Wednesday, May 23, 2012

No Compromise...?



It was just a regular, quick Facebook check. Or that's what it was supposed to be. But as I quickly fulfilled my reason for getting on Facebook and typed a quick note on a family member's status update, my eye caught an ad on the side of the page.
It was not an unfamiliar ad, or even a disgusting or disturbing one (though I have seen my fill of those!), but it was an ad that I had seen before, many times, until once I had clicked on it out of interest. After that I had visited it once more because it popped up again, and recently I decided to delve into it to see what it said. The ad has several different forms, but always mentioned the former model who started it and promising a place where tough issues like boys and faith would be tackled-and it's Christian site for girls. I was both excited and wary when I first saw this add, and when I came onto the site both of them were confirmed.
The website did have many articles that I would call very well done. One, for example, listed 10 reasons to worship God. One talked about the reason for church. Another talked about worship and its benefits. As I smiled at these posts though, I noticed that something was wrong.
One of the articles was about Taylor Swift's donation and how it reminded the author to give things up for someone else. I do agree that it is a good example and a good lesson she learned from it. But Taylor Swift, however "innocent" she may be, not only wears less than Christ-honoring outfits in her shows, but also speaks of inappropriate content in some of her songs.
Another article was about makeup, and what they thought the appropriate age to be wearing it was. Although they did stress in the article that makeup was not necessary and we don't need it to be beautiful, the amount of makeup they were encouraging (even if they recommended it for around 16-18) included foundation, eye makeup, bronzer, the whole package. Unfortunately, I find that it's not very easy to use any amount of makeup without becoming dependent on it. I have nothing against makeup, but I feel as though it's often a stumbling block for girls.
A third article was about a recent decision made by Vogue magazine, who decided not to hire any models under 16 or those who looked too skinny. Although I definitely agree with these guidelines for the magazine, the website encouraged the magazine a lot, even adding some pictures of some magazine covers to the post-despite the fact that the model's clothes were a little...revealing.
Rather than personally attacking this particular website (which, as I said, had many articles that were helpful and encouraging), I mean to attack the view of modern Christianity-that kicks out the "no compromise" agenda.
The common view is that "if it's better than the normal 'bad', it's good." You would hardly find a Christian website advocating Lady Gaga (actually, there was an article describing her Satanic influences on the site) but Taylor Swift is okay...she hasn't had any nude pictures on the cover of magazines and the sexual hints in her songs are subtle. Makeup is okay, as long as you don't wear too much before you're 15, and of course you're only using it to accentuate your appearance and not for any dark reasons. And Vogue is applauded because it changed its rules for models.
I'd say we have to agree to disagree.
What if, instead of holding Taylor Swift up as an example, we encouraged people to no longer listen to her (or any non-Christian singer's) music and devote this part of their lives to God? Even if the non-Christian music doesn't have any swearing, drugs, drinking, or immorality in it, can't we strive for something better? *Note: I know that it's very hard to find "good" Christian music now...it's very true. But I'd encourage you to try, because there are Christian music artists of all genres and styles. You're bound to find something you like. Discouraged? Comment on the post, and I can recommend artists to you.*
What if, instead of encouraging makeup, we challenged girls to try a month without it to discover that God really does think of them as beautiful with-and without-makeup? Even, we challenged them to throw out all their makeup and pray that God would show them their true beauty comes from within, and that "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." (Proverbs 31:30)
What if we, rather than applauding magazines like Vogue, we advised girls to steer clear of those magazines that focus on nothing but the outer appearance and worldly pleasures? What if we told them, that instead of reading the magazines, to read their Bibles? Instead of paying for a subscription, maybe using the money for something worthwhile?
I'm just saying that too often in the Christian world we settle for less than we could be giving. Rather than truly devoting ourselves to God, we are caught between ourselves, trying to serve God and other things. But the Bible says that this doesn't work. "No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:13). Psalm 86:11 says. "Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name." These show that our heart can be divided. And we need to follow God with all our hearts!  "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’" (Mark 12:30 ESV) [Emphasis added]. Not with half, or part, or even most of our souls-we need to give God all of us and be uncompromisingly righteous.
Of course, we won't be perfect all the time. We won't always serve God with all of our hearts. But does that mean we don't try? No! If we lose some of our treasure-which is our life and our time, it's not time to throw the rest out! We are promised an eternal reward if we are believers-but the only way to live a joyful, radiant, and fulfilled life here on earth is when we run to God, letting Him take control of us and give us the strength to follow Him.
Oh yes, we can't follow Him on our own. We aren't able to, we aren't wired the right way to do that. Even when God changes us, you could say He reprograms us, we're used to going the wrong way. So it takes time, effort, and patience...with a large dosage of God's grace, strength, and love to get us through. And if you persevere, I can promise you from experience that it is worth it.
The title of this post was inspired by a book that I'm about to read, called No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green. It's written by his wife, Melody Green, about this inspiring Christian singer who lived life to its fullest for the Lord before dying at a young age in a plane crash with two of his children. The title comes from a song that Melody herself wrote, and it begins like this:

Make my life a prayer to You
I wanna do what you want me to
No empty words and no white lies
No token prayers no compromise


No compromise. Are we willing to push that, even though others (Christians included) will think we're crazy? Are we willing to follow God no matter what it costs? Are we willing to stand-alone?

