Plundered Goods

I think there's a pretty strong mentality of individuality and independence in America. It's the Land of the Free, right? The country where you can get all that and a bag of chips. We pull ourselves up by bootstraps (which I've never seen), and drink our whiskey straight. On the rocks. In other words, we are a self-made country.

I guess I can see where it comes from, considering our origins and the uniqueness of the way we earned our independence. So, when I say that each one of us are goods that trade hands, there is a propensity for great offense to be taken.

"Huh?"

Well, bear with me, 'cuz this takes a bit of explanation. And the first part is reading Matthew 12:22-32. It's a bit of a read, but I've pasted it here for your convenience. How nice of me. Thanks me!

Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

 Hey! Focus! Your eyes were glazing, and you've got a bit of drool... right there. No, not there. Right there. Yup, now you got it. Good. Moving on.

 So, typical day in the life of Jesus. Let's SparkNotes this situation for a second.

-Jesus gets brought a possessed man, whom He heals miraculously.

-The Pharisees get tee'd off, and mumble about their disbelief.

-Jesus tells the Pharisees off in a way that only He could do.

-He sheds a little light on spiritual warfare.

And that is where I'd like to hit the brakes and focus on this one part:

Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?

For some reason, in the past, I had typically read this passage with the understanding that the plundered goods were our hearts, which we would have to defend against spiritually demonic forces. Well, let's just say I was on to something, but I didn't quite hit the target.

We, my friends, are the plundered goods.

Jesus is saying that the strong man and his house are Satan and his kingdom. That's why He says He has to bind the strong man in order to steal the goods. To steal us.

Let's think about this for a second. The Christ walked into Satan's house, forced him into a chair, tied him down, and made him watch as Jesus stole the very thing that gave Satan any feeling of power: our souls. Now if that's not a slap in the face, I don't know what is.

The reason I make this point is twofold:

1. I think it's amazing how God does what He wants and cannot be tamed by any manner of evil.

2. In a reflection of the last post I wrote, we are once again weak. Because, in this story, we are not the daring hero that breaks into the house and does as He pleases. We are the damsel in distress, biting our fingernails in terror of death and the unknown - crippled by our fear. We need a Savior.

I don't know if this is something that God is trying to show me, but I keep seeing it. We have no strength. That's something that belongs to Him alone. But, when we are brought into the family, Christ's strength becomes our heirloom - something we can claim as ours. It becomes something that we can operate out of and form the church that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against." It's part of the complete package called "The Holy Spirit."

That's why I think it's important to realize our place as plundered goods. We have been stolen from the darkness.

Let's start living like we know what we came from.

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RMP: JD Greear

There's not that much to say about this video other than the fact that it is unrelentingly honest. I just love the way this guy shares the Word with conviction and strength. And it's not long.

It won't keep you from your facebook trolling for more than 3 minutes.

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The Offense

I just wanted to play some ball with my friend. I didn't know it was considered "trespassing." But, nevertheless, I had a sinking feeling that climbing over the high school's fence to get into the ball court on a Saturday morning with my best friend wasn't the best idea I'd had. But I guess the middle school mind has some kind of built in override for those kinds of thoughts. Or it just might've been drowned out by the thoughts of other things - like cookies... mmm... cookies.

In any case, I guess you could call that my first criminal offense. Yup. I was a bad dude, writhing with all the rebellious, anarchist thoughts a tweenage boy could muster. Well, at least if rebellious thoughts consist of playing ball. In any case, it wasn't an ideal situation.

"But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed."

I like that. Perhaps it's because it appeals to a youthful "anti-" mindset, but there's something about the idea of the cross being offensive that makes Christ even better. At least, that is, on this side of the fence. Because if you live on the other side, then this makes Christ seem all the more ridiculous.

Well, what offense are we talking about? If you read the context, (the verses before and after the afore-quoted verse) the Apostle Paul is addressing the Galatians for their return to the way of circumcision as a supplement to salvation. Paul vehemently opposes this idea, even going so far as wishing that the instigators of this idea would emasculate themselves. Castration, anyone?

Harsh.

The idea was that Paul didn't want these new believers to rely on anything other than faith for their salvation. He was telling them that he was completely opposed to the idea of circumcision by showing that people hated him for rejecting it. If this is the case, then the offense of the cross is that we aren't allowed to rely on anything other than faith alone, which is given to us by Christ. Simply, it is that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. In other words: we are ultimately weak.

The offense of the cross is that we need the cross.

So, let's take joy in this offense. Let's not dress it up with the piling on of self-esteem audio tapes and confidence seminars. If the pulling of bootstraps is involved anywhere in this story, it is the straps that were pulled from the back of our Savior. Let's stop burying the gospel under mounds of ear-tickling and good vibrations.

After all, the Good News isn't the Good News without the bad news.

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RMP: Tim Hawkins

Sometimes, (not all the time) when you talk about a Christian band or a Christian this or that, people normally assume that whatever it is will not be as worthy as it's secular counterpart. But if this man were to contend with some world class comedians, he'd do just fine.

