Forward Progress

Fridays Are For One Question

Posted by MK | Filed under Fridays Are For One Question

One of my goals in 2012 is to read more. More often, and more quantity (though if the Mayans were right, it’s not going to matter too much. But I digress…)

Yes, reading. My older son shames me with his commitment to books. He’ll knock out a “Magic Treehouse” adventure novel in about 2 days. Me? It took me two weeks to read The Hunger Games. But I’m working on it.

Right now, I’ve got a copy of the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson which, by all accounts, is very long and very good. But I wondered today if we might share some recommendations.

Today’s question is about that one book that you love to give away. The one you will always talk about. The one you would recommend under most any circumstance:

“What is your favorite book to recommend to others?”

Fast and Phenomenal Finger-Painting

Posted by MK | Filed under Just for Fun, Videos

This is Chilean artist Fabian Gaete Maureira. He’s a street performer whose skill is speed finger painting. Prepare to be amazed:

(HT:22 Words)

“Teach Us To Pray”

Posted by MK | Filed under Bible Study

It’s a simple enough request. Like so many times recorded in the gospels, Jesus was praying and when He came back to His followers, they knew where He had been. So they asked Him: “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). What follows is Jesus’ answer to their request, a prayer that has been often analyzed, repeated, emulated, and dissected.

That’s not the purpose of this post.

Instead, think about the question itself. It’s debatable what led to their question; maybe it was some kind of spiritual jealousy: “John’s disciples have a special way to pray – we want one, too!”

Maybe it was an effort to get Jesus to tell them some kind of perceived secret He was holding onto: “What is it you do out there, all by yourself? We want to know what’s going on! Let us into the loop!”

Or perhaps it was just good curiosity springing from a genuine desire to pray. We don’t really know. But the fact that we don’t know the true intentions of the disciples actually only serves to make the request, and what happens after, all the more encouraging for me because I certainly know what it’s like to have mixed motives in prayer. Maybe you do too.

- We pray to get God to do things for us.

- We pray more about our own comfort than for the good of others.

- We struggle to pray with confidence because in our hearts, we don’t really think God will answer.

- We have no idea what to pray for. In fact, our hearts are so deceitful we often find ourselves praying in a contrary fashion to the will of God.

Given our weakness (and I’m lumping you in here with me now) in prayer, here are two ways that this request can encourage us in prayer, and then a simple point of action that flows from it:

1. Prayer is a learned skill.

These disciples asked Jesus to teach them something. That means that prayer is learnable, perhaps even as learnable as trigonometry or changing a tire. If it’s learnable, it means that it’s not necessarily natural. So our inability to pray isn’t something we have to just live with. It’s something that can change.

2. Jesus wants to teach us the skill.

This is the fifth time recorded so far in the book of Luke that Jesus has been praying. In fact, the book records Jesus praying at most of the big events of His life. So the disciples asked Him to teach them. Now often when someone asks Jesus a direct question, He will answer them with a parable or a seemingly unrelated teaching. He’ll force them to think about the heart of their question, taking them to a deeper level emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. But here?

Here Jesus answers them. Straight out. Jesus wants to teach us to pray.

So here, I think, is one simple action point, given the above things are true:

We should practice.

I have fallen into a sort of grudging acceptance for the poorness of my prayer life. I guess some people have it, and some don’t, I tell myself, as if praying is like shooting a beautiful jump shot from beyond the three point arc. But if prayer can be learned, then there’s nothing wrong with actually practicing. That’s how you get “better” at anything – you practice.

And evidently, the disciples practiced. It’s funny that this same group of followers, here so inept at the practice of prayer, are praying all the time in Luke’s companion volume, the book of Acts. Here they’re not asking to be taught any more; here they have learned. And here, the Holy Spirit is at work in incredibly powerful ways as they prayed.

They must have learned after all.

So today, I’m telling God about my prayerlessness. I’m asking Him to help me practice. Like a 4-year-old who wants his father to help him throw a ball the right way, I’m going to put myself to the work with the ready assistance of my dad. And, like that Father, I believe God is not going to berate me for my inabilities, but to encourage me to keep going.

Because you don’t throw a 90-mph fastball overnight.

Paterno, Sandusky, and the Nature of the Law

Posted by MK | Filed under Theology

One of the biggest stories of 2011 will no doubt be the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State. For a couple of months now, details have continued to leak out about Jerry Sandusky’s guilt or innocence and the role of legendary coach Joe Paterno. There has been much written in the last coupe of days about the legacy of Paterno and how he should be remembered.

I’m not meaning to speculate about how the forthcoming trial will unfold in this post. Nor do I mean to comment on the way the believing community should react to either Paterno’s memory or Sandusky. But there is an idea that has been said and articulated in different ways time and time again in the national media in reference to Paterno that points to something deeper in us at a couple of different levels.

The idea in question is this: legal obligation versus moral obligation.

Essentially, the argument as I understand it goes like this: Paterno did all he was legally required to do when he found out about the potential abuse being perpetrated by Sandusky. He reported the incident / s to the campus police. That was all he was required to do from a legal standpoint.

But from a moral standpoint, he was required to do more. Much more. What’s curious about this idea is that it has come from the Christian and the non-Christian alike. Because these charges are of such a heinous nature, the believer and the non-believer seem to be standing together on the basis of morality, and together they seem to be saying that the legal minimum was not enough.

