Nativity Means War!

That peaceful, placid manger scene is really nice, but it tends to obscure one crucial fact from our minds during our celebration of the advent: The birth of Christ was a declaration of war!

Mary seems to have recognized this fact - look at the song she sings after learning she would bear the Messiah (found in Luke 1):

Mary's Song

⁴⁶And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, ⁴⁸for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me–
holy is his name. ⁵⁰His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation. ⁵¹He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. ⁵²He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble. ⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty. ⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful ⁵⁵to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.”

Scattering the proud and bringing down the haughty - those are fighting words! I won't quote it in entirety here, but for further proof of the perspective that sees the birth of Christ as an act of war, read Revelation 12.

In Christ God is declaring war on sin and on the Satan. He is, in the most fundamental way, acting as a freedom fighter - launching an attack through which he will save a people from enslavement to sin. God was (is!) fighting on our behalf. The angels that sang to the shepherds were announcing this divine invasion. The King, born that night in the City of David (himself a man of war) , would grow up to be the Savior of the world, the Shepherd King. (Did you think "the heavenly host" was just a choir?) So while we may sing "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger," and while it may have been a serene evening, the heavens and earth resounded with the news that the King had finally come to make all things new.

Spurgeon on Heart-rending

A thought from Charles Spurgeon via Alistair Begg:

"The tearing of garments and other outward signs of religious emotion are easily displayed and are frequently hypocritical; but to feel true repentance is far more difficult, and consequently far less common. Men will pay attention to the most minute ceremonial regulations—for those things are pleasing to the flesh. But true faith is too humbling, too heart-searching, too thorough for the tastes of people of the flesh; they prefer something more ostentatious, flimsy, and worldly. Outward observances are temporarily comfortable; eye and ear are pleased; self-conceit is fed, and self-righteousness is puffed up: But they are ultimately delusive, for in the face of death, and at the day of judgment, the soul needs something more substantial than ceremonies and rituals to lean upon. Apart from vital godliness all religion is utterly vain; offered without a sincere heart, every form of worship is a solemn sham and an impudent mockery of the majesty of heaven. Heart-rending is divinely worked and solemnly felt."

Francis Schaeffer on What Matters

"Here is what really matters - to love the Lord our God, to love His Son, and to know Him personally as our Savior. And if we love Him, to do the things that please Him; to simultaneously show forth his character of love and holiness in our lives; to be faithful to His truth; to walk day by day with the living Christ; to live a life of prayer...

"But it does not stop here... We must acknowledge and then act upon the fact that if Christ is our Savior, He is also our Lord in all of life. He is our Lord not just in religious things and not just in cultural things such as the arts and music, but in our intellectual lives, and in business, and in our relation to society, and in our attitude toward the moral breakdown of our culture."

-- Francis Schaeffer, in his final book, as quoted by Lane Dennis in the introduction to Reflections on Francis Schaeffer.

Piper on Desiring God

I began reading through John Piper's new book, When I Don't Desire God, and not surprisingly I highly recommend it. In this book Piper seeks to help readers fight for joy when their desire for God seems to wane.

"It is helpful to be reminded that our desires - no matter how small - have been awakened by the spiritual taste we once had of the presence of God. They are an evidence that we have tasted."

Piper goes on to tell us that desire for God will never abate, but that in the age to come it will be ever fulfilled and heightened as we experience God (and each other) unencumbered by sins and that which distracts us from exulting in Christ:

"In the age to come, desire for more of God will never be experienced with impatience or ingratitude or frustration. All desire in the age to come will be the sweetest anticipation, rooted ever more deeply in the enlarging memories of joy and in the ever gathering pleasures of gratitude." (both quote from page 28).

What is your desire of/for God? What do you do when other desires compete with what you know is good and right and perfect; when the concerns of the world choke out pleasure in and desire for God?

Content-ment

I've been thinking about the concept of contentment. In Philippians 4, Paul tells us that he has "learned to be content in whatever the circumstances," whether he is in need or has plenty. In fact, this is the context in which he more famously says in verse 13, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

What comes to your mind when you think of contentment? I think for many of us we tend to think of vague feelings of rest and relaxation, a nebulous feeling of warmth. Yet Paul says he can be content in need.

What occurred to me recently may be obvious to you - namely, the similarity between the adjective "content" (con-tent, as in "I'm feeling content") and the noun "content" (cahn-tent, as in the "content of a book"). Contentment necessarily requires content. In other words it isn't really a nebulous feeling, but directly depends on our understanding. That's partly why Paul says he "learned to be content." He came to recognize the truth that Christ is sufficient for all things, that his hope is in eternity, and that God is sovereign and works all things for good for those who love him.

