exceptional..or typical?

Murica                                                                                                                                    


   Exceptionalism is a buzzword that goes round and round in the media. Are we an exceptional nation? After all, God has allowed us so much influence, power, and wealth. Beware of idolatry and cynicism both.  I really liked Doug Wilson’s balanced approach on this. Enjoy:

http://www.dougwils.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7431:splashed-around-in-the-village-pond-for-a-bit&catid=106:americanitas

If you're clean, don't forget your feet

“Peter said to him, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.’” John 13:8-10

Wow, what an amazing passage. I love reading anything Peter says because I feel his pain. He’s always trying so hard, and Jesus usually comes down pretty hard on him. But thankfully it is always for a purpose- to correct and restore him to faith.

This is actually really encouraging. I read the last part several times and eventually consulted a commentary. The Ryrie commentary I believe came through on this one:

“Just as in the natural life a man who has bathed needs only to wash the dust off his sandaled feet when he returns home, so in the spiritual life a man who has been cleansed from sin need not think all is lost when he sins in his walk through life. He need only confess these sins to be entirely clean again.”

Here is to being completely clean yet needing Jesus to wash my feet every day. God give me the strength to keep walking…can hardly wait for the day when there is no more dirt in the streets, no more grimy, disgusting feet to clean off.

Strange Superstar

I just saw today that Tim Tebow just came out with a book. It’s called “Through My Eyes,” mostly an auto-biographical sketch of his life and perspective. Don’t know when or if I will pick it up to read. I have just got several other books fresh from Amazon – an effort to encourage a habit I have always wanted (don’t know if it’s going to work). ‘That Hideous Strength’ and ‘Intellectuals and Society’ are two of those. Hopefully I will get the chance to read “Through my eyes”. Anyway, the release of the book reminded me of a few of his tremendous college football accomplishments (not to the exclusion of potential NFL accomplishments to come). I also reflected a bit on some of the cultural phenomenons that accompanied that career.

In my college memories (3 long years ago), no single athlete ignited college dudes’ heated conversations and unsolicited opinions like Tebow. The most common irritant - the perception of an over zealous Tebow-love and worship by the sports media certainly has some merit. The elite sportscasters adored him in those dynasty years at Florida. Thom Brennaman, announcing the 2009 BCS championship game, famously commented "if you're fortunate enough to spend five minutes or 20 minutes around Tim Tebow, your life is better for it.” After Tebow received an unsportsmanlike for performing the “gator chomp” in the face of OU outside linebacker Nic Harris, Brennaman joked that it “that might be the first thing he's ever done wrong.” Incidentally Tebow and the Gators went on to win the ‘09 championship.

More than that, I just remember a good deal of cynicism directed at him personally. When push comes to shove, there are a lot of people that recoil when they come to the realization that someone else’s life poses a threat to their worldview. In a recent interview on the ‘Daily Show,’ comic John Stewart exemplified this well. After they discussed some of his background as a missionary kid, football career, among other things, Stewart said:

“Wow. You seem like a real (expletive)!”

“I mean, but that’s how I try to come across.”- Tebow replied.

Of course, John Stewart is just one to have fun. But in the end that does pretty much sum up a common perception of Tebow. For a guy who wears John 3:16 on the eye black (seen by 93 million), goes to serve in other countries, and does pro-life commercials, the thing that makes the culture most uncomfortable about doing those things is that he seems happy doing them and that even as the money and fame increase, Jesus does not seem to become an inconvenience over time.

Many people would question writing an autobiography at age 23. In his defense.. if he waits too long, I think eventually not as many people will care, because let’s be honest – he’s just not an NFL style quarterback. Haha.

Joy Killing Sins: Self-Pity, Self-Exaltation

There’s only one person worse than the success driven, self exalting fool . It is the fool with just as much pride- only for his failures- the self-pitying fool.

Both have unique character traits, although with much in common. The first person tends to think more highly of himself than actually matches up with reality, although often it works in his favor. He is able to achieve a lot via confidence and hard work. However, at work, he is overbearing and impatient. Highly successful or disciplined, he recognizes that time is money, and people are either an asset or an impediment to acquiring mass quantities of both. He certainly does love his wife and children, at least to an extent. The problems arise only when they interfere with a game watching, hobby practicing, health maintaining, comfort-pursuing lifestyle. He tends to be more pleased with his successful kids. Dropped fly balls and bad report cards do not help the family legacy. He has subtle ways, and not so subtle ways to communicate these concerns. His wife and kids are similar to his co-workers/employees- on a certain level he cares about them all, devoting more effort to the ones who have more potential. Keep in mind...he’s not an all bad guy, he is extremely productive and passionate about his profession and sports team. He knows when to say the right things in social settings- and that overall acheivement is not as important as being a good person.  In his mind, he is a good person. It’s really impossible to understand his wife’s discontentment, particularly because he is an excellent provider.

Selfishness Lurking

Unlike self-exalting fool, self pitying fool has a couple extremely useful weapons:  false humility and cynicism.  Frankly, they make him even more sinister than self-exalting fool. At least with self-exalting fool you know what you’re getting into. By all accounts, self pitying fool is modest, nice, and a non -confrontational sort of person.  Yet self pitying fool does not take much of a leadership role at home. He believes his wife is better with that sort of thing. He is emotionally disconnected most of the time, and is constantly capitulating in order to avoid conflict, which frustrates his wife even further. He says things like, “Well it’s just who I am” and “you knew that when you married me.” Dealing with depression from his lack of achievement and other qualities, he attributes much of who he is today to his self exalting fool of a father and never measuring up to Dad. The trouble is, ‘Dad’ is not nearly as bad as this dud of a son makes him out to be. Occasionally self pitying fool is able to view himself as something other than his father’s ‘other son,’ only to fail to measure up to his own standards. You really never know when self pitying fool is going to give up, quit, or not show up. That’s what makes him worse, if only slightly, from self exalting fool. Not only does he have the same discontentment, he doesn’t even get the benefit of all the disciplined, hard work.

