The Divine Pursuit

He is coming
He who breathed life
The King of all kings
The Light of all the world

He rescues us
He romances us
He wars against us
He pursues us relentlessly

A thousand times
We discover our smallness
The fickleness of worldly foundations
When we are in the muck and mire
He pulls us out
When we are outnumbered
And sick and weary and hungry
He has turned away our enemies

When we were lost in the wilderness
And collapsed under a burden we could not bear
He chased away the wolves
And carried us home


The sun rises
Upon a lush green morning
Bejeweled with dew
The flowers open up
A delightful array
All of it
The canvas of the sky
The dynamic sculptures of the earth
And everything in between
Are not given only in the hour of need
They are gifts
Received on morning walks
In day-to-day business
He gives it all freely
Delightfully

Whether the beauty of Creation
Or the joy of His Spirit
On a random Sunday
His gifts are cheerfully given


I have gone out
To a temple of my own making
Dedicated to my own glory
And every detestable thing
I hear His approach
And I flee
Down whatever bloody alley presents itself

So He draws His sword
He calls on a legion of seraphim
He lays a thousand Bibles open
On the shelves of the mockers
He anoints an army of saints
He positions all His forces
And then He moves

No brick is left upon its brother
No idol stands before His glory
All that can be shaken is shaken
All that can be broke in broken
He beats me down
Relentlessly

And when I am on my knees
He lays the royal robe on my shoulders
And places the ring on my finger

He had pursued me
In His terrible
Wonderful
Love

He has rescued me
And romanced me
And warred against me

Bui Doi

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’"

Matthew 25:34-36

"The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name."
Acts 5:41
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Matthew 5:43-48




In addition to the unconditional love and sacrifice preached and demonstrated by Jesus, the Gospels tell us three things about servanthood. First, they tell us that we are to serve our enemies, the people who insult us, abuse us, and would likely kill us. Second, they tell us that we are to serve the poor and lowly; in fact, they say that we are serve not just the lowly but the lowest of the low. Thirdly, they tell us that if we are persecuted and disgraced in our service, we are to rejoice.


Those are three things that we who have been in the church long enough tend to be very familiar with. They are subjects of good, vigorous discussions. And yet it seems like we still don't understand them.


I recently saw a musical called Miss Saigon and one of the songs in it was called "Bui Doi." The phrase refers to Vietnamese children conceived by American soldiers who had hooked up with local girls. As one would most unfortunately expect, these children were targeted by the Communist regime after we pulled out and they lived in abject poverty and mortal danger. We're always told that the people suffering overseas are our brothers and sisters and that the children in the World Vision commercials are our children, but how would we react if that was actually a biological fact? Imagine that you had a child and that he or she was living in a refugee camp, as a slave (no, that little problem is absolutely not gone from the world, not even from the U.S.), or in an overcrowded city with food and water that you wouldn't give a pet snail. I hope your reaction would be a little different from the one you have when you see those commercials.


I'm discovering now that one of the most terrifying moments in a Christian's life is when that person realizes that Jesus meant what He said. In my experience, whenever God has told me to go and do something that requires serious sacrifice and risk I have immediately tried to tune down my interpretation. And then I tell myself I'm being somehow clever or realistic for doing that. If anything, we need to tune our understanding of God's mission for our lives up. Way up.


Think about what it means to serve the lowest of the low. Think for a second about the fact that Jesus told us not only to serve them but that anything we did for them we would be doing for Him. If you're looking for Messiah, I have great news. He's right over at the nearest homeless shelter. He's waiting around that strip club waiting for someone to answer the call. He's on the other side of the world in a crowded camp full of people who had their lives ripped away from them in an instant. If you want to find the One who gave you a second birth, the God who have you the victory you could never claim on your own, the Man you say is your savior and king, that's where He is. Don't you want to stop by?

