NowTHINK!AboutIt

Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

What Does “Purpose In Your Heart” Mean?

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Purposeful giving is cerebral, not emotional.

“To give or not to give”
Is NOT The Question

Every Christian knows that “giving” is what we do. No one questions it. It is automatic. Even new Christians, not yet schooled in the art of giving, have a nagging sense of responsibility to give. When urged to do so they give without hesitation, in most cases. This means, of course, that “Giving” or “Not Giving” is not the question.

The real question is “how much should one give and how regularly?”

Or to put it another way, how does one determine how much they should personally give? Is there biblical instruction, a rule of thumb to follow, or a general principle to apply?

Most of the responses to that question fall into one of two categories: Tithing or Grace Giving.

Tithing is contributing 10% of your net income (some say gross) to God’s purposes. That statement isn’t exactly clear. There are still questions to answer but the Grace concept is a little less definitive. I’ll share more just now.

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Unfortunately, the discussion between the adherents of these two schools is often frictious. Not always but often and that isn’t strange. Money is a sensitive issue so we shouldn’t be surprised when people get lathered during discussions on right and wrong ways to manage it. For the record, just so you know, I’m not trying to start a fight here. [Read more…] about What Does “Purpose In Your Heart” Mean?

Inch By Inch Life’s A Cinch

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Routine Is Not The Same As Success

Not All Inches Are Equal
Variety More Important
Than Number

Basically there are three kinds of people: routinely organized, obsessively organized and sufficiently organized. The differences are:

The Routinely Organized person can give you a list of things they will do on any given day.

They start each day with the list in hand. During the course of the day they will accomplish all or most of the things on their list. At the end of each day they will make another list for the next day. This person is comfortable with habit.

My grandmother was this kind of person. She made many hamburgers during the course of her life using her special recipe and every one tasted exactly the same. They were amazingly delicious like everything else she cooked.

The Obsessively Organized person can give you a list and a timetable for every item on the list.

They can tell you when each item will or should begin and they can give you an end time as well. They also have a contingency plan should things not go as expected. This person loves reaching short term goals.

The Sufficiently Organized person may or may not have a list each day.

This person takes the long view not the list view so the day to day grind bores them. Living in the moment – the opposite of routine – characterizes their life. They easily over schedule and over commit but contrary to popular opinion this persons knows there is an ultimate reason for everything and can eventually achieve significance.

All three approaches are important because each one represents a different kind of inch: routine, project and ultimate purpose. None alone is sufficient. It is true that routine is the bedrock of success but you need more than a bedrock to succeed.

What you do in any one day doesn’t represent a life purpose and you can’t always “goal” your way into that purpose. The many common things we routinely do are good examples: eat, sleep, brush teeth, bath, tend the garden, go to work, pay the bills, etc.

Those things give us a sense of personal control and continuity but none of them are all important.

What about cultures where people don’t brush their teeth. Would they gauge individual significance on how many teeth you have left or how many false ones you can afford at the end of life? To them a full set of teeth would seem weird. Fortunately, meaningful living is possible even for people who gum their food. That’s good because brushing your teeth regularly is no guarantee you won’t lose your teeth anyway.

All of that is to say that ultimate success isn’t determined by numbing routine or an endless list of goals achieved and there are many proofs of this in the Bible. Biblical characters with the most impact aren’t easy to emulate. There was nothing routine or repeatable in their path to significance as the following examples will show. [Read more…] about Inch By Inch Life’s A Cinch

Carl Trueman On Bell’s Reference to Luther

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Bell and Luther agree

Blasphemer No,
Mischievous Yes

I recently came across an article questioning one particular historical statement which Rob Bell made in his book, Love Wins.

The article was written by Carl Trueman and the offending statement is a quote from Martin Luther, which Carl says is taken out of context.

The accusation: Rob is using Luther’s remark to suggest theological ideas which Luther’s context does not entertain or allow. To use Carl’s words…

It is illegitimate to take a small quotation from a single letter and use it to extrapolate to a person’s general theology.

Carl does admit that taking remarks out of context is not an error of grave proportions and he refers to Rob as mischievous not malicious but that begs the question. If he really thinks that, then why would a notable figure such as he give public attention to a trivial issue?

Before I say more you need to know something about Carl. He is a highly qualified individual to be sure. In fact, it is his educational and professional “context” that give us pause. Why would such a highly qualified individual question Rob on an historical issue when the whole world is livid over Rob’s theology? Although qualified to do so, Carl mentions no particular theological topics and humbly bows out deferring to others:

Now, I do not wish to comment on the theology of Bell’s book. Others will no doubt do so with much greater competence and insight than I could ever muster.

