I am at a place where I have so much I'd like to write about for Theology Thursdays that I can't distill it down and focus on one thing. So, since I am an American (read: Amurrikn), I'm going to put it to a vote. Please either place your vote as a comment to this blog or on Facebook. One vote per person, since I will be the one counting them all.
I am going to put up a few topics to be covered in the coming weeks here on Theology Thursdays, but you may also propose your own topic if what you'd really like me write about isn't listed. The top vote-getter will be covered first, and then I will continue in descending order from there. Depending on the breadth/depth of the topic, some will be one-and-done posts while others will require a series. To the list!
- How to study the Bible (including a conversation on the validity of the Bible)
- How am I saved? (including a conversation on Free will/Arminianism & Predestination/Calvinism)
- How to be in the world but not of it
- What is 'church'?
- Is God good?
- Is hell real?
The voting will be open until midnight on Saturday (technically Sunday), and I will reveal the results first thing on Monday. Take a moment to cast your vote here or on Facebook, and share this with friends so they may also participate.
Happy voting!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Why I Like: Chicago
From time to time I am going to take a moment to write about the major influences on my life: authors, preachers, music, movies, and the like. I will put these posts up in a thoroughly biased manner because each post will strictly be my opinion. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but hopefully, each post will shed some light on why I think the way I think. And, maybe, you'll come to appreciate them too.
I am originally from a very small town in rural, western Illinois. For those who care, and for those from there, the town is named Aledo. Christen moved to Aledo in junior high from an even smaller town in central/southern Illinois. When we got married, we flew out to Colorado for our honeymoon and then back into Chicago, where we promptly drove to our apartment and began our lives in the Second City. When we told folks from back home that we were planning on starting our married life in Chicago, every single person had the same reaction: 'Why?!' After being here for nearly seven years, I am prepared to more fully answer that question.
Now, before I jump into why I love Chicago so much, it must be noted that this is a tremendously difficult city with a notorious history and a troubling present. Chicago was founded for the purpose of making money - transporting goods from the fertile Midwest to the East Coast was no easy task, but Chicago made that possible. This led to all sorts of greed, swindling, strong-arming, and oppression (mostly of laborers). In Chicago, many people saw opportunity. Those that took advantage of that opportunity built themselves empires which were ruthlessly maintained. Politicians were paid for while laborers were not. Further, due to immigration and the way labor was distributed, Chicago was a segregated city from the beginning.
Today, these themes remain. We can see the greed on display on the Magnificent Mile, the segregation in every neighborhood, the crime and poverty, and the corruption of the political system. This is no city for the faint of heart.
But I love it.
I love that, though the neighborhoods are segregated, they celebrate who lives there throughout the year. There are parades for every possible Independence Day you can think of. It also makes it easier to know where to go if you're in the mood for a certain type of food. Puerto Rican? Head to Humboldt Park. Indian? Go to Devon Street. Italian? Little Italy - or any shady, obviously-mafia-run place you can find. Steak? Downtown. Pizza? It's Chicago - pick one.
I love that there are some neighborhoods that buck the segregation trend. I live in Rogers Park. It is considered one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country, sporting more than 80 languages spoken and every major religion represented. I can go to the park with my kids and hear seven different languages spoken. My kids have learned that the first question to ask isn't necessarily, 'Do you want to play?' but rather, 'Do you speak English?' Even then, if the child doesn't speak English, everyone knows how to play 'tag'.
I love that Chicago hibernates during the bitter winters but wakes up to celebrate Spring, Summer, and Fall. The appreciation is seen in outdoor festivals, block parties, sporting events (including the Cubs, White Sox, and Bears for the outdoor fans, and the Bulls and Blackhawks for the indoor fans), concerts, movies in the park(s), and on and on. There isn't a city I'd rather be in during the Summer.
I love that Chicago embraces culture. This goes back to its founding. Because Chicago was so notorious for being all about manufacturing and shipping and smelly, dirty, hard labor, the elite made a concerted effort to bring in class and sophistication to the city. This is why Chicago has its museums, parks, art, and architecture.
