The Lord sometimes brings scriptures to my mind despite my greatly lacking meditative life. It happened this evening as I was on the bus to City 7. The scripture in 1 Samuel 15 just suddenly came to me where Samuel told Saul that obedience is greater than sacrifice. I realized that this completely flips human thought on its head. Humanity says EXACTLY the opposite. And the vast majority of the time I MYSELF think this way! My Christian walk feels like a failure when I haven't done something great or been able to emotionally testify of God's great power in my life or give a great deal of money to a godly cause. It is so tempting to think to oneself "I must get out there because Jesus died for me to do GREAT things. I was bought at an exorbitant price so I must serve exorbitantly! I must SHOW the gospel to be true through GREAT acts of love and compassion and sacrifice! We equate God's great act at the cross with how great our love should be shown towards Him.
Indeed, our love should be great towards God! We should exorbitantly love Him! But we cannot and MUST not judge our spiritual progress by how greatly we have been sacrificing. We are not constantly provided with opportunities to sacrifice but we ARE constantly provided with opportunities to OBEY!
"We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands," John the apostle says. He does not say "...if we sacrifice greatly and passionately." He says "if we obey." Just obey. Why is this so hard for us? Because we so deeply want the grandeur and hugeness of having sacrificed. It seems SO much more significant than mere obedience. God does not see it this way though! God loves it when you obey! It means so much more to Him than great sacrifice without obedience! God rejoices so much more when you simply stop watching a movie that's causing your mind to go places it shouldn't than when you have just given hundreds of dollars to a church or a Christian organization and then go and drink a few too many beers. We must get this through our heads! God is thrilled when we obey! He sings and dances because it is one of the ways our love toward Him is proven! So go your way today and obey! And know that God rejoices over your obedience!
04 December 2010
09 November 2010
Live or Freeze?
Something just passing through my mind this evening. I don't think any of us really can grasp how deep and vast the human soul and heart are. There are no psychological tests with which to measure the greatness of a single human heart. There are no tools to measure the depth of the soul. We cannot chart or graph the potentialities of our family, friends, or loved ones. The closest we can come to an accurate estimate of the value of a single human is to look at Calvary and see what God thought a human soul was worth. Look at Luke 15. There are three parables here. One with 99 sheep and one lost one. The next with 9 silver coins and one lost one. Finally, the famous story of the older and younger brother. Why this order? I believe it is to show something about the way God thinks. To him, the 100 sheep are not merely a flock of sheep. Each one, in His eyes, is as important as both of the sons in the last story. We see the same thing in Luke 7:11-15. There are multitudes surrounding Jesus but Luke takes the time to record this singular interaction. Jesus looked at this woman and his heart went out to HER. We see it again in Matthew 9:36. "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Jesus sees each person as of great importance. We are great sinners but we are greatly loved. C. S. Lewis puts it this way:
"There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whome we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours." (The Weight of Glory)
How does this play out in our relationships? If our Lord and Savior treats each person as worth so much, how can we think differently? If we are being conformed to His image, must we not take each and every one of our friendships and relationships as of immense importance? The idea of snubbing or hurting another person should move us to fear. Seeing a good friend hurt moves us to anger but how often do we casually take relationships? Look at the way Jesus deals with people in the gospels. It should cause us to cringe at our comparative indifference to those for whom Christ died.
Knowing this truth changes the way we live. Yes, ever person who crosses our path could have either a Josef Stalin or an Apostle Paul buried within them somewhere. Every soul can be truly great and God does not see us as we are but as we will be. So should we be petrified with fear that we will hurt one for whom Christ died? With everything we say or do we are having an effect on a person's potential. We either draw them closer to God and cause them to rise above where they are and make them a better person or we push them away from God and make them worse. So do we simply withdraw ourselves fearing that we will hurt them? Or do we boldly strive to draw them closer to God?
The answer is prayer and trust. Yes, each interaction is of enormous importance. Yes, a foolishly spoken word could have disastrous consequences. Yes, it is healthy to fear hurting another human being. No, we cannot withdraw ourselves or allow that fear to paralyze our friendships and relationships. We were created to be in community. We were created to interact with others and to have an effect on their life. We must simply learn to really believe that we have a loving, trustworthy, SOVEREIGN Father who is guiding human history with his nail-pierced hand. We must believe that He will not allow anything to happen that will not result in greater glory for Himself and that no mistake we make will surprise Him.
So go out there and accept that mistakes will happen, people will be hurt, and sin will be committed. But don't live recklessly or carelessly. Live in the fear of the Lord and submit to one another. Love and serve and give and forgive. Be Jesus to a lost and dying world.
"There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whome we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours." (The Weight of Glory)
How does this play out in our relationships? If our Lord and Savior treats each person as worth so much, how can we think differently? If we are being conformed to His image, must we not take each and every one of our friendships and relationships as of immense importance? The idea of snubbing or hurting another person should move us to fear. Seeing a good friend hurt moves us to anger but how often do we casually take relationships? Look at the way Jesus deals with people in the gospels. It should cause us to cringe at our comparative indifference to those for whom Christ died.
Knowing this truth changes the way we live. Yes, ever person who crosses our path could have either a Josef Stalin or an Apostle Paul buried within them somewhere. Every soul can be truly great and God does not see us as we are but as we will be. So should we be petrified with fear that we will hurt one for whom Christ died? With everything we say or do we are having an effect on a person's potential. We either draw them closer to God and cause them to rise above where they are and make them a better person or we push them away from God and make them worse. So do we simply withdraw ourselves fearing that we will hurt them? Or do we boldly strive to draw them closer to God?
The answer is prayer and trust. Yes, each interaction is of enormous importance. Yes, a foolishly spoken word could have disastrous consequences. Yes, it is healthy to fear hurting another human being. No, we cannot withdraw ourselves or allow that fear to paralyze our friendships and relationships. We were created to be in community. We were created to interact with others and to have an effect on their life. We must simply learn to really believe that we have a loving, trustworthy, SOVEREIGN Father who is guiding human history with his nail-pierced hand. We must believe that He will not allow anything to happen that will not result in greater glory for Himself and that no mistake we make will surprise Him.
So go out there and accept that mistakes will happen, people will be hurt, and sin will be committed. But don't live recklessly or carelessly. Live in the fear of the Lord and submit to one another. Love and serve and give and forgive. Be Jesus to a lost and dying world.
04 November 2010
A Message
I feel this thing in my heart that I feel the Holy Spirit is wanting me to say. Do you realize what you are in Christ?! How dare any of us go out into this world hanging our heads?! YOU are a child of God! Do you realize what that means?! Your Father runs the universe! Jesus Christ loves you so much that He DIED for you! He died, was buried, and rose again and then He stepped into the control room of the universe and He is working ALL things together for your good! How can you be discouraged?! How can you be dismayed?! Your Father loves you with a deep, indeed an INFINITE love, and He reigns over everything you see! It pains God to see His VERY OWN CHILDREN going out into the world like they were insignificant, mediocre, worthless, or unimportant. You are absolutely individual! There is NOBODY just like you in the entire world! Yes, of course we sin! Of course we make huge mistakes sometimes! Of course we struggle and hurt and don't perfectly exhibit the greatness of God but NONE OF THIS changes His unfathomable, passionate, intimate, furious love and passion for you! If you are on fire for God, don't make the mistake of thinking you are more excited about your relationship with Him than He is! Yes, Jesus calls us to absolute commitment but NOBODY is more committed to their relationship to God than God Himself is! Don't EVER be discouraged! NOTHING that happens to you anywhere or anytime was engineered to discourage you or frustrate you! Isaiah 41:10 says "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." There are 2 commands in this verse and 5 reasons to obey!
Command #1: "Fear not"
DO NOT BE AFRAID! Do you know what the word "Fear" meant in the original manuscript? It meant FEAR! As children of God we have absolutely no right to be afraid! NEVER be afraid! Not in any circumstance! No matter what situation we face! No matter how people treat us! No matter what our boss says or what our friends say or what the news reports say or what we hear or see anywhere! God has commanded us "Fear not!"