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Cross Is the Attraction

Amy Carmichael is one of the most well known and revered missionaries of all time. she literally gave her entire life following her heavenly Prince all the way to India, where she poured out her life to stop the child prostitution in the local Hindu temples. She is often mentioned and often spoken well of, and looked up to by many leaders in the moder Christian movement, like Leslie Ludy and Elisabeth Elliot. But the odd thing is that during her time as a missionary, though her institution had many supportive friends, it also had enemies-among other missionaries.
You see, Amy was unethical-unorthodox in the way she directed her ministry. She had no nominal Christians participate, even when she was very short staffed for the huge task God had given to her. There were plenty of nominal Christians in her area, for the gospel had reached there hundreds of years before her time. Most other missionaries gladly took the assistance of these Christians, but not Amy. She held on, even when she was scorned and ridiculed. The missionaries who opposed her even tried to remove her from India! But she persevered, insisting that the helpers she wanted were the ones who knew the cry of a true Christian's heart: the cross is the attraction.
Nowadays, we stand up and applaud for her, smiling and saying that she did the right thing-but would re react the same way now?
Imagine the pastor of a huge megachurch planning for a missions trip. Even though he has over 200 volunteers, he selects only 10, even though the job clearly requires many more people. When his judgement is questioned, imagine that he says this: "I only want those for whom the cross is the attraction."
We all know what would happen-there would be a riot. People would be upset, offended, and many would leave the church in scorn. Whether or not the pastor keeps his commitment we can only know in our imaginations.
But let's imagine; if the pastor's judgement was right, what were the other 190 people coming for?
We know the answers. Popularity. Bragging rights. Friends, girl/boy friends, or crushes going. Maybe to get your parents off your back. Or maybe it's actually good things! Looking for a better spiritual life. Trying to become more happy. Those are both worthy goals.
But what are we promised?
The way Christendom is sold today, we are promised many things. Happiness, security, peace-many even go as far as to say wealth and status too. But we are not promised the last two, and the first three we are only promised on the spiritual level.
People seem to expect (and encourage the expectation) that your life will just straighten out. Maybe get a little easier. Which is very true on some level. You will have intense peace and no anxiety when you are surrendered to him. You will be joyful and fulfilled, and you will be secure in His arms. You also can have all those things while you are in a prison cell, or being torn down by the media, co-workers, or even your friends and family.
The point is, we have nothing to vie for in Christianity except the cross. Yes, we are going to be happy and peaceful, yes, we will have a loving relationship with Christ! But it's more than that!
The cross is more than something we wear around our necks or talk about all the time. The cross-as in, Christ, His death for us, His forgiveness, and His ability to free us from sin is the ONLY attraction, the ONLY thing that we are truly promised! There is no verse in the Bible that says "You will always have a great life and nothing wrong will happen." It says that everything on the physical side of things could not be so great. You could be starving or in prison for Christ! You could be so many things...and if you just look for happiness it's not going to cut it. You need Christ-you need the cross!
When we sin, happiness can't take it away. We won't have security or peace as long as it is on our shoulders. The only thing that can remove that is the cross of Jesus Christ, and I promise you that when you let that weight be taken off your shoulders by Jesus, that's when the added benefits come in.
So look to the cross. Remember, the attraction to Christianity is not anything but the cross.

The cross is the attraction. -Amy Carmichael

Monday, May 7, 2012

Of Kamikazes, Guns, and Atoms

If you've ever taken history, you've probably heard of Kamikazes. They were Japanese planes on suicide missions that would fly their planes across the ocean and into enemy ships. Although the pilots would be sacrificed, the ships often sank or sustained terrible damage. Damage on these multi-million dollar warships was devastating to the government and the economy. The funny thing is that the Kamikaze planes were actually very small-and yet a well placed hit would be enough to sink an entire warcraft! How small a craft is needed.

If you've ever seen action movies, you've probably heard of guns. Guns (as you should know), are weapons that can be used to save and protect or to destroy. The force of the bullet is dangerous, no matter large or small-but some bullets penetrate or explode on impact. But all you have to do to obtain that powerful force is to pull the small trigger. But once you've done that small action, lots of big things happen at once. There is a huge crack, the gun kicks back, and there is a speeding bullet launched into the air-from one little movement. How small a trigger is needed.