When we really understand and meditate on the "content" of the Gospel we will learn to be content irregardless of our circumstances. We will, as Paul says in Colossians 3, set our minds and hearts on things above, not on earthly things. True contentment is rooted in our understanding of and relationship with the God who Is, who does not change, and has pledged His steadfast love to us in Christ. That is why Paul shares his confidence with the Philippians in verse 19: "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Are you content? Where is your hope?

The Longest Psalm

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, and its subject is the goodness of God's Law. I want to draw some attention to one section, verses 57-64. In particular, look at verse 64:

"The earth is filled with your love, O LORD ;
teach me your decrees."

It's interesting to me that the writer's response to the vastness of God's love is a desire to obey His Word. In our day it is not uncommon to see the idea of love equated with unbridled libertarian freedom, even in Christian teaching and practice. What I mean is that we think that love automatically leads to permissiveness, to the belief that I can do anything I want to. Yet here the Psalmist, upon reflecting on the love of God, years to obey Him.

Of course it makes sense that you want to please one whom you love and who loves you. Jesus says just as much in John 14:21: "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

Love for God, then, is not just a warm and fuzzy feeling we get from time to time when the music is just right. Real love for God produces an earnest desire to live in such a way as to please Him in every way. The proper response to God's unfathomable love for us is obedience to Him. As the Psalmist expresses, this begins with a desire for His Word.

How do you respond to God's love? Does your life reflect God's love in this way?

Tozer on "Temple Cleansing"

AW Tozer was a well-known preacher and writer who died in the 1950s (I think... anyway it was decades ago). It is amazing how prescient his writing is regarding the Church (and us as individual believers) in our day:

Temple Cleansers

"The critical need in this hour of the church's history is not what it is so often said to be: soul-winning, foreign missions, miracles. These are effects, not causes. The most pressing need just now is that we who call ourselves Christians should frankly acknowledge to each other and to God that we are astray; that we should confess that we are worldly, that our moral standards are low and we are spiritually cold. We need to cease our multitude of unscriptural activities, stop running when and where we have not been sent, and cease trying to sanctify carnal projects by professing that we are promoting them in the name of the Lord and for the glory of God. We need to return to the message, methods and objectives of the New Testament. We need boldly and indignantly to cleanse the temple of all that sell cattle in the holy place, and overthrow the tables of the money-changers. And this must be done in our own lives first and then in the churches of which we are a part."

Worth repeating

A well known quote, but one that bears reflection:

"He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

--Jim Elliot

Jesus praying

Mark 1:35 has been on my mind lately:
"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. "

Whenever I've heard this verse discussed or preached in the past, it has always seemed to be that the emphasis is on the fact that Jesus got up "very early," so early that it was still dark. Viewed in context, we should be even more impressed to see that Jesus had had a busy evening of ministry the night before, healing and teaching. That Jesus, who was in very nature God, was drawn to prayer should certainly motivate those of us who are most certainly not God to likewise seek our Father in prayer.

Lately, however, I've been reminded of the importance of finding a "solitary place" for prayer. There is something significant about pulling away from the world and its myriad distractions to focus our minds and hearts on God, if only for a brief time. Even good things can choke our prayer times. Jesus needed to withdraw to get away from the pull and pressures of the people He was serving. How much more do I need to get away from other people, from work, from study, from whatever else demands (and deserves) my time and attention.

I have found that I'm more disciplined in prayer when I have a time and a place set aside for that purpose. (Not mentioned here, but equally important in my life, is accountability in the discipline). What about you? Do you have a time for prayer? A place where you can be removed from the normal activities of your day?

Not just a baby

I wrote recently about how commercialization and political correctness have obscured the fact that Christmas is about the fact that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, that he came to bring salvation to men. We forget about the Baby in the manger, whom sheperds, wise men, and even angels came to see.

With that said, there is danger for us in focusing so much on the Baby Jesus. That danger is, specifically, that we will only think of Him as a baby. A baby is harmless, cute, manageable. But this baby was different - this baby was God. Paul tells us who He was in Colossians 1:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

Key to Colossians

Our pastor has been preaching through the book of Colossians for some time now and he's done a great job. Most recently he has been preaching on the family (chapter 3), which involves some pretty significant challenges to our culture. Naturally enough, there have been many questions and much discussion about counter-cultural picture of the home described there. Last night, Daniel (the pastor) wanted to pause from the verse by verse exposition in order to read the book as a whole, thus giving us an opportunity to step back and see the letter as a whole, and how this teaching fits into the bigger picture.