Mostly, I love that Chicago is uncompromisingly itself. It is not a mini-New York or a mini-Los Angeles. Chicago is Chicago. It has its own identity, and it is certainly a force on culture as we know it. It is full of people with Midwestern hospitality and yet an urban propensity to, shall we say, tell it like it is. We have the richest of the rich, the poorest of the poor, the cultured and the not, the educated and the not, the immigrant, the native, the family, the single, the old school and the new, the creatives and the traditionalists.
I love Chicago because it is home.
I am originally from a very small town in rural, western Illinois. For those who care, and for those from there, the town is named Aledo. Christen moved to Aledo in junior high from an even smaller town in central/southern Illinois. When we got married, we flew out to Colorado for our honeymoon and then back into Chicago, where we promptly drove to our apartment and began our lives in the Second City. When we told folks from back home that we were planning on starting our married life in Chicago, every single person had the same reaction: 'Why?!' After being here for nearly seven years, I am prepared to more fully answer that question.
Now, before I jump into why I love Chicago so much, it must be noted that this is a tremendously difficult city with a notorious history and a troubling present. Chicago was founded for the purpose of making money - transporting goods from the fertile Midwest to the East Coast was no easy task, but Chicago made that possible. This led to all sorts of greed, swindling, strong-arming, and oppression (mostly of laborers). In Chicago, many people saw opportunity. Those that took advantage of that opportunity built themselves empires which were ruthlessly maintained. Politicians were paid for while laborers were not. Further, due to immigration and the way labor was distributed, Chicago was a segregated city from the beginning.
Today, these themes remain. We can see the greed on display on the Magnificent Mile, the segregation in every neighborhood, the crime and poverty, and the corruption of the political system. This is no city for the faint of heart.
But I love it.
I love that, though the neighborhoods are segregated, they celebrate who lives there throughout the year. There are parades for every possible Independence Day you can think of. It also makes it easier to know where to go if you're in the mood for a certain type of food. Puerto Rican? Head to Humboldt Park. Indian? Go to Devon Street. Italian? Little Italy - or any shady, obviously-mafia-run place you can find. Steak? Downtown. Pizza? It's Chicago - pick one.
I love that there are some neighborhoods that buck the segregation trend. I live in Rogers Park. It is considered one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country, sporting more than 80 languages spoken and every major religion represented. I can go to the park with my kids and hear seven different languages spoken. My kids have learned that the first question to ask isn't necessarily, 'Do you want to play?' but rather, 'Do you speak English?' Even then, if the child doesn't speak English, everyone knows how to play 'tag'.
I love that Chicago hibernates during the bitter winters but wakes up to celebrate Spring, Summer, and Fall. The appreciation is seen in outdoor festivals, block parties, sporting events (including the Cubs, White Sox, and Bears for the outdoor fans, and the Bulls and Blackhawks for the indoor fans), concerts, movies in the park(s), and on and on. There isn't a city I'd rather be in during the Summer.
I love that Chicago embraces culture. This goes back to its founding. Because Chicago was so notorious for being all about manufacturing and shipping and smelly, dirty, hard labor, the elite made a concerted effort to bring in class and sophistication to the city. This is why Chicago has its museums, parks, art, and architecture.
Mostly, I love that Chicago is uncompromisingly itself. It is not a mini-New York or a mini-Los Angeles. Chicago is Chicago. It has its own identity, and it is certainly a force on culture as we know it. It is full of people with Midwestern hospitality and yet an urban propensity to, shall we say, tell it like it is. We have the richest of the rich, the poorest of the poor, the cultured and the not, the educated and the not, the immigrant, the native, the family, the single, the old school and the new, the creatives and the traditionalists.
I love Chicago because it is home.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
The Gift of Suffering: It's a Gift
I had the opportunity to speak to the young adult ministry at my church recently, and from the moment I was asked to speak, I felt very strongly to speak on suffering. Based on the response of that night and subsequent weeks as well as general observation, I believe this topic requires a more thorough examination. In the end, my hope is that you will see suffering the way God intends and the Bible describes: as a gift.
