dealing with temptation

            Here in Luke 4:1-13, we read the classic story of Jesus’ temptation in the dessert after his baptism. Luke writes that the Holy Spirit leads him into the wilderness and then sustains him there for forty days while he didn’t eat anything.

            So, in setting up the scene, we just get done seeing Jesus baptized and the Holy Spirit descending on him. The story picks up in verse one as Jesus heads away from the Jordan River and into the wilderness by the direction of the Holy Spirit which has just come upon him. Luke jumps right into the meat of the action as Satan appears to Jesus in his hunger and tries to convince him to change a stone into a loaf of bread. Jesus, despite his hunger, says no and cites Old Testament scripture that speaks about the Israelites wandering in the dessert after their exodus from Egypt. In the scripture cited, the author is talking about how God sustained the Israelites by his own power and not by physical bread; this is what Jesus intends to do in his wilderness experience. Satan then tries to tempt Jesus’ humanity with power and respect, offering him all the kingdoms of the world and says “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them…because they are mine to give…if you will worship me.” (v.6-7). Jesus does not refute Satan’s claim of ownership, but instead cites another verse in Deuteronomy prohibiting the worship of any other gods for fear of the true God wiping the blasphemer from the face of the Earth. Lastly, Satan does something drastic and takes Jesus to the highest point of the Temple and dares him to jump and then uses Psalms 91 out of context and says that God will send angels to save him if he jumps. Jesus once again turns to Deuteronomy where it says “you must not test the Lord your God” (v. 12). This verse in the Old Testament refers to the Israelites complaining about their affliction at Massah. The devil then leaves Jesus.

            In this passage we gain several lessons from Jesus in how to deal with extreme temptation making this scripture extremely important for our Christian day-to-day life. First we see how Jesus, even under extreme circumstances, holds his faith in God and obedience to scripture above his own desires. Jesus was every bit as much human as any of us; because of this, his hunger was real, his desire for power and recognition was real and his longing to be glorified was real. He abstains from food so as not to negate the reason he is out in the wilderness by selfishly abusing his supreme power. He then refuses to take the glory of a king above all earthly kings, regardless of how appealing that is to his ego, because the price is too high; namely, worshiping someone other than the true God. In Satan’s last recorded attempt at thwarting Jesus’ righteousness, he dares him to test to see if God is really there. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but Jesus reveals it for the sin that it is. God demands faith and obedience from us and Jesus points that out by citing the verse prohibiting testing God’s faithfulness. This passage also gives us other small insights such as Satan’s ownership of the kingdoms of the world, but the overarching theme in this story is Jesus demonstrating resistance to temptation by way of following the scriptures and staying loyal to God.

            We can apply this to our lives as a template for acting under the pressure of temptation. Jesus leaned on scripture for a route to take when his own flesh told him to do what was wrong. In the same way, when we’re under pressure to do the questionable, we can turn to scripture for black and white direction. As humans, we don’t think clearly when we’re in pressurized situations so we need those instructions in order to stay faithful to God.

            As I read this scripture, I am caught up in the supernatural situations such as Satan showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in an instant and Satan zipping Jesus to the top of the Temple which was far from where he was. To me this gives testament to Satan’s power, but also the power of scripture in refuting the illusions of temptation. Sin only has as much power as we allow and Jesus shows us by his actions that, with scripture in hand, head and heart, we don’t have to give sin any power.

be a Mirror not a Blanket

I've wrestled with this topic in the past and it reminds me of a science class i had that explained how light particles work. the short version is this: if they hit a mirror, they will bounce and head somewhere else, but if they hit a fabric, they get absorbed. As Christians, it is our job to be mirrors, not fabric for the light of Christ.

           

            Here in Mark 10:35-45, we get to catch a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God is like in a negative sense. Jesus takes the time to explain to his bumbling companions how unlike a man-run world God’s kingdom is.

            At the beginning of this passage, Jesus is approached by James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They pose a seemingly innocent request with huge implications. They ask Jesus to save them a seat in God’s kingdom on his right and his left for them. This seems a little audacious to me as well as to the other disciples when they heard this in verse 41. Jesus, however, receives their request gracefully as a parent receives the request of a 5 year old to drive the family car. He acknowledges their ignorance and says “you don’t know what you’re asking. Are you willing to do what I have to do?” Now, Jesus knew what “cup” it was he was going to have to drink and that it would be supernaturally difficult, but the brothers had no idea, so naturally, they emphatically said “yes!” Jesus seems to consider here in verse 39 because he then says “you will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering.” I’m guessing he is referring to the persecution they would endure after his resurrection and ascension.  Finally, Jesus explains that in the Kingdom of God, it is to be different. That, if one wants to be the first among his brothers, he must assume the role of a servant because that is actually what Jesus did when he came to earth. I think all Christians will agree that Jesus is, in every way, number one in God’s kingdom and he did in fact do the most slavish thing: death for the sins of the unworthy world.