Then there's the whole deal with the enemies. The Bible says to love the people who hate you and that means every single obnoxious, revolting weasel that you meet in work or school and whom you want to punch right in the face. It's not enough to like the idea of loving your enemies (which is one of the most popular aspects of Christianity), you have to do it (which is one of the most unpopular aspects). It also means that you have to love and forgive the enemies of your nation or your people. At the same time that we are commanded to serve the people in refugee camps, we are also commanded to love the people who put them there. When Osama bin Laden died and we Western Christians celebrated, we failed. We had an opportunity to show the same kind of heartbroken, unconditional, terrible love to those in Radical Islam that Christ showed for us, and instead we showed them exactly the kind of enemy they expected to see.


Finally, consider the cost of servitude. We live in a culture that is terrified of the very thought of suffering. The Bible tells us that if we don't suffer for God we're doing something wrong. Our own personal difficulties and persecution can be large or small depending on what God wants us to do at the moment, but we should be ready for it to be big. Imagine that God told you to go into the ghetto or some turmoil filled region of Africa in pursuit of a particular individual. Now imagine that He told you that you would be tortured in the process. Worse yet, imagine that He said you were going to be martyred. Both of these experiences are called glorious in the Bible. When we see historical figures who endured such things we call them saints. But what about in our own lives? If you had a friend who told you that God was sending him into martyrdom, wouldn't you try to dissuade him?

Mind you, one of the great things about being Christians is that we have the Holy Spirit to direct us. We don't have to be in a moral panic burning through all our energy and resources trying to solve all the world's problems and failing miserably. If God wants you to go overseas and minister to starving orphans then you can do that, but if he just wants you to serve your local school or neighborhood you can do that too. There are no small tasks in the Kingdom of Heaven. However, that "if" does not justify turning a blind eye to the radical commands of the Gospel.

I want you to imagine for a moment that you had your own Bui Doi out there somewhere in the world. I realize this may be difficult if you're a college student like me, but imagine that you were one of those Vietnam veterans who left a child behind in the midst of war and poverty and persecution. Imagine watching a World Vision commercial or a special report on some third world country and thinking to yourself that the child you see could literally be your son or daughter. What if you knew that they were your child. Wouldn't you sell off anything to fly over there and find them and hold them and make sure that they were safe?

Now imagine that you saw a hooker on a street corner and God told you that you were to marry her and that He let you see her for even the briefest moment the way He saw her. Imagine spending months just trying to get her to trust you, taking on a second job so you can pay for her to have good food and shelter, enduring ridicule and slander on every side as you desperately try to win over and care for this outcast. Wherever you look out into a hurting world, imagine that it was literally your friends and family that were looking back at you.

I know this may sound like one giant guilt trip but it doesn't have to be like that. The reason those commercials and sermons make us uncomfortable is because we sit there waiting for normal life to resume and the distractions to flood in and  we fail to recognize what should be the most obvious of options. We fail to understand that we can act on that message. Before any of us were born, God prepared for you a victorious battle for the lost. The joy and glory of the salvation of the needy is our inheritance. If you do throw away everything you own for the sake of an infant halfway around the world, that loss will perish just as the mortal treasure you gave up would have, but that infant will be your precious delight for all eternity. C.S. Lewis was right; our desires are far too weak!

I'm done now, but there's one thing I'd like you to do. I would like you to pray for God to reveal your Bui Doi to you. Pray for God to reveal your inheritance and the path laid out to claim it. If this is something you have already received then I praise God for you. If you feel moved to action but you don't believe God is answering, I will pray for discernment for you and I would advise you to wait and to seek advice. If you pray and know that you are answered then I will pray for you to be encouraged and equipped for the battle ahead. Whatever the case, to God be the glory for ever and ever.