Command #2: "Be not dismayed"
DO NOT BE DISMAYED! Never be discouraged! Never be frustrated! Never be overwhelmed or anxious or downcast or depressed or joyless! Never! Never ever! No! Not Ever! NEVER be dismayed! No matter if you get fired tomorrow! No matter if all your friends walk out on you! No matter if your significant other says they are leaving! If you lose all your money and your house burns down and everybody looks at you thinking that you are an absolute idiot and you find out you have cancer and you get injured in a freak accident! Not under any circumstance! God says, "Be not dismayed!" DO. NOT. BE. DISCOURAGED.
Promise #1: "I am with you..."
GOD is with you! GOD is there for you! GOD! The One who stretched out the corners of the universe and planted all the trees of the forest! Who set the stars blazing in the nighttime sky! Who loves you with a deep and everlasting love! Who says "I will never leave you nor forsake you! Who forgave your depraved, wicked, degenerate, filthy, God-awful rebellion and said "I want you to be my child!" THAT God. The one who knit you together in your mother's womb! Who sees your past, present, and future! Who knows every sin you have committed, are committing, and will ever commit in the future and still says "I love you!" Who sees your best deeds as filthy rags and still says "You are my beloved!" HE is with you! Emmanuel! God is with us!
Promise #2: "I am your God..."
He is not just with you. He is YOUR God. You have a personal relationship with Him. He does not say "That guy there!" when He refers to you! He says "My child [insert your name]" He is YOUR God. You are HIS child! You have a personal relationship with God Almighty who is so far above you in every way yet chooses to relate to you in a personal, intimate fashion! He does not distance Himself from you emotionally. He has clearly defined a relationship that exists between you and Him! He is not just God. He is YOUR God!
Promise #3: "I will strengthen you..."
He is with you! He is YOUR God! And He says "I will strengthen you!" Do you know how much energy God has??? Well, you really can't put a number on something that is infinite! Infinite. We sometimes forget what that word means! God strength has no beginning, it has no middle, and it has no end. There was never a point in time where God did NOT have limitless energy! He never climbs out of bed and has to get a drink of coffee to get his power flowing again! He does not have to lift grogginess with anything! He never has to do something in order to get his energy running full force. His energy never began! His energy has no middle! There is never a point in time where God is MORE able to do something than at other times! And His energy has no end! God does not get tired! He does not hope for Friday to come around so He can take a break! He never has to recharge His batteries or get an extra shot of espresso to keep Himself going late into the night! God's power is INFINITE! And what does this promise say?? "I will strengthen you." When God says He will strengthen you, watch out! This means there is NO situation He cannot put you in! You may find yourself in some REALLY difficult circumstances and situations! When God says He will strengthen you it means there is NOTHING He cannot ask you to do! There is no situation you cannot face! If EVERYTHING in your life falls to pieces and the bottom falls out and your existence turns into absolute misery, GOD will strengthen you! Never be discouraged! Never be afraid! Never be dismayed! Never be downcast or frustrated or angry or bitter or bummed out! God will strengthen you!
Promise #4: "I will help you." You can't come up against anything that will frustrate God. He does not get discouraged or upset or downcast or dismayed or bitter. "I will help you," He promises, you have God inside of you strengthening you, and you have God working in your situation to help you! "You are my child! I took you into account when I laid down history and decided how to engineer your circumstances!" He will help you! Within and without HE is on your side! He will never give you too much to bear but will fit your circumstances to your level of faith AND will strengthen you to bear difficulty and pain that you would not be able to handle otherwise! "I will help you," says the Maker of Heaven and Earth!
Promise #5: "I will uphold you with my righteous right hand!" You will not fall! Your situation will not overpower you! At the end of the battle, YOU will still be holding your ground because the LORD God Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that is in them will hold you with His victorious right hand! You are on the side that will win the war! No matter what device of hell may be leveled against you, you may laugh for you serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! NEVER will He let you go! NEVER will He let you be overwhelmed! NEVER will His righteous right hand fail! NEVER! NEVER EVER! NOT EVER! NO! NEVER! NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! No power of Hell! No scheme of man! NOTHING will ever pluck you from His hand! If you are His child, you will never ever ever ever ever slip away from Him! You are IN CHRIST! You are in the Fort Knox of Fort Knoxes! "I will uphold you with my righteous [victorious] right hand!" says God.
Hope you've been blessed by this! I've been blessed in the writing of it!
Command #1: "Fear not"
DO NOT BE AFRAID! Do you know what the word "Fear" meant in the original manuscript? It meant FEAR! As children of God we have absolutely no right to be afraid! NEVER be afraid! Not in any circumstance! No matter what situation we face! No matter how people treat us! No matter what our boss says or what our friends say or what the news reports say or what we hear or see anywhere! God has commanded us "Fear not!"
Command #2: "Be not dismayed"
DO NOT BE DISMAYED! Never be discouraged! Never be frustrated! Never be overwhelmed or anxious or downcast or depressed or joyless! Never! Never ever! No! Not Ever! NEVER be dismayed! No matter if you get fired tomorrow! No matter if all your friends walk out on you! No matter if your significant other says they are leaving! If you lose all your money and your house burns down and everybody looks at you thinking that you are an absolute idiot and you find out you have cancer and you get injured in a freak accident! Not under any circumstance! God says, "Be not dismayed!" DO. NOT. BE. DISCOURAGED.
Promise #1: "I am with you..."
GOD is with you! GOD is there for you! GOD! The One who stretched out the corners of the universe and planted all the trees of the forest! Who set the stars blazing in the nighttime sky! Who loves you with a deep and everlasting love! Who says "I will never leave you nor forsake you! Who forgave your depraved, wicked, degenerate, filthy, God-awful rebellion and said "I want you to be my child!" THAT God. The one who knit you together in your mother's womb! Who sees your past, present, and future! Who knows every sin you have committed, are committing, and will ever commit in the future and still says "I love you!" Who sees your best deeds as filthy rags and still says "You are my beloved!" HE is with you! Emmanuel! God is with us!
Promise #2: "I am your God..."
He is not just with you. He is YOUR God. You have a personal relationship with Him. He does not say "That guy there!" when He refers to you! He says "My child [insert your name]" He is YOUR God. You are HIS child! You have a personal relationship with God Almighty who is so far above you in every way yet chooses to relate to you in a personal, intimate fashion! He does not distance Himself from you emotionally. He has clearly defined a relationship that exists between you and Him! He is not just God. He is YOUR God!
Promise #3: "I will strengthen you..."
He is with you! He is YOUR God! And He says "I will strengthen you!" Do you know how much energy God has??? Well, you really can't put a number on something that is infinite! Infinite. We sometimes forget what that word means! God strength has no beginning, it has no middle, and it has no end. There was never a point in time where God did NOT have limitless energy! He never climbs out of bed and has to get a drink of coffee to get his power flowing again! He does not have to lift grogginess with anything! He never has to do something in order to get his energy running full force. His energy never began! His energy has no middle! There is never a point in time where God is MORE able to do something than at other times! And His energy has no end! God does not get tired! He does not hope for Friday to come around so He can take a break! He never has to recharge His batteries or get an extra shot of espresso to keep Himself going late into the night! God's power is INFINITE! And what does this promise say?? "I will strengthen you." When God says He will strengthen you, watch out! This means there is NO situation He cannot put you in! You may find yourself in some REALLY difficult circumstances and situations! When God says He will strengthen you it means there is NOTHING He cannot ask you to do! There is no situation you cannot face! If EVERYTHING in your life falls to pieces and the bottom falls out and your existence turns into absolute misery, GOD will strengthen you! Never be discouraged! Never be afraid! Never be dismayed! Never be downcast or frustrated or angry or bitter or bummed out! God will strengthen you!
Promise #4: "I will help you." You can't come up against anything that will frustrate God. He does not get discouraged or upset or downcast or dismayed or bitter. "I will help you," He promises, you have God inside of you strengthening you, and you have God working in your situation to help you! "You are my child! I took you into account when I laid down history and decided how to engineer your circumstances!" He will help you! Within and without HE is on your side! He will never give you too much to bear but will fit your circumstances to your level of faith AND will strengthen you to bear difficulty and pain that you would not be able to handle otherwise! "I will help you," says the Maker of Heaven and Earth!
