I received this in a newsletter from Jeff Pokone over at the Indiana Biblical Counseling Center and I had to share it (with his permission of course):

Do you ever achieve a significant goal and then refuse to acknowledge that you did well? Do you find yourself dwelling often on your failures? Have you reached a point where you are unable to enjoy life because you are so focused on your sins? And perhaps in the midst of your misery and discouragement, you have told yourself, “Well, I’m supposed to think this way. After all, God wants me to be humble.”

Throughout the ages, many acts have been done in the name of humility. In centuries past, godly men would whip themselves, starve themselves, or abuse their bodies in other ways to try to force themselves to be humble before God. Even today, many Christians engage in thoughts and attitudes of self-condemnation, mistaking these for humility.

However, the problem with this lifestyle of self-abasement is that it draws our focus inwards towards ourselves, instead of upwards to our Heavenly Father. True humility is not about how “good” or “bad” we are. It is ultimately not about us at all. It begins when we look outside ourselves and start dwelling on who our God is. Who is this God I serve? What is He like? What are the great things He has done in my life? How is it that He chose to send His Son to die in my place? Humility is not something we can “achieve” in our flesh. Rather it is an attitude of our heart that springs up as we begin to understand the beauty and worth of our Lord and His saving grace in our lives.

Paul understood that he was a wretched sinner before a holy God. But he did not get stuck being overwhelmed by his own sins. Instead, he let his heart be overwhelmed by the wonder of God’s saving grace in his life. After lamenting over his sins in Romans 7, he goes on in chapter 8 to write a great symphony of praise to our God for the victory He has given us in Christ Jesus. May each of our lives become that symphony of praise as we grow in our understanding of who we are in Christ!

I received this in a newsletter from Jeff Pokone over at the Indiana Biblical Counseling Center and I had to share it (with his permission of course):

“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8)

When God humbles us through a deep understanding and experience of His grace, our hearts and lives are transformed. No longer do we feel a need to rely on what the world thinks of us, because we are confident that God approves of us through Jesus Christ. No longer do we worry about how others treat us, because we are rejoicing that in Christ, God has given us so much more than we could ever deserve or dream of.

Strangely enough, our greatest example of humility comes from the Almighty God Himself. Psalm 113:5-6 captures the wonder of our God: “Who is like the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?” This passage is a beautiful description of our Lord Jesus, who willingly gave up His place in the presence of the Father and His right to be treated as God in order to inhabit a broken, sin-filled world. And not only this, but He was despised and rejected by men, bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, and finally was pierced through for our transgressions. What greater picture of humility could there ever be?

But the story doesn’t end there! Philippians 2:9-11 tells us, “Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…..and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” As we follow in Jesus’ footsteps, we have great hope because of the promise He extends to us as well, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:10)

The world tells us we need to hold on to our rights: the right to wealth, power, greatness, significance. But the way of the cross is different. Like our Savior, we are called to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. Let us walk in humility before Him, holding as our greatest treasure the riches of His grace-something far greater than anything the world has to offer.

Seth Godin came up with some phenomenal ideas for unemployed college students to attempt to accomplish in a year, but I think the list could be helpful for a much larger audience. If someone were to accomplish even a few of the items on this list, his or her job prospects would increase exponentially.

Check it out

P.S. I’m very proud of myself for using “his or her” rather than “their” in the second-to-last sentence. The English language doesn’t have a gender-neutral pronoun that works well in those kinds of sentences. We use “their” to avoid sexism in language, but it is actually improper English. I’ve been reading books on grammar to improve my writing lately, and I HIGHLY recommend Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English, Second Edition. By the way, improving your writing is also a good strategy for enhancing your job prospects.

Just when you thought 3,000 people being baptized in one day was crazy (Acts 2:41), along came Web 2.0 (and now 3.0). I saw this video over at Emergent Nazarenes:

What does this mean? It certainly makes me consider the impact a single blog post or video could have if it “goes viral” (gains massive popularity on the internet). How will we handle all of this information?

I saw an article the other day talking about Web 3.0, “taming the deluge of data.” The author of the article, David Griner, gives the following definitions of Web 1.0 through 3.0:

Web 1.0: Mainstream media and retailers dominate, using traditional approaches to broadcasting and sales.

Web 2.0: Blogging, peer-to-peer sharing and Google empower the masses to communicate openly. The old guard struggles to remain relevant.

Web 3.0: Mainstreaming of social media creates a constant flow of information. Challenge for users and businesses alike is to harness the flood without drowning.

Griner cites Twitter as an example of Web 3.0, or at least of its emergence. What do you think? Is Web 3.0 just another cliché or it a genuine shift in how the internet is being used? What does this mean for you?

And that is exactly what I did. What do you think of the new design?

Attracting true followers isn’t so easy.

I saw this over at iMonk.

Not to add too much of my own thinking to weekly wisdom, but too many people like to uphold one of these three (faith, feelings, or facts) as the ultimate anchor of Christianity – yet in reality all three work together in our human experience. Just a neat thought. . . .
 
