I think Screwtape doesn't mind some worship music
So over the past couple weeks, I have been listening to the Indelible Grace cds which is made up of a collection of artists who have put old hymns to new music. The hymns are great and have been a real ministry to me, but with that said, I am disturbed at my response to them sometimes. I find that I like the thoughts / theology found within the hymns, but yet I don’t translate these feelings into personal praise for God. Rather, in some ways, I think that the music may have served to scratch a faith itch which I should be fulfilling in faithful time spent in bible reading and prayer. Has anyone else felt this way or experienced this? My main fear is that without real fellowship with God, listening to hymns and other “faith activities” would...
You shall have no other god before Me
The first commandment is one that I have never struggled with nearly as much as coveting or lying. However, several years ago, I read a great book, The Source, by James Michener. It is a fascinating fiction that drops into Israelite culture from Abraham’s all the way up to modern day Israel. While fictional, it gives a really interesting “day in the life” perspective on the possible motivations of Israelites, especially in the old testament. The interesting thing to see was that one of the main motivations for worshipping the Canaanite gods was to try to ensure financial success in life. The gods were mostly fertility gods and being that the culture was largely agriculture based, worshipping them would largely be seen as a way to ensure more rain...
Perspectives from back then
So first, let me say sorry that the post is up late. It’s really pretty nutty lately with work and home life, but I have been reflecting on God during this time. In His grace, he’s given me a couple things to write about. Psalms 146:3 – Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. So as someone who leads an IT team, I am constantly having to gauge whether to trust a person or to be a bit more “present”. Given that I really haven’t coded in some time, I am completely dependent on the quality of the job that many of my team members do. On top of that, we are constantly depending on matrixed teams and environments to get our job done. Therefore in my role, there is nothing really more pleasant than...
The completely undeserved “Welcome Home”
If you look over a lot of the posts that I have written in the past couple years for this site, you will see an undercurrent of mild confusion on the Christian life and how I am supposed to live it out. This is especially evident in my last post talking about the difficulty of talking to God in the morning. Well last week, God blew my doors off on my way to work. Through church conversations and reading, I have been more and more shown the importance of the Gospel, that is God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). His work on the cross is what saves us, not our works thereafter. In light of this, I drove into work listening to a song called “Welcome Home” by a band named Radical Face (good band), and...
Morning Prayer as a Kick Off
“If morning prayer is a foreign habit, stop and pray for one minute with the Lord’s Prayer as your guide. Repeat tomorrow.” – Burk Parsons Personal prayer life is one of the elements of my faith that I struggle with on a regular basis. I love God, and therefore, prayer should be a more integral part of my life. I need to be more disciplined for taking time away, but I try every morning to pray on my drive into work. I am not sure whether it is being tired or other factors, but I often feel the time is cold. With all of that in mind, I really appreciated Burk Parsons suggestion. I sometimes feel like I am muttering a foreign language to God, and the suggestion to use Christ’s own words as He directed us is great. Any other...