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On July 8, 2019 By In Counseling/Piety

Reflecting On Our Identity

Abraham Kuyper spoke of our calling as Christians quite often. Kuyper offered a comprehensive approach to the Christian walk that left no room for neutrality. For the Dutch theologian, one always stands before God and every decision—whether to oppose or obey—is made in His presence.

“Whatever man may stand, whatever he may do, to whatever he may apply his hand – in agriculture, in commerce, and in industry, or his mind, in the world of art, and science – he is, in whatsoever it may be, constantly standing before the face of God.” 

We are Coram Deo, and although we know what is true and although we know how the story ought to go, we deceive ourselves into thinking that there is better timing than God’s timing or a better way than God’s way. The Book of Proverbs bombard us with similar themes: trust in the Lord, lean not on your own understanding, don’t follow the path of the wicked. Solomon knew our tendency to quarrel with the obvious. We may be tempted to ask, Who wouldn’t do these things? Who wouldn’t follow the ways of a God who created the heavens and the earth? Who wouldn’t wait on the Lord who created time itself?

Doubting the Obvious

But we are prone to self-deception. We often doubt what we know to be true. Therefore, we need to constantly reflect on our identity. Our identity refers to who we are and who we believe ourselves to be. A departure from our identity is often a departure from the Sabbath rest of God’s ways. But our identity is far more complex, which is why we so easily forsake it. Our identity is not formed overnight, but by a variety of factors: parents, self-reflection, abilities, education, associations, close relationships, etc. We don’t form ideas about who we are on our own; it’s formed by everything we do and with whom we engage. All that we experience, know, feel shape us. The question is whether those voices echo Solomon, or whether they are a mix of voices, or whether they are altogether contradictory to the voice of Yahweh.

The Christian needs to get back to the clear foundation that God’s opinion needs to have the final say. God’s imperatives need to overwhelm our doubts and fears and alternative voices. Wherever we may stand, whatever the intellectual or physical endeavor, we need to open our minds to the profound reality that God’s opinion of us is louder and clearer than our opinion of ourselves.

It is God who defines our reality and identity. We only know ourselves in relation to him. Therefore, when we are confused, in a fog; when we don’t have any idea what our next step is, when in humility we present our uncertainties to God, the biblical answer is a glorious one. After all, it’s in acknowledging our doubts that God shows us his ways. It is a good thing—at times—when we feel lost because if we felt overly confident about how to proceed, it is doubtful we would pause to wonder about our identity. It is doubtful we depend on Another.

Identity Tour

After the resurrection, around a fire, Jesus takes Peter in an identity tour. In a previous fire, Peter decided that his path would differ from his Masters’. “I don’t know this man,” he uttered. But now, Jesus takes Peter back to his true identity. Peter is only true in his calling when he allows Jesus to define who he is.

It’s precisely when you don’t know what’s next that God reminds you of your finiteness and directs you to himself who knows all things. Our identity in Christ puts us back in the ways of righteousness.

Our culture has made an idol of knowing all the right answers. We have made an idol of our certainty so that when the first thing goes wrong, we collapse, we crawl into our comfort zone. And that’s why often we hurt so much. We hurt because it is burdensome to define ourselves. It is burdensome to make our paths straight; to sing our own melodies instead of allowing God to sing over us.

So, the lesson of this short essay is for us to remind one another and our children who they are: to text them who they are, to teach them who they are, and to point them to Who identifies who they are. Knowing our identity does not solve all our problems, but at the very least it diminishes our tendency to lean on our own understanding and it puts us back where we belong: in the presence of God.

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On July 7, 2019 By In Counseling/Piety, Theology, Wisdom

Merciful Coals of Fire

“If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And Yahweh will reward you.” (Prov 25.21-22; cf. also Rom 12.20).

Since the fall, a line of antithesis has been drawn between the serpent and his seed and the woman and her seed (Gen 3.15). We are mortal enemies. We each desire the other’s destruction, though destruction doesn’t mean exactly the same on both sides of the line. The serpent and his seed desire and work toward the annihilation of God and his image; utter destruction. The woman and her seed desire and work toward expulsion or conversion of the serpent’s seed.

