The Demise of Meaning.

Quote from Stephon Marbury regarding his return to playing in the NBA as a Boston Celtic:

"It went the way I was praying for it to go."

This is only one example of how the truth of words has been pushed aside by postmodern thinking. In my opinion, words no longer carry the weight of meaning that God meant them to be. Let me argue this point first and foremost from the Bible.

From the beginning, when God created the world, all of what God set forth was by words. He brought light ex nihilo (out of nothing) by pure words. "Let there be light." The proclamation of his law was by words in written form. God warned the Israelites by the words of his prophets. Jesus spoke words of life to both Jew and Gentile alike. Paul encouraged the churches by the written word.

And every single word carried the weight of God's divine inspiration through the Holy Spirit for Scripture.

As the example listed above illustrates, empty words threaten the very way that God has communicated His love for us. (note: i'm not trying to blast on Marbury for he may have very done exactly what he said) It is quite possible that the word "prayed" means "hoped for, or wished for," not "an offering up to God of our requests and petitions." Other examples of this are the words love, faith, grace, joy, truth, holiness, and many more. Each of these words are all given an incredible amount of meaning by God. Unfortunately, postmodern thought has pushed out the true meaning of these words and replaced the meaning with our own finite meaning of these words, therefore making meaning just as relative to the speaker as the listener. Even a worldly standard of truth in meaning, dictionaries, are left sitting on bookshelves collecting dust.

What's the point? Words and their meanings incredibly important. These words and meanings must be derived from the ultimate source of authority and truth, God through His written word. Seriously.

"Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." - Ephesians 5:6.

a good reminder from john piper.

This is an original John Piper blog post and can be found here.

Thank God for John Piper.  seriously.

It is important that we know the nature of the evil in our hearts.

Do you think the essence of your evil is disobeying commandments? That’s a good start. But it’s not the essence of our evil. Commands simply name the evil and its fruits, and tell us not to do them.

The essence of our evil is that we prefer anything to God (Romans 1:23; 2:23). Commands do not create the possibility of evil. Commands name it.

Long before we are told not to covet, we covet. Disobeying the command, “Thou shalt not covet,” is not equivalent to the evil of coveting. The evil of coveting is there first, and then is compounded by the transgression of the commandment not to covet.

Paul said, “I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’” (Romans 7:7). That is, I wouldn’t have known the seriousness of my evil if God had not named it in the law.

But lawbreaking is not the essence of my evil. Desiring anything above God is the essence of my evil, before any commands name it.

One reason this is important to know is that it will affect the way you pursue change. If you think the essence of your evil is commandment-breaking, your focus for change will  be commandment-keeping.

That is doomed to fail for two reasons. If we get good at it, we think we have changed, but the essence of our evil remains. If we can’t get good at it, we despair and quit trying.

But if we know that the essence of our evil is not commandment-breaking, but preferring anything to God, then our focus for change will be a change of heart. That is hopeful, because God promised, “I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19).

This is the new covenant that Jesus purchased with his blood (Luke 22:20). We receive it by faith.

baptism.

i still haven't been baptized yet.  i really want to.  man...

a compliment as an insult?

note: the following situation did not actually happen, it's just an example.

this is something that i've been thinking about lately. you know when someone compliments someone at the expense of another? like let's say, i'm playing basketball with some church friends. and, one who shall not be named (frank la), tears me up at it, because:
a) he's much quicker than me.
b) he actually knows how the game of basketball is played.
c) he has mad skills.

now. after the game, i hear another church person, let's say steve kwon, compliments frank saying, "man frank, you tore it up that game." now obviously, this comment is not directed toward anyone except frank la. but, in a sense, it does come at the expense of another person, i.e. me and my team. we lost the game, honorably, but still lost. and it was because of frank's mad skill and my lack of skill that factored into the loss.

now, let's consider something else that i hear in churches more often. like, "man, pastor ********** is such a good speaker." and knowing that other pastors hears these things, i wonder how that makes the other pastors think about their own ministry. does it make them feel less adequate in preaching? does it make them reconsider their vocation? does it, God forbid, actually make them want to quit what they do? (note: i'm pretty sure most pastors have faced enough criticism to have some sort of immunity to this, but this is just another example of what i'm talking about) (this may also be questioned as some to be "insecurity." i'd like to say that it's more of a reaction to opinion)

the reason why i ask this is because there's a lot of glory given to those that are good. and as long as that glory is attributed to God's glory, it is no way bad. however, God also does call us to encourage and to recognize that people are given various gifts under God's grace (see Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Peter 4:10-11). does that make me choose my words more carefully? mmm, possibly. something i'll have to think about even more so.

happy president's day weekend! hope you had a good, rest-filled weekend.

happy valentine's day! from john piper.

John Piper's poem for his wife.  He's pretty dang creative.  ahahahah.  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

My love, come listen as I seek
With seven tongues, and hope, on your
Sweet soul to let our Sovereign speak:
Je suis avec vous tous les jours.

He bids us come and learn to rest
Beneath his feather burden. Come feel,
He says, how light, how sweet, how blessed,
Porque me yugo es facil.

And if we fear what yet will be,
He tells us what we yet will see:
’al tiyra’ kiy ‘imkah aniy
temaktiykah biymiyn tsadkiy.

If darkness lingers on, and thus
Delays the precious light of dawn,
Fear not, because we know for us
God works panta eis agathon.

And if barbarians invade
The soul, and take our borderlands,
Together we say undismayed:
E tenebris lux Christi stands.

Gott hat durch Leiden uns gelerht, 
   Dass wir kein Schmerz vergeuden;
Ob Abend lang das Weinen währt,
   Doch kommt des Morgens Freude.

i try too hard.

wheat thins.

wheat thins are not perfect squares.

rebuke me john piper. and pastor arnold.

"Christ is to be cherished.  Not just chosen."

-  John Piper, When I Don't Desire God

I have fallen gravely into a trap.  to become full of duty and false humility.  and i'm so glad that pastor arnold's sermon today and john piper's book is continually showing me how superficial my faith can be at times.

today, arnold reminded me of my false sense of humility.  let's just say our praise band was asked to do something very out of the ordinary, by opening for a well known Christian band.  my first reaction was, "wtfreak?  we're not good enough to open for so-and-so."  but today, as arnold preached against the "what would Jesus do" mentality, focusing instead on "walking with Jesus daily," he reminded me that i should always be having that sense of "i'm not good enough, but Jesus makes me worthy" every sunday i come to play drums and sing praises to my King. 

dang.  how much do i focus on my "doing" of good works instead of being to live in enjoyment of God's justifying and sanctifying work in me through the good times and bad?

praise God for an awesome sunday.  =)