If you've ever taken science, you've probably heard of atoms. Atoms, some of the tiniest objects that we know of, are so tiny we can't even see them with our magnifying equipment. But these atoms are the building blocks for life-for everything. Everything you can see or touch is made out of atoms. Despite their size, if some types form a simple formation, it can be deadly. For example, sometimes carbon and oxygen form CO, the deadly carbon monoxide gas, which is odorless and invisible and can kill in minutes. Yet it only comes from several atoms bonding together. How small an atom is needed.

You may understand where I'm going now. Small things can cause big things to happen. Actually, big things are always a combination of very little things. In James 3:5, it says "How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!" And it's true. A forest fire doesn't usually begin with someone running through the woods with a flame thrower, but a group of innocent campers who forget to douse the campfire. There is a pattern of big things coming out of the little things. And that doesn't seem important, but it is.

I am currently reading "The Power of Prayer" by R.A. Torrey. He makes the point that, excepting the study of the Bible, that prayer influences our world like nothing else. He says "Your growth and mine into the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be in exact proportion to the time and to the heart we put into prayer." We think we know prayer. But in essence, we don't. Prayer is somewhat more than "saying grace", or praying once a week for Grandma who's in the hospital.  It's more than kneeling down for 15 minutes every day. It's more than scrunching your face, hoping God will answer your prayers.

A little more of R.A. Torrey's book, who speaks of John Welsh, the son-in-law of famous reformer John Knox. John Welsh counted his day a waste if he did not spend at least seven or eight hours of the day in prayer. "Hold it!" You cry. "Don't tell me I have to pray for seven hours every day! I have school! I have sports! And chores! There's no way!" Yes, I agree. And Torrey makes a point of that. But what he said after that astonished me. "I do not suppose that God has called many of us, if any of us, to put seven or eight hours a day into prayer, but I am confident God has called most of us, if not every one of us, to put more time into prayer than we do now."


The only reason that a rational person would decide that prayer wasn't important enough to devote a considerable amount of time to it is a person who doesn't know what it does. It's like a person who decides they'll walk from their home in Oregon to their vacation in Florida-not because they can't afford a plane, or because they don't know about planes, not even because they haven't been in a plane, but because they have no idea that airplanes go to Florida. Let me share with you some verses on the power of prayer. Please read them carefully and digest their meanings.


And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13 ESV)

   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, (Ephesians 3:20 ESV)

   Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16 ESV)

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:5 ESV)

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:13-16 ESV)

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. (1 John 3:21-22 ESV)

And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:15 ESV)

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” (Matthew 21:22 ESV)

You do not have, because you do not ask. (James 4:2 ESV)





Prayer is beautiful, and it works with great power, if it is used well. Although there are many passages in Scripture that outline many different things for accomplished prayer, there are several main ones:

1. Ask
You do not have, because you do not ask. (James 4:2 ESV)

It seems too simple, but in truth it is such a problem. We see prayer, we like prayer, but we don't even bother! Our problem is not that we don't pray the right way, but that we don't pray at all! I'd recommend the first thing to do is to set-apart time for prayer. Not enough time? Get up an hour earlier. Drop FaceBook or phone calls or texting. Put away the video games. Don't go gossip with your friends. Prayer is so much more important than almost anything else in this world-and we have to act like it. And He will answer! What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13 ESV).

2. Ask for the Right Things

   You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (James 4:3 ESV)

As I said, the verse preceding this one presents the dilemma of most Christians: "You do not have, because you do not ask." But then it goes on to this verse, which explains why asking still won't work. You won't receive if your prayers are either for you, your own glory, your selfish ambition, your desires, your goals, your agenda, your wants, or for someone else's glory, selfish ambition, self centered desires, goals, agenda, or wants. But only things that are for God's glory, ambition, desires, and agenda. Now, if your friend is planning on going to college and needs the money, you can pray for that! As long as you are not praying for a pursuit that is against God's plans and commands.

3. Ask in Faith
And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” (Matthew 21:22 ESV)
Wow! What an uplifting verse! "Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive!" And then comes the hard part. If you have faith.

It's easy-really easy, to have faith that God can answer your prayer. (Although at times, we even doubt that!) We know that nothing is out of His control. But we rarely believe that He will answer our prayers. I'd recommend searching the Scriptures for stories about God's answering the prayers and cries of His people, as well as just taking time to dwell on His loving nature. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:15 ESV)  This shows that God will answer our prayers, if they are in His agenda and we believe.