It’s almost as if there is in all of us some base level of morality – a law of conscience if you will. Something that’s ingrained deeply within us that requires something of us. And that “something” is not just to do the minimum required, but to do and be more than we are. We feel it, and it has suddenly risen to the level of the national consciousness.

What we are seeing playing out before our very eyes is in a sense why the law doesn’t work. The law, apart from Christ, is about the minimum. It’s about what is required of you. But even when we keep the minimum, there is still something inside of us that knows the truth. It’s the nagging feeling that there is something else. Something more.

And then here comes Jesus, and He takes it to another level:

“Murder you say? Well, there’s something more. Murder isn’t just about the physical act of killing. It’s about thinking ill of someone in your heart, too.”

Jesus won’t let us settle for the minimum. He fulfills the law, body and heart. And thankfully, He fulfills it on our behalf. But in so doing, He gives us a new heart, one that doesn’t only feel the need for something more, but actually desires to do it. To love, and to not just murder.

“Am I Killing? Yes I Am.”

Posted by MK | Filed under Current Events, Videos

Unreal. Shocking. Happening. Today.

(HT:Z)

Fridays Are For One Question

Posted by MK | Filed under Fridays Are For One Question

I think the Superbowl commercial thing may have just gone to a new level. Vokswagen, who last year had the phenomenal commercial with the kid using the force to start the car, has released a TEASER for their Superbowl commercial.

It’s a trailer for a commercial.

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. But seriously – watch this first:

Now tell me that’s not awesome.

For today’s question, I wonder if you have a favorite.

“What’s your favorite Superbowl commercial of all time?”

A Satirical Look at the National Debt

Posted by MK | Filed under Current Events, Videos

Be sure and watch to the end.

(HT:Z)

An Introvert’s Prayer on the Day of Community Group

Posted by MK | Filed under Church

Father -

Tonight Jana and I will host a group of wonderful people in our home. I’m so thankful for these people, for they are Your people. They love you and they love us. They are considerate and polite, always thankful to us to be in our home. They have, in every way, accepted our hospitality with grace.

Nevertheless, it’s going to be a difficult evening. It always is for an introvert like me. Mud will be unintentionally tracked in. Something will likely be broken by accident. A kid (likely my own) with slippery fingers will spill some food. And you know my sinful heart, that it would be much easier and more comfortable for me to be by myself, happily sitting in solitude.

I am fighting with myself today, as I do most Wednesdays, and my selfish desire for convenience is strong. And that’s really what it is. I hide behind my introverted personality to mask my selfishness. Forgive me.

I pray, in faith, against the desire to rush people out so that I can watch TV. I pray that when the meeting is over, you would help me extend the same grace to my tired family that I do to the people in my home. You know how often I have snapped at my kids or gotten angry with them as the hour draws late. I want badly to fight this; please help me.

Help me fight with the power of the gospel. Help me to remember that it was inconvenient for You to send Your Son to the earth. Help me to consider Jesus who was the means by which You extended hospitality to me at my time of greatest and mot helpless need. Help me to remember that through the cross, You have taken me into Your own home and given me a seat at your table.

When I was a stranger, You welcomed me in through the gospel.

Save this introvert from his selfish desires. Thank you for the gift of my friends, my church, who not only aid my sanctification with their words and teaching and prayer, but with their very presence.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.

An Older Brother Worthy of the Honor

Posted by MK | Filed under Bible Study, Theology

I loved this post from Jared Wilson:

His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
– Genesis 37:8

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James
- Jude 1a

There is a lot wrapped up in this simple greeting, the opening line of Jude’s epistle. Jude is the brother of James, by which he means the James, James the apostle, the brother of Jesus. So this Jude is the Jude who is the brother of Jesus. But he doesn’t identify himself as such. He calls himself James’s brother but Jesus’ “servant.”

Jesus’ kid brother doesn’t say, “I’m Jesus’ kid brother,” but “I’m Jesus’ servant.” Again, so much is there…

Keep reading.

I STILL Have a Dream.

Posted by MK | Filed under Uncategorized

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of Lincoln Memorial, capping a historic March on Washington:

It’s a dream that has not yet been realized. Not even close. But it’s a dream that must be, for as Paul pointed out in the book of Ephesians, the validation of the gospel is at stake.

What is the gospel apologetic in the book of Ephesians? What did Paul point to in order to show the power and reality of Jesus Christ?

It’s not what you might think.

It wasn’t an apologetic of logic – an effort to prove with tangible facts and step by step reasoning why the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus makes sense. Neither was it offering first hand testimonies of encounters with the risen Savior. Neither still was it recounting his own encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road and pointing to his own dramatic change of life as proof of the gospel. Those are all fine things, but that’s not what Paul held up as the validation for the gospel. Not in this book.

In Ephesians, the gospel apologetic is the church itself.

The church at Ephesus was a racially diverse congregation. Jews and Greeks worshiped alongside each other, and that last point is key. There wasn’t a Jewish worship service at 9 and a Greek service at 10:30, each with different music and different communication styles. Instead, there was one, unified congregation. That’s not to say they didn’t have their troubles; they certainly did. But they were together under one head. That, according to Paul, is the most convincing evidence that the gospel is real:

“But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:13-14).

Interesting, right? Not logic. Not personal testimony. In Ephesians, it’s the unity of the church – specifically, the racial unity – that validates the reality of the gospel. Makes you wonder whether our churches are validating the gospel in a similar way.

Look around us, and there are still walls. Still hostility. Still division. And so the call to live out the dream resounds again today.

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