 (plus shipping if needed), one hundred percent of the proceeds will fund the dental work needed by this family. (If you do know of others who might be interested in your area, it might save on shipping to send a couple together.) The earring holders are beautifully crafted, hand-made, and they make great Christmas gifts!  (Read more here)

If you’re not interested in purchasing coffee or earring holders (or even if you are) there are also a lot of other ways to help the needy.

Fill a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child (but you’ll have to hurry!)

Get involved with Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree ministry.

Or do something else creative.  But please, do something.  And whatever you do, don’t stop when Christmas is over.

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 for this Veteran’s Day edition of the carnival, many of the posts this week deal with the battles we face as followers of Christ. Here they are, in the order I received them:

Glowing Face Man presents Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen? posted at Glowing Face Man, saying, “In this article I respond to one of the classic atheist arguments against God.”

FMF presents Does Giving Make You Wealthier? posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Is it possible that you become wealthier by giving?”

angela ambroise presents The journey of a relationship posted at He Speaks To Me, saying “Have you ever been in a different country or maybe a different state and found some of the custom’s odd?”

Diana Hall presents The Death Penalty: Just Deserts or Justice Deserted? posted at damascusmoments, saying, “How does a Christian state justify the death penalty? Can it?”

Yohan Perera presents The Parable of the Sower (PowerPoint version) | The Virtual Preacher posted at The Virtual Preacher, saying, “100% free preaching and teaching resources for Christians”

Albie presents Do not say: I am too young (or too old) posted at iDevelopWorld, saying “You’re never too young (or too old) to achieve your life purpose.”

Kathryn presents Let the Weight Loss Journey Begin posted at Soul-Food-Diet, saying, “Weight loss is a heart issue and there can be only one path to the answer.”

John presents How We Discuss: Probabilities and Bulverisms posted at Brain Cramps for God, saying, “Two things caught my eye this week related to the way discussions seem to go online:”

BWL presents Learning how to be content posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, “A personal look at my desire to live a life of contentment…”

loswl presents Who is God – Part One posted at INSPIKS | Inspirational Piks, saying, “A first glance this colorful paper strip looks just like a normal two sided band of paper, but at a closer look it becomes obvious that this strip of paper is by no means normal in the sense it has only one side—this is called a Mobius strip.”

A K Browne presents Let’s Wait Awhile posted at W2W Soul: Windows to The Woman’s Soul, saying, “Amy felt confident about her decision to go to Joey’s apartment that night to watch a movie. Yes they would be alone, but it was just a comedy with no risqué content. Since they both shared the same values, they both had agreed to practice sexual purity before marriage.”

Bible SEO presents How to Effectively Lead Bible Study Small Group or Church Cell Group | Bible Study Lessons | Bible Studies | Printable Bible Study Guide posted at Bible Study Exposition Online, saying, “This is a practical study guide for effectively leading a small group bible study. It offers various suggestions for study preparation, group dynamics and management.”

ADelgado presents Glorify God With Your Body?1 Corinthians 6.9-20 posted at eInquisitive | Giving you something productive to think about!, saying “I have been teaching Bible study lessons for many years now. I have a passion for teaching the Bible, God’s inspired word, accurately through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

Trent Cotton presents Scars posted at Christian Men-Christian Warriors, saying, “what Christ can do with scars”

Henry Neufeld presents A Shell of a Church posted at Jevlir Caravansary, saying, “Can you have a big, grower church that is spiritually an empty shell?”

For His Glory presents Redeeming the Desert posted at For His Glory, saying “The Lord never takes us to the desert to leave us there.”

Weekend Fisher presents The historical Jesus is Jewish: Gauging a gospel’s historical view of Jesus posted at Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength, saying, “Weekend Fisher looks at measurable quality differences between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on the one hand, and the non-canonical gospels on the other. Here we see how a prominent Jewish scholar uses the canonical gospels as primary sources on first-century synagogues, while the non-canonicals cannot be used that way.”

Brian Marchionni presents Are Charismatics Ruining the Term “Charismatic”? posted at Boston Bible Geeks, saying “It’s always interesting to see the reaction I get when I tell someone that I am a charismatic.  I’ve been getting weird looks since my undergrad days at a Baptist university.”

Jeremy Pierce presents God’s Priorities in Phil 1:9-11 posted at Parableman, saying, “Paul’s prayer in Phil 1:9-11 has several “so that” clauses that indicate further priorities for each thing he prays for.”

michelle presents 11.07.09 posted at Thoughts and Confessions of a Girl Who Loves Jesus… “A Meditation on Isaiah 53″

Rey Reynoso presents Words and Romans posted at The Bible Archive, saying, “An overview of the book of Romans by looking at the importance of words, context, and thought-flow.”

