"What's best for me"

I was struck just now by an idea that caught my attention as I reviewed Walter Henrichsen's classic, Disciples Are Made, Not Born. Henrichsen asks the reader to consider that we hire policemen to make sure that we don't do anything wrong. His point being that it is rather audacious of any man to assume that one knows what's best for oneself, yet we live in a society that freely acknowledges that people wrong one another constantly. If we all really knew what was best for ourselves, wouldn't policemen be unnecessary? Of course. It is sheer arrogance that leads me to say, "I know what's best for me." I don't. I daily make the ubiquitous mistake of equating the lusts of my flesh with "what's best for me." I desire a doughnut, so I'll go get one, even though I may have high cholesterol, or be a diabetic. Dumb. People kill each other, rape women, shoot heroine, drive drunk, and do all kinds of other idiotic stuff, all the while claiming, "I know what's best for me." Yeah. Right. You know, there's a reason why you never hear fifth graders say things like, "When I grow up I want to be a crack ho'." Yet crack whores exist. And I'll bet if you ask them, the first thing they'll say is, "I know what's best for me."

Why do so many people fail to acknowledge Jesus Christ at Lord of their lives? Because, they say, "I know what's best for me."

I, personally, on the other hand have been liberated from such egotistical nonsense. I am free to admit that I don't know what's best for me, and live a better, more abundant life because, while I may not know what's best for me, I do know who does know what's best and His word is what I'll follow. By admitting my ignorance and letting go of my selfish pride, I am able to get much farther down the road to a happy life by following someone who always does know "what's best for me."

Our true place in life..

I just really appreciated this quote by N.T. Wright (Simply Christian)

Christian faith isn't a general religious awareness. Nor is it the ability to believe several unlikely propositions. It is certainly not a kind of gullibility which would put us out of touch with any genuine reality. It is the faith which hears the story of Jesus, including the announcement that he is the world's true Lord, and responds from the heart with a surge of grateful love that says: "Yes. Jesus is Lord. He died for my sins. God raised him from the dead. This is the center of everything." Whether you come to this faith in a blinding flash or by a long, slow, winding route, once you get to this point you are (whether you realize it or not) wearing the badge which marks you out as part of the church, on an equal footing with every other Christian who ever lived. You are discovering what it means to wake up and find yourself in God's new world.

How true it is, and yet how easy to forget, that as followers of Jesus, we are part of a massive God-centered movement that covers every Christian through all of history! Time and eternity, temporal and spiritual, interlocked with a beautiful perfection that only the Master Conductor could orchestrate. Powerful. Comforting. Peaceful.

Wilson's Creek National Battlefield 9.03.07

On Labor Day this year we took our kids to Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. We weren't sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised to find out that they would be firing off a Civil War artillery piece. Only half a load was used for the demo. I think we liked it a lot more than the kids. All in all, Wilson's Creek just isn't much to look at, but the canon was cool. And the kids got their National Parks Passports stamped again, which was fun for them. They love that program.

Unity: What a pain!

I get so tired sometimes of hearing students whine about 'conflict' and 'division' and (the worst of all) 'competition' between ministries on campus. It drives me crazy listening to them moan and lament the lack of unity. Why? Because its all a crock! They are totally clueless about the nature of unity. The Bible says over and over and over again that we, as followers of Jesus, are to live in unity. The first passage of scripture I make the BSU leadership team memorize each year (Ephesians 4:1-3) focuses on unity. But there is a HUGE difference between what the Bible commmands and what students complain about.

Adrian Rogers does a great job of explaining that UNITY is not unison, uniformity or union. He pictures a choir, not singing in unison, but nevertheless united to create beautiful music. Uniformity... uniformity is a joke. Believers in the church are called to a diversity of activities, goals and plans. We're not all supposed to be doing the exact same thing! And even union is a perversion of our God-given call. We might all belong to one church, ministry, or organization, but that says little about the unity of such a union. Even if every member of every campus ministry carried the same membership card, so what? That would mean precious little at the end of the day. It is not unity.

Unity comes with peace. And even though there are a number of campus ministries pursuing similar and sometimes even overlapping goals, that doesn't mean we are not at peace. It does not mean that we are not UNITED.

Sometimes I just want to tell people to shut up about the so-called divisions and competition. I want to tell them to stop focusing on false perceptions and start dealing with REALITY. And the reality is that there are still a lot of lost souls on campus, more than enough to keep us all busy.

By the way, students-who-whine-about-campus-ministries, how many churches do you suppose are enough? One? Ten? TEN THOUSAND?! How about this--however many churches it takes to reach the world for Jesus Christ! That's enough, and until the world is reached for Christ, we need to stop worrying about "competition" and start worrying about mortal combat, because earth is a spiritual battlefield, and people are going to Hell. Now shut up and go tell someone about Jesus.