4. Follow the Righteous Way

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. (1 John 3:21-22 ESV)

"If our heart does not condemn us..." The statement is hard to understand out of context with the short book of 1 John. 1 John's message is entirely about sin. Overcoming sin, Christ's forgiveness of our sins, and most importantly, freedom from our sins. I don't believe that it's impossible to be righteous-neither do I believe that complete perfection is attainable, or that we can eliminate all sin from our lives. But we can eliminate habitual sins from our lives. 1 John says very clearly that Christians who know of their habitual sins and continue to let them linger and gain control are not really followers of Christ! But that's another blog post. Often what is hindering our prayer lives are sin. Whether it's a sin that we know of and aren't taking care of, or perhaps one that we have hidden inside and have not yet brought to God. Whatever it is, I'd recommend doing some soul searching-sitting down with a pen and paper, and asking God to bring up all the sins to mind you can think of, writing them down and asking God to clear them out one by one. ((GIRLS: I would highly recommend Leslie Ludy's "Cleaning the Sanctuary" material available HERE: http://www.setapartgirl.com/innersanctuary_files/Cleaning-the-Sanctuary.pdf)

5. Continue to Ask
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16 ESV)

If we have confidence, we can know He will answer us. Too often, however, we pray only once-or maybe twice, maybe we pray for a month, or a year, or several years, and no answer comes. However, even then it is not time to give up. We must press on, until either our prayer is answered (or not answered) or we die. We must press on.

**Sometimes things we ask for, even if they are not out of a self-centered heart, or asked many times in faith out of a pure heart, are not His will. Therefore, not every prayer may be answered. But He is faithful to assure us that if a prayer goes unanswered, it just means that He has something better planned.**

And here is the verse that just about sums all of these up:

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:13-16 ESV).


I'd recommend committing it to memory.


God bless you in this area of your life.







Thursday, May 3, 2012

Show No Partiality

I am currently memorizing the book of James, and the beginning of chapter 2 caught my notice. It's a rather long passage, but bear with me. It says this:

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
(James 2:1-9 ESV)


James is reminding the church to treat all people as equals as they are in God's eyes-not to judge by personal status, wealth, or appearance. It's so easy to say that we don't have this problem, but can we truly say that?

Imagine that next Sunday you're standing in your church's sanctuary waiting for church to start, when there is a stir near the door. Pressing on through the crowd of excited people, you get to the front to see Taylor Swift. Or Chuck Norris. Or TobyMac. Or someone else famous who you know. Imagine this. What would you naturally do? Maybe get a picture with this person, or ask for their autograph...and make sure the picture was on your FaceBook profile.

Now let's add to our imagination Ben. Ben really isn't a good Christian, but recently he had a tract handed to him on the street. Ben lives in a dilapidated house on the other side of town, his clothes aren't so great, and he has a faint smell around him that is less than pleasant. He's never been interested in "religion," but the person who had given him the tract was so kind, and they had such a happy face that he decided he'd try the church down the street-which happens to be your church. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong day to come. He was entirely overshadowed by the famous person who drew the whole church as a crowd around him. Almost no one noticed him, and the ones who did only gave him a sideways glance while hurriedly shuffling in the other direction. An opportunity where soul could have been saved was lost that day, and Ben went back to his old lifestyle.

Okay, you can breathe-it's not very likely that that will happen. But it might. Now, there's a temptation to say "Look at how bad the modern church is! I'm not like that." Well, the church isn't some odd entity that works independently. The church is made up of people-including you. Now the problem may not be that a celebrity attends your church. Maybe it's that you only hang out with your friends while leaving out that one girl who's kind of shy. Maybe it's ignoring everyone around you! Or perhaps it's just never taking time to ask Mr. Smith how Mrs. Smith is doing since she's been in the hospital. We are all guilty of not caring. Can we change ourselves? Can we really show no partiality?

It says here that the ones we often show partiality to are the ones who least deserve it-how ironic! Often we only hang out with our friends-but maybe they're the "Christians" at church who are steeped in compromise. Maybe the girl in the jean jumper with the long braid down her back who serves Jesus Christ with her life is better than the friends in skinny jeans and Aeropostale shirts who drop less than subtle dirty jokes and flirt with anyone they can. Maybe we idolize the talented worship crew (or are one of them!) but we conveniently overlook that many of them only do it for social status rather than to honor God. And none of these may be true-perhaps your worship crew is devoted to Christ and your friends are all in the set-apart fellowship. But still, don't forget to extend your reach to the 4 year old boy with autism who gets no attention, the 95 year old woman who just sits with her walker next to her, or the man whose daughter has cancer. Out of your comfort zone? Good. God is probably calling you to extend your comfort zone-or leave it behind all together. You have no idea how much of a blessing it is to yourself and others when you follow God's path to treating all others as equals. Sure, it doesn't mean you have to spend as much time talking to your best friend as you do a complete stranger, it does mean that you have to learn to prioritize others besides yourself.