Promise #5: "I will uphold you with my righteous right hand!" You will not fall! Your situation will not overpower you! At the end of the battle, YOU will still be holding your ground because the LORD God Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that is in them will hold you with His victorious right hand! You are on the side that will win the war! No matter what device of hell may be leveled against you, you may laugh for you serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! NEVER will He let you go! NEVER will He let you be overwhelmed! NEVER will His righteous right hand fail! NEVER! NEVER EVER! NOT EVER! NO! NEVER! NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! No power of Hell! No scheme of man! NOTHING will ever pluck you from His hand! If you are His child, you will never ever ever ever ever slip away from Him! You are IN CHRIST! You are in the Fort Knox of Fort Knoxes! "I will uphold you with my righteous [victorious] right hand!" says God.
Hope you've been blessed by this! I've been blessed in the writing of it!
Things I Have Learned About Classroom Discipline (So Far)
Here are some of the lessons I've learned about teaching English in Korea since I got here:
1. Classroom discipline is not an exact science. It's impossible to think that things will go swimmingly 100% of the time. Some days, the students are just bad no matter what consequences you affix to their actions.
2. In order to maintain classroom discipline you must go in with the presumption that you hold the control and have all the power. Classroom discipline is you figuring out the most effective way to use it. If you let students have any power they're going to walk all over you and you will be left frustrated and stewing with anger inside.
3. You cannot come up with a long list of rules and expect students to follow all of them all the time. Start small. Have very simple, broad rules and be unswerving with them. For example, when I made rules I came up with 10. Students were breaking them left, right, and center at first and there was literally no way that I could catch every infraction and apply the punishment I installed. Students picked up on this and saw it as a game of risk. Would I catch THEIR violation or miss it in favor of someone else's. You overwhelm yourself when you come up with more than 2 or 3 rules and at the end of the day you feel completely inconsistent. And you ARE inconsistent if you don't punish all of them. So start small with only a couple of rock solid rules and punish the violators without mercy.
4. Find something that the students care about and you find your power source. For instance, in most of my classes, they care about getting stamps that they can exchange for coupons. But in some of my classes they could care less about getting stamps. So I had to find something else that they DID care about.
5. Have both punishment and positive reinforcement in place. It's the same in God's economy. Students will either be punished for disobedience or rewarded for obedience. Under no circumstances will absolutely nothing happen. This way, the students will not see you as either a softy or a cruel dictator in the classroom. Those who are punished cannot accuse you of being mean and those who are rewarded cannot form the opinion that they can get away with things behind your back.
6. Don't take disobedience personally. The students want to get under your skin and they often will but you MUST not show it. Treat them as though you could care less how they behave and simply apply the reward or the punishment previously decided to the situation. If they see that they are getting under your skin it will simply make things worse. You must not allow them to affect your personal life. At the end of the day, some students are just rotten. They are rotten to you on top of all the others. Don't take it personally.
7. You're never going to have it perfect. At least not for the first long while. Students are students. They are in your classroom with 2 duties: learning and being students. Contrary to what people may tell you, these are not the same things. Every teacher I know wishes their class came with only the first duty but it's just not that way. Being a student means being a person and whenever you put more than 1 sinner in a room there are going to be social problems. We just have to deal with it!
1. Classroom discipline is not an exact science. It's impossible to think that things will go swimmingly 100% of the time. Some days, the students are just bad no matter what consequences you affix to their actions.
2. In order to maintain classroom discipline you must go in with the presumption that you hold the control and have all the power. Classroom discipline is you figuring out the most effective way to use it. If you let students have any power they're going to walk all over you and you will be left frustrated and stewing with anger inside.
3. You cannot come up with a long list of rules and expect students to follow all of them all the time. Start small. Have very simple, broad rules and be unswerving with them. For example, when I made rules I came up with 10. Students were breaking them left, right, and center at first and there was literally no way that I could catch every infraction and apply the punishment I installed. Students picked up on this and saw it as a game of risk. Would I catch THEIR violation or miss it in favor of someone else's. You overwhelm yourself when you come up with more than 2 or 3 rules and at the end of the day you feel completely inconsistent. And you ARE inconsistent if you don't punish all of them. So start small with only a couple of rock solid rules and punish the violators without mercy.
4. Find something that the students care about and you find your power source. For instance, in most of my classes, they care about getting stamps that they can exchange for coupons. But in some of my classes they could care less about getting stamps. So I had to find something else that they DID care about.
5. Have both punishment and positive reinforcement in place. It's the same in God's economy. Students will either be punished for disobedience or rewarded for obedience. Under no circumstances will absolutely nothing happen. This way, the students will not see you as either a softy or a cruel dictator in the classroom. Those who are punished cannot accuse you of being mean and those who are rewarded cannot form the opinion that they can get away with things behind your back.
6. Don't take disobedience personally. The students want to get under your skin and they often will but you MUST not show it. Treat them as though you could care less how they behave and simply apply the reward or the punishment previously decided to the situation. If they see that they are getting under your skin it will simply make things worse. You must not allow them to affect your personal life. At the end of the day, some students are just rotten. They are rotten to you on top of all the others. Don't take it personally.
7. You're never going to have it perfect. At least not for the first long while. Students are students. They are in your classroom with 2 duties: learning and being students. Contrary to what people may tell you, these are not the same things. Every teacher I know wishes their class came with only the first duty but it's just not that way. Being a student means being a person and whenever you put more than 1 sinner in a room there are going to be social problems. We just have to deal with it!
26 October 2010
A Framework for Scripture Reading
All Scripture is unified in the gospel. As I see it, there are 4 categories that every last verse fit under in Scripture. Here they are:
1. Who God is
2. Who I am
3. The relationship between God and me
4. What Jesus accomplished at the cross
Reading God's Word with these guidelines provides clarity and depth to every Scripture you will read.
1. Who God is
2. Who I am
3. The relationship between God and me
4. What Jesus accomplished at the cross
Reading God's Word with these guidelines provides clarity and depth to every Scripture you will read.
08 October 2010
50 First Dates
50 First Dates might come across as a really lame movie if you look only at the surface level. In fact, the surface level is probably how the director intended people to view it. But I was struck at the end of the film that it really contains the gospel message, albeit at a very shallow, worldly level. Let me briefly explain the premise of the film for those of you who have not seen it:
Adam Sandler plays a man who lives on a tropical island (somewhere in Hawaii I believe). He is notorious for taking women tourists out “for a good time” during their brief stay on the island. One day, he meets a “local girl” named Lucy (played by Drew Barrymore) who has short term memory loss. Every day she relives the day of her accident which caused the brain damage. She literally repeats every day as though it were the day she lost the ability to store long term memory. Her father and brother help her maintain this delusion because it is simply easier than explaining every day what happened and seeing the pain and disbelief ruin the whole day for her. Sandler falls in love with her and the two of them manage to develop some semblance of a relationship despite her memory loss. He creates a videotape for her to watch every day to remind her what happened, who he is, and about their relationship together. At the end of the movie they have gotten married and traveled to a place where Sandler is studying the behavior of walruses in the wild. They have a child and Lucy is living a beautiful, wonderful life.
Fellow believers, we have a very short term memory. We forget daily that we participated in a catastrophic event called the Fall. We have forgotten who God is and that we have any relation to Him. We forget that sin has gotten in the way of relating to God and that we must daily repent of our wickedness and embrace His love for us. We feel lost and lonely because we forget “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” We live life as we have every day of our life. Unless…
God’s word is, to us, the video tape. “Good morning! Watch me…” Lucy’s video says. God wants us to read His word every day to remind us of what’s happened, who He is, who we are, and what our relationship is. In the last scene, Lucy pops the video in and watches everything that’s happened. Then she peers out a window and sees icebergs floating by. She goes outside and is greeted by her husband and little girl. She has no words. She is just filled with wonder and awe. Friend, when was the last time you looked into the Holy Word of God and just were speechless at what He tells you? We are not nearly as struck by the wonder and awe of it as we ought to be.