The previous posts in this series have built on each other. First, we discovered that suffering is promised to the Christian. After that, we learned that suffering is a means of grace for the Christian. Last week, we saw that suffering is part of God's plan and is good for the Christian.
In the final post in this series, we combine all of these points with a revealing verse from the Bible to conclude the following: Suffering is a gift from God.
I will expand on this simple statement at the end of the post so that we can more fully understand just exactly how suffering is a gift. For now, let's turn to the Bible to see how this statement can be made at all.
Philippians 1:29
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.
The highlighted portions of the verse above indicate how we can understand suffering as a gift. To simplify the verse for the sake of our discussion, it says that it has been granted to us that we should suffer for the sake of Christ. To work this statement in reverse, we see that it is for Christ that we suffer. We can take comfort in this point. We don't suffer needlessly. There is a purpose to our suffering, and that is that we, by His grace, can suffer in such a way that will bring glory to Jesus (Col. 1:24). When we go through suffering but maintain our faith and trust in His good plan, when we refuse to give in to the doubt which we are tempted to feel, we show forth the immanent goodness and trustworthiness of God and display Him as our greatest treasure.
We likewise see, yet again, that suffering is the expected norm for the Christian life. Not only is our belief granted to us, but so is suffering. This has been discussed at length in other posts, but it bears repeating if for no other reason than because this is the hardest point to get - as a Christian, you will suffer.
Finally, we see that this suffering for Christ 'has been granted' to us. Another word for granted is given. And what gets given?
Gifts.
Allow that to sink in before reading on.
Why would God give us suffering as a gift? I don't know about you, but in my flesh I can think of a few other things I would much rather receive than suffering. Like....just about anything. And yet the Bible is unyielding in its view on suffering. It leaves us no room for displeasure in suffering. Why? Let's look back at the last couple of posts to understand this.
We can view suffering as a gift because we can see that it is part of God's plan, and God's plan is good and pleasing and perfect. God's overarching plan for all of creation is to bring Himself glory. Therefore, our suffering is meant to bring Him glory, and in so doing we will be fully satisfied in our lives because, when we suffer well for Christ and hold Him as most dear, He is most glorified.
We can view suffering as a gift because its goodness means that it stands as a form of grace in our lives. It is a way that God trains us as His children, and being His children means being adopted into His family and being co-heirs with Jesus.
We can view suffering as a gift because God promises it will happen in His Word, and His promises are meant for our ultimate benefit and blessing.
Allow me to now expand on the initial statement at the beginning of this post. This is the culminating conclusion of this series:
Suffering is a gift from God designed to enhance our delight in Him and advance the gospel to the world.
Armed with this truth, I want to leave you with a thought and a challenge. I warn you, the challenge will not be easy, yet I believe it is one that every Christian must face at some point in their walk with the Lord.
C.S. Lewis writes in A Grief Observed:
"You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you...Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief (p. 22)."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in The Cost of Discipleship:
"Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ...Costly grace is a treasure hidden in a field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods...It is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him...Above all it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son; 'ye were bought at a price,' and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us (p. 44-45)."
It is a simple thing to say that God is good and trustworthy when things are going well. It something altogether different to hold to the truth that God is good and trustworthy when no particular circumstance in your life would indicate that goodness.
My challenge is to ask yourself the following questions, honestly, before the Lord:
1) Do you hold your life as so precious that you avoid suffering for the sake of personal comfort?
2) Have you 'sold everything' and made Christ your treasure?
3) Have you asked God to test you in these things?
The previous posts in this series have built on each other. First, we discovered that suffering is promised to the Christian. After that, we learned that suffering is a means of grace for the Christian. Last week, we saw that suffering is part of God's plan and is good for the Christian.
In the final post in this series, we combine all of these points with a revealing verse from the Bible to conclude the following: Suffering is a gift from God.
I will expand on this simple statement at the end of the post so that we can more fully understand just exactly how suffering is a gift. For now, let's turn to the Bible to see how this statement can be made at all.
