The Magician's Nephew

So I just finished reading C.S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew. In case you didn't know, this is the prologue of sorts to The Chronicles of Narnia. It is to be read as the first book, but it was actually written after all the other books were released. All of this to say C.S. Lewis is a genius. The amount of theology that he can fit into a children's fiction book is astounding. So I thought that I'd share some of my favorite passages.

page 185 "But I cannot tell that to this old sinner, and I cannot comfort him either; he has made himself unable to hear my voice. If I spoke to him, he would hear only growlings and roarings. Oh Adam's sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good!"

I love this quote. The balance between Calvinism and Armenianism is found right here. Aslan chooses not to speak to an "old sinner" because Aslan can see that he will be unresponsive. God calls we answer. We cannot answer without God calling. God will not call if we will not answer. I hope this makes sense to most. I don't feel like laboring over this point. What can I say? I'm a lazy author.

The part of this section that I liked the most is the end. Humanity has become quite adapt in being able to defend ourselves against the joy we were created for. This is the "old man" that we must fight day after day. In the words of John Piper, we must fight for joy. Freedom in Christ is something that is to be sought after harder than precious stones or pearls. Remember the words of Christ, "where your treasure is there your heart will be also".

page 189 " 'Son of Adam,' said Aslan, 'you have sown well. And you, Narnians, let it be your first care to guard this Tree, for it is your Sheild. The Witch of whom I told you has fled far away into the North of this world; she will live on there, growing stronger in dark Magic. But while that Tree flourishes she will never come down into Narnia. She dare not come within a hundred miles of the Tree, for its smell, which is joy and life and health to you, is death and horror and despair to her.' "

The witch represents evil, which I'm sure you probably grasped. The tree represents the gospel, at least in my eyes. This passage reminds me of 1 Corinthians 1 where it talks about the way of the cross being foolishness to those that are perishing but to the saved it is the power of God. God must break our hearts in order for us to become receptive to salvation. We were dead in our sins. Dead people don't try to make themselves alive. God awakens our hearts to His gospel. If He had not done so for me, the gospel would still seem foolish (not that I truly understand it now). All glory should belong to Him, the Author and Protector of my faith.

page 190 "She has won her hearts desire; she has unwearying strength and endless days like a goddess. But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it."

This quote is about the evil witch that we talked about earlier. This passage breaks my heart. First it reminds me of the fruitlessness of sin. If it is what we desire we will obtain it, but we will never be satisfied. We will only end up living a life of misery. It also reminds me of the horrifying verses that talk about God turning people over to the consequences of their sins. We do not understand how big His hand is until He takes it away. This horrifies me because I constantly find myself "driving around the same cul de sac of stupidity" (Marc Driscoll "Death By Love").

Well, it's almost 11 and I must go to bed. Farewell.

You Can't Tell Me Nothing

Just in case you haven't seen this, watch. I thought you might be in need of a good laugh in the form of farmland fun and Kayne West. Zach Galifianakis is a genius. That is all I have to say.

Christian Karma

First of all I wanna start off with a bang and thank everyone that's reading. There are a lot more people reading than I thought there were. Now, its not all about the numbers (I'm not a baptist mega church), but it does help encourage me. Well anyhow, in this post I kinda wanted to drop my two cents in on a strong undercurrent that's been sweeping through American Christian for a couple of decades. Also I need to make the statement that not all of this is my own thoughts. A good deal might come from the series on Ecclesiastes that Matt Chandler did a while back. If you haven't listened to that give it a look see. You won't regret it. That is unless you enjoy being a nominal Christ follower.

Finally I actually get to what I wanna talk about. The undercurrent that I referred to earlier is what could be called Christian karma. Basically it is the thought that if you do good things good things will happen to you. This does not fit in well with Scripture. In fact, it actually disagrees with some parts of Scripture. Take Job for instance. What did Job's friends suggest that he should do when his whole life was falling apart? They said he should repent of any sins that he might have forgotten about. This really isn't the thought that if you do good good things will happen to you. It's actually the flip side. If you fail to do good, bad things will happen to you.

Another part of Scripture that this mindset disagrees with (as you might have guessed) is Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes chapter 7, Solomon (the wisest man in the history of the universe mind you) writes how he has seen the wicked flourish and the righteous die an early death. God does not treat us according to our actions.

You see this is the most encouraging part of all of this. I'll say it again. God does not treat us according to our actions. He always (always, always, always) acts with our best interest in mind. If our perfectly righteous friend should die at the early age of 30, it was for God's glory and for his best that his life was required of him. If we truly believe this our lives will change completely. Well, I guess I can't speak for everyone. Maybe there are some perfect people out there.

So I am lead to ask the question. Why do you choose to do the right thing? Is it for some possible reward? Or is it because its the right thing and that's how we can bring Christ the greatest glory? If we chase what's in God's hand instead of His actual face we will be disappointed every time.

Once again, thanks for reading. Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

This Summers Employment

For those of you who don't know, this summer I am working at my local YMCA doing a day camp with kids ages 5-16. I just wanted to drop a line and tell you guys how great its going. So... It's going great. I mean, the kids aren't perfect. Sometimes they seem like little demons, but we're all fallen.

