Hey gang. It's been awhile. Just thought I'd announce what's been on my plate. First off, I've noticed that since I started importing I've seemed to hear more feedback if I use the Facebook notes. I'm still importing this to Facebook, but my profile can be found HERE.
In case you're curious, this was my last note, titled "Breathe Life."
Just so you don't think I've abandoned my blog, I'm still planning on continuing the Observations series and working on one called The Law of Freedom, as well as possibly a blog series titled The Order of the Priest-King.
Next issues are:
-Observations of a Church Brat: Like-Minded
-The Law of Freedom: Compelled by Grace
-The Law of Freedom: Liberated by Sovereignty
The nice thing about Observations is that it can go on as long as it needs. I've considered a few ideas, but nothing special. I'm also considering some more writer-oriented things.
Moreover, I want to shamelessly plug Kevin Kaiser's blog.
Alright, that's enough. Just for those who don't do Facebook, here's my Breathe Life entry:
Breathe Life.
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Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 10:59am | Edit Note | Delete
I had a good conversation with a good friend the other day, the first in awhile discussion our faith. It's a relatively long story, but it solidifies my view that we are indeed commanded to encourage, exhort, and edify the Body of Christ. We are indeed a band of brother, we are all of the House of Light, of the Order of the Priest-King. And anything that divides us must be purged from among us.
One thing that's come to my attention during my own walk down this bloody road of saints - yes, the way of the saints is paved in their own blood - is that false realities often look lovely on the surface, but instead breathe death to the very souls we would wish to save. At least, that's what my mom calls it, 'breathing death' into people.
To breathe death is more than condemnation. It is to invoke a living death, to isolate, to cage, to bind in a net of shadow needlessly, to presume to know the heart and soul of another.
And she doesn't mean we never correct, rebuke, or discipline - Um, if you believe that, you haven't met my parents. 0=) But what is done in the Spirit breathes life into the hearts and souls of those who are children of the Invisible, we, the set apart, the Bride, the Fellowship, the royal priesthood, those reborn from among the dead.
But rather, we aren't like the world. We are transformed, consumed, and being conformed into the image of the Father. We have been consecrated for a royal priesthood, taken as lesser priests into what is the Order of Melchizedek, we are sons and daughters of the Most High, co-heirs with Christ.
"I am refined silver and my dross is purged. I am made of silver; he who purges me shall complete such; though my sins were scarlet red, I am whiter snow; though darkness and despair attempt to slay me, I am silver in a clay pot in the Maker's hand, tested in the furnace of affliction, refined, though not as silver. One master have I, for one love have I, and I have no cause to answer another. I am made of silver, my sins be purged away; chaff and dross flee me; I am refined and pure.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and see if there is any unclean thing in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Sweep away the darkness, burn away the chaff; consume me, Magnificent Father, and I will be consumed; for you are the fire inside my soul; though I burn I will not fade away; though I smoke and smolder I shall not die.
"I am clay and water, I am refined gold and silver; I am slave and daughter; I am servant and heir; beyond conqueror am I; I am a saint, God's poetry, fine crafsmanship, I am a light that flashes and salt that goes down into the earth. I am a child Lightborn, and I will not answer the Dark."
I say these thing to move, to inspire, because in the end, we really can't and shouldn't tread this path alone. We were never meant to. And one thing that the shadows like to do is hedge us off, prey on our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and turn us against ourselves.
But we have with us a High Priest who knows. A God who hears. Who sees. Who is with us. Funny thing is, God repeats that to Moses three times.
"I have seen.
I have heard.
I know.
And I have come.
I will deliver you."
The dread champion has come. He is here.
And so I say all of this with the hopes of saying that part of abiding in the Spirit is allowing him to do with us what he wills. We have but one Master, and our will is to do his. We serve him, and no other. And when the Spirit compels us, we breathe life into our fellow believers. Our brothers. So, today, as the Spirit moves, breathe life into each other.
You are loved. Much loved.
Addendum:
From KC: This reminds me of a devotional I read not long ago about how Jesus is the Life (as in Way, Truth, Life) and we should be speaking life to others. That when we bring Jesus into situations, we're bringing life into them. I'm not saying that very well, but it was good.
From Me: He is the Firstborn from among the dead. He is Life and Light, he is Truth. He is the Rock on which we stand or fall. He is the Door through which we pass. He is the Way, because he is our great and glorious High Priest and King.
It's a saying of Mom's that really hit home for me the other day. Tell a kid he's stupid long enough, his grades will drop. Tell a man he's irredeemable, he may never find redemption. The truth is, people are far more easily discouraged than we like to think we are. And I think that's at least a large part of the reason we're commanded to stay in fellowship with each other. We are the hands and feet of the Invisible...commanded to edify, encourage, exhort, correct, instruct, rebuke, and restore each other. To breathe life into each other, not death.