Philippians 1:29
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.
The highlighted portions of the verse above indicate how we can understand suffering as a gift. To simplify the verse for the sake of our discussion, it says that it has been granted to us that we should suffer for the sake of Christ. To work this statement in reverse, we see that it is for Christ that we suffer. We can take comfort in this point. We don't suffer needlessly. There is a purpose to our suffering, and that is that we, by His grace, can suffer in such a way that will bring glory to Jesus (Col. 1:24). When we go through suffering but maintain our faith and trust in His good plan, when we refuse to give in to the doubt which we are tempted to feel, we show forth the immanent goodness and trustworthiness of God and display Him as our greatest treasure.
We likewise see, yet again, that suffering is the expected norm for the Christian life. Not only is our belief granted to us, but so is suffering. This has been discussed at length in other posts, but it bears repeating if for no other reason than because this is the hardest point to get - as a Christian, you will suffer.
Finally, we see that this suffering for Christ 'has been granted' to us. Another word for granted is given. And what gets given?
Gifts.
Allow that to sink in before reading on.
Why would God give us suffering as a gift? I don't know about you, but in my flesh I can think of a few other things I would much rather receive than suffering. Like....just about anything. And yet the Bible is unyielding in its view on suffering. It leaves us no room for displeasure in suffering. Why? Let's look back at the last couple of posts to understand this.
We can view suffering as a gift because we can see that it is part of God's plan, and God's plan is good and pleasing and perfect. God's overarching plan for all of creation is to bring Himself glory. Therefore, our suffering is meant to bring Him glory, and in so doing we will be fully satisfied in our lives because, when we suffer well for Christ and hold Him as most dear, He is most glorified.
We can view suffering as a gift because its goodness means that it stands as a form of grace in our lives. It is a way that God trains us as His children, and being His children means being adopted into His family and being co-heirs with Jesus.
We can view suffering as a gift because God promises it will happen in His Word, and His promises are meant for our ultimate benefit and blessing.
Allow me to now expand on the initial statement at the beginning of this post. This is the culminating conclusion of this series:
Suffering is a gift from God designed to enhance our delight in Him and advance the gospel to the world.
Armed with this truth, I want to leave you with a thought and a challenge. I warn you, the challenge will not be easy, yet I believe it is one that every Christian must face at some point in their walk with the Lord.
C.S. Lewis writes in A Grief Observed:
"You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you...Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief (p. 22)."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in The Cost of Discipleship:
"Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ...Costly grace is a treasure hidden in a field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods...It is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him...Above all it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son; 'ye were bought at a price,' and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us (p. 44-45)."
It is a simple thing to say that God is good and trustworthy when things are going well. It something altogether different to hold to the truth that God is good and trustworthy when no particular circumstance in your life would indicate that goodness.
My challenge is to ask yourself the following questions, honestly, before the Lord:
1) Do you hold your life as so precious that you avoid suffering for the sake of personal comfort?
2) Have you 'sold everything' and made Christ your treasure?
3) Have you asked God to test you in these things?
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Liberated Thinking
Romans 12:2a
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind
I have written some on this verse already, and it is likely that I will return to it in the future. This is a passage that I revisit frequently because I know its truth is continually applicable. For this post, I have one simple point (with two subpoints...I couldn't resist).
The main point is simple: Transformation comes from thinking differently, and thinking differently requires better thinking.
It must be first noted that renewed thinking comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the same way that He changes our hearts, He likewise enlightens our minds. This is reassuring because as we pursue deeper and better thinking, we don't have to come up with anything on our own. We can 'lean not on our own understanding' but rather look to Him to bring about revelation. Our own faulty thinking - brought about by our nature, society, media, and the like - is not overcome by trying harder or reading more, necessarily. However, when we are full of the Spirit, reading more can lead to greater revelation. Prayer can lead to vision. Writing can be compelling. Thinking can be beautiful.