It occurred to me when Daniel read Colossians, and was reinforced in my own reading of the text this morning, that the linchpin to the whole discussion seems to be 3:1-4. The whole book is a call to change our perspective, our way of thinking, our worldview, from the sinful pattern of this world to the eternal pattern of Christ. We have changed our primary citizenship from the City of Man to the Kingdom of God, which has broken upon this world in a preliminary way in the Church and awaits full realization at the end. I think this is signaled in 1:13: "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves..."

So all the discussion about marriage, the roles of men and women, the ideals of parenting, etc. are aspects of this more general call to change our perspective, to put off old patterns and put on new ones. I think that's the bigger picture, of which this is a smaller part - though a difficult one for many. It seems to me that one result is that is that we are defining our terms or thinking in a conceptual framework that is still anchored in the Old Way. So words like submission necessarily imply inferiority and headship implies arrogance and misuse of power. We have to re-orient our minds on the pattern of Christ in order to understand to really get this kingdom teaching.

Kierkegaard's Wound

One of the interesting paradoxes about pursuing holiness is that the more one advances in holiness, the more one feels the weight of sin and dependence upon God. People who are not serious about moral and righteous living often have a high esteem of themselves and of their virtue, while often those who really are more virtuous feel less so, because they are more aware of and more sensitive to the depths of sin in the heart of every person.

In a book I'm reading for a seminar, C Stephen Evans says: "Kierkegaard speaks of this split between what one is and what one knows one should be as a wound, and says that it is the mark of the truly moral or ethical person to 'keep the wound open.' and not bandage it with superficial palliatives."

In other words, it is painful to recognize sin within us - it hurts. And we live in a culture that wants to psychologize and medicate any kind of pain (even good pain) and convince us that we are really OK and good - it wants to kill the vestiges of sin by telling us there is no such thing. So we are taught to put band-aids on this wound, and to kill the pain through endless rounds of business and distractions that never give us time to rest and feel the pain of our sinfulness.

So Kierkegaard (who primarily wrote against the shallow superficiality of cultural Christianity in his day) is wise to warn us to "keep the wound open." That way we are wary of pride and constantly reminded of our dependence upon God's grace.

Calvin on knowledge of God

A thought for the day:

Like Augustine before him, John Calvin talked about the pursuit of happiness as the beginning point for the knowledge of God. Calvin, however, kind of went through the back door in saying we need to first come to grips with our deep unhappiness, with the ruin wrought by sin in our lives and in the world. Calvin:

Each of us must, then, be so stung by the consciousness of his own
unhappiness as to attain at least some knowledge of God. Thus, from the feeling
of our own ignorance, vanity, poverty, infirmity, and - what is more - depravity
and corruption, we recognize that the true light of wisdom, sound virtue, full
abundance of every good, and purity of righteousness rest in the Lord alone. To
this extent we are prompted by our own ills to contemplate the good things of
God; and we cannot seriously aspire to him before we begin to become
displeased with ourselves.

In other words, we must first deal with the reality that things are not the way they are supposed to be; that something deep and fundamental is wrong about ourselves. We must be honest with ourselves. In so doing, we can begin to find God as He redeems and makes whole what is broken.

Quoted in David Clyde Jones: Biblical Christian Ethics.

One Thing

Now I'm not one of these guys that thinks that the culture embodies truth or that we should listen for the voice of the Spirit in culture. With that disclaimer, there's a popular song on the radio that I think echoes a Scriptural thought that is worth meditating on.

The song is called "One Thing" and the band is called Finger Eleven. Here's a snippet:

If I traded it all,
If I gave it all away for one thing;
Just for one thing

If i sorted it out,
If i knew all about just one thing
Wouldn't that be something?

When I heard that song it made me think of Paul's words to the Philippians (3:7-8):

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ...

It also brings to mind this short parable Jesus taught in Matthew 13:44-46:

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found
it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought
that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine
pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he
had and bought it.

The idea of giving away everything you have is challenging. What would make somebody do that? Take the guy in Jesus' story that finds a pearl so valuable that he literally sells everything he owns to take hold of that one thing. He obviously cherished it more than anything - more than everything else put together. Paul expresses this more clearly in gladly losing everything for Christ - that one thing.