 

As the above ad shows, seeker-sensitivity can get out of hand. But sometimes in our efforts to denounce it we end up shredding up the good guys in the process, who are merely using cultural illustrations to teach the Gospel.

Today I read a great post by Charlie Lehmann dealing with the strengths and limits of media analogies. After writing a bible study using the recent Star Trek movie as a starting point for sharing the Gospel, he was accused of being “seeker-sensitive.” I loved his response:

I really don’t know anything about being seeker sensitive. I don’t know what that means because the whole approach to theology makes absolutely no sense to me. Further, I don’t care even a little bit about being seeker sensitive. The seeker is Jesus. I and the rest of humanity are the lost lambs that He is seeking out. . . . “Being relevant isn’t a sin.” More than that, being relevant isn’t even the point. . . . I’m not trying to be hip or cool. I’m neither (just ask my wife). What I’m doing is saying, “Hey, did you see that cool movie. It got me to thinking about Jesus and what He did for you on the cross.” I know that’s kinda redundant, but hey, just about everything makes me think about Jesus, so deal with it.

I think sometimes we get so bent out of shape trying to denounce all that is “seeker-sensitive” that it starts getting ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we should make church a big entertainment show that is focused on the comfort of the people in the pews, but I also think we absolutely need to remember that God is seeker-sensitive, and He is the seeker! We are not the seekers! We do not need huge church buildings and fancy light shows to draw in crowds, we simply need to introduce people to the real Seeker, Jesus Christ Himself.

When I went through Basic Training in the Army a few years back, there was a solemn cadence we used to sing on long road marches in solitary places. I think a few drill sergeants actually began to choke up as they sang, “Some say freedom is free, but I tend to disagree.”

That cadence contains a profound truth. I’ve had to give up my rights to comfort, security, and other things in order to fight for the rights of all citizens. I’ve had to endure challenging situations so that others don’t have to experience combat. Sometimes it felt as though I had no freedom.

Does Becoming A Christian Mean Losing Freedom?
I can’t count how many times I’ve been told that Christianity is just a straitjacket filled with legalistic traditions and rules. Sometimes the critics are right if they’ve run into a manipulative pastor or a church more wrapped up in its past than its future. But often times these folks are referring to simple codes of moral conduct such as not having sex outside of marriage and not being given to drunkenness.

For years I have answered these objections with cliché phrases such as, “yes but in Christ you will be truly free,” and, “Christianity is liberating, it will give you an abundant life!” Both of these phrases are almost exact quotes of Jesus, and both are true, but I never really understood what I was saying. Nor do I think I really believed it.

Part of the problem is that our culture only seems to define freedom in negative terms, but often times restraint and sacrifice are the very means to liberation. Upon reflection, this makes perfect sense. As a drummer, I don’t become a better musician via osmosis, I have to set aside practice time in order to play better. When I spend time practicing rudimentary patterns and repetitive material, I flow much more naturally when jamming along with other musicians. In fact, you could say I am much more free to play skillfully after I spend time practicing. I had to give up freedom in order to become more free.

This same approach applies to my spiritual walk with Jesus, yet I so often fail to apply it. I often sacrifice regular prayer and time in His Word for other activities in life, and then I wonder why my spiritual life seems so dead and constrained. I’ll join in some coarse joking at work and then wonder why I feel so weak in my spirit. I’ll opt to spend time with a friend, rather than pray, then wonder why I feel so distant from Him. This is partly why the above practices are referred to as spiritual disciplines.

It takes some discipline to delay gratification and focus on the things we need to do rather than the things we want to do. The beauty of walking with Jesus is that after you begin doing so sincerely, you’ll come to enjoy and even desire the very things you truly need.

We Are Only Truly Free When Living Consistently With Our Nature
Timothy Keller, in his book The Reason for God, states:

Disciplines and constraints … liberate us only when they fit with the reality of our nature and capacities. A fish, because it absorbs oxygen from water rather than air, is only free if it is restricted and limited to water. If we put it out on the grass, its freedom to move and even live is not enhanced, but destroyed. The fish dies if we do not honor the reality of its nature. . . . In many areas of life, freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, the liberating restrictions (p. 46).

“We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2). “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). An open-heart surgery recipient can’t live off of the same diet that caused his heart to stop in the first place. Have you been living consistently with your new nature in Christ, or are you trying to live your life like a fish out of water?

P.S. love can be the most constraining freedom of all. You wouldn’t cheat on someone you love. For more excellent thoughts on this, check out Daniel & Heather’s post The Law of Love.

If there is one thing that drives me absolutely up the wall, it’s people who quote Bible verses out of context to support whatever they’d like to say that particular day. Jay Winters has written a great post about keeping verses in context that I wanted to share with everyone.

The post also explains how chapter and verse subdivisions were a later addition to the Bible, and are not inspired by God. This is one of the leading contributors to people citing verses divorced from their context. Enjoy!