A Great Redemption

So let’s be straight. It’s hard to label people either as one fool or the other.  Particularly if you see traits from both fools in your own life. Ultimately, all that’s left is a gnawing sense that neither one is really worth the air they breathe. They would be better off dead. So what option we are left with?

They can die

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter 2:20, he says,

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

The gospel is really the answer to so many problems. Through faith in the One who paid the penalty, Jesus, these fools can also be put to death. This is really important. So often we are told, or live under the impression that Jesus died so that we can live- that we can have eternal life. This is partially true. But it is a danger if we forget something vital – he died, suffered a brutal death, so we also might die- all the fleshly passions, seflish desires, and sin.

Paul further explains, in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

So anyway, this is great news. 

I was there dude!

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

(2 Peter 1:16-18)

If you are skeptic by nature, and a Christian, the veracity and historicity of the Scriptures are of unparalleled importance. Everything hinges on the gospels. Did God really become flesh? Did he cast out demons? Did he really feed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish?

 In his 2^nd epistle, Peter “the rock” apostle makes a pretty simple argument: You can’t make this stuff up.

Booming voice coming down from heaven? Yeah, I was there. I saw all of it. It really did all go down just like Matthew, Mark, and the boys recorded it. Also, at this point, I imagine Peter mulling a few memories with a bit of inner embarassment …

Remember the ear-chopping incident? Remember anything about me denying Jesus 3 times? Not the highlight of my week. Oh yeah, He also called me SATAN. Just in case you had any doubts about the whole story (and I know you do) don’t you think I probably would try to make a few edits to the cleverly devised end product? Just so, ya know, so I didn’t come across like a big jack wagon ?!

Happy thanksgiving (slightly morbid)

^“Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?” Ecclesiastes 3:21-22

I recently heard of an old man, a deathly ill believer, that for whatever reason it might have been, was not ready to die. On his deathbed he layed unappreciative and frightened at the thought of his own death. Awful. Actually, I couldn’t think of anything more awful than that…to have lived a life full of both spiritual and material blessing, and when the end comes, in your heart of hearts you simply can’t stomach the end. After all, who does he think he is? Fill in the blank with judgemental thoughts…

Then I remembered something, that mere months ago, I got a taste of my own mortality.  Sitting at my desk at work, I felt my heartbeat increase rapidly, a wave of stress in my chest, and noticed my eyesight go blurry for a moment. After a co-worker took me to a nearby clinic, they performed a basic EKG and found no issues. In the aftermath, as I spoke to family and friends, I tried to evaluate my own reaction and mindset. Perhaps God brought that to my attention, as I later listened to this story of the old man, and I remembered distinctly how much I disliked the sensation of losing control – succumbing to something which I have so often denied in song, “…no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.”

The truth is, in so far as a man experiences sadness, fear, and loss, Jesus did to the nth degree. As he prayed upon the Mount of Olives, tears of blood spoke to an uneasy, anxious, and grieved God. There was not anything happy about the cross for Him. Jesus had friends, supporters, family as well. He had a mother that loved him, a brother, a best friend, and he could perform miracles! It’s safe to say he would have rather not died :

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:39

It seems to me that an old man who is weak in his death, or a young man full of guilt in his life, has an advocate – He who lived a guiltless life and then died. For then we also might die and then live, abundantly!

If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:12-13

At this point there is wisdom to be gained from the rest of Scripture. Ecclesiastes has a lot of it, I particularly like the above verse. Simple, easy to understand. Is there anything better than for man to enjoy his work? I do enjoy working. Maybe, in this life, a deeper joy comes in knowing there’s nothing else better for me.

Savers are Losers

Of course, not totally. In fact, everyone knows prudence dictates 6 mo - 1 year worth of cash in the bank as an emergency fund.  But if haven’t noticed - Ben Bernanke doesn’t care about your savings, and has made every effort to reinforce this by introducing QE2 – the 2^nd and quite audacious Federal Reserve quantitative easing program.

Simply put, Ben believes that he can arouse the American economy by using monetary policy – the  buying of $600,000,000,000 in US Treasury bonds on the open market. He hopes the banks will lend this money to industry in order to create jobs. Unfortunately, Wall Street has become adept at taking the cash and handing it right back to the US Treasury at a bit higher interest rate. In other words, banks that would have failed without your tax dollars now can borrow money for free from our glorious central bank, provide zero capital to business, all the while rejoicing over new financial regulations that will create barriers to entry and force out smaller competitors. (They are smarter than you BTW)

It’s kind of like VISA or Mastercard Ok’ing your credit card payments with the Monopoly money you found in the hallway closet. The problem is, every dollar of Monopoly money you use makes everyone else’s  REAL money less real and more like monopoly money.

As it turns out China has the most real money out there.  Whats more is they didn’t acquire it by perpetually taking out more credit cards. They built factories, power plants, cars, staplers, tools, and barbie dolls and traded all that stuff to us for OUR money. Ironically, the more of OUR money that gets supplied by Monopoly money the more expensive the stuff they make gets, and the less valuable OUR money becomes. Therefore they would much rather keep their valuable products than receive  our worthless Monopoly money!

Long story short,don’t be left holding monopoly dollars when China no longer wants them. Trade them in now for useful products, cash flow producing assets, or inflation hedges like gold or silver. Cmon! Everybody is doing it.