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On June 30, 2019 By In Counseling/Piety

Weal & Woe

We live in some distressing times; times in which God’s faithful people are saddened, befuddled, and angry because of the way Western culture is racing toward its destruction. When we read or hear the news, many times we think, “How can things be so upside down?” When lawmakers of a state cheer a law that permits infanticide, we wonder, “What are they thinking?” When a church called “The United Churches of Christ” has a service of blessing for a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Milwaukee, WI, blessing abortions in the name of Christ, we are befuddled and angry that they are so upside down in representing Christ.[1] When it is pushed on us that we must accept that there are more than two sexes, male and female, and people are promoting this as the new normal, we think, “How could thinking be so backward?” When Christian denominations start to warm up to the idea that sexually perverse lifestyles are just another valid expression of “love,” we wonder, “What is going on?” Even more conservative Christian denominations are becoming more comfortable with monikers such as “gay Christian.” Not only are people believing and acting this way, but they seem to be prospering.

Those of us who oppose such things are seen as backward, unloving, and behind the times. The world is upside down to us. We don’t fit in. We mourn the developments and wonder in prayer, “How long, O Lord, before you vindicate your truth?”

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On June 29, 2019 By In Counseling/Piety, Culture, Theology

Gay Christian?

One of the first acts of dominion Adam had was naming the animals. That process involved recognizing certain God-created qualities about the animals and then giving them a name that corresponded to those qualities. Naming was an exercise of authority that set animals in their proper relationships with one another and the man. Names set boundaries, giving the animals and man their respective cultures in which to live. Adam recognized this from the beginning as he was naming all of the animals and realized that among them there was no helper comparable to him. It is not until God creates Eve from Adam’s side that he names her with a name that corresponds to his own. She is ‘issha because she was taken out of ‘ish (Gen 2.23). Indeed, male and female are ‘adam (Gen 1.27).

Names tells us who we are. They tell us our cultural boundaries at macro and micro levels. As humans (or “man”) our name is “image of God.” That name sets the boundaries of our relationship to God, to one another, and the world around us. “Image of God” establishes the God-ordained culture in which we are to live and which we are to cultivate.

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On June 29, 2019 By In Counseling/Piety, Family and Children, Men, Politics, Wisdom

Defy the Culture: Get Married

As you look around at the cultural confusion, you might be wondering how to get involved. Where do you start with the kind of mess that is all around us? I have a simple suggestion: get married. And then throw a really big party to celebrate. You might even consider inviting the whole town. I am not being flippant here. This is a serious recommendation and it is a key tactical move in attacking the enemies of darkness. Nothing causes greater consternation in the foe than a godly wedding celebration and a godly marriage.

Over the month of June, the Rainbow Mafia has been inundating us with their brainwashing techniques. And they have been laying it on thick. Business after business has been running Gaystapo ads. And they are super cheesy too. Given this ploy, it is wonderfully defiant to celebrate a Christian wedding.

In this age of sexual perverts, a Christian wedding ceremony is a fantastic grenade to lob at our culture. This kind of grenade accomplishes two things: first, it destroys the folly of the world and second, it exalts the beautiful reality. This is a wonderful way to attack the evil around us. It is a one-two punch that is incredibly winsome. At a Christian wedding, we hear clearly and profoundly the truth of the world: God made us male and female and it is good. He made Adam and Eve for each other. Jesus proclaimed this as Christian marriage in the gospels. This is the reality of the world. All the other perversions are fakes. And those other relationships are ugly and harmful. We get the chance to stand against those errors when we celebrate a Christian wedding.

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On June 3, 2019 By In Counseling/Piety, Podcast

Episode 60: Conversation with Dru Johnson on Human Rituals

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:40 — 30.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

What is a ritual? “The word gets a bad rap,” says Dr. Johnson. So, if you are looking for a summary of the role of rituals inside and outside the Church, look no further. Dru’s book is packed with substantive arguments and down to earth applications sure to get folks thinking about their daily rituals and how these rituals form us into the humans that we are.

Pastor Brito and Dr. Johnson also talk about the power of rituals in replacing bad habits and how the act of repetition in communion with others actually change us.

Resources:

Purchase Dru’s book

Visit Dru’s Website

Intro and Outro music by George Reed

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On April 28, 2019 By In Counseling/Piety, Theology

Who Am I?