Once we understand that it is the Holy Spirit who renews the mind, we are free to prayerfully engage in the life of the mind - to think better, in other words. We can read the Bible and understand not only what it reveals about us but also what it reveals about God. We can listen to the lyrics of a song and understand the deeper imagery being drawn on in the interplay of words and music. We can watch a movie and see the layers of the characters. We can engage with culture without being conformed to it. We can discover what, in the words of Mark Driscoll, we can receive, reject, and redeem. In so doing, we are able to deepen our understanding of the world around us without being conformed to it by the grace of God and the power of His Spirit.
My encouragement is this: When you read a book; when you watch a movie; when you peruse the newspaper; when you listen to the radio - think about the messages being preached. As Christians, we listen to sermons every week from a pulpit. The world is preaching as well, through all the mediums mentioned above. We do not have the luxury of relaxing our minds during these times. Pay attention to the messages being preached and understand what the implications are. In this way you can experience your renewed, and liberated, mind while avoiding conformity to the world.
Happy thinking.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Game On
I got mad at the devil this evening.
Allow me to explain:
As pretty much everyone reading this knows (and if you don't, you're in for a shocker), my wife Christen passed away on January 9. What most people don't know is what has continued to transpire in my more extended family since then. I'll give you both the good and the bad so that you have a more complete picture.
On the good side, my family's spiritual vitality since Christen's passing has been at an all-time high. Frankly speaking, Christen's funeral service was a wake-up call to a few members of my family, namely my brother and one of my cousins. My brother has become nothing short of prolific in his writing about Christianity from the perspective of someone who's been asleep for awhile and has recently awoken, only to find that the world is far more interesting than the dream he was having while asleep. If you want to read some of his thoughts, I'd highly encourage checking out his blog, aptly named Cromulent Thoughts (any Simpsons fans reading this will understand that reference). He puts up weekly posts, and while they have some length to them, they are worth the read (and I don't say that flippantly).
On the bad side, there have been some additional medical issues that have arisen within my family. My grandpa, who is in his mid-80s and has been suffering from Parkinson's for the past decade or more, slipped and fell a few weeks back, hitting his head and necessitating a visit to the ER, a trip down to Peoria for a few days, and now a few weeks in a nursing home while he goes through some physical therapy. He will likely be back home in a few days, but that put the family on alert again. Additionally, just this past week, my dad got up in the middle of the night and essentially passed out a few times before he ended up in the ER. He'd been having some stomach troubles for a little while, but it ended up being more serious than anyone thought - he has a bleeding ulcer. He was in the hospital for a few days, returning home just this evening (as I write, it's Sunday, April 1). All of this is just on the medical side of things.
Before I go any further, let me be clear about something: I am not writing all of this to complain. I am not writing all of this to elicit sympathy or pity. I am most definitely not writing this to attract attention to me or my family.
I am writing this because this evening I got a glimpse into the enemy's strategy, and I got mad about it. Real mad. And not like a 'gosh, I wish you would leave me alone' kind of mad. More like a 'seriously, that's how you want to do this?' kind of mad. I got mad because he's a liar and a schemer and a deceiver. I got mad because, as one trying to fight the good fight (literally, war the good warfare), I recognized that one of his strategies was to overwhelm me into silence.
It must be understood that I don't necessarily believe that all the events that took place were aimed at me. I think there are plans of God and schemes of Satan that are far more complex than that, taking into account all the lives involved and their respective reactions to different situations. I do, however, believe that Satan has a particular strategy for how I process all of the events that have transpired. His goal has been to keep the shots coming until I've dug myself in so deep I don't want to come out. That I get so entrenched in all the stuff happening and take my eyes off of the bigger picture and the larger plans God has designed. Effectively, that I take my eyes off of Him entirely and stare fixedly at the walls of my fox-hole. I realized all of this tonight, and I realized that I had fallen into that trap. And I got mad.
You see, this is a war, not a battle. In a battle, you have to have good tactics in order to win. You have to have the right formation, the right timing, the right terrain, the right discipline. Anyone can win a battle under the right circumstances. In a war, however, you have to have the best strategy in order to win. It means you know the battles you can lose, the positions from which you can fall back, but also where you must hold and advance in order to win the whole war.
