Learning to Speak All Over Again

One thing that has really amazed me the last few months in my classes is just how accessible the gospel was in the 1st century. Living some 2000 years later, we have accepted some of this jargon as typical speech when it comes to the Bible, but many of these phrases were cutting edge material in the first century!

Did you know that the fastest growing "religion" is the 1st century was the emperor's cult? It was basically the Caesar's attempt to get everyone to do what he said. But within this spreading national religion of Rome were embedded some significant words. Everyone was to proclaim, "Caesar is Lord!" The spread of this religion was known as spreading the gospel of Caesar.

The apostle Paul then, among others, would grab these phrases that were on the minds and the hearts of the people and turn them into declarations about Christ. Another significant example would be the prevalent theme of "wisdom" in 1st century philosophical circles. Again, Paul is intentional about using this concept, but developing it into the "wisdom of God."

Here's what I'm pondering today. Phrases like this made a ton of sense when they were first used. Yet we still use them to speak about Christ today. I'm wondering if some people have little interest God, Jesus, or the Bible, because they don't speak the language. We expect people to relate to some of these phrases that mean little to them in our modern culture. It is almost as if people would need to be experts in 1st century Roman culture to really appreciate the message about Jesus. This is bad. We need to change our vocabulary so the timeless message carries real force again.

Isn't it about time we learn to speak a new language? Isn't about time that we learn to speak about Christ and the hope he offers in ways that grab the hearts and minds of people today? I'm wrestling with this thought today. If proclaiming "Jesus is Lord" was a direct affront to Caesar's religion in the 1st century, what would that look like today? Thoughts?

What are other phrases that Christians use that have very little meaning outside of a church building?

What phrases could we begin to use?

On your journey, may you walk with a Christ who is as relevant in 21st century America as he was in 1st century Rome.

Jesus is my president,
Nick

Your Life: A Copy Machine

Whether we like to admit it or not, we are influencing other people to become like us. We can't really help it. When we are in friendship or close relationship of any kind with another person, we can't help but rub off on them a little bit and influence who they are because of who we are.

We see this all the time in our own children. When my 4-year old repeatedly toes the line between obedience and disobedience with me, I can't help but see reflections of how I must have been as a child. I hear her use words and phrases that I know are fairly unique to my vocabulary. She gets excited about things that excite me. (How many 4-year olds do you know that can go to a high school track meet and jump up and down in the stands shouting, "Go runners!", as if she's at the greatest sporting event in history?)

I wish this kind of influence was confined to my children, but I know it's not. While I may not have this same level of influence in other relationships, I am aware that who I am shows up in ways both large and small in the lives of others. My life is like a copy machine. So is yours. Whatever we set down on the glass gets duplicated onto the pages of other lives, sometimes clearly and other times a mere blurry reflection. But a copy nonetheless.

Which has me pondering today- what am I duplicating? E. Stanley Jones, a missionary pioneer to India in the early 1900's, once wrote, "O Christ, I want the Spirit within me to duplicate nothing- nothing except You." That seems like a prayer worth praying. For in all that I am, very little is truly of lasting value. My interests, desires, hobbies, etc, will one day be only memories. But the person of Jesus, his character and his love, will endure. To what extent does my life reflect this? And how do I live more intentionally so that one day my daughter loves Jesus more than running? How do I live this way so that what "rubs off" of me onto others is more of Jesus and less of the books I'm reading or the movies I'm watching?

What do you think? I think Paul in the New Testament gives us a hint. He says in I Corinthians 11:1- "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." Paul recognized that the only basis he had for asking others to follow Him was his own pursuit of Christ. I believe this is also true in our lives. We will duplicate the love and nature of Christ to others only so far as we are pursuing this love and nature in our own lives. Kind of gives new purpose and meaning to the old "personal quiet time" idea. I guess in the end our pursuit may be personal, but it is never for our benefit alone.

May you consider on your journey today what kind of copies your life is making. If this thought scares you, don't hesitate to call in the Master Repairman. His work is free, but not cheap.

