Michael Kelley's Blog, page 232

Is There Anything More Important Than This?

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The “Un-Sensational-Ness” of Being Filled with the Spirit

“Don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And don’t drunk with wine which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit: speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ” (Ephesians 5:17-21).

If you took a random poll today and simply asked people on the street what they think of when they hear the phrase, “filled with the Spirit,” you’d probably get a lot of answers:

- Ecstatic shouting and jumping around.

- Playing with snakes.

- Deep voiced preachers with a sing-songy cadence.

Interestingly, though, if you take a look at the passage above, the effects of being filled with the Spirit aren’t quite so sensational. Being filled with the Spirit results in the opposite of reckless action. Being filled results in singing songs with other Christians. And being thankful. And mutual submission.

Huh.

Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Why do we look at these things – things like singing and being thankful and serving others – why do we not typically associate those attributes with the Spirit’s filling? I think I know.

I think it’s because those things are BORING.

And we don’t like BORING. In fact, being boring might be one of the greatest cultural sins of our time. As people who are constantly entertained and amused, it is baffling for us, even as Christians, to think that being filled with the Spirit of God might not result in something amazing and mystical in appearance. Surely something as amazing as having the Holy Spirit exerting His influence over us in a powerful way should result in something more sensational…

Right?

Right?!?!

Maybe not. Or maybe we are thinking of the sensational in the wrong way. After all, isn’t it pretty sensational for a group of people to gather together and sing songs about and to a God they cannot see?

Isn’t it pretty sensational for people to sacrificially love each other?

Isn’t it pretty sensational for people to be genuinely thankful and content for who they are and what they have?

Maybe. Just maybe.

Fridays Are For One Question

I read an excellent post from Dan Darling this week called “10 Things Nobody Ever Told You About Being a Dad.” His list is below:

1) You are much less patient than you think you are.

2) Many times you’ll have no clue what to do.

3) You’ll realize that minivans are secretly awesome.

4) You’ll probably not get six continuous hours of good sleep ever again.

5) There are singular moments of joy so indescribable they can only be experienced.

6) Your presence is more important than you know.

7) You need to repeat the same words over and over to your children.

8). You will watch less of your favorite games, play less video games, and will go out with your guy friends hardly at all.

9) You will embrace your cluelessness as a gift from God.

10) You will realize your ongoing need to repent, confess, apologize, and forgive.

Read the rest for his explanations.

But let’s not stop there. For today’s question, I wonder what you would add to the list. And let’s expand it to include both moms as well as dads:

“What’s one thing nobody ever told you about being a parent?”

Small Rarely Stays Small

This video is pretty amazing. It’s centered on simple physics: A tipping domino can knock over another domino that is about 1.5 times bigger than it is.

But play that implication out, and look what happens:

This isn’t just true in the physical world. Think about it in terms of sin.

It’s just a small lie.

It’s just a slight indiscretion.

It’s only some innocent flirtation.

But it’s not.

In the world of treatment and recovery, there are certain substances referred to as “gateway drugs.” They are deemed such because of their seemingly innocuous nature, and yet they are the pathway to something greater.

In the spiritual world, perhaps there are such things as “gateway sins.” It doesn’t lessen the badness or even the consequences of such sins to call them that; it points to the fact that there is an immensely probably chance that such seemingly innocuous acts point to something deeper going on. Some latent idolatry. Some hidden discontent. Some part of us failing to take hold of what Christ has taken hold of us for.

Beware, friends. Beware, self. Small rarely stays small.

Four Reasons to Sing This Weekend

This weekend I, like many of you, are going to church. And while I’m there, I anticipate doing a number of things, not the least of which is sing. I’m going to sing, by God’s grace, loudly. But it’s a bit strange when you think about it, right? A bunch of people gathered together to sing? Not something many others do in other settings. So here are 4 reasons to break out in song this weekend:

1. Because we are commanded to.

This is the most basic reason. The Bible is ripe with commands to sing to the Lord. To do so privately and corporately. God commands us to sing because He knows the power of music to our hearts and our souls, and He also knows the simple truth that what we love, we praise. We praise aloud. We sing about what we love, and if we love God, then we will sing.