Shattered

It's all gone now
Broken into a thousand
Glittering pieces

The fairy food
No longer enchants
And the paper covering
No longer astounds

It's all shattered now
The glass house
In a glass world
All of it
The prize
The pleasures
The foundations
The things of decency and normality

They have all lost their gleam
The illusion is gone
And only worthless trinkets remain

Every stable thing is gone
A thousand feet below
The make-believe world
The true landscape is splayed out
Awesome and fierce
With heroes and monsters

It's all so terrifying
But what else is there to do
But to jump
It's all or nothing now
No
Not even that
How could I go back to that sham?
That time is past
Now it's just
All

1 Kings 19:11-13

You should run now
My God is coming
I know I can never hurt you
I know that you are stronger
That you are smarter
That as long as I stand
On my own strength
You have nothing to fear from me

But the El Shaddai is coming
The Annointed One
My Bridegroom approaches

There is a wind
A wind as sharp as any blade
As strong as any machine
It splits boulders in two
And blasts mountains to rubble

But God is not in the wind

There is an earthquake
A trembling as if a thousand giants
Were all dancing in celebration
Or as if the Hosts of Heaven
Had broken down into the infernal depths
And the celestial armory displayed it's terrible might

But God is not in the earthquake

There is a fire
Like the blazing sun
Like Baal's furnace
Blazing like never before
And sent out in mockery
Against those who lit it
The waters disappear
Stone walls turn to ash
When I close my eyes
I see them still
And just as bright

But God is not in the fire

There is a whisper in my ear
So beautiful I weep to hear more
And a cool, soft touch
Like a rose petal
Falling across my cheek

Every word melts away the lies
Every touch softens the calluses
His kiss undoes my pride

God is in the whisper

You should run now...

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written:
   “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
   the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
 ²⁰ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
 ²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:18-31


18- Like the rest of the passage, this verse is cheifly concerned with the simple fact that the wisdom of God is not the wisdom of the world. Since the epistles consistently demonstrate submission to the laws of logic in the way that they are written, it can be safely assumed that those laws are not the issue, in which case the disagreement between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God must lie not in the structuring of thoughts but rather in the basic axioms of the two. Basically, this means that the problem with worldly wisdom is that it starts out with a false understanding of what is good, what is trustworthy, and other such things.

At the same time that this verse discusses the contrast between worldly and heavenly wisdom, however, there is also something more subtle which sets this verse apart from the rest of the passage. That is the claim that the wisdom of God is power. This means that, unlike the wisdom with which the Greeks were accustomed, the wisdom of God is active. Not only the subject of that knowledge, but the knowledge itself is an active force upon the believer.

19- Essentially this is about the greatness of God and the fallenness of the world. On the one hand, we see how God surpasses all human wisdom, displayed here by the way in which the worldly authorities failed to recognize Jesus and the way in which He frequently proved His greatness through His teachings and discussions. The Lord also displays His supremacy by actively confounding and thus making a mockery of the wisdom of the age. However, that particular example of God's greatness occurred in response to human sin since such action would not have been necessary if the intellect of the world had not been a stumbling block and a distraction from God.

This verse also establishes the Old Testament as holy scripture for Paul's Gentile audience and shows how the Messiah was anticipated by it.

20- The particular rhetorical question of where the philosopher or teacher of the law is seems to imply a particular answer which is both obvious and favorable to Paul's argument. At this point in history, we can say that the wise men would have been the Greek philosophers and the teachers of the law would have been the Pharisees. Both of these groups are clearly past their prime at this point, overshadowed by their greater predecessors, and are also under the rule of Rome which has similarly past its prime by entering its imperial age.

21- Here is becomes particularly clear that it "pleased God" for the wisdom of the world to be blind to the Gospel. There's a lot that can be said on this, but to me it seems that this verse breaks down to the issue of pride. God wanted the wisdom of the world to be at odds with true wisdom because He did not want the gift of His Son to be a point of human pride for us. Even on an intellectual level, accepting the Gospel constitutes a complete and total surrender and an abandonment of worldly understanding.

22-23- Since the Gospels are overflowing with both wisdom and signs, it cannot be that signs and wisdom are somehow inherently sinful in God's sight. The problem is instead that the Jews were more interested in signs that in the One giving them and the Greeks were more interested in wisdom than in the One whom wisdom is ultimately about.