Adam Sandler plays a man who lives on a tropical island (somewhere in Hawaii I believe). He is notorious for taking women tourists out “for a good time” during their brief stay on the island. One day, he meets a “local girl” named Lucy (played by Drew Barrymore) who has short term memory loss. Every day she relives the day of her accident which caused the brain damage. She literally repeats every day as though it were the day she lost the ability to store long term memory. Her father and brother help her maintain this delusion because it is simply easier than explaining every day what happened and seeing the pain and disbelief ruin the whole day for her. Sandler falls in love with her and the two of them manage to develop some semblance of a relationship despite her memory loss. He creates a videotape for her to watch every day to remind her what happened, who he is, and about their relationship together. At the end of the movie they have gotten married and traveled to a place where Sandler is studying the behavior of walruses in the wild. They have a child and Lucy is living a beautiful, wonderful life.
Fellow believers, we have a very short term memory. We forget daily that we participated in a catastrophic event called the Fall. We have forgotten who God is and that we have any relation to Him. We forget that sin has gotten in the way of relating to God and that we must daily repent of our wickedness and embrace His love for us. We feel lost and lonely because we forget “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” We live life as we have every day of our life. Unless…
God’s word is, to us, the video tape. “Good morning! Watch me…” Lucy’s video says. God wants us to read His word every day to remind us of what’s happened, who He is, who we are, and what our relationship is. In the last scene, Lucy pops the video in and watches everything that’s happened. Then she peers out a window and sees icebergs floating by. She goes outside and is greeted by her husband and little girl. She has no words. She is just filled with wonder and awe. Friend, when was the last time you looked into the Holy Word of God and just were speechless at what He tells you? We are not nearly as struck by the wonder and awe of it as we ought to be.
15 September 2010
Grace as Currency
So it hit me this evening that finances can tell us a lot about grace. I'm sure we all know what it's like to be scraping the bottom of our bank accounts not knowing where our next meal will come from or how we will pay our bills. When you're poor you carefully budget every last penny you earn so you do not miss any obligations. You wonder if you can afford to order a sandwich from the dollar menu or if you should just wait until you get home. You meticulously count out each purchase you make and you constantly worry that something unexpected will happen that you will not be able to handle financially. You often find yourself eating ramen soup or, if you're Korean, rice. That is your meal. You worry if you have somehow made a mistake in your calculations and think "Oh no! If I mess this up I'm going to be in trouble!" What if you've forgotten something critical? You worry so much when you're in a serious financial situation!
I think we all have the bad habit of treating God's economy the way we do our own. At least I do. We carefully budget God's grace hoping we will have enough to cover all of our obligations. And we work like the dickens making sure we have earned enough grace to cover whatever situation we face. We worry that some crisis will come up where we will not have enough grace to cover us. The only thing is that at least with a monetary account we can check our balance before making a purchase. There is a concrete amount. I look at my account, "Okay! I have 45 000 won in there. I can afford this." With God though, we worry because there's nowhere we can look to see if we have enough. We have to go on intuition. This leads to worrying that we have overestimated how much grace is available to us today. Like we will face some situation during the day and suddenly discover that there's not enough grace left! When we live like this we live very weak, fragile, cautious lives. We constantly tread on thin ice trying not to put too much weight on our "grace account" in case it's been depleted. We tread softly and we are weak. Our lights are dim and our salt is only mildly salty. We do not exhibit the greatness of Christ.
What do we do then? Well do you know what it's like to have a full bank account? I got paid today and I feel rich all of a sudden! My first inclination, though, is to still be careful. "What if it's not as much as it really is somehow? I need to be careful what I spend it on or it could still run out!" I have about more money than I've ever had at once in my life right now with the possible exception of one or two other times! And I'm still worrying! Let me tell you right now! Your "grace account" is FULL! It is ridiculous! It's bigger than Bill Gates' bank account! You couldn't put a dent in it if you bought the most luxurious things in the world all day every day for the rest of your life! God does not run out of grace! It's like the sun running out of heat or light! Or like the universe running out of space! It's like the color blue running out of blueness! It ain't gonna happen, folks! And even if all those other things could happen God could still not run out of grace! God does not HAVE grace! He IS gracious!
It is this attribute of God that the universe hinges upon! And how is this grace available to us? Did God just say "I'm going to show grace to those people!"? No! God can't just dispense grace to us when we are His enemies! He cannot just hand grace out to the wicked people that we are! That would make Him an unjust judge! How then is this grace available to us? Through Christ! "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." --2 Corinthians 8:9. Jesus said "I love them enough that I will leave all my riches behind. I will humble myself and become a human. I will veil my power and majesty and take on poverty stricken, weak human nature. I will die instead of them. Then, Father, then you can bless them. Make them rich through what I do for them." The Father loved his Son more than any of our minds could ever possibly wrap our minds around. The love they shared is utterly incomprehensible to our small creature minds. How deeply must God love us that He would be willing for this event to take place?
So now we are free! Go out! Spend wildly! Jesus says in Luke 6, "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you! Bless those who curse you! And pray for those who spitefully use you!" In other words, "You've got more grace than you know what to do with! Don't be careful who you show grace too because you're never going to run out! Go crazy!" So go out there and spend like your resources can never be depleted! Because they can't!
I think we all have the bad habit of treating God's economy the way we do our own. At least I do. We carefully budget God's grace hoping we will have enough to cover all of our obligations. And we work like the dickens making sure we have earned enough grace to cover whatever situation we face. We worry that some crisis will come up where we will not have enough grace to cover us. The only thing is that at least with a monetary account we can check our balance before making a purchase. There is a concrete amount. I look at my account, "Okay! I have 45 000 won in there. I can afford this." With God though, we worry because there's nowhere we can look to see if we have enough. We have to go on intuition. This leads to worrying that we have overestimated how much grace is available to us today. Like we will face some situation during the day and suddenly discover that there's not enough grace left! When we live like this we live very weak, fragile, cautious lives. We constantly tread on thin ice trying not to put too much weight on our "grace account" in case it's been depleted. We tread softly and we are weak. Our lights are dim and our salt is only mildly salty. We do not exhibit the greatness of Christ.
What do we do then? Well do you know what it's like to have a full bank account? I got paid today and I feel rich all of a sudden! My first inclination, though, is to still be careful. "What if it's not as much as it really is somehow? I need to be careful what I spend it on or it could still run out!" I have about more money than I've ever had at once in my life right now with the possible exception of one or two other times! And I'm still worrying! Let me tell you right now! Your "grace account" is FULL! It is ridiculous! It's bigger than Bill Gates' bank account! You couldn't put a dent in it if you bought the most luxurious things in the world all day every day for the rest of your life! God does not run out of grace! It's like the sun running out of heat or light! Or like the universe running out of space! It's like the color blue running out of blueness! It ain't gonna happen, folks! And even if all those other things could happen God could still not run out of grace! God does not HAVE grace! He IS gracious!
It is this attribute of God that the universe hinges upon! And how is this grace available to us? Did God just say "I'm going to show grace to those people!"? No! God can't just dispense grace to us when we are His enemies! He cannot just hand grace out to the wicked people that we are! That would make Him an unjust judge! How then is this grace available to us? Through Christ! "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." --2 Corinthians 8:9. Jesus said "I love them enough that I will leave all my riches behind. I will humble myself and become a human. I will veil my power and majesty and take on poverty stricken, weak human nature. I will die instead of them. Then, Father, then you can bless them. Make them rich through what I do for them." The Father loved his Son more than any of our minds could ever possibly wrap our minds around. The love they shared is utterly incomprehensible to our small creature minds. How deeply must God love us that He would be willing for this event to take place?
So now we are free! Go out! Spend wildly! Jesus says in Luke 6, "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you! Bless those who curse you! And pray for those who spitefully use you!" In other words, "You've got more grace than you know what to do with! Don't be careful who you show grace too because you're never going to run out! Go crazy!" So go out there and spend like your resources can never be depleted! Because they can't!
13 September 2010
Huge Praise/ Prayer Request!
So last night I was eating dinner with my director and I asked what she was doing for Chusok, the holiday where Koreans go to family's houses, eat a lot, and worship/give thanks to their ancestors and ask them for blessing for another year. This led into a conversation about matters of faith and we talked for about an hour! I was able to explain the gospel and give my testimony of the grace of God in my life! She asked about Easter so I worked my way through trying to explain the significance of Jesus coming to Jerusalem, the fact that He lived the perfect life, the fact that He was God in the flesh, the Trinity, why the High Priest wanted to kill Jesus, what Jesus death accomplished on my behalf, and the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. All throughout, she was asking questions about things she did not understand and when I'd finished explaining I was blown away! "So Jesus was punished instead of you," she said! She got it! She understood the gospel! So on the walk home I was praying, "Lord, don't let her walk away from this conversation unfazed! Let her keep thinking about all of this over and over and over again!" I ask everyone else to pray with me too! Pray that we would have more chances to talk and that I would speak as the Holy Spirit guides me! Pray that her heart would be soft and open to the love of Christ! Thanks everyone!
