Not a Hoof

If you're reading through the Bible according to the plan, then you're reading Exodus right now. I've often heard that our Christian experience can be compared with the experience of the Hebrews, who were led out of captivity by the Lord with Moses at the head of the pack. We're delivered from spiritual bondage and led into the Promised Land of eternity. I've even heard that Ex 10:26 is a good parallel for our holiness - that not one hoof (or other part of ourselves) should be left behind in bondage.

That's all good, but this passage really slammed into me last night. Moses tells Pharaoh that not even a hoof of the least of the livestock should be left behind because they don't know how they are to worship the Lord. In other words, EVERYTHING needed to leave Egypt to go to Sinai so that EVERYTHING would be available for worship, should the Lord choose to tell them to worship with anything.

Are we like this in worship? (By worship, I'm not talking about music. Music and worship are completely different...even to a musician who's also a worship leader.) Do we bring EVERYTHING out to worship the Lord in case He chooses to ask for something in our lives? Moses knew that the Lord could ask for anything as an offering. Do we know that? If we do, do we bring everything? If not, why not?

I suspect this is why we do not see fulness in worship - we don't bring everything. We're used to bringing our bodies to church, small groups, or whatever. We're used to bringing our music. We're used to bringing our ears to listen and our eyes to observe. The only way for our ears truly to hear, our eyes truly to see, and our minds truly to comprehend (see Isaiah and Matthew) is for EVERYTHING about us to be available as an offering, should the Lord request it. Doesn't this sound like entire sanctification, too? You mean worship might actually have something to do with our sanctification? You mean our salvation is actually played out in our worship?

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Call

You know I can't leave this issue alone. Don't worry, B, I won't go off and exalt anyone unnecessarily. ;)

Perhaps Doc Taylor was onto something when he said we should get rid of the sacred cow of "call." I agree with him for different reasons than he might expect, though. "Call" is an archaic term to most common Christians. Kudos to those pastors who teach the principle, but what if we spent as much time and energy following God as we do trying to figure out the specifics of our call? Few young people know what it means; as many older people are intimidated by the term. Sack the principle? Never. Slaughter the sacred cow? Please.

Talents

Tiff preached something interesting about talents last night in Encounter. The message was clearly presented, and I'm glad she preached. She mentioned something that intrigued me though. The "talents" that were given by the master in Matthew 25 were understood in financial terms in Jesus's day. Obviously Jesus knew that, since He's the One who chose the words. What implications does the passage have for our financial well-being, then? Are Christians so busy drawing the point about using the talents God has invested in us that we forget about the financial implications (if there are any)?

Here's another thing. We all know that there is a difference between talents and spiritual gifts. Some time I want to hear Tiff's sermon as it applies (if at all) to spiritual gifts, since those are also gifts given by the Lord to be invested into others. What do you all think?

To Trish

This is actually for anyone who wants to read it, but it's especially for Trish, my dear sister who is writing what a lot of us have thought or are thinking.

I totally get your struggle with entire sanctification. You're not the only one who has thought about the seeming discrepancy between being "entirely" set apart for God and the life things that creep up to threaten our set apart-ness.

Think about it this way: we can only submit ourselves as wholly to God as we know ourselves. When we are entirely sanctified, or completely set apart, we offer God everything we are, crucifying everything that we are and letting Christ live within us (Gal 2:20). That means that Christ takes over everything.

If Christ takes over everything, that means the light of His truth will shine in our lives. When His light shines in our lives, we begin to see areas of our lives that were previously hidden in darkness. Hence, we have to deal with another issue. That doesn't mean we're not entirely set apart. It means that because we're entirely set apart, the Lord has free reign to uncover those parts of us that leave something to be desired. If we weren't completely His, He wouldn't force Himself into our dark corners to do some "house cleaning."

Remember, too, that our salvation comes by grace through faith. It doesn't come through acts of the entirely sanctified. Entire sanctification isn't a level in which one claims to have "arrived." Entire sanctification is a level in which one claims to have experienced a level of God's grace that prompted them to deepen their faith by submitting oneself completely to His control.

Henry

Meet Henry. I met him yesterday when Andy brought him up from Grand Manan. Compliments of Scott Ingalls, Henry lived out of the ocean from 8:00 p.m. (Atlantic) Tuesday evening until 5:30 p.m. (Atlantic) yesterday afternoon, when he joined eons of lobsters before him in the head-first waters of a lobster boil. A shout-out to Scott and Andy, and a happy afterthought of delicious Henry!