False humility? Possibly.

Make no mistake about it, Carl is well informed theologically. If he wanted to speak to these issues he is more than able and since theology is the problem it makes one wonder. There may be motives behind the motive.

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Before he actually makes an argument about Rob’s contextual misstep he plainly says:

My interest…is historical and concerns a specific claim he makes relative to the thought of Martin Luther.

I’m not convinced. Read on and you will see that Rob’s remark was not misleading, did not misrepresent Luther’s belief and it didn’t ignore the elephant in the room which Carl’s criticism almost hypocritically does do.

Here’s the scoop on Carl. [Read more…] about Carl Trueman On Bell’s Reference to Luther

Jesus Death: Ugly And Beautiful At Once

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Everything God Does Says
I Love You

Some portions of Scripture are very pleasant to read and very popular.

Who doesn’t like Psalm 23. Even nonreligious people enjoy reading this passage and many can repeat it from memory.

We love to talk about God’s grace and the song “Amazing Grace” is still one of the most popular songs in the world.

We love to talk about the nativity. Pictures have been painted, scenes have been constructed and theatrical productions have been organized all of which depict the beautiful story of Jesus’ birth.

But there are other portions of Scripture we don’t enjoy so much. The last few chapters of each Gospel tell us about the death of Jesus and the reports don’t make very pleasant reading.

When Jesus died it was visually very ugly. His accusers were unfair, unreasonable and manipulative. His executioners were aggressive, violent, abusive and cruel and the Gospel writers recorded all of it in great detail.

The amount of time covered from His arrest to His death was at least fifteen hours, possibly longer, and the humiliation Jesus endured during that time was unspeakable. He was lied about, spit on, whipped, mocked with a crown of thorns and beaten so badly He couldn’t be recognized (Isaiah 52:14). Even His disciples forsook Him.

And because He knew what was coming, just before His arrest He agonized in prayer.

Most people, preferring romance or mystery to gore, shy away from this type of reading. But when it comes to the death of Jesus we should take another look. [Read more…] about Jesus Death: Ugly And Beautiful At Once

Unrestricted Choice? Don’t Kid Yourself!

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Choosing Not To Choose
Is A Choice

“Choice” has been relevant to every person in every era and is part of everyone’s daily life. You can’t get out of bed in the morning without making choices.

Life’s pathway is not pre-scripted. Moving from start to finish involves many electives and the ultimate outcome for each person is the sum of those choices.

Unfortunately, choice-making isn’t fun and games. The difficulties associated with the exercise was illustrated best in Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” speech and every major philosopher has added their two cents as well. Clever sayings abound.

Choices are the hinges of destiny.

Attributed to both Edwin Markham and Pythagoras

Hindsight is 20/20

Author unknown.

And choices come in all shapes and sizes: easy, obvious, hard, intentional, blind, well thought out and so on.

You really can’t escape it. You can ignore the issue but that requires a choice, a poor one. You can choose to rely on “chance” or live “under” the circumstances but that is like choosing not to choose.

“Choice” is an essential part of human nature and history shows that it cannot be bound. Humans go places, do things, learn through experience, expand their understanding, overcome obstacles and become qualified, and all of this growth is fueled by choice. One way or another humans will exercise their abilities to choose.

Unquestioned Authority Opposed

“Choice” is the reason the Protestant Reformation came about. People refused to accept what they were told without explanation or obey bastions of authority unquestioningly. Trading our ability to reason for blind compliance is a choice human nature doesn’t easily swallow.

During the reformation the idea that authority was right simply because it was authority was rejected. Society came to realize that no one has the right to think, believe or understand for the rest of us and they chose to protest.

Tradition Rejected

The Modernist and Post Modern eras began in the mid 19th century and are characterized by the tendency to question traditional ideas in every form: religion, politics, art, and on every level. No ideas are considered sacred.

The individual became more significant and personal taste, feelings, perspectives or inclinations became dominant factors in the choices we made. The democratic approach in the extreme.

“Individualism,” the ultra antithesis of tradition, does more than just question tradition. It endorses and encourages unbounded free thinking. Now we attempt to move the boundaries to accommodate whatever choices a person happens to make.

The fixed values of tradition are no longer accepted only because “it has always been done that way.” Everything is subject to individual inspection.

The Question

But the question is: just because authority and tradition are no longer seen as guiding lights must all the choices they recommend also be recategorized?

Because authority figures couldn’t give reasonable explanations or didn’t allow for individual tastes does that mean the choices they recommended were wrong?

Should we throw out recommended choices or would it be better to vigorously investigate the reasons behind these choices? [Read more…] about Unrestricted Choice? Don’t Kid Yourself!