07 September 2010
First Helping of Culture Shock
I've been here for a little bit less than a month and I was beginning to grow very much acclimated to South Korea when I had my first dose of culture shock. I had started to think of Koreans as polite Americans that were very concerned with showing respect to each other when I got sucker punched with the revelation that there is very possible demonic activity right under my nose. As I was leaving work tonight I went to say goodbye to the director of my school. She just happened to be preparing to burn incense and pray to good ghosts to keep the school running well and to protect the students. She explained that this was a Korean tradition and all I could say was "Okay! Well, I'll see you tomorrow!" I mean what do you say to something like that???
As I was walking home I thought about whether this was empty tradition or if there could be something truly Satanic working in that place. Honestly, I have no idea. Either way, though, I would appreciate prayer, prayer, and more prayer for my own safety and for my director to come under conviction. Pray for opportunities to share the Truth with her and pray for wisdom on my part to speak what needs to be spoken but also to speak with tact and respect for her as a person. Pray for her heart to be soft and open to Christ and pray for my life to be exemplary of Christ's grace and love for the lost.
As I was walking home I thought about whether this was empty tradition or if there could be something truly Satanic working in that place. Honestly, I have no idea. Either way, though, I would appreciate prayer, prayer, and more prayer for my own safety and for my director to come under conviction. Pray for opportunities to share the Truth with her and pray for wisdom on my part to speak what needs to be spoken but also to speak with tact and respect for her as a person. Pray for her heart to be soft and open to Christ and pray for my life to be exemplary of Christ's grace and love for the lost.
22 August 2010
Hanbit International
I don't have a lot of time to compose a full blog post but I wanted to share about church yesterday! I really didn't know what to expect so I went in with an open mind. The first thing that really stood out was that I was greeted in the parking lot. And it wasn't an elder or an official greeter that went out of their way to say hello to me! It was a regular church attender! And it wasn't just them! When I got inside it was like people swarmed to meet me and make me feel welcome! The worship was really solid, Christ and God focused, and the sermon was great! The main pastor and preacher are away so it was a visiting pastor. Next week it will be a visiting pastor also but the preaching is solid. Yesterday it was about God using ordinary people to do extraordinary things and that the fact that we are ordinary should encourage us rather than discourage us because God likes using ordinary people rather than people with amazing talents or abilities.
After services I met many other people including a girl who graduated from Liberty around the same time as I did and a guy who went to Virginia Tech! I just felt God's providence there! :-) Then a few of us went to help out at the kid's program and I helped them put on a puppet show about Peter seeing the vision of all the animals and then going to preach the gospel to Cornelius. After this, we went to Andy's house where a group of about 6 or 8 of us discussed the story about Boy Jesus staying at the temple. What struck me was that these people ask hard questions about their faith. The main question of the night was "Did Jesus make a mistake in staying in the temple?" We talked for a long time about the fact that Jesus made mistakes in His learning process but that mistakes must not be equated with sin. It was refreshing and I was shocked at the insights some of them had into something I've glossed over many, many times.
As a whole, I was struck by the emphasis placed on obedience to God's word and striving wholeheartedly to become the people Christ longs for us to be. But it's not slavish obedience they were preaching! It was obedience borne of grace and of love and I loved that. The challenge coupled with the assurance. But yeah! It was a great day!
After services I met many other people including a girl who graduated from Liberty around the same time as I did and a guy who went to Virginia Tech! I just felt God's providence there! :-) Then a few of us went to help out at the kid's program and I helped them put on a puppet show about Peter seeing the vision of all the animals and then going to preach the gospel to Cornelius. After this, we went to Andy's house where a group of about 6 or 8 of us discussed the story about Boy Jesus staying at the temple. What struck me was that these people ask hard questions about their faith. The main question of the night was "Did Jesus make a mistake in staying in the temple?" We talked for a long time about the fact that Jesus made mistakes in His learning process but that mistakes must not be equated with sin. It was refreshing and I was shocked at the insights some of them had into something I've glossed over many, many times.
As a whole, I was struck by the emphasis placed on obedience to God's word and striving wholeheartedly to become the people Christ longs for us to be. But it's not slavish obedience they were preaching! It was obedience borne of grace and of love and I loved that. The challenge coupled with the assurance. But yeah! It was a great day!
08 July 2010
Gershom's Gleanings
Well, most of you have heard by now that I accepted a job offer teaching English in Korea for a year. For those who haven't (if any of you even read this blog, which I doubt) sorry to drop the bombshell on you through here. The countdown to departure is about t-minus 21 days and counting. For the next three weeks I'll be finishing up at Subway, filing paperwork, trying to gain a slight hold on basic Korean, and bidding adieu to friends, family, and acquaintances. If you're interested, you can follow my odyssey via this blog. I'll try to update at least once every couple of weeks. I'm sure there will be no shortage of fascinating tidbits, stories, and insights into both myself and the culture that I'm adapting myself to. You may have noticed that I've changed the blog name to reflect my new life. I chose this because 1) It's a corny name and that's just how I roll (haha) and 2) I think it is an apt description of what I'm going to feel like for the duration of my time in Korea. I'm hoping I'll be able to learn a great deal about the incarnation of Christ and how He fit Himself into our culture but without compromising His mission or His message. Anyway, that's the state of things now! Pray for me if you get a chance!
10 May 2010
All-Consuming Fire
I once had a list of goals and landmarks I planned to reach in my life. Among them were publishing anthologies of poetry, going skydiving, owning a home and a car, getting married, and running a marathon. I've dumped all that. I have only one enduring goal. And that is to fall more in love with my savior. The one who laid his life down and poured himself out until death and held nothing back. The only enduring legacy I would really want to leave is that I loved him to the end. Real love too. Not just the words. And if that means dying out without having accomplished anything in this world's eyes then so be it. I don't care. I wasn't made for publishing anthologies of poetry, going skydiving, or running in marathons. I was made for a singular purpose. And that is to love and adore the Lord Jesus Christ and to worship him alone. Hang all the rest of it, if need be. I want nothing else.
13 April 2010
Death
Death. No Christian can experience the joy of Christ apart from it. It is why Christ came to earth and it is why God has put us here too. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it" (Mark 8:35). Of course I'm not talking about physical death, but spiritual death-- synonymous with an acceptance of suffering and being abused by people and with the possibility of martyrdom. This death is not negotiable. "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die," said Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German martyr. We cannot make conditions on our death ('Okay, God, I'll die if... you promise I won't have to suffer too much, you promise that I'll always feel your presence with me, you'll let me always have good food to eat or good health or a spouse who will remain faithful to me.) We. Must. Die. God will not be bargained with and we are not in any position to bargain anyway. We don't suffer joylessly, though. That's what makes us different from the world. When unbelievers suffer they have no consolation, no hope that their suffering amounts to anything or any promises to grasp onto. "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). "But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, 5 in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; 6 by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, 7 by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things" (2 Corinthians 6:4-10). The road to Calvary is a painful one but it is not without joy. And our joy in the cross does not stem from masochism or a delight in pain itself but in the promise of what that pain is producing in us. We delight in the cross because our good, kind Lord and Savior tells us that it is the pathway to deeper joy. There is no deeper joy available to men than the joy of denying ourselves. There may be great pain in love but love does not see the pain as so very important. It is happy to love without concern for being loved in return and death is always the pathway to true love. This is why the Bible says that Jesus was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Before the world was created, Jesus Christ knew and accepted that he would have to die for those He redeemed. This was the basis for the love which God showed the world. The death of Christ was the reason God had any genuine compassion to show the world. The entire redemptive history hinged on the fact that Christ would pour out His life to ransom the children of God. Without it, the entire universe would have been obliterated the very second Eve ate that fruit. Apart from the death of Christ God would have not exhibited one ounce of compassion or pity on us. And the death of Christ is the only thing that enables us to die. Through our deaths, we can enter the joy which God prepared for us. So the sooner we embrace death, the sooner we embrace the highest form of joy God has prepared for us. Let us embrace our death today, one moment at a time.