Who are you? Whether you realize it or not, whether for good or for ill, you have been told who you are all of your life, and you have grown up into that identity. Being given an identity, defined by others, is not evil in itself. It is part of being a creature. We are made in the image of God, and, from the beginning, we have been told who we are. As image-bearing creatures and procreators, we define the lives of our children, and we have been defined as children by our parents. We have been taught our identity, and we have grown up into it.

Sin sees an opportunity with this created order and seizes upon it. Sin knows that if it can determine the answer to the question, “Who are you?” then it can control your life. If sin can damage you through abuse as a child, it will. Furthermore, sin will take those horrible instances and tell you for the rest of your life that you are a victim, you can never have a good relationship with anyone, you must always protect yourself from being hurt again, and you must look for love in all the wrong ways. You answer the question, “Who am I?” with “the victim of abuse,” and from that point on, you relate to everyone around you in terms of your victimhood.

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On April 20, 2019 By In Counseling/Piety, Theology

Holy Saturday: Joyful Tension

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth in the space of six days. On the seventh day, he rested. The Sabbath was a time of enthronement in which God enjoyed his work. Man, created as the image of God, was to follow God’s pattern of creative work in six days followed by a day of enthronement rest. After six days of work, man was called to ascend with God to be enthroned with him and enjoy the fruits of his labor with God.

The purpose of man’s labor was to develop the world so that it looked like God’s heavenly throne room. As man’s work progressed, God drew nearer, drawing heaven and earth together at the Tabernacle and, eventually, the Temple. God’s throne was established in the Holy of Holies, above the cherubim who sat atop the ark of the covenant (2Kg 19.15). This was the footstool of God’s throne, uniting heaven and earth. This was God’s resting place (2Chr 6.41). In worship each Sabbath day, man ascended to the throne of God through the mediation of animals, grain, oil, and fragrances, there to enjoy Sabbath rest, celebrating the work of the previous six days.

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On April 14, 2019 By In Counseling/Piety, Politics

Palm Sunday Meditation

When Jesus draws near things happen. When Jesus enters Jerusalem, hearts are exposed as the sun into a dark room. Palm Sunday means we are compelled to decide whether this donkey-riding messianic figure is who he claims to be.

When Jesus comes, our hearts are opened. What does he expose in us? Is it our sense of insecurity? “My Lord is coming! What if he sees me for who I really am?” Or perhaps when the Lord comes, we hide in fear like Adam and Eve believing that if we hide just long enough, perhaps our Lord will just keep riding his donkey to another town.

When Jesus comes, as He does this morning, we ought to feel exposed, but we ought not to feel shame. Shame is the exposure of our nakedness. Shame happens when we think that our exposure means our death; when we think that our ugliness has been revealed and there is no reason left to live. Ultimately, shame is rooted in our inherent preference to trust false gods rather than depend on God for each and every moment of our existence. What happens when we are exposed by Jesus’ coming? The answer is, “We lay down palm branches before him.” That is to say, we affirm that he controls everything; that does not come to us to crush our dreams, or to make us miserable, but he rules over us to make us strong in our weakness. In fact, shame happens when we think we are too strong. The message of Palm Sunday is to expose yourself to the king of love. He came to Jerusalem to die for your sin and shame. He came to Jerusalem so you may have life and life more abundantly.

[1] See Alender, Cry of the Soul, 195[2] Alender.

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On April 10, 2019 By In Counseling/Piety, Scribblings

Lenten Journey, Day 31; When heaven breaks through

“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy. (Ps. 5:11)

Every time heaven breaks through our daily life, it is a reason to rejoice. It breaks through with tremendous regularity in big events, like the birth of a child, the provision of our financial needs, recovering through severe pain, or whatever it may be, we see heaven given to us regularly. But heaven also breaks through in many little things, like the response of a child to the wisdom of God, the beauty of a sunny day, the note or word of encouragement. Are we responding to that joy when heaven breaks through? It is common for people to talk to one another to report the sad details of other people’s lives; it is not so common to rejoice in the details of other people’s lives. We need more of that. We need to be genuinely joyful over the joy of others. Instead of lamenting the joy of others, let us rejoice in their well-being. Our lack of joy may stem from our lack of joy for other people’s joy.

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