26 August 2009
11 August 2009
Allegiance: A Friend's Response.
Blue:
1. What is allegiance?
A partnership of sorts, but usually descriptive of only one side of the partnership.
2. What is the meaning and depth of a vow, oath, or promise?
A vow you make to God, or to yourself, maybe. The other two are varying degrees of something you promise to another person.
I guess you could say a vow involves God, not that its to him.
3. What does it mean to swear allegiance? Honesty.
4. What is devotion?
Disciplined love.
5. What is the essence of swearing allegiance, devotion, oath, and/or covenant?
Don't really have an answer for that one.
7. What are the ramifications of swearing allegiance or an oath?
You put the value of your honor up as collateral for someone's trust that you'll fulfill the vow.
Project 86 has a line in a song that says, "Honesty is the only true currency."
8. What are the ramifications of breaking it? Of breaking faith? Devaluing of your trustworthiness and honor, and any other agreed upon requirements.
9. Do you think we devote enough attention and/or weight to this idea? Why (not)? Should we?
We don't, but we should.
There. My thoughts in a bundle.
Me:
Maybe that's it. Maybe it's that for all our boasting, in the end we don't value our own honor and our own reputations enough, and therefore have none to give.
It's like a wife unwittingly degrading her husband because she doesn't see her own worth. By debasing herself, she implies her husband married something worthless.
Blue:
Wow... you pulled somethig out of my answer that I didn't think of
Yes!
Me:
So by refusing we wind up insulting the very one who seeks our devotion, who does truly love us.
Blue:
Wow. I'm glad I took the time to tell you what I thought. I think I got more out of it than I put in.
Me:
But really, if you don't value your integrity, you won't make a promise; even if you think you're valuing it by withholding it. (I tend to not make promises because I'm afraid I'll forget and break them.)
Blue:
I used to promise too much. I'd deliver, but I was always stressed
Me:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself."
"As a man thinks, so he is." "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."
Blue:
It makes it hard to love others when you don't love yourself
Me:
Well, because you've essentially caved inward and can't see anything else.
What you do, who you are, has no value good or evil, so the good or evil you do has no value.
So what you do becomes mere begrudgery born out of bitterness or out of a sense of obligation, but there's no real heart in it. Well, this is born out of the Rights discussion. It's another means to the same end.
Blue:
You need to watch "The Gods Aren't Angry" by Rob Bell.
He talks about the innate human need to perform for whatever your personal god is, so that you have value. And he talks about a guy who apologized for missing church for a few weeks in a row...Bell said, "Why are you apologizing? Why do you even go to church? If you go, as some kind of sacrifice, to make sure that everything is okay between you and god, you're doing exactly what the OT peoples did."
Me:
I think in some ways an oath is your life.
Blue:
representative of the value of it, sort of
Me:
The essence is your life. Moreover, a true oath affects your whole life. Your world revolves around keeping it. In the case of the Bell quote, your performance becomes whatever you think necessary to please God.
Blue:
Basically, it boils down to works.
Me:
And what he requires in, in fact, your life. A living sacrifice. Your heart, soul, body, mind. It's not necessarily works, I don't think. I think a real oath is made from the heart. Therefore Paul's use of 'circumcision of the heart.'
Blue:
oh, no. That's not what I meant.I think I rabbit trailed. Basically, when anyone says the word "obligation" it triggers something in me.
Me:
I think it easily goes either way, actually. I think you can easily get stuck in the "must please" and then it becomes unhealthy. But I think we have to reach a level where our felt nearness and pleasure in God doesn't depend on the things we do. Those things are more like...well more like 'dating your spouse.'You're not trying to win anyone anymore. You're merely deepening in what you already have. I think that's usually when people start getting into 'servanthood v. sonship' or whatnot.
1. What is allegiance?
A partnership of sorts, but usually descriptive of only one side of the partnership.
2. What is the meaning and depth of a vow, oath, or promise?
A vow you make to God, or to yourself, maybe. The other two are varying degrees of something you promise to another person.
I guess you could say a vow involves God, not that its to him.
3. What does it mean to swear allegiance? Honesty.
4. What is devotion?
Disciplined love.
5. What is the essence of swearing allegiance, devotion, oath, and/or covenant?
Don't really have an answer for that one.
7. What are the ramifications of swearing allegiance or an oath?
You put the value of your honor up as collateral for someone's trust that you'll fulfill the vow.
Project 86 has a line in a song that says, "Honesty is the only true currency."
8. What are the ramifications of breaking it? Of breaking faith? Devaluing of your trustworthiness and honor, and any other agreed upon requirements.