My contribution to the carnival this week is Angels and Demons.  “I’m not talking about Dan Brown’s novel, or the movie based on it.  I’m talking about real demons and real angels.

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

Technorati tags: christian carnival ii, blog carnival.

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 is simply sentimental nonsense.

It’s interesting that people can be intrigued by “spirituality,” and angels strike them as “safer” than God. Yet in Scripture angels begin by saying, “Do not be afraid.” Why? Because of their awesomeness and holiness, the natural response is fear.  [Randy Alcorn, here]

And likewise, demons are not the product of an overactive imagination.  They are real, and sometimes so beautifully disguised that they’re not even recognizable as demons (2 Corinthians 11:14).  At other times, it’s unmistakably clear what they are (Matthew 8:28-34).

At 3:34 AM, My eyes opened when Emily said, “Go away!”

I fell.

I asked her what was happening, and she told me that she woke up to see me being picked up from the bed. Scared out of our wits, I offered up a fumbling prayer, “Is this in our head or is it real? If it’s real, can you let us know?”

Things got worse.

Emily and I were paralyzed. She was crying. It felt like someone was pressing their knees into my chest. And I kept hearing something mocking me, telling me that I belonged to them.

But something else started coming to mind. Imagery from the gospels: Jesus’ authority over demons, His knowledge of who belongs to Him, His bearing my sin on the cross… And in a moment, I cried out, asking Jesus to save me.  [Aaron Armstrong, here]

On one hand, I don’t remotely believe everything I read about personal encounters with supernatural beings.  On the other hand, I know that angels and demons are real and not to be taken lightly.  The stories (outside the Bible) that I take most seriously are the ones (like Aaron’s) that have a certain gravity about them, and glorify Jesus.  All other accounts I usually regard as sensational and/or potentially misleading (or worse).

Are demons real?  Yes, but every last one of them bow and grovel at the name of Jesus.  Are angels real?  Yes, but Christ commands them all.

Ultimately, a preoccupation with demons or angels or other supernatural beings and occurrences will almost inevitably lead to error, because it takes something that’s peripheral in Scripture and makes it central.  If you’re interested in the supernatural, fix your attention on what is central (and incredibly supernatural) in the Bible—that Jesus Christ himself, although He was sinless, died for our sins, physically rose from the dead, and is alive this moment with the power to save anyone who trusts Him.  That’s the best news you’ll ever hear.

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, anyone who had a decent speaking voice, a strong personality, and something interesting to say, could be a preacher, teacher, or leader in the church. Everyone was considered “qualified until proven guilty.” But in the Reformed charismatic church, the qualifications sometimes seemed unattainable for common mortals.

The pastor of the small Evangelical Free church I’ve been attending for about a year now offers a radically different approach that brings a needed balance. He once told me: “Derek, if you can’t do what I’m doing, then I’m not doing the right things. The Biblical qualifications for leadership are the goal for all of the men in our church. When there is a need for leadership, there should be a large pool of men to choose from because we’re all learning to be leaders in our homes, and many of us will have attained to those qualifications.” In my previous church, leadership qualities seemed to be reserved for the elite few who dared to make a run at them, but here they are a universal goal and are viewed as the roadmap of growth for every Christian man. Although the bar has not been lowered, the grace to reach it is now much more sharply in focus.

To summarize, I have seen three different approaches to the qualifications listed in I Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1 . . .

1. Make them irrelevant by under-emphasizing them – ignoring or downplaying their significance.
2. Make them unachievable by over-emphasizing them – sometimes to the point of elitism (which makes them practically irrelevant for most people).
3. Aim to instill them by making them an achievable goal for all Christian men – by grace and through the ongoing work of sanctification.

Certainly there is a need for special gifting in areas like teaching, administration, etc., but I’m primarily considering the character qualifications. In the lists below, the only real gifting is “able to teach.” All the rest are issues of character.