24- No matter how many times I look at this I still can't make sense of the grammar so I'm just going to ignore that aspect. This verse once again affirms Christ as the Savior and the one for whom we have all been waiting but it also adds on that He is the "power of God and the wisdom of God" meaning that He has all that the Jews and the Greeks were both looking for, even though they were too focused on the characteristics of the Messiah and not enough of the actual Messiah.

25- This passage is a powerful statement concerning Christian humility, love, and faith. In the eyes of the world, all these things are weak and foolish and sometimes they are if they are taken out of context, but at the same time history has shown us that these things which the world sees as foolishness and weakness can overturn the institutions of the world.

26-29- There are a lot of things packed into this passage. First of all, there is the affirmation of the Beatitudes as we see that it was the poor and the lowly of the Corinthians who have been called by Christ; the rich and esteemed have found their most renowned features to be nothing more than a stumbling block. After this there is a commentary on the way in which God functions. Throughout history, God has consistently chosen to raise up the weak and lowly as heroes of His Kingdom (David, Moses, Joan d' Arc, etc.,) and in these verses Paul tells his readers that this has not been done thoughtlessly or by accident but instead that it has been done deliberately as a demonstration of God's power and the world's futility. In fact, in describing the victory God gives His servants Paul says that He chose "the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are." This to me is a very shocking statement as he says that God (to put it in my own words) "uses the things of no substance to undo the things of great substance." It is as if the person being used was literally nothing but a shadow or a reflection in the mirror being given the power to not only defeat the "great" people of the world, but to wipe away every trace of them. And when it comes down to it, what is left of so many worldly kings anyway?

30- And now we are reminded of something we absolutely must never forget and something which we seem to never remember: that all our salvation and all our goodness comes from God. Yes, we did choose Messiah, but it was He who chose us first, it is He who transforms us into His image-bearers now, and it was God who provided us with enough goodness to want salvation in the first place. In other words, all that we have is a gift.

31- But finally, we are reminded to celebrate. In these final words we are told not just how to boast but that we are able to boast at all, that there is glory to be had and to be delighted in. And that is the glory of God.

Walking by Faith

A man walks along an island of sand. All around him there are fruit-bearing plants and bushes with twigs and leaves that are perfect for building fires, but he knows he cannot build a home there because even though the island is very large it still never rises more than a few feet above the ocean and there could at any moment come a wave capable of completely reshaping the whole place. As he goes along, the man drags his feet through the sand, feeling his way along. Eventually he finds a rock buried beneath the sand. He still can't see it, but after a while he is able to get a rough understanding of size and shape of the rock. He may look around and see fruits ripe for the picking in the distance while the only trees that grow on the rock are thorny and uninviting, but he will make his home on the rock nonetheless. He does this because even though his sight is telling him that the rock is a barren place, he knows from experience and from speculation that when the storms come the sand will simply wash away and give him no safety while the rock will hold firm. The trees may look unpleasant, but if he can build a shelter using them for support or rely on them to discover the rock's hidden holes and crevices, that shelter will easily outlast any built in the appealing places of the island.


"For we live by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27

Neither can I

To the people
Who say
That's great
For you
It's so awesome
But it's not for me
To all the people
Who say
I just can't do that

Neither can I

I can't carry that cross
I can't live that life
I can't surrender everything
I can't even begin
To want to do it

I can't make that jump
Or walk that road
It's too far
Too hard

I can't open the closet door
And look that monster in the eye
Much less
The one in the bathroom mirror

I can't face the light of day
Without a thousand little lies
Without those many other truths and ways
I can't do it

I can't break these chains
Or even admit their existence

Not out of my own Strength

But there is Someone else
Whose movements shakes the world
Whose words have authority
To rebuke every evil
Whose breath
Gave you birth
Whose death
Can give you it again

He can carry you
Across burning deserts
Over treacherous mountains
And through thorny wilderness

He can crush
Every single thing
That is pressing you down
That is keeping you from Him
All your chains
Are like paper in His hands

Your monsters
All assembled together
And multiplied by a million
Can do nothing before Him
But beg for mercy

And
The most wonderful
And terrible
Thing of all
Is that He
Can break
My cold
Wretched
Evil
Heart