I've been focused on battles going on around me and lost sight of the war. In this, I had lost my passion for the things Christen and I had spent countless hours discussing and planning. I didn't realize, until tonight, that this is precisely how Satan wants me to respond to these circumstances. I have been on the defensive, as it were, reeling from one attack after another, trying to 'hold it together' while I retreated further and further into the immediacy of my life. In taking it 'one day at a time', I ended up allowing each day to hit me, focusing more on surviving it rather than thriving in it.
Jesus says that He will build His Church, 'and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).' That's a statement of attack. To be at the gates is to be storming the very stronghold of an enemy. The Church storms the strongholds of hell, tearing them down with weapons not of this world (2 Corinthians 10:4). Jesus is the 5-star General of this war, and it's His strategy that's already broken the back of Satan - the plan He and the Father planned out before the foundations of the world, that He would come, live as a man, do so perfectly, die unjustly yet sacrificially, rise powerfully, and save people graciously, mercifully, and lovingly. In doing this, the war was won. What I lost sight of is the fact that the victory has already been obtained in Jesus. Oh! what a victory! We, the Church, have the privilege of now moving into enemy territory, not as fearful civilians constantly on the defensive, but as 'more than conquerors', destroying the enemy's strongholds as we go and seeing those bound up in his dungeons loosed from their chains and set free - only to join in the constant advance of Christ and His Church.
I titled this post 'Game On', but I do not believe this is in any way a game. It is war. It is life and death. Satan has won some battles recently in my life, but in executing his clever tactics, he exposed his strategy and, by God's grace, I have seen the weakness in it. Satan is a formidable foe, to be sure, and one that I cannot defeat in my own strength or cleverness. In Christ, however, I can see him overcome and overthrown in my life and seek the same in the lives of others.
I recognize that I did not go into specifics regarding what was revealed to me this evening. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be writing more about the things Christen and I had been thinking through prior to her passing. It was our hope to see these things come to pass in the next year or two. In God's providence, that timeline has been thrown off course. I believe this will only strengthen what will come next. Armed with greater understanding, I will begin to think through (again) what she and I were working on. You will begin to see more posts over the coming weeks and months regarding particular church-y buzz words like 'mission', 'community', 'discipleship', 'evangelism', and the like. In reengaging these topics, I believe I will be getting out of my fox-hole and joining in the on-going destruction of strongholds as Jesus builds His Church.
Allow me to explain:
As pretty much everyone reading this knows (and if you don't, you're in for a shocker), my wife Christen passed away on January 9. What most people don't know is what has continued to transpire in my more extended family since then. I'll give you both the good and the bad so that you have a more complete picture.
On the good side, my family's spiritual vitality since Christen's passing has been at an all-time high. Frankly speaking, Christen's funeral service was a wake-up call to a few members of my family, namely my brother and one of my cousins. My brother has become nothing short of prolific in his writing about Christianity from the perspective of someone who's been asleep for awhile and has recently awoken, only to find that the world is far more interesting than the dream he was having while asleep. If you want to read some of his thoughts, I'd highly encourage checking out his blog, aptly named Cromulent Thoughts (any Simpsons fans reading this will understand that reference). He puts up weekly posts, and while they have some length to them, they are worth the read (and I don't say that flippantly).
On the bad side, there have been some additional medical issues that have arisen within my family. My grandpa, who is in his mid-80s and has been suffering from Parkinson's for the past decade or more, slipped and fell a few weeks back, hitting his head and necessitating a visit to the ER, a trip down to Peoria for a few days, and now a few weeks in a nursing home while he goes through some physical therapy. He will likely be back home in a few days, but that put the family on alert again. Additionally, just this past week, my dad got up in the middle of the night and essentially passed out a few times before he ended up in the ER. He'd been having some stomach troubles for a little while, but it ended up being more serious than anyone thought - he has a bleeding ulcer. He was in the hospital for a few days, returning home just this evening (as I write, it's Sunday, April 1). All of this is just on the medical side of things.
