Surpised By My Callousness

I was watching "The Departed" a couple weeks ago and the thought struck me: "Why am I not disgusted by this violence? When did I get so comfortable with seeing a dead body fall off a roof?" Wasn't Israel rebuked over and over again for their violent ways? It bothers me that violence is something to which my heart has been calloused. Jesus wept over Lazarus and was able to reverse the curse. I go to movies to see it. I remember in my media class (one of my favorites which is why I remember anything) how the prof. spoke of "glorified violence" in movies and TV shows. That is rather telling I think. We do glorify violence. I find myself euphemizing violence by calling it "action." I will walk out of a movie and complain that it did not have enough "action." What I really mean is that not enough people were lit up with bullets to satisfy me. I'll turn my head (if God is gracious) if there's a scantily clad woman but violence somehow has lost its effect on me. I guess I'm just way to comfortable with death. Jesus wasn't. It hit him hard. He felt the weight of the death that had ruined the world he had created. Right now I'm planning on seeing "Live Free or Die Hard" which inevitably will be chalked full of head shots and hand grenades and I'm thinking about how hypocritical I am for writing this. I need a changed heart and I guess that starts through prayer.

In Remembrance

I love how God does things. All throughout the Old Testamant, he directs his people back to their deliverance from slavery and he makes this the basis for their obedience. "You have been shown mercy, go and be merciful." Isn't that the way we work? How much quicker are we to forgive after we've been forgiven? The key to the Christian life is understanding how deserving of God's wrath we are and how freely we have been forgiven. And I think that's why Paul, after eleven chapters of soteriology, writes "...by the mercies of God, present your bodies as living sacrifices." The cross is not one big guilt trip: "You better be obedient...Christ died for you." Instead, it should be a springboard of praise and joyful obedience in response to such love. Throughout the Old Testament, remembring God's faithfulness and kindness is a major theme. God has delivered us from many things in our lives that we should record, as Moses does the Pentateuch. But ultimately, we should put every effort into remembering moment by moment what has been done for us on the cross in light of our still sinful condition. As we grow in our walk with Christ, we will discover that God is holier than we could ever imagine and that our sin is more atrocious that we could ever know. But instead of disparing, we should fix our eyes on the cross and dwell on the magnificence of his "glorious grace." If we dwell there, we will find that no sin against us is ever impossible to forgive and no kindness is ever too great to bestow. We would be a more loving, more thankful, and more serving people. And I pray that it would start with me.

On Godliness

I have to admit that I have always had a skewed view of what it means to be godly. I have always seen people who memorize the Word and who quoted it often as godly people. And those who have an outward joy, a good attitude, and lengthy prayers as those who had true godliness. I think both of these are good but this certainly does not make you a godly person. But whenever godliness is mentioned in the Bible, it rarely is in relation to knowledge of the Word alone or outward zeal. Godliness is what God produces in you, which always results in virtue. I think the Puritans best-exemplified godliness. They had a holistic view of life, meaning that they drew no line between the secular and the sacred. Whatever they did, they did with excellence. They saw every area of their lives as an opportunity to worship God. What an amazing impact this mentality would have on our daily lives! A paper for class is no longer to appease my parents and professor but, rather, an opportunity to glorify God. Living a godly life will come by letting your theology affect your reality. If my heart and mind are deeply rooted in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God,” then the mundane in life will become a joy because I am motivated by love for Jesus Christ. The difference between someone seeing Christ could be the way you write a paper or your attitude when you take out the trash. It’s not always crystal clear how God is glorified when no one is looking or seems to notice but we must choose to walk by faith and not by sight. We trust that we should be “always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). Everything we do, we should do in the name of the Lord. I open the door for someone in the name of the Lord and for his glory. Christians are walking signposts, pointing people to Christ. That’s why we exist. I admit that I have not always had this mentality and I still struggle to maintain it. I have been subpar in my schoolwork and other areas. I also realize that I have spent much time memorizing the Word in the middle of classes which is somewhat Pharasaic. I was forfeiting godliness for the sake of learning how to be godly. May we realize that true godliness is found in not only orthodoxy but orthopraxy. May we strive to know our Word and live it out as we abide in Christ moment by moment.