So now let's pose Finger Eleven's question to ourselves. If I gave it all away for one thing, wouldn't that be something? What one thing in your life would you trade everything for? I doubt God is calling you to literally give away everything for one thing. But would you? What does this principle look like in your life?

Thoughts from Ephesians 1

Verse 3-6:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in
Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he
chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and
blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus
Christ, according to he purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious
grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

I was reading this and began thinking about the idea of prayer and blessings. We often desire that God would bless us and pray that he would do so. And there's nothing wrong with that. But it occurrs to me that what we often mean when we think about that is material blessings, that God would give us more of the things of this world. More income or stability, more safety, better grades, more comfortable or desirable work, etc.

How often we forget about spiritual blessings. Of course this is kind of ironic because, as we see in this passage, God has already given us "every spiritual blessing" in Christ. He chose us for adoption into His family through Christ, He forgave our rebellion and sin in Christ, and in verse 11 He has given us an amazing and eternal inheritance as members of His household.

We are blessed in the ways that really matter. I wonder why we so easily get distracted with desiring and focusing on material blessings. Of course there's nothing wrong with any of those things, but how often do we get distracted by them to the point where our joy disappears without them? Perhaps that's why, in Colossians 3, we're commanded to focus on things above rather than on earthly things. But of course that's easier said then done.

New Approach

I was too ambitious in hoping to make daily posts to this blog. I don't want to drop it, though, so there will be occassional musings related to Scripture and maybe related to developing issues of the Christian worldview. It would be cool to interact with readers in the comments section.

1 Timothy 1

I was struck by something in reading 1 Timothy - here are verses 3 through 7:

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work--which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

What is the goal of Paul's teaching? Look again at verse 5 - the goal is love. I wonder if sometimes we lose this focus, this end goal in our teaching, studying, and learning. Sometimes it seems thatwe begin to pursue knowledge for its own sake, as if the key to spiritual living was in inforamtion transfer.

Don't get me wrong, I think knowledge and learning and study are very important. I have invested years of my life in these pursuits and don't regret it. But what is the goal when we study Scripture? Is it simply to know more, or to be transformed? Knowledge is important, but actions are probably more important.

Elsewhere, Paul says:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

The Bible is full of admonitions for us to act out our faith, not simply learn about it. How do you apply what you learn from Scripture?

The Treasures in Christ

In writing to the Colossians 2, Paul warns them of the dangers of putting their hope and desires in anything besides Christ:

My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and
united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding,
in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one
may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

We live in a day in which we are bombarded with consumer marketing. Sometimes it seems that everything is marketing, every voice and everything you see is oriented towards promoting some product, and by trying to birth desire in you to find fulfillment and satisfaction in that product and/or lifestyle. (So the message is also trying to rob you of contentment...)

Along with the constant marketing, the world is also constantly trying to give us an accompanying philosophy of life. Sometimes it can be dressed up and sound intriguing and appealing. In this passage, these are described as "fine-sounding arguments" for truth and reality. They look good, feel good, but ultimately ring untrue. Why?

Because of what we read above, that in Christ "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." ALL of them. All wisdom. All knowledge. Sometimes people claiming to follow Christ come out promoting a message of Christ AND. Christ AND money, or Christ AND zen, or Christ AND anything else. Sometimes it sounds wise or deep or cool. But it is hollow and false, because in Christ ALL the treasures and wisdom are found. There is no deeper mystery than that. Anything else is just a clever-sounding argument that deceives - it leads you away from Christ.

Where do you seek for wisdom? Where do you seek for meaning? Where do you seek for satisfaction? Look only to Christ and you will find it.

Break

The Great Pursuit Blog should return around July 26.
 
See you then

Deuteronomy 29:29

Deuteronomy 29 concludes with a very interesting verse that is both humbling and helpful:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

This is a humbling truth because it reminds us in no uncertain terms that we do not and can not know everything. There are things that will remain hidden from us. This can be difficult to bear. It is difficult for those who just like to have a neat and clear explanation for everything. It is perhaps most difficult for those who grapple with suffering and tragedy.

Yet this is also a helpful and hopeful truth. And it is never more helpful and hopeful than in the face of suffering. We may never know why something happened, but we know that God does in fact know. These things "belong to God." They are not the result of chaos or chance in the universe, but are part of a grand mysterious plan in the mind of God that is currently invisible to us.

