Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
I thought of this again several times this month already:
That piece of 1 Samuel 15:23 just ain’t complicated at all: God won’t fit in a rebel heart.
Doing church things, saying church words, dressing church clothes, thinking church thoughts — none of them make room for God in a rebel heart.
But broken repentance does. Read it all
“I’ve been there and done that,” I think to myself. “I’ve done what he’s doing and been what he is.”
But times change and needs change. As does standing. As do positions, assignments, and responsibilities. And when the time comes for me to give up long-held things like that, I want to remember again what John the Baptist said: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
I remembered it when I resigned as principal of “my” school.
I remembered it when I encouraged another friend to assume a calling that would diminish “my” role.
I hope I remember it when I’m replaced as chairman of the board I’ve “headed” for over 19 years. Read it all
I shuffled along through the dirt, water can subtly shifting my weight, water shower generously dampifying the vegetable plants. (Were they corn, beans, beets, or squash? I don’t remember and you don’t care.)
“Which is more important?” The weight of the question shifted my mind this way and that. “Pulling together. Standing for truth. Pulling together. Standing for tru…”
I concluded that if I must choose one over the other, I will choose truth.
Actually, though, I vote for standing together on truth so we can truly pull together. If we don’t stand on truth, we will slip and slide while trying to pull together. You just can’t pull well when you aren’t on solid footing. I would even argue that you can’t pull safely in such a circumstance. Read it all
Remorse which does not lead to repentance becomes its fatal substitute. Read it all
I read a gutsy article earlier this morning about modesty alongside a proclamation of Jesus.
I say “gutsy” because I imagine La Shawn Barber has already reaped plenty of scorn and condemnation for it. (Hopefully, some praise and commendation as well.)
Here are some bits from her piece as posted over at World Magazine:
As we entered the park, I noticed a large group of people wearing matching “Team Jesus” T-shirts.
I watched these teenage girls with “Team Jesus” displayed across their chests and wondered why their parents, particularly their fathers, allowed them to leave the house in such tiny shorts and made-up faces.
I observed the girls out of curiosity, knowing that some of the men standing in line observed them for other reasons.
Plus, as Paul writes in Titus, older women “are to teach what is good, and so train the young women…to be self-controlled, pure,” which will not only help discourage lust, but also encourage the wearer to seek holiness.
So even though women and teenage girls can show little or no flesh and still be the object of lust, Christian women should do their part, even in this age of political correctness, to deter sin by dressing modestly and encouraging their younger sisters in Christ to do likewise.
Generally, I can’t figure out people wearing billboards, especially when they’re just providing free advertising for some clothing line. (If Nike would pay me to wear their swoosh, but when I’m expected to pay them to wear their ad at not cost to them…)
Of course, I don’t think it best for Christian women to wear T-shirts. And if consistency requires that Christian men not wear them either, I can live with that.
I thought you should know.
It’s not just chickens coming home to roost.
Believer, the scornful unbeliever watches you, too:
Andée Seu Peterson @WORLD_mag — "But sometimes we Christians have to own up to our bad press and think about it."
— Mark Roth (@anabaptist) June 29, 2012