20 March 2010
The Gospel!
"1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." --Ephesians 2:1-10
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." --Ephesians 2:1-10
05 March 2010
The Lady of the Green Kirtle
"Two Earthmen entered, but instead of advancing into the room, they placed themselves one on each side of the door, and bowed deeply. They were followed immediately by the last person whom anyone had expected or wished to see: the Lady of the Green Kirtle, the Queen of Underland. She stood dead still in the doorway, and they could see her eyes moving as she took in the whole situation-- the three strangers, the silver chair destroyed, and the Prince free, with his sword in his hand.
She turned very white; but Jill thought it was the sort of whiteness that comes over some people's faces not when they are frightened but when they are angry. For a moment the Witch fixed her eyes on the Prince, and there was murder in them. Then she seemed to change her mind.
'Leave us,' she said to the two Earthmen. 'And let none disturb us till I call, on pain of death.' The gnomes padded away obediently, and the Witch-queen shut and locked the door.
'How now, my lord Prince,' she said. 'Has your nightly fit not yet come upon you, or is it over so soon? Why stand you here unbound? Who are these aliens? And is it they who have destroyed the chair which was your only safety!'
Prince Rilian shivered as she spoke to him. And no wonder: it is not easy to throw off in half an hour an enchantment which has made one a slave for ten years. Then, speaking with a great effort, he said:
'Madam, there will be no more need of that chair. And you, who have told me a hundred times how deeply you pitied me for the sorceries by which I was bound, will doubtless hear with joy that they are now ended for ever. There was, it seems, some small error in your Ladyship's way of treating them. These, my true friends, have delivered me. I am now in my right mind, and there are two things I will say to you. First-- as for your Ladyship's design of putting me at the head of an army of Earthmen that so I may break out into the Overworld and there, by main force, make myself king over some nation that never did me wrong-- murdering their natural lords and holding their throne as a bloody and foreign tyrant-- now that I know myself, I do utterly abhor and renounce it as plain villany. And second: I am the King's son of Narnia, Rilian, the only child of Caspian, Tenth of that name, whom some call Caspian the Seafarer. Therefore, Madam, it is my purpose as it is also my duty, to depart suddenly from your Highness's court into my own country. Please it you to grant me and my friends safe conduct and a guide through your dark realm.'
Now the Witch said nothing at all, but moved gently across the room, always keeping her face and eyes very steadily towards the Prince. When she had come to a little ark set in the wall not far from the fireplace, she opened it, and took out first a handful of a green powder. This she threw on the fire. It did not blaze much, but a very sweet and drowsy smell came from it. And all through the conversation which followed, that smell grew stronger, and filled the room, and made it harder to think. Secondly, she took out a musical instrument rather like a mandolin. She began to play it with her fingers-- a steady, monotonous thrumming that you didn't notice after a few minutes. But the less you noticed it, the more it got into your brain and your blood. This also made it hard to think. After she had thrummed for a time (and the sweet smell was now strong) she began speaking in a sweet, quiet voice.
'Narnia?' she said. 'Narnia? I have often heard your Lordship utter that name in your ravings. Dear Prince, you are very sick. There is no land called Narnia.'
'Yes there is though, Ma'am,' said Puddleglum. 'You see, I happen to have lived there all my life.'
'Indeed,' said the Witch. 'Tell me, I pray you, where that country is?'
'Up there,' said Puddleglum, stoutly, pointing overhead. 'I-- I don't know exactly where.'
'How?' said the Queen, with a kind, soft, musical laugh, 'Is there a country up among the stones and mortar of the roof?'
'No,' said Puddleglum, struggling a little to get his breath. 'It's in Overworld.'
'And what, or where, pray is this... how do you call it Overworld?'
'Oh don't be so silly,' said Scrubb, who was fighting hard against the enchantment of the sweet smell and the thrumming. 'As if you didn't know! It's up above, up where you can see the sky and the sun and the stars. Why, you've been there yourself. We met you there.'
'I cry you mercy, little brother,' laughed the Witch (you couldn't have heard a lovelier laugh). 'I have no memory of that meeting. But we often meet our friends in strange places when we dream. And unless all dreamed alike, you must not ask them to remember it.'
'Madam,' said the Prince sternly, 'I have already told your Grace that I am the King's son of Narnia.'
'And shalt be, dear friend,' said the Witch in a soothing voice, as if she was humouring a child, 'shalt be king of many imagined lands in thy fancies.'
'We've been there, too,' snapped Jill. She was very angry because she could feel enchantment getting hold of her every moment. But of course the very fact that she could still feel it, showed that it had not yet fully worked.
'And thou art Queen of Narnia too, I doubt not, pretty one,' said the Witch in the same coaxing, half-mocking tone.
'I'm nothing of the sort,' said Jill, stamping her foot. 'We come from another world.'
'Why, this is a prettier game than the other,' said the Witch. 'Tell us, little maid, where is this other world? What ships and chariots go between it and ours?'
Of course a lot of things darted into Jill's head at once: Experiment House, Adela Pennyfather, her own home, radio-sets, cinemas, cars, aeroplanes, ration-books, queues. But they seemed dim and far away. (Thrum-- thrum-- thrum-- when the strings of the Witch's instrument.) Jill couldn't remember the names of the things in our world. And this time it didn't come into her head that she was being enchanted, for now the magic was in its full strength; and of course, the more enchanted you get, the more certain you feel that you are not enchanted at all. She found herself saying (and at the moment it was a relief to say):
'No. I suppose that other world must be all a dream.'
'Yes. It is all a dream,' said the Witch, always thrumming.
'Yes, all a dream,' said Jill.
'There never was such a world,' said the Witch.
'No,' said Jill and Scrubb, 'never was such a world.'
'There never was any world but mine,' said the Witch.
'There never was any world but yours,' said they.
Puddle glum was still fighting hard, 'I don't know rightly what you all mean by a world,' he said, talking like a man who hasn't enough air. 'But you can play that fiddle till your fingers drop off, and still you won't make me forget Narnia; and the whole Overworld too. We'll never see it again, I shouldn't wonder. You may have blotted it out and turned it dark like this, for all I know. Nothing more likely. But I know I was there once. I've seen the sky full of stars. I've seen the sun coming up out of the sea of a morning and sinking behind the mountains at night. And I've seen him up in the midday sky when I couldn't look at him for brightness.'
Puddleglum's words had a very rousing effect. The other three all breathed again and looked at one another like people newly awaked.
'Why, there it is!' cried the Prince. 'Of course! The blessing of Aslan upon this honest Marsh-wiggle. We have all been dreaming, these last few minutes. How could we have forgotten it? Of course we've all seen the sun.'
'By Jove, so we have!' said Scrubb. 'Good for you, Puddleglum! You're the only one of us with any sense, I do believe.'
Then came the Witch's voice, cooing softly like the voice of a wood-pigeon from the high elms in an old garden at three o'clock in the middle of a sleepy, summer afternoon; and it said:
'What is this sun that you all speak of? Do you mean anything by the word?'
'Yes, we jolly well do,' said Scrubb.
'Can you tell me what it's like?' asked the Witch (thrum, thrum, thrum, went the strings).
'Please it your Grace,' said the Prince, very coldly and politely. 'You see that lamp. It is round and yellow and gives light to the whole room; and hangeth moreover from the roof. Now that thing which we call the sun is like the lamp, only far greater and brighter. It giveth light to the whole Overworld and hangeth in the sky.'
'Hangeth from what, my lord?' asked the Witch; and then, while they were all still thinking how to answer her, she added with another of her soft, silver laughs. 'You see? When you try to think out clearly what this sun must be, you cannot tell me. You can only tell me it is like the lamp. Your sun is a dream; and there is nothing in that dream that was not copied from the lamp. The lamp is the real thing; the sun is but a tale, a children's story.'
'Yes, I see now,' said Jill in a heavy, hopeless tone. 'It must be so.' And while she said this, it seemed to her to be very good sense.