Blessings-
Nick

God even in the Dark

Many of you know of my uncle's situation and have continued to pray and ask about how he is doing. I invite you to continue in the journey with him. Here's a great video his church, Salem Alliance has posted:

http://www.salemalliance.org/home/stumbo.php

I have also been greatly encouraged by the words he is sharing regularly on his blog. God speaks through him during this season of recovery. Perhaps it will bring that same courage to you:

http://www.salemalliance.org/serendipity/

God is present, and He is good.

Journey on,
Nick

Don't Forget to Dream...

The other day, I was getting ready to come to work, making my morning latte. My 4-year old was awake, and as usual was very chipper and chatty. She bounced into the kitchen and spouted, "Dad, when I grow up, I'm going to be a baker or an art student. Which do you think I should be?" I couldn't help but chuckle inside because I knew she was dead serious. So I asked her back, "So, you'd either like to make cookies for a living or learn to draw really pretty pictures, right? Maybe you could do both." My daughter's response was typical Alyssa- "yeah, but I'm kinda scared because I've never taken an art class before." After that, she bounced away, end of conversation.

My 4-year old daughter dreams a lot. She has new ideas of what she will be and do on a regular, almost daily, basis. I will bet that as a kid, most all of us were the same. Shoot, even a few years ago I had more dreams. But somehow, in the grind of doing life, I dream less and I just go through my days. Now, don't get me wrong- I love my job and I love what I do. But I go back and read my journal or ideas I had from 5 years ago. I find bigger ideas and more God-sized plans than I'm working on now. Somehow I dream less and just live more.

While some might argue that this is a positive step of maturing and "getting your head out of the clouds", I can't help but feel today like I am poorer for this loss. And that the people I interact with get less of the real me.

I want to dream more. Dream about what God could do, and what I could do. Maybe you do, too. How do we do this? Some ideas from me...

We hang around other people who like to dream and ask crazy questions. We need people in our lives that say the words "what if..." more often.

We hang around God more, and ask Him to define who we are and what we do, rather than letting the routine of our life, or the world around us, define who we are.

And if we are real brave, we take steps towards actually living out the dreams. We take an art class. We bake cookies for a living. We invest time in non-sensical ventures just to see what happens. And if God should show up...just watch out.

What do you think? Are you still dreaming big dreams? How do you keep that alive?

My your journey be more thrilling adventure than predictable plod today,

Nick

PS- This past week, the number of followers to this blog doubled. Woo-hoo! Okay, it only went from one to two. "Following" a blog is a good way to get updates on when new posts hit. If you like reading this blog and interacting with me here, sign up. Join the community.

Credit Cards with Hooks

You never realize how attached you are to something until you try to quit.

So the other day I called to cancel one of my credit cards, per the advice of Dave Ramsey. When I finally got connected to a "retention specialist", I explained that I was using less credit and wanted to cancel. I literally repeated this line 6 more times over the course of our conversation, during which the representative basically offered to make me a Vice-President in the company if I would remain a loyal customer. Breaking this attachment was as difficult as removing the plastic box that most kid's toys come fused inside these days. Finally, I got my account closed. And as I hung up the phone, I felt something unexpected: Freedom. One less company that I owed. One less business relationship to maintain.

I have become more aware of my attachment lately...

I don't realize how attached I am to coffee until I try and go without. Yesterday I didn't have coffee until after lunch and the headache almost killed me.

I don't realize how attached I am to professional baseball until I try and ignore it, and the desire to look at box scores becomes constant. (Yes, I am that pathetic)

I don't realize how attached I am to my credit card company until I try to cancel.

This has made me think about our attachments to this world. What we let get our hooks into us really does pull us in that direction. As I think of Jesus, I am aware that his one attachment was to the Father. He only said what the Father told him to say. He only did what the Father told him to do. And He was FREE. More free than anyone ever has been.

I am thinking today about how nice this freedom would be. What would life look like if this was MY only attachment?

Journey free today-
Nick