9. Do you think we devote enough attention and/or weight to this idea? Why (not)? Should we?
We don't, but we should.
There. My thoughts in a bundle.
Me:
Maybe that's it. Maybe it's that for all our boasting, in the end we don't value our own honor and our own reputations enough, and therefore have none to give.
It's like a wife unwittingly degrading her husband because she doesn't see her own worth. By debasing herself, she implies her husband married something worthless.
Blue:
Wow... you pulled somethig out of my answer that I didn't think of
Yes!
Me:
So by refusing we wind up insulting the very one who seeks our devotion, who does truly love us.
Blue:
Wow. I'm glad I took the time to tell you what I thought. I think I got more out of it than I put in.
Me:
But really, if you don't value your integrity, you won't make a promise; even if you think you're valuing it by withholding it. (I tend to not make promises because I'm afraid I'll forget and break them.)
Blue:
I used to promise too much. I'd deliver, but I was always stressed
Me:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself."
"As a man thinks, so he is." "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."
Blue:
It makes it hard to love others when you don't love yourself
Me:
Well, because you've essentially caved inward and can't see anything else.
What you do, who you are, has no value good or evil, so the good or evil you do has no value.
So what you do becomes mere begrudgery born out of bitterness or out of a sense of obligation, but there's no real heart in it. Well, this is born out of the Rights discussion. It's another means to the same end.
Blue:
You need to watch "The Gods Aren't Angry" by Rob Bell.
He talks about the innate human need to perform for whatever your personal god is, so that you have value. And he talks about a guy who apologized for missing church for a few weeks in a row...Bell said, "Why are you apologizing? Why do you even go to church? If you go, as some kind of sacrifice, to make sure that everything is okay between you and god, you're doing exactly what the OT peoples did."
Me:
I think in some ways an oath is your life.
Blue:
representative of the value of it, sort of
Me:
The essence is your life. Moreover, a true oath affects your whole life. Your world revolves around keeping it. In the case of the Bell quote, your performance becomes whatever you think necessary to please God.
Blue:
Basically, it boils down to works.
Me:
And what he requires in, in fact, your life. A living sacrifice. Your heart, soul, body, mind. It's not necessarily works, I don't think. I think a real oath is made from the heart. Therefore Paul's use of 'circumcision of the heart.'
Blue:
oh, no. That's not what I meant.I think I rabbit trailed. Basically, when anyone says the word "obligation" it triggers something in me.
Me:
I think it easily goes either way, actually. I think you can easily get stuck in the "must please" and then it becomes unhealthy. But I think we have to reach a level where our felt nearness and pleasure in God doesn't depend on the things we do. Those things are more like...well more like 'dating your spouse.'You're not trying to win anyone anymore. You're merely deepening in what you already have. I think that's usually when people start getting into 'servanthood v. sonship' or whatnot.
01 August 2009
Allegiance.
Okay, this is going to be a shorter, much more direct prompt than the rights discussion, and you're really helping me with something I'm writing while you're at it. I'll ask a series of questions and let it roll where it will. Just an addendum: Yes, I know what a covenant is and several different types. Define if you like, but please try to go beyond textbook definition. I'm looking for essence. It's the difference between asking what a human is and what the nature of that humanity is.
And yes, I realize some of these are going to sound like essay questions. Feel free to take your time or answer only a few of them. If it sounds like I asked something twice, I may well have to follow the train of thought.
So here goes.
1. What is allegiance?
2. What is the meaning and depth of a vow, oath, or promise?
3. What does it mean to swear allegiance?
4. What is devotion?
5. What is the essence of swearing allegiance, devotion, oath, and/or covenant?
6. Or, rather, what is really going on? What's the depth and essence of an oath?
7. What are the ramifications of swearing allegiance or an oath?
8. What are the ramifications of breaking it? Of breaking faith?
9. Do you think we devote enough attention and/or weight to this idea? Why (not)? Should we?
The point of all this is simply to explore the nature of an oath, of devotion and allegiance. Thoughts?
And yes, I realize some of these are going to sound like essay questions. Feel free to take your time or answer only a few of them. If it sounds like I asked something twice, I may well have to follow the train of thought.
So here goes.
1. What is allegiance?
2. What is the meaning and depth of a vow, oath, or promise?
3. What does it mean to swear allegiance?
4. What is devotion?
5. What is the essence of swearing allegiance, devotion, oath, and/or covenant?
6. Or, rather, what is really going on? What's the depth and essence of an oath?
7. What are the ramifications of swearing allegiance or an oath?
8. What are the ramifications of breaking it? Of breaking faith?
9. Do you think we devote enough attention and/or weight to this idea? Why (not)? Should we?
The point of all this is simply to explore the nature of an oath, of devotion and allegiance. Thoughts?
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