I guess the real reason that I can be super positive about all of this is the YMCA itself. The YMCA is very purpose driven. Even more so then most churches I know. This makes working at the Y quite encouraging. For you who don't know the purpose statement of the Y is "To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy mind, spirit, and body for all." The best part about that statement is that they stick to it. Not only do they stick to it, but they allow it to be the purpose behind why they do things, whether its disciplining kids during camp or sponsoring someone's membership.

Now the Y is not a church. I would even say it would be a stretch to say its a parachurch organization. The sad (for actual churches) yet encouraging (for the Y) fact is that it seems to me that the Y is more on mission than most churches I run across. They may not be saving people into the Kingdom (as much as a human person can), but they are positively affecting people for the mission, which is all that can really be asked.

As I close, I can only hope that I feel the same way at the end of the summer as I do now.

Read Me!

I would like to write a book. I feel like it would be a rewarding adventure. I mean, it may not be like a huge 500 page book in the end. Maybe it would be more like a memoir. At any rate, I think it would be entertaining. I know, you might be asking yourself, "Self, why would he write a book if he can't even keep up with a simple blog?" To this I can provide no answer. I can only optimistically hope that somehow writing a book would be different than my blogging experience so far. So I ask you, what should I write a book about? What would you like to read about? I don't really have much direction as of right now, but I'm open to input. And now... discuss.

Summer Holiday?

Hey! I'm back. It's good to be back. I don't know why I left in the first place. Anyhow, it's summer that's a good thing. Well, it should be. Summer is such a good thing. It's freedom from school, possible jobs, beautiful weather, summer concerts and all around good times. At least that's what it is to me.

If that was all it was to me I would be quite happy, but I've noticed that I've turned summer into something else. I've tried to make summer an excuse to be lazy. I don't just mean lazy like not having a job and stuff. I have a job, but I've let other things slide out of control. I've become lazy in the things that really matter, eternal things. Yes money is good. I need to have a job, but His Kingdom is so much greater. These things will pass away, but the Kingdom will not.

What's the cause of all of this? There's many different reason that I perceive. First of all, I've bought into lies. I've bought the lie that the things that I see are more important than the things that I can't. I've subconsciously bought the lie that I can pick it all back up without any consequences. I've ultimately been lulled into subconsciously thinking that it doesn't matter. Basically, I'm saying with my actions that it doesn't matter that I'm losing a multitude of chances to effect others for the cause of Christ.

Now listen to what I did not just say. I did not say that I'm letting people die and go to hell. God is sovereign and He will bring people into His Kingdom with or without me. Thank goodness for that, but I still have no excuse. No matter how well I can convince myself otherwise.

Part of me would like to go on with reasons why I'm failing like this, but I've already hit the ultimate point. I feel like if I continue typing I will only take away from the things that actually matter. So this is your encouragement. Don't get lulled into buying a bunch of lives. The mission is lived moment by moment. There are no excuses for doing otherwise. If this sounds disheartening go to the Word and remind yourself that this is "life and life to it's fullest" that we are talking about here.

Freedom or Lack Thereof

I got back not too long ago with hanging out with some good friends tonight. It was a great time. Such great weather. Such great friends. Anyhow, there was a discussion tonight that kinda made me think. This conversation was about one of those hot button topics among Christians (smoking, drinking, cussing, etc...). Any ways, it was just interesting to me the different ways people handle themselves. You have your run of the mill button pushers, the indifferent, the uninformed, and the closed minded. Seldom do you find people with answers and with an actual fact based (and hopefully scripture based) argument that will speak their mind. Honestly, I'm hoping to work my way into becoming this type of person. The thing that I have found though is that when God finally does reveal something to me that doesn't license me to blurt it all over. I think with this type of subject people have to draw their own conclusions.

The most harm that can be done in all of this is when one hurts the body of Christ and or damages his or her relationship with a friend. Ideas and people should never intersect. If a person keeps stepping in the way of an idea that you are speaking out against. Make your point and shut up. Do not harm your brother or sister under the guise of trying to help them understand your point.

I must let it be known that this blog really has nothing to do with the conversation that I am referencing. That is just what got me thinking. So for my friends that were present, it's okay. I'm not talking about you. I'm not really talking about anyone. Besides I think most of you understand my position in the aforementioned topic. If not we can talk. Also another important thing to be made known, I don't have it all figured out. Like I said earlier, if I do actually get the chance to come to some type of position in all of this it is only through the help of the Father.

I will wrap this all up with a favorite story of mine about a favorite preacher of mine. There is a story told about Charles Spurgeon meeting one of the renowned evangelist of America for the first time. Apparently, as Charles was walking up to meet this man he was enjoying a fine cigar as was one of his favorite pastimes. So after Charles greeted this man, the evangelist asked him how he could partake of cigars as a man of God. Charles simply reacted by poking the evangelist in the stomach and asking how he could eat like that as a man of God. The American evangelist was quite overweight. That is all for now. Peace!