Before I go any further, let me be clear about something: I am not writing all of this to complain. I am not writing all of this to elicit sympathy or pity. I am most definitely not writing this to attract attention to me or my family.
I am writing this because this evening I got a glimpse into the enemy's strategy, and I got mad about it. Real mad. And not like a 'gosh, I wish you would leave me alone' kind of mad. More like a 'seriously, that's how you want to do this?' kind of mad. I got mad because he's a liar and a schemer and a deceiver. I got mad because, as one trying to fight the good fight (literally, war the good warfare), I recognized that one of his strategies was to overwhelm me into silence.
It must be understood that I don't necessarily believe that all the events that took place were aimed at me. I think there are plans of God and schemes of Satan that are far more complex than that, taking into account all the lives involved and their respective reactions to different situations. I do, however, believe that Satan has a particular strategy for how I process all of the events that have transpired. His goal has been to keep the shots coming until I've dug myself in so deep I don't want to come out. That I get so entrenched in all the stuff happening and take my eyes off of the bigger picture and the larger plans God has designed. Effectively, that I take my eyes off of Him entirely and stare fixedly at the walls of my fox-hole. I realized all of this tonight, and I realized that I had fallen into that trap. And I got mad.
You see, this is a war, not a battle. In a battle, you have to have good tactics in order to win. You have to have the right formation, the right timing, the right terrain, the right discipline. Anyone can win a battle under the right circumstances. In a war, however, you have to have the best strategy in order to win. It means you know the battles you can lose, the positions from which you can fall back, but also where you must hold and advance in order to win the whole war.
I've been focused on battles going on around me and lost sight of the war. In this, I had lost my passion for the things Christen and I had spent countless hours discussing and planning. I didn't realize, until tonight, that this is precisely how Satan wants me to respond to these circumstances. I have been on the defensive, as it were, reeling from one attack after another, trying to 'hold it together' while I retreated further and further into the immediacy of my life. In taking it 'one day at a time', I ended up allowing each day to hit me, focusing more on surviving it rather than thriving in it.
Jesus says that He will build His Church, 'and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).' That's a statement of attack. To be at the gates is to be storming the very stronghold of an enemy. The Church storms the strongholds of hell, tearing them down with weapons not of this world (2 Corinthians 10:4). Jesus is the 5-star General of this war, and it's His strategy that's already broken the back of Satan - the plan He and the Father planned out before the foundations of the world, that He would come, live as a man, do so perfectly, die unjustly yet sacrificially, rise powerfully, and save people graciously, mercifully, and lovingly. In doing this, the war was won. What I lost sight of is the fact that the victory has already been obtained in Jesus. Oh! what a victory! We, the Church, have the privilege of now moving into enemy territory, not as fearful civilians constantly on the defensive, but as 'more than conquerors', destroying the enemy's strongholds as we go and seeing those bound up in his dungeons loosed from their chains and set free - only to join in the constant advance of Christ and His Church.
I titled this post 'Game On', but I do not believe this is in any way a game. It is war. It is life and death. Satan has won some battles recently in my life, but in executing his clever tactics, he exposed his strategy and, by God's grace, I have seen the weakness in it. Satan is a formidable foe, to be sure, and one that I cannot defeat in my own strength or cleverness. In Christ, however, I can see him overcome and overthrown in my life and seek the same in the lives of others.
I recognize that I did not go into specifics regarding what was revealed to me this evening. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be writing more about the things Christen and I had been thinking through prior to her passing. It was our hope to see these things come to pass in the next year or two. In God's providence, that timeline has been thrown off course. I believe this will only strengthen what will come next. Armed with greater understanding, I will begin to think through (again) what she and I were working on. You will begin to see more posts over the coming weeks and months regarding particular church-y buzz words like 'mission', 'community', 'discipleship', 'evangelism', and the like. In reengaging these topics, I believe I will be getting out of my fox-hole and joining in the on-going destruction of strongholds as Jesus builds His Church.
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