We cannot know everything, but we can know the One who does know. We can pursue what He has graciously revealed to us, and trust Him with the rest.

Tozer on Prayer

AW Tozer is such a rich source of wisdom:

"Juliana of Norwich at the beginning of her wonderful Christian life addressed a prayer to her Savior and then added the wise words, "'And this I ask without any condition.'"

"It was that last sentence that gave power to the rest of her prayer and brought the answer in mighty poured-out floods as the years went by. God could answer her prayer because He did not need to mince matters with her. She did not hedge her prayers around with disclaimers and provisos. She wanted certain things from God at any cost. God, as it were, had only to send her the bill. She would pay any price to get what she conceived to be good for her soul and glorifying to her Heavenly Father. That is real praying.

"Many of us spoil our prayers by being too "dainty" with the Lord (as some old writer called it). We ask with the tacit understanding that the cost must be reasonable. After all, there is a limit to everything, and we do not want to be fanatical! We want the answer to be something added, not something taken away. We want nothing radical or out of the ordinary, and we want God to accommodate us at our convenience. Thus we attach a rider to every prayer, making it impossible for God to answer it."

From: We Travel an Appointed Way Chapter #17

More Psalm 138

Today we may as well finish Psalm 138 by concentrating on verse 8:

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD , endures forever-
do not abandon the works of your hands.

This verse is a great source of encouragement and confidence when we are facing times of struggle and/or when we are in need of guidance. It's amazing to just get your mind around the fact that God does have a purpose for you in Christ. You are not an accident! The naturalists would have you believe that you are basically a really cool amalgamation of biological mass that happened to come together as a result of chance.... which would leave you without any hope or any purpose at all. God says here that He has a purpose for you. (Read the very next Psalm to learn more about your origin!).

Not only does God have a purpose for you, it WILL come to pass. Nothing can stop it. It doesn't rely on what you do or don't do (though clearly we're called to pursue Him in obedience). Ultimately it rests on the good grace of God.... His love which "endures forever." Romans 8 reminds us that NOTHING can separate us from God's love in Christ.

The amazing thing about Psalm 138 is that it seems to be written in a time of turmoil, confusion, struggle, uncertainty. In the midst of these trials the writer worships God (see yesterday) and concludes on a note of assurance that God's purpose will be worked out. When times are rough and you face uncertainty and struggle, do you worship God confidently and trust that His purposes are at work? Do you thank Him for being a God who redeems the hard times and uses them to fulfill His greater purposes in your life? Do you meditate on the fact that YOU are the work of HIS hands?!?

It seems that a key concept here is perspective. It takes an eternal perspective to rest in God and trust Him to work when the situation is bleak. If you are focused only on today, only on what you can see right in front of you, it is easy to miss and easy to doubt. When we fix our eyes on God's eternal purpose, we can say respond to trials by trusting in God's love and purpose. We can have confidence that, in Christ, He has promised not to abandon the work of His hands.

What is exalted

Today let's take just a moment to reflect on the opening of Psalm 138:

I will praise you, O LORD , with all my heart;
before the "gods" I will sing your praise.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
and will praise your name
for your love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.

Today I'm struck by the idea that God has exalted above all things His Name and His Word. That's what matters most to God, that is what He calls us to similarly treasure and uphold in our lives. Why? Because everything else pales in comparison to the holiness and grandeur and glory of God.

What have you exalted above all things in your life? Relationships, money, sports, arts, school, family, career.... all good things, but all things that can often distract us from what is best. How do you know what is exalted most in your life? My suggestion is that we measure this not necessarily by what we say, but by what we do, where our thoughts dwell, that kind of thing. The Psalmist says he will praise God, even in the presence of idols, that he will bow down towards God. (Bowing down, as you know, represents humility and submission.... we don't like to submit.)

Do you exalt God above all things? Do you exalt His Word by giving time to it and submitting to it? Do you exalt God in your life even in the midst of distractions and even opposition? Do you exalt His name in your relationships, at work, at school, in your family? What would it look like if we did?

The Blind Man's Response

Let's just finish out Mark 10. We just saw the selfish motives that James and John had in their approach to Jesus. The very next passage describes another man's encounter with and request of Jesus:

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see."
"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

The blind man got it. James and John, who had been traveling with Jesus and hearing him teach for a long time, missed it. He shows us a model of prayer and response.