Going Crazy

I've just attempted to post another message three times, and it has yet to appear on the blog when I view my own blog. I think I'm going crazy.

An E-mail I Liked

I wrote an e-mail to someone the other day that I really liked. The reason I liked it was because the Lord was helping me work through something that brought some clarity to a person's confusion. It took over a week for me to "get it" because I was thinking too much instead of praying. It's similar to a recent post, but here's the text. (If you're reading this and recognize the e-mail to you, don't reveal yourself because I'm not going to.)

I think I have something to contribute to your dilemma though. Basically, I think the Lord helped me understand the difference between our passions and His anointing over the last week.

Our passions can come from Him or from ourselves. They involve things that we really enjoy doing and in which we find personal fulfillment. They resonate in our hearts and drive us. I think you have a passion for _____ and for _____. Following our passions generally makes us feel good, others feel good, and results in noticeable success.

His anointing is something that comes only from Him, but we cannot fight against it. We can choose only to live for it or not. We are anointed for obedience, regardless of what that looks like. I have been anointed to obey the Lord in making disciples of other people. Specifically that includes bringing people here to train for ministry. It includes leading a D-Group. It includes some personal mentoring with a few guys around here and elsewhere. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. Sometimes others support it, sometimes they don't. The bottom line is that I'm living obediently according to God's anointing.

You need to decide whether you are anointed or passionate about things. Follow the anointing. Passions, regardless of their source, rest in our hearts, the most deceptive part of our bodies, according to Proverbs. Anointing has its source in the Lord and resides in our spirits. Allowing our minds, wills, and emotions to make decisions apart from the spirit keeps us in control. We need to allow our spirits (under the Spirit's control) to control our minds, wills, and emotions.

Whether your anointing will lead you to obey in _____, in _____, or in both, you need to obey the anointing. People driven by their passions end up like Saul in 1 Sam 15.

Entire

Why does the word "entire" throw people off so much? It's a normal part of the English language, one that we rarely think twice about. Put it with the word "sanctification," however, and walls are put up in our minds, wills, and emotions.

I think walls go up because we honestly believe that "entire" (meaning "wholly") and "sanctification" (meaning "being set apart") means something other than "being wholly set apart." Many of us have come to a point at which we've realized our need to be wholly (or entirely) set apart to the Lord. We pray, "Father, make all of me yours. I don't want to be called a Christian then act my own life. I want to be called a Christian with all of me living for you."

That's entire sanctification. Yes, it's a crisis. No, it doesn't mean any of us is perfect. (Yes, we can get into much more elaborate theological nitty-gritty. It will give you a headache, though, so trust me on this one.)

The Good Natasha Post

I love the way Natasha looks in this picture. It captures so many aspects of her inner beauty while doing a good job at expressing her outer beauty as well. (Natasha doesn't like her smile in it, but I say it's wonderful...photo compliments of Ryan Wiedmaier.)

Natasha is an enigma sometimes. She has so much strength of character, but her approach is so tender that people tend to feel calm around her. She has a very strong personality, something which I've seen in large measure since we've been married. (If you understand Littauer's work, we're both cholerics...what a recipe for fun!) :)

Natasha is talented at many things, too. She is obviously comfortable in her strengths, but I have seen few people approach her weaknesses with the bravery she has. During the darkest days of her fight with fibromyalgia, she always chose to make the best of each day. Even when she was told we would have to alter our diets if she wanted to live "normally" again, she chose to find ways to make it work. She has a real phobia of games, but she's even chosen to play games (like Guesstures last night...who saw that coming?)!

Is she perfect? No way. She won't go to bed without me and is frustrated when I sit up posting on my blog (half kidding). She tends to take on too much at once. To top it all off, she likes Sound of Music!!

Still, she's perfect for me. On the outside, she's the type of woman that artists for years have tried to capture in still life (without success, I might add). On the inside, her well-rounded character makes her outer beauty pretty dull. It must be rare to find this once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I thank God today (and every day) that somehow I found her. (And that somehow she is still blinded by love and gives me compliments that I shouldn't write on a blog that I know people read.)

Mistake 32,543,101

If I told you that Kirk and Virnna's baby was named Abraham Robert, I was misinformed. The earliest source of news said "Abraham," but Kirk himself sent pictures and a message that said the boy's name is ABRAM Robert. (For you girls and open-minded guys out there, the boy was 7 pounds, 8 ounces, or something like that.)

Now, isn't Abram cute?