Slowly and gravely the Witch repeated, 'There is no sun.' And they all said nothing. She repeated, in a softer and deeper voice. 'There is no sun.' After a pause, and after a struggle in their minds, all four of them said together. 'You are right. There is no sun.' It was such a relief to give in and say it.
'There never was a sun,' said the Witch.
"No. There never was a sun,' said the Prince, and the Marsh-wiggle, and the children.
For the last few minutes Jill had been feeling that there was something she must remember at all costs. And now she did. But it was dreadfully hard to say it. She felt as if huge weights were laid on her lips. At last, with an effort that seemed to take all the good out of her, she said:
'There's Aslan.'
'Aslan?' said the Witch, quickening ever so slightly the pace of her thrumming. 'What a pretty name! What does it mean?'
'He is the great Lion who called us out of our own world,' said Scrubb, 'and sent us into this to find Prince Rilian.'
'What is a lion?' asked the Witch.
'Oh hang it all!' said Scrubb. 'Don't you know? How can we describe it to her? Have you ever seen a cat?'
'Surely,' said the Queen. 'I love cats.'
'Well a lion is a little bit-- only a little bit, mind you-- like a huge cat-- with a mane. At least it's not like a horse's mane, you know, it's more like a judge's wig. And it's yellow. And terrifically strong.'
The Witch shook her head. 'I see,' she said, 'that we should do no better with your lion, as you call it, than we did with your sun. You have seen lamps, and so you imagined a bigger and better lamp and called it the sun. You've seen cats, and now you want a bigger and better cat, and it's to so called a lion. Well, 'til a pretty make-believe, though, to say truth, it would suit you all better if you were younger. And look how you can put nothing into your make-believe without copying it from the real world, this world of mine, which is the only world. But even you children are too old for such play. As for you, my lord Prince, that art a man full grown, fie upon you! Are you not ashamed of such toys? Come, all of you. Put away these childish tricks. I have work for you all in the real world. There is no Narnia, no Overworld, no sky, no sun, no Aslan. And now, to bed all. And let us begin a wiser life tomorrow. But first, to bed; to sleep; deep sleep, soft pillows, sleep without foolish dreams.'
The Prince and the two children were standing with their heads hung down, their cheeks flushed, their eyes half closed; the strength all gone from them; the enchantment almost complete. But Puddle glum, desperately gathering all his strength, walked over to the fire. Then he did a very brave thing. He knew it wouldn't hurt him quite as much as it would hurt a human; for his feet (which were bare) were webbed and hard and cold-blooded like a duck's. But he knew it would hurt him badly enough; and so it did. With his bare foot he stamped on the fire, grinding a large part of it into ashes on the flat hearth. And three things happened at once.
First, the sweet heavy smell grew very much less. For though the whole fire had not been put out, a good bit of it had, and what remained smelled very largely of burnt Marsh-wiggle, which is not at all an enchanting smell. This instantly made everyone's brain far clearer. The Prince and the children held up their heads again and opened their eyes.
Secondly, the Witch, in a loud, terrible voice, utterly different from all the sweet tones she had been using up till now, called out, 'What are you doing? Dare to touch my fire again, mud filth, and I'll turn the blood to fire inside your veins.'
Thirdly, the pain itself made Puddleglum's head for a moment perfectly clear and he knew exactly what he really thought. There is nothing like a good shock of pain for dissolving certain kinds of magic.
'One word, Ma'am,' he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. 'One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things-- trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say'" (The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis pgs. 149-159).
She turned very white; but Jill thought it was the sort of whiteness that comes over some people's faces not when they are frightened but when they are angry. For a moment the Witch fixed her eyes on the Prince, and there was murder in them. Then she seemed to change her mind.
'Leave us,' she said to the two Earthmen. 'And let none disturb us till I call, on pain of death.' The gnomes padded away obediently, and the Witch-queen shut and locked the door.
'How now, my lord Prince,' she said. 'Has your nightly fit not yet come upon you, or is it over so soon? Why stand you here unbound? Who are these aliens? And is it they who have destroyed the chair which was your only safety!'
Prince Rilian shivered as she spoke to him. And no wonder: it is not easy to throw off in half an hour an enchantment which has made one a slave for ten years. Then, speaking with a great effort, he said:
'Madam, there will be no more need of that chair. And you, who have told me a hundred times how deeply you pitied me for the sorceries by which I was bound, will doubtless hear with joy that they are now ended for ever. There was, it seems, some small error in your Ladyship's way of treating them. These, my true friends, have delivered me. I am now in my right mind, and there are two things I will say to you. First-- as for your Ladyship's design of putting me at the head of an army of Earthmen that so I may break out into the Overworld and there, by main force, make myself king over some nation that never did me wrong-- murdering their natural lords and holding their throne as a bloody and foreign tyrant-- now that I know myself, I do utterly abhor and renounce it as plain villany. And second: I am the King's son of Narnia, Rilian, the only child of Caspian, Tenth of that name, whom some call Caspian the Seafarer. Therefore, Madam, it is my purpose as it is also my duty, to depart suddenly from your Highness's court into my own country. Please it you to grant me and my friends safe conduct and a guide through your dark realm.'
Now the Witch said nothing at all, but moved gently across the room, always keeping her face and eyes very steadily towards the Prince. When she had come to a little ark set in the wall not far from the fireplace, she opened it, and took out first a handful of a green powder. This she threw on the fire. It did not blaze much, but a very sweet and drowsy smell came from it. And all through the conversation which followed, that smell grew stronger, and filled the room, and made it harder to think. Secondly, she took out a musical instrument rather like a mandolin. She began to play it with her fingers-- a steady, monotonous thrumming that you didn't notice after a few minutes. But the less you noticed it, the more it got into your brain and your blood. This also made it hard to think. After she had thrummed for a time (and the sweet smell was now strong) she began speaking in a sweet, quiet voice.
'Narnia?' she said. 'Narnia? I have often heard your Lordship utter that name in your ravings. Dear Prince, you are very sick. There is no land called Narnia.'
'Yes there is though, Ma'am,' said Puddleglum. 'You see, I happen to have lived there all my life.'
'Indeed,' said the Witch. 'Tell me, I pray you, where that country is?'
'Up there,' said Puddleglum, stoutly, pointing overhead. 'I-- I don't know exactly where.'
'How?' said the Queen, with a kind, soft, musical laugh, 'Is there a country up among the stones and mortar of the roof?'
'No,' said Puddleglum, struggling a little to get his breath. 'It's in Overworld.'
'And what, or where, pray is this... how do you call it Overworld?'
'Oh don't be so silly,' said Scrubb, who was fighting hard against the enchantment of the sweet smell and the thrumming. 'As if you didn't know! It's up above, up where you can see the sky and the sun and the stars. Why, you've been there yourself. We met you there.'
'I cry you mercy, little brother,' laughed the Witch (you couldn't have heard a lovelier laugh). 'I have no memory of that meeting. But we often meet our friends in strange places when we dream. And unless all dreamed alike, you must not ask them to remember it.'
'Madam,' said the Prince sternly, 'I have already told your Grace that I am the King's son of Narnia.'
'And shalt be, dear friend,' said the Witch in a soothing voice, as if she was humouring a child, 'shalt be king of many imagined lands in thy fancies.'
'We've been there, too,' snapped Jill. She was very angry because she could feel enchantment getting hold of her every moment. But of course the very fact that she could still feel it, showed that it had not yet fully worked.
'And thou art Queen of Narnia too, I doubt not, pretty one,' said the Witch in the same coaxing, half-mocking tone.
'I'm nothing of the sort,' said Jill, stamping her foot. 'We come from another world.'
'Why, this is a prettier game than the other,' said the Witch. 'Tell us, little maid, where is this other world? What ships and chariots go between it and ours?'
Of course a lot of things darted into Jill's head at once: Experiment House, Adela Pennyfather, her own home, radio-sets, cinemas, cars, aeroplanes, ration-books, queues. But they seemed dim and far away. (Thrum-- thrum-- thrum-- when the strings of the Witch's instrument.) Jill couldn't remember the names of the things in our world. And this time it didn't come into her head that she was being enchanted, for now the magic was in its full strength; and of course, the more enchanted you get, the more certain you feel that you are not enchanted at all. She found herself saying (and at the moment it was a relief to say):
'No. I suppose that other world must be all a dream.'