Qualifications for Elders:

• must be above reproach
• must be blameless
• the husband of but one wife
• temperate
• self-controlled
• respectable
• hospitable
• able to teach
• not given to drunkenness
• not violent but gentle
• not quarrelsome
• not a lover of money
• must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect
• a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient
• must not be a recent convert
• must have a good reputation with outsiders

Qualifications for Overseers/Bishops:

• must be blameless
• not overbearing
• not quick-tempered
• not given to drunkenness
• not violent
• not pursuing dishonest gain
• must be hospitable
• one who loves what is good
• self-controlled
• upright
• holy
• disciplined
• must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it

Qualifications for Deacons:

• are to be men worthy of respect
• sincere
• not indulging in much wine
• not pursuing dishonest gain
• must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience
• must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons
• must be the husband of but one wife
• must manage his children and his household well
• their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything

Here are the generally ignored qualifications for a deacon from Acts 6 . . .

• known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom

So . . . how are Biblical qualifications for leadership handled in your church?

~ Derek ~

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.

He was the youngest boy trying out for the part, and he knew that his age and inexperience probably put him at a disadvantage.  The kids were allowed to sing anything they wanted for their tryout.  Since Winthrop has a lisp in the play, my wife wisely selected “All I Want for Christmas” for his tryout.  As you might expect a shy eight year old boy to do, he stood on stage with his hands in his pockets, blinded by the bright stage lights and looking a little timid, and started to sing.

He blew me away.  He nailed every note, and by the time he got to the failed whistle attempt that comes right after “if I could only whith-le,” everyone in the theater roared.  That caught him off guard, but he quickly regained his composure and finished the song.  The audience clapped and cheered enthusiastically.  He seemed genuinely surprised at the response he received.  His unassuming child-likeness was the first thing that made me very proud.

(We found out later that they had intended to have 2 or 3 of the leading contenders for the part come back a few days later and read for the part.  But the directors were so pleased with Micah’s tryout that they didn’t call anyone else back.)

The second thing that made me proud also makes me wonder whether I did the right thing.  Micah started getting sick on the final weekend of performances.  He didn’t feel well Friday and came down with a fever Saturday.

That created a tremendous dilemma for me.  My first instinct was to pull him out of the play and let him rest, but there was no one who could take his place.  He only made it though the Saturday and Sunday performance with Tylenol and breathing treatments.  By the time we took him to the doctor on Monday morning, he was right on the verge of pneumonia.

I felt terrible.  I still don’t know whether we did the right thing.  But that leads me to the second thing that made me proud.  He was such a trooper.  He was extremely sick, but he was the one who wanted to keep going, and I think he gave his best performances those last two days.

Postscript

That was a grueling experience.  Since the “Music Man” was an adult play, the practices were long and late for a third grader.  We decided to take a break and sit out the next couple of plays.  But…

A few weeks ago, he auditioned for a part in a children’s version of “A Christmas Carol.”  I’m pleased to announce he’ll be appearing at The Sikeston Little Theatre this December as Ebenezer Scrooge.  Bah! Humbug!

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.

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.

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 a lack of gratitude, having an inflated view of our importance or giftings, perfectionism, lack of compassion, and maximizing the sin and shortcoming of others.  As we were going through these, we all kind of thought, “OK, OK, we get it, we’ve got pride in our lives.  Now let’s move to humility…”.  However, the professor stressed that we really need to linger here for a while and truly expose ourselves to  how deep this is running in our lives.

We each took a self-assessment on those 30 or so manifestations along with their descriptions and accompanying verses and gave each one a score from 0 (not an issue in my life) to 5 (life-dominating issue in my life).  Let me tell you, we felt pretty beat up after taking that assessment! But, beat up in a good way.

Thankfully, we still had the second half of the class to talk about putting on humility.  Defined, humility is the mindset of Christ, a focus on God and others, a pursuit of the recognition and the exaltation of God and a desire to glorify and please God in all things and by all things He has given. (compare to definition of pride above)  Much like how the definitions contrast, we examined the 30 manifestations again but concerning humility. We then looked at practical ways to be intentional about moving from pride to humility:

• Praying for God to search our hearts by His Spirit and Word, and helping us to repent of pride and grow in humility
• Reading Psalms and the prophets to get a high view of God and proper view of ourselves
• Studying Jesus and his example
• Ask others where they see pride in your life
• Spending time focusing on God and the love demonstrated on the cross
• Practicing the 38 “one-another” commands of scripture.
• Going back through those manifestations and working with the Holy Spirit to put off pride and put on humility in our motives, thoughts, words, and deeds.
• Realizing that humility but become a way of life.

Needless to say, it was a very humbling class!  I would definitely recommend picking up Stuart Scott’s booklet From Pride to Humility and dig through these issues deeply.

Any thoughts on pride or how you have seen it manifest itself in your life?  What you have been doing to put on humility?

~ Isaac ~

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.