Tim Hawkins is the man. And he's a believer. And he homeschools his kids. What more could you ask for? I'll say no more.

Yuk it up, ladies and gents.

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Far From Home

He knew it'd be hard because of all of the warnings he'd gotten, but words would never have been able to prepare him for this. He figured he'd have to push through the strict "no-outside-contact" policy, but he couldn't have anticipated the loneliness of soul he was enduring. As he laid on his cot in the middle of his team's camo tent, he desperately tried to think of better times. Before the draft. Before those last good-byes. Before the war. He tried to think of anything that would pull his heart towards faithfulness.

You see, they had brought in women. And beer.

They figured it would cheer the boys up after the toll this 6-month unrelenting campaign had brought upon the troops. They could have a night of fun and forgetfulness. They could party away their burdens of lost comrades and pain. And the best part was, no one would have to find out. They could consider it a one-night-gift from the good 'ole US of A.

But there was no forgetting the fact that she was still at home. Waiting. Faithfully counting the days that she would still have to endure until he came back. But she counted them joyfully, knowing her reward.

And with this, he wrestled. He paced the floor, sat down, and even kneeled to take his mind off of things. He mentally clawed for every reason he shouldn't go out there and claim momentary pleasure. It's why he was trying to remember. He tried to see her sweetness that, for some reason, so easily eluded his thoughts now. She felt so far, and unreachable. He wished that the feelings of joy present at their union would flood his mind now, but to no avail.

This went on for hours. It tore his soul apart as he fought with the animal inside, often leaving his body shaking for what could, with a few steps, be within his grasp.

------

Welcome to the desert. Where God feels as far away as Pluto, and sin is as near as your doorstep. This land has been traveled by many a weary stranger, of which it has consumed too many. Here is where man desperately tries to see the face of a God who seems to be intentionally hiding Himself. It is in this place that you want to want Christ, but yet the pleasures of the world have such a stronger emotional pull.

It is in this place that I call upon Galatians 5 to lend a hand, "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."

I know that these moments test the very boundaries of our soul, and in this stretching, I pray earnestly that we would become a church that solidifies our feet in blocks of concrete and says, "I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back."

Even when everything inside us says it's not worth it. That God isn't fun. That God isn't going to satisfy. That your distance from God is a good excuse to abandon Him. For these are our tests. How else will we know that we can stay true other than by being put to the test?

Stand firm, therefore. For at His side, there are pleasures forevermore.

Trust Him.

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RMP: Coca Cola Security Cameras

There's really not that much to say about this video other than the fact that I really like it. That, and the fact that it's all about perception. And it's heart-warming. Like the "awww" kind.

Watch it.

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Fake Beef

I've been gone for a while, due to various reasons, and I've had some time to realize some things about myself:

1. I am the living embodiment of the lyric, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the God I love."

2. I am never more than a few steps away from the person I'd never thought I'd be.

3. I don't understand God's grace, love, and righteousness.

4. When it comes down to it, I don't live in a way that shows I truly believe the promises of Christ.

5. Finally, I've been slapped with the reality that I've been wallowing in a cheap substitute for real life.

To put it simply, these realizations have come somewhat in order. That is to say that each thought led to the other. This all reminds me of a song named "Upgrade" by a band called Remedy Drive. Now, I know this isn't an RMP, but I figure since I haven't posted one in a while, no one will be upset. The lyrics go like this:

We're still sowing in the finite fields  

We're so content to live under a curse

We're still fabricating paradise

With the thorns, with the flies and dirt

Hold out for the upgrade man

Let go of your sinking sands

This bent world's not the promised land

This feeble frame's not meant to stand

I say all this because I've recently seen myself succumb to sin that I had thought for a long time was only a marginal issue. But I believe the reason I've been through this stuff, (apart from my sinful nature) has been God allowing me to see that worldly pleasures just don't cut it and don't give me what I need.

In short, I'm tired of the the world's replacement for satisfaction. Because from what I've seen, it is a second-rate, China-made, off-brand, high-calorie, low-nutrient, fake-beef decoy. And what do decoys do? They distract us from what we're really supposed to be looking at.

Ephesians 2 would say it like this:

"All of us also lived among them [the world] at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

Cravings of our flesh? End in death. Riches of His grace? Incomparably sufficient. And it is not just sufficient, but the next chapter goes on to say that God is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."

Why are we letting this gold mine fly by us?! This, ladies and gentlemen, is the stupidity that I found I've been buying into for much too long. And I'm done with it. I'm ready to move on to those things that are better than what I could ever ask for.

Lately, I've been learning a lot about the fact that God made us to experience Him. Now, in our sinful nature, we run off to other things to try to "experience" something powerful. That's why people go to drugs, sex, and wild living. The truth is that the desire to experience something satisfying isn't wrong, but we're just digging in the wrong fields, as Remedy Drive would put it.

So when we talk to unbelievers about how God is better than what they've got, do we really experience God in a way that this is true? Well, I'm determined to do so.

And I invite you to join me.

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