2. Because I am a man.

There is something uniquely powerful I think about the voices of men raised together. It’s a powerful sound; a sound of strength and courage, and a sound of resolve. But the most powerful part of the singing of men, I think, is that singing embodies a sense of self-forgetfulness.

I went through a stage in life when I thought I was too cool to sing. I’d sit idly by in the youth group and watched others “sing of your love, for-e-ver” because I thought it was beneath me. But now, knowing that my children are sitting by and watching, I’m intensely concerned not only that I sing, but they see me sing. They need to see their dad, who in their minds, is one of their primary sources of security, lose himself in song. Forget about whether he sounds awesome or not. And bust loose.

3. Because you feel like it.

When I was in college, I learned about 4 chords on the guitar, which were barely enough for me to get through a modified version of “If Tomorrow Never Comes” by Garth Brooks. I sang that song (badly) for my girlfriend (now wife) one night before Christmas. I did it not because I was proud of my musical ability, but because I wanted to sing it. To her.

Think about it and you’ll see it’s true – when love for someone or something rises up in your heart, it comes out of your mouth. It’s natural, so why fight it? Sing. Sing because the Lord has been good to you. Reflect on who He is and what He’s done, and then allow that reflection to birth a song of joy. Not because you have to, but because you actually want to.

4. Because you don’t feel like it.

Music is powerful. It’s one of the greatest teaching tools we have. If you’re like me, you can rip off about 7 song lyrics for every 1 Bible verse I’ve memorized. Music is the key, because music helps us learn. But it goes deeper than that.

Music helps us feel. It moves us deeply – heart and soul. so if you find yourself this weekend not feeling like singing, it might be that what you need most is to do that thing you don’t feel like doing.

Sing. Sing as a way of reminding your soul of who the Lord is and what He’s done.

Sing this weekend. Sing because you’re commanded to. Sing as a testimony to your family and others. Sing because you feel like it. And sing because you don’t.

Hmmm… I Didn’t Do This When I Proposed…

… but she said yes anyway:

(HT:22Words)

A Prayer About Silly Prayers

“If God had granted all the silly prayers I’ve made in my life, where should I be now?” ~ CS Lewis.

Father -

Thank you that you are not silly. Thank you that you do not waft back and forth, like a ship at sea, in your plans for me or any of your children. Thank you that you are wise and yet sympathetic; thank you that you are good and yet not easy.

Thank you, Father, that you are not content to give what is easy or even temporarily beneficial; You only give the best.

I confess that more times than not Your wisdom displayed in the path of my life isn’t something I’m thankful for… at least not in the moment. But, to Your great glory and grace, I can look back on so many hundreds of times and see how silly I was to ask for the things I wanted. I gaze upon your everlasting and eternal wisdom, and I see myself – a spoiled child, begging for more and more cookies even as they begin to turn my stomach.

I am so short-sighted, so limited in my vision. So often I am far too willing to settle for those things that are easy. Comfortable. Simple. And yet You are not, for I know that you are interested not only in giving me all things in Christ, but actually making me like Christ. And looking back, I see Your divine and loving hand guiding me in this way.

Today, no doubt, I will be disappointed because some situation will not go according to my plan. I will more than likely cast a disapproving look heavenward, much like my own son does to me when I deny him something I know not to ultimately be for his good. I will gripe. I will complain. I will belly ache because You refuse to be my butler.

I pray, Father, that you would today remind me of the great gospel of Jesus Christ. Remind me that you have sealed Yourself to me through the blood of Your Son and the indwelling of Your Spirit. Remind me that because of the cross, I know You are both good and wise. Remind me today that You always do what is best for those who love You and are called according to Your purpose.

And thank You that even during these times, You love this silly child with an undying affection.