First, he calls out to Jesus, recognizing His lordship (the reference to "Son of David.") Along similar lines, he simply is asking for mercy (recognizing he is in need of mercy). And he is persistent, even when he is mocked and rebuked by others (no doubt more "religious" and knowledgeable than he.)

Do your prayers reflect this same sense of dependence? Where James and John had acted in a presumptious manner, this guy humbled himself. He didn't ask for prominence; just for mercy. And that's exactly what he got. Are you persistent in prayer?

Finally, look at what happens at the end. Jesus tells him to go on his way. Which way does he go? He follows Jesus.

Continuing in Mark 10

Yesterday we saw the selfish nature of James and John's request to Jesus - that they be given the places of prominence in the kingdom. We pondered the fact that, many times, our own prayers reflect the same kind of selfish agenda.

The point of the story, however, is to show that such an attitude is completely upside down. For one thing, it totally disrupts the sense of community that was shared among Jesus' followers. They were indignant - for good reason! A rivalry was brewing, so Jesus turned the tables:

Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

There, in a nutshell, is one of the keys to kingdom living. James and John were looking out for themselves and trying to build their own kingdoms. I tend to think that the indignation of the other disciples was similarly motivated. Jesus, however, says that the essence of His kingdom is in serving others. It is all about self-denial, not self-aggrandizement. And obviously Jesus set the tone. He said these things in the midst of His journey to Jerusalem, where He knew a gruesome death awaited Him.

If the disciples can so totally miss this point, I think it is safe to say that we can too. Are you building your own kingdom or participating in Christ's kingdom? Do you serve others or try to manipulate them to your own end?

Today, let's examine our hearts, our prayers, and our actions and see which kingdom we're building.

On Prayer and Mark 10

The content of your prayers probably reveals what's in your heart. In Mark 10:35, James and John ask Jesus a very telling question:

"Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."

Reading that verse, I was struck with how much that probably resembles our own attitudes to prayer. We may be more flowery in our language or pious in our tone, but if we cut to the core of what our prayers are about, I wonder how often they boil down to, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."

Obviously, what they ask is all about them:

"'What do you want me to do for you?'" he asked. They replied, "'Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.'"

By this point, James and John had been with Jesus day in and day out for a very long time. They were not only disciples, but part of his inner circle. And yet they just didn't get it. They were still looking out for themselves. They wanted to use Jesus to get their own glory. It's crazy, but perhaps we should look in the mirror and see if we aren't doing the exact same thing.

Do you treat God like your own cosmic vending machine? Punch in the goodie you want and wait for it to pop out. Do you treat God like Santa Claus? I want one of these, one of these, etc. These are self-centered prayers. It's all so clear and obvious as we read about James and John in this conversation with Jesus. Their request seems so selfish and audacious. But dig inside your own heart a little bit, listen to your prayers, and see how much of that attitude is present. It's all about ME.

Let's not be self-centered pray-ers.

Tozer on Worship

Today I want to leave a thought from AW Tozer, one of the great preachers of the first half of the twentieth century:

"It remains only to be said that worship as we have described it here is almost (though, thank God, not quite) a forgotten art in our day. For whatever we can say of modern Bible-believing Christians, it can hardly be denied that we are not remarkable for our spirit of worship. The gospel as preached by good men in our times may save souls, but it does not create worshipers.

Our meetings are characterized by cordiality, humor, affability, zeal and high animal spirits; but hardly anywhere do we find gatherings marked by the overshadowing presence of God. We manage to get along on correct doctrine, fast tunes, pleasing personalities and religious
amusements.

How few, how pitifully few are the enraptured souls who languish for love of Christ...."

The Beginning

Welcome to The Great Pursuit. Our intention here is to journey together in a common pursuit of God, the greatest calling and pursuit of this life. That's what we're made for, to know God and enjoy relationship with Him. Our ability to know God is destroyed by our rebellion against Him, by our choosing to walk our own way instead of His way. That relationship is re-established when we surrender to the call to follow Christ as our Master, to walk in His way in relationship with Him.

Having reconnected with our Creator through Christ, life becomes a journey deeper into the riches of God's grace. The Bible describes this journey in terms of taking off the old self and putting on the new, created to be like Christ in true righteousness and holiness.(See Ephesians 4:20-24).

The Great Pursuit Blog exists to help you do just that. Our desire is to serve as a resource and aid in your own pursuit of God, in your daily struggle to kill sin and walk in truth and life. The content will largely consist of meditations on Scripture and godly living, with occassional writing on specific aspects of the Christian life and worldview.

Please feel free to post comments and questions and responses.