Some Thoughts About Ministry

The Lord has called all of us. I've been in "trouble" on this very blog for suggesting that a call to ministry is different, so instead of "call" here, I'm just going to say "ministry." (I love B because he challenges me to think like a human being rather than like a know-it-all.)

Dean Higle brought some very key insights to understanding our development as ministers last night. Something he hit on lightly really stuck with me though. 1 Sam 15 naturally pits Saul's anointing against his passions, which I never realized before last night. Saul was in trouble because he allowed the passions of his kingship to rule over his anointing. He was anointed to obey God as a king, but he was passionate about conquering as a king. He conquered the way normal kings do, but God wanted an obedient servant who would live truly to the anointing.

What does this mean for us? It means that when we struggle about ministry, we need to remember God's anointing. Sometimes our passions and our anointing match. Other times they don't. What do we follow?

God's "call" rarely follows our passions, even if they are God-given. Rather, our passions align to God's anointing as it rests on us and as we grow in the likeness of Christ. We can do anything we want to minister, but if it's not an act empowered by God's anointing, then we're only acting on passions. Beware, ministers, not to confuse passions for anointing or call.

Okay, Really the Last One or I'm in Hot Water with the Mrs.

Okay, Natasha keeps trying to tell me it's too late and we should be in bed. This is true.

Anyway, I haven't done a good Natasha post in awhile. I hope to do a good sappy one soon. Here's a good reality check for all you young marrieds, pre-marrieds, and people who fantasize about that. Natasha - yes, the angel of my heart - tried my patience tonight. She didn't do anything wrong. I was selfish. Still, it happened. It's never good when we're both in a bad mood.

The point? It feels really good to feel so safe with someone, even when they pluck your nerves. It also feels good to know that she still loves me for me, when I was plucking hers much harder. Secure love is a wonderful feeling. Don't settle.

Possibly the Final One

I felt so guilty today when I walked in my office after several hours of admissions training to find a box from my mom, stepdad, and sisters. Mom is not always good at getting cards, etc., to the family on time. She mentioned sending Christmas cards, but I just assumed we wouldn't see much till later. Then we'd have the phone call we always do about the late card. I don't mind it - it's almost comforting to know what's coming.

Anyway, the box from mom was shipped before Christmas and arrived today. It had cards and gifts for my birthday (May), Natasha's birthday (December), our anniversary (December), and Christmas. They were all thoughtful gifts, communicating love and value.

The guilt wasn't so much because Mom spent way more money than she should have. Instead, it was because I honestly assumed we wouldn't hear from her this close to Christmas. What a son! Anyway, we're grateful because when both Mom (and Ron) and Dad (and Shelly) missed Natasha's birthday and our anniversary, I was pretty sullen. It looks like we weren't forgotten at all. Things just take awhile to get here from the U.S.A. (For the record, Dad and Shelly sent a Christmas card, too...without pictures of Bailey.)

Next

For those who were wondering, Natasha was invited to do her internship at Presque Isle Wesleyan. She'll start this summer, Lord willing. Many of you were putting 2 and 2 together already, but now you know. We're praying for details to come together. Hopefully that will start coming into place tangibly very soon.

First of Many

In the 2004 general conference of the Wesleyan Church, Leonard Sweet compared Christian evangelism to spreading the Starbucks brand experience. ("Brand" is a marketing term more than anything else as I use it here.) People must become acclamated to Starbucks terms and experiences, but it's still one of the most popular cafe experiences in North America (and rightfully so). Likewise, asserted Sweet, Christians ought not to tone down everything about a worship experience to avoid making non-Christians feel out of place. Non-Christians approach the Church (universal) expecting Christianity to be different. They assume it will be different and are disappointed if it's not. Those who subscribe to Sweet's approach would actually bring non-Christians along as they seek out Christ through Christian terms and experiences.

I saw the Holy Spirit move in such a Sweet (pun intended) way yesterday. A new heroine of mine who does not claim much in the Christian faith (only having a Catholic background) was recently at our college for business. In a meeting with our staff and faculty she communicated well about "spirituality" and "faith-based college life." The people in the meeting responded well to her, using as much Christian-ese as I've ever heard. Expecting discomfort, I prayed for the Father to move in the situation to ease any angst my friend may have felt. Instead of angst, there was a sense of understanding and connection as the meeting progressed. She was led through Christian terms and experiences. Before most of the people there realized she didn't stake much claim to Christianity, Sweet's principle had taken hold.

Who knows the eternal effect? My point is that we need not to dog people's Christian terms as much as we need to help others realize the point of the terms.