'Yes. It is all a dream,' said the Witch, always thrumming.
'Yes, all a dream,' said Jill.
'There never was such a world,' said the Witch.
'No,' said Jill and Scrubb, 'never was such a world.'
'There never was any world but mine,' said the Witch.
'There never was any world but yours,' said they.
Puddle glum was still fighting hard, 'I don't know rightly what you all mean by a world,' he said, talking like a man who hasn't enough air. 'But you can play that fiddle till your fingers drop off, and still you won't make me forget Narnia; and the whole Overworld too. We'll never see it again, I shouldn't wonder. You may have blotted it out and turned it dark like this, for all I know. Nothing more likely. But I know I was there once. I've seen the sky full of stars. I've seen the sun coming up out of the sea of a morning and sinking behind the mountains at night. And I've seen him up in the midday sky when I couldn't look at him for brightness.'
Puddleglum's words had a very rousing effect. The other three all breathed again and looked at one another like people newly awaked.
'Why, there it is!' cried the Prince. 'Of course! The blessing of Aslan upon this honest Marsh-wiggle. We have all been dreaming, these last few minutes. How could we have forgotten it? Of course we've all seen the sun.'
'By Jove, so we have!' said Scrubb. 'Good for you, Puddleglum! You're the only one of us with any sense, I do believe.'
Then came the Witch's voice, cooing softly like the voice of a wood-pigeon from the high elms in an old garden at three o'clock in the middle of a sleepy, summer afternoon; and it said:
'What is this sun that you all speak of? Do you mean anything by the word?'
'Yes, we jolly well do,' said Scrubb.
'Can you tell me what it's like?' asked the Witch (thrum, thrum, thrum, went the strings).
'Please it your Grace,' said the Prince, very coldly and politely. 'You see that lamp. It is round and yellow and gives light to the whole room; and hangeth moreover from the roof. Now that thing which we call the sun is like the lamp, only far greater and brighter. It giveth light to the whole Overworld and hangeth in the sky.'
'Hangeth from what, my lord?' asked the Witch; and then, while they were all still thinking how to answer her, she added with another of her soft, silver laughs. 'You see? When you try to think out clearly what this sun must be, you cannot tell me. You can only tell me it is like the lamp. Your sun is a dream; and there is nothing in that dream that was not copied from the lamp. The lamp is the real thing; the sun is but a tale, a children's story.'
'Yes, I see now,' said Jill in a heavy, hopeless tone. 'It must be so.' And while she said this, it seemed to her to be very good sense.
Slowly and gravely the Witch repeated, 'There is no sun.' And they all said nothing. She repeated, in a softer and deeper voice. 'There is no sun.' After a pause, and after a struggle in their minds, all four of them said together. 'You are right. There is no sun.' It was such a relief to give in and say it.
'There never was a sun,' said the Witch.
"No. There never was a sun,' said the Prince, and the Marsh-wiggle, and the children.
For the last few minutes Jill had been feeling that there was something she must remember at all costs. And now she did. But it was dreadfully hard to say it. She felt as if huge weights were laid on her lips. At last, with an effort that seemed to take all the good out of her, she said:
'There's Aslan.'
'Aslan?' said the Witch, quickening ever so slightly the pace of her thrumming. 'What a pretty name! What does it mean?'
'He is the great Lion who called us out of our own world,' said Scrubb, 'and sent us into this to find Prince Rilian.'
'What is a lion?' asked the Witch.
'Oh hang it all!' said Scrubb. 'Don't you know? How can we describe it to her? Have you ever seen a cat?'
'Surely,' said the Queen. 'I love cats.'
'Well a lion is a little bit-- only a little bit, mind you-- like a huge cat-- with a mane. At least it's not like a horse's mane, you know, it's more like a judge's wig. And it's yellow. And terrifically strong.'
The Witch shook her head. 'I see,' she said, 'that we should do no better with your lion, as you call it, than we did with your sun. You have seen lamps, and so you imagined a bigger and better lamp and called it the sun. You've seen cats, and now you want a bigger and better cat, and it's to so called a lion. Well, 'til a pretty make-believe, though, to say truth, it would suit you all better if you were younger. And look how you can put nothing into your make-believe without copying it from the real world, this world of mine, which is the only world. But even you children are too old for such play. As for you, my lord Prince, that art a man full grown, fie upon you! Are you not ashamed of such toys? Come, all of you. Put away these childish tricks. I have work for you all in the real world. There is no Narnia, no Overworld, no sky, no sun, no Aslan. And now, to bed all. And let us begin a wiser life tomorrow. But first, to bed; to sleep; deep sleep, soft pillows, sleep without foolish dreams.'
The Prince and the two children were standing with their heads hung down, their cheeks flushed, their eyes half closed; the strength all gone from them; the enchantment almost complete. But Puddle glum, desperately gathering all his strength, walked over to the fire. Then he did a very brave thing. He knew it wouldn't hurt him quite as much as it would hurt a human; for his feet (which were bare) were webbed and hard and cold-blooded like a duck's. But he knew it would hurt him badly enough; and so it did. With his bare foot he stamped on the fire, grinding a large part of it into ashes on the flat hearth. And three things happened at once.
First, the sweet heavy smell grew very much less. For though the whole fire had not been put out, a good bit of it had, and what remained smelled very largely of burnt Marsh-wiggle, which is not at all an enchanting smell. This instantly made everyone's brain far clearer. The Prince and the children held up their heads again and opened their eyes.
Secondly, the Witch, in a loud, terrible voice, utterly different from all the sweet tones she had been using up till now, called out, 'What are you doing? Dare to touch my fire again, mud filth, and I'll turn the blood to fire inside your veins.'
Thirdly, the pain itself made Puddleglum's head for a moment perfectly clear and he knew exactly what he really thought. There is nothing like a good shock of pain for dissolving certain kinds of magic.
'One word, Ma'am,' he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. 'One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things-- trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say'" (The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis pgs. 149-159).
14 February 2010
I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
I heard the voice of Jesus say
'Come unto me and rest.
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon my chest.'
I came to Jesus as I was
So weary, worn, and sad.
I found in Him a resting place
And He has made me glad.
I heard the voice of Jesus say
'Behold, I freely give
The living water. Thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink and live.'
I came to Jesus and I drank
Of that life-giving stream!
My thirst was quenched!
My soul revived!
And now I live in Him!
I heard the voice of Jesus say
'I am this dark world's light.
Look unto me; thy morn shall rise,
And all thy day be bright.'
I came to Jesus and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun.
And in that light of life I'll walk
Till traveling days are done!
'Come unto me and rest.
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon my chest.'
I came to Jesus as I was
So weary, worn, and sad.
I found in Him a resting place
And He has made me glad.
I heard the voice of Jesus say
'Behold, I freely give
The living water. Thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink and live.'
I came to Jesus and I drank
Of that life-giving stream!
My thirst was quenched!
My soul revived!
And now I live in Him!
I heard the voice of Jesus say
'I am this dark world's light.
Look unto me; thy morn shall rise,
And all thy day be bright.'
I came to Jesus and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun.
And in that light of life I'll walk
Till traveling days are done!
31 January 2010
Question for everyone
Got a question for you all...
Jesus is described in John 1 as the Word. The Bible is described as the word of God. Previously I had thought it quite ridiculous to say that Jesus and the Bible were the same thing but have recently started wondering if that could be the case. What do you all think? Is the Bible God?
Jesus is described in John 1 as the Word. The Bible is described as the word of God. Previously I had thought it quite ridiculous to say that Jesus and the Bible were the same thing but have recently started wondering if that could be the case. What do you all think? Is the Bible God?
14 January 2010
5 Point Meditation
5 things to think about:
1. The greatness of God
2. The perfection of God's initial creation (The initial perfection of man)
3. Man's sin and the fall
4. Christ's atoning work on my behalf
5. The salvation which Christ's death procures for me
These are to be thoughts upon which I base all my actions and words.
1. The greatness of God
2. The perfection of God's initial creation (The initial perfection of man)
3. Man's sin and the fall
4. Christ's atoning work on my behalf
5. The salvation which Christ's death procures for me
These are to be thoughts upon which I base all my actions and words.
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