Amen

 

Fridays Are For One Question

I love hamburgers. I’m not sure I love them enough to have one of these:

It’s the most expensive hamburger ever:

…a mix of Japanese Wagyu beef infused with 10-herb white truffle butter, seasoned with Salish Alderwood smoked Pacific sea salt, topped with cheddar cheese — hand-formed by the famous cheesemaker James Montgomery in Somerset, England, and cave-aged for 18 months — shaved black truffles, a fried quail egg and served on a white truffle-buttered Campagna Roll, which is topped with a blini, creme fraiche, and Paramout Caviar’s exclusive Kaluga caviar — a beautiful golden caviar with a buttery, nutty taste and large pearls from the Huso Dauricus farm raised in Quzhou, China. The finishing touch to this incredible burger is a solid gold “Fleur de Lis” toothpick encrusted with diamonds and designed by world-renowned jeweler Euphoria New York.

It costs $295.

But I do love a good burger. My question for you today, though, isn’t about a good burger. It’s about the best burger. So tell me:

“Where did you have the best burger of your life?”

What Does Jesus Do With Sin?

In a post by Jared Wilson, we find, thank God, that Jesus does these things:

1. He Condemns It.

Jesus puts a curse on sin. He marks its forehead.

Romans 8:3 – “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”

Jesus says to sin in no uncertain terms, “Sin, you’re going to die.”

2. He Carries It.

Like the true and better scapegoat, Jesus becomes our sin-bearer.

1 Peter 2:24 – “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

3. He Cancels It.

He closes out the account. (Even better, he opens a new one, where we’re always in the black, having been credited with his perfect righteousness.)

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 – “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful”

That word resentful is more directly “to count up wrongdoing,” which is why some translations of this text say that “Love keeps no record of wrongs.”

Colossians 2:13-14 – “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

That last proclamation leads us into this great truth:

4. He Crucifies It

1 Peter 3:18 – “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.”

At the cross, Jesus dies and takes our sin with him. Only the sin stays dead.

5. He Casts It Away

Jesus takes the corpse and chucks it into the void.

Micah 7:19 – “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

Psalm 103:12 – “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

6. He Chooses to Un-remember It.

Jesus is omniscient. He is not forgetful. But he wills to un-remember our sin.

Jeremiah 31:34 – “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Hebrews 8:12 – “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

Hebrews 10:17 – “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

Astonishing. We bring our sin to him, repentant and in faithful confession, and he says, “What’re you talking about?”

This is how Jesus forgives sin: He condemns it, carries it, cancels it, kills it, casts it, and clean forgets it. If we’ll confess it.

1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Why I’m Praying for “Reviewer” This Morning

The Amazon product page is an interesting place for a book author. It can also be idolatrous because you can see a number there that ranks your work in relation to all the others Amazon sells. And if you’re an author, like me, who is sinful and prideful, like me, you tend to visit that page alot.

Alot.

But I read a recent review of Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal there this week that gave me pause, since it started out with these words:

“As a non-Christian…”
The book is written from the perspective of faith. It is not an apologetic work, one meant to convince others of the reality of God, but one meant to view suffering from the lens of faith. And yet here is a review from a non-Christian, reading these words, written from an entirely different perspective from his or her own. The name was listed only as “reviewer.” And here’s how it went:
“As a non-Christian, I’m curious how Christians deal with tragedy as the author has. His pain was descriptive and real. Loving God and having God’s love seem to keep him grounded and be able to withstand the pain that he and his son are going through. Interesting read.”
I’ve read it several times now. I don’t know if it came from Kansas or Florida or Puerto Rico. But it came from someone. From somewhere.
This morning, I’m grateful for whoever this person is, this single reader, who picked up the book and read about our story. And I wondered if you might join me in praying for “reviewer” this morning. Pain is one of those things that is non-discriminatory. It knows no distinction between black or white, rich or poor.
And yet pain can be the doorway to intimacy with Jesus.
So I’m praying for “reviewer”, that for whatever reason he or she happen to find him or herself reading a book about pain and God, about faith and doubt, written from the perspective of the Christian, he or she might find that there is hope.
And a God who, in so much as we might seek Him, is already seeking us.