My prayer

I read this today along with Ephesians 2, and both chapters 2 and 3 are outstanding works about how God saved us and the fact that we had nothing to do with it. He doesn't save us because we are better than anybody else. It's not because we have something to offer Him. We don't. It's simply because of His perfect love for very, very imperfect beings. I look at these passages and realize that if God can save me, then He can save anybody. Read this passage slowly; take in everything it says, and I hope that it brings as much blessing and hope to your day as it has mine:

Ephesians 3:14-20

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Reading list

It's been a little while since I last blogged, but I figured that it's probably better that I think long and hard about what I put on here so that I don't get caught with my foot in my mouth. I promise that this entry shouldn't do that. Who knows...maybe it might?

Since graduating from college in December, I've had a lot of things demanding my time and it caused me to question my priorities. What really is important to me in my life? One of the things that I never thought would be is reading. Since graduating, reading has become somewhat of a savior to my mind in that because I'm not in classes everyday I no longer feel challenged intellectually. I feel as if over the last four and a half years my mind has become a sponge, and now that the "water" is gone...well...we all know what happens to sponges when they just sit for a while...

I've been trying to put together a reading list for myself so that I can put it down somewhere and track my progress. I thought to myself, "Why not put it on the blog?". I also thought it would be cool if readers would comment at the bottom some suggestions on books that maybe I should add to it. That's all up to you. Below is my reading list since the turn of the new year, and it will increased as soon as I hear back from you on what I should read. What I have read or am reading will be in bold:

The New Testament Epistles and Acts (God)

Blue Like Jazz (Donald Miller)

The Seven Checkpoints (Andy Stanley)

The Forgotten Ways (Alan Hirsch)

A Series of Unfortunate Events books 1-5 (Lemony Snicket)

How to Read a Book (Mortimor Adler)

Searching for God Knows What (Donald Miller)

Through Painted Deserts (Donald Miller)

To Own a Dragon (Donald Miller)

ReJesus (Alan Hirsch)

Untamed (Alan Hirsch)

Jesus for President (Shane Claiborne)

The Connecting Church (Randy Frazee)

Lectures to My Students (C.H. Spurgeon)

Vintage Jesus (Mark Driscoll)

The Signature Classics (C.S. Lewis)

A Series of Unfortunate Events books 6-13

Ready. Set. Go.

Real men love Jesus...and are humble

Well everybody, it's February, according to some rodent we have six more weeks of this coldness before we can go outside and actually enjoy it. Regina Spektor is blaring from my Pandora, and if you don't like that then too bad. I like me some soft "anti-folk" music.

The other day I was walking next to some parked cars and one of them had a sticker on the back, and in all capital letters was this phrase:

REAL MEN LOVE JESUS

Now don't get me wrong, I have seen these bumper stickers before, and for the most part I've never really thought about any of the implications that were being made to those who, by this sticker-displayer's definition, weren't "real men". I'm going to question here how a non-Christian would take the words that were shown on the back of this person's vehicle if they happened to be driving behind them. What is the person who has put this sticker on the back of their car trying to say to the non-Christian? Here are a couple of theories:

1) "REAL MEN LOVE JESUS, and you obviously aren't a real man like me."

2) "REAL MEN LOVE JESUS, and I'm comfortable enough with my masculinity to admit it."

3) "REAL MEN LOVE JESUS, and you're not, so that makes me more man than you"

4)"REAL MEN LOVE JESUS, and when you become a Christian you can be a real man just like me."

5)"REAL MEN LOVE JESUS, and you should love Jesus so that you can be a real man like me."

I could go on and on, but the point here is that most people would say that they display this (or any other foolish Christian propaganda) on their stuff because they don't want to be ashamed of being a Christian. Some would even say that this is a "proselytizing" or "witnessing" tool..."We just want to get them saved"...

Oh please.

The common idea in any of our hypothetical thought patterns above is not Jesus, the one whom we should be pointing people to. Instead, when we display stuff like this, we are pointing people to ourselves. We are pointing people to our own pride and the fact that we think we've figured out something all on our own and that we are better than other people because of it. Even worse, we act like we had something to do with it. We act like we have made ourselves perfect before God and that somehow God looked down on "us" and saw how well we did things and poured out his approval while the rest of the world continues to live on in failure.

I honestly pray that if you think this way that you would do Jesus a favor and stop.

In Philippians 2 Paul puts together a very beautiful description of how Jesus emptied himself of himself to serve the world. I feel that if our real goal is to win the world we also must do this. We must not be so obsessed with feeding our own egos. We need to stop being so self-righteous by putting up ridiculous window clings and bumper stickers on cars that tell people how good we are. (Heavy, heavy sarcasm; take note)

May I remind you that Christ chose us and that it wasn't the other way around. We have nothing to offer God. Our righteousness is like a used tampon (aka, a filthy rag).

My resolution? I feel that the best move is to not put up window clings or bumper stickers and continue to fuel the Christian propaganda machine. If you have one that points people to look into YOUR EGO, then take it down. Please. We could be spending our money on so many better things. Consider helping out in the homeless ministry, or sponsoring a child, or giving money to missions work. I really don't want this blog to come across as rude or anything like that, but something needs to be said because most non-Christians have this view of Christians being self-righteous bigots; and you know what? They're right. We are.

We need to start practicing what we preach, and instead of telling people how they should be more like us, maybe we could set an example and do good deeds so that non-believers will see and glorify our Father in heaven. Maybe we could put a bumper sticker on the back of our car that says "I'm a dirty sinner and I nailed Jesus to the cross". At least that says "don't be like me!" We need to point people to Jesus, not ourselves.

Real men do love Jesus, but they also have an understanding that their salvation was not their own doing. They display it by loving others, not alienating the world from Jesus with Christian propaganda. We will never win the world without following Jesus' example, and that starts with humility. Everybody is given the invitation to join in on the feast that is to come.