            This passage is important to Christian discipleship because it is the core of how Christians are to interact with our world. With non-believers, we are called upon to be servants to people who don’t deserve it and probably won’t acknowledge the sacrifice we might have to make for their benefit. It is our job to become servants in this physical life and by doing such, become greater in the Kingdom of God. This passage also speaks on how we are to interact with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus knew the other disciples were indignant because of James and John’s request so he acted quickly to cut off any dissention among his followers. He shows them that the goal isn’t to become the greatest by men’s standard, but to strive to be greater by God’s standard by way of becoming lowly by men’s standard. He basically says that it’s not worth arguing and fighting among yourselves for the top spot because the only way you’ll get that top spot is by assuming the lowest spot in your day to day lives.

            While this seems absolutely against our nature, Jesus’ lesson here applies directly to our lives. So many times we want to out-shine others at our work places, schools and in our social arenas by making ourselves look better; by trying to take that “right hand seat”.  Nevertheless, Jesus says that if you really want to be great in the eyes of the one person that ultimately matters, you have got to put yourself last in your social life. Servant-hood is not something that comes naturally to humans. We are hard wired for survival and getting an edge on everyone around us. Even the most passive people I know have some facet of their life that they are secretly competitive in. It’s in our human, sin-nature. But God calls his followers to act in their new, redeemed nature and let go of our fleshly yearning for glory and instead submit ourselves to others in order to gain true glory through being more like Jesus.

            My initial reaction to this passage was indignation along with the other disciples, but the more I mulled it over, the more I identified areas in my life that I try to outshine others for selfish reasons. This scripture is definitely a daily challenge to me to remain humble and check the reasons I do what I do at work, with my family and in my social life. God can only be glorified through us if we’re not taking the glory for ourselves.

Peace,

The Dread

Matthew 20:1-16

ok, so i have to analyse some scripture for a class i'm taking and i thought it would be good fodder to share. enjoy!

           

            Looking here at Matthew 20:1-16 shows us a strange parable told by Jesus about a vineyard owner and a day of service under him. This passage is a metaphor for how God works and what is within his rights as God above all.

            The parable goes something along the lines of this: There is this vineyard owner who hires his help by the day. One morning he sets out to find workers for the day and finds some in the city. He tells them that he’ll pay a full day’s wages to come work for the whole day. They agree and go to work. 3 more times, noon, three o’clock and five o’clock, the owner does the same thing and tells them that he will pay them whatever is appropriate at the end of the day. When the day’s work is over, all the workers are called by the foreman to be paid. The owner pays the last-hired workers first and gives them a full day’s pay. He then works his way toward the men who were hired first. Against logic, however, he only pays them one days worth of pay (the same as the guys who probably only worked a few hours). Naturally, they start complaining, but the owner rebukes them and says “Isn’t it my money to pay out how I see fit? What do you care if I want to be super nice to others? I paid you what I said I would.”

            This passage is extremely important because it gives us, as followers of the Judeo-Christian God, some insight on how he operates his “vineyard” that we live and work in. Basically it tells that God is all-powerful and that everything belongs to him to do with as he pleases. Therefore, we should not be envious or feel indignant when we have worked harder than others but receive a smaller blessing than they receive. Every breath we take is a blessing and for that alone, God is doing more than he is obligated to do, so we should be content that he is holding up his end of the bargain toward us.

            This parable helps people cope in the times in life when things get hard. It reminds us to remain humble and grateful for what we have. As Americans, we tend to get spoiled and somewhere along the line, we pick up this idea that we’re owed something by someone. This is simply untrue as God is the only one deserving of anything and we are extravagantly and obscenely blessed here in America. I know I can apply this parable to my life when looking at the success of friends and coworkers and learn from it to just be happy for God’s favor on their life because they are no more and no less deserving than me.

            Upon first reading this scripture (though I’ve heard it many times), I immediately started trying to assign meaning to every character. Vineyard owner is God, foreman is Jesus when he returns and workers are God’s followers. But then I stopped myself and thought “though some of these meanings may be true, what is the point of this scripture?” Truly, I think that the point behind the parable is gratitude and humility. This is what we as readers and believers should take from this scripture.

Thanks for reading!

Peace, The Dread

Not everyone alive is living

ok, so i know you probably read this title and instantly thought "ya, i can agree with that". This is exactly why i've decided to write a blog about this topic.

we hear in pop culture all the time from every one; actor interviews, movie themes and pop songs are all obliged to put this idea out there, but i'm curious as to what message exactly they are putting out. See, secular world views like to say that most people who are alive are not living "the life." this is usually in referance to the money and fame, or in some cases the promescuity of being able to "have" (for lack of a better term) any person that one might desire whether that be romantically, sexually, or for any onther exploitation. see this view holds simply that being fully alive and living the life all consist of finding the utmost comfort, excitement or extravagence in the world. Now i know, self-righteously, we'd all like to say "thats not me. wow, those people are horrible", but don't we all do this on some level or another? i mean, growing up in our consumer driven, self-gratifying North American culture, we are simply conditioned from a very young age to seek what it is that we want to be happy. I'll be the first to say that i struggled with this for a long time and in the process hurt many people who didn't deserve it. there was a time in my life that i would have done just about anything to get famous in music. Thankfully, i never got the opportunity to start down that road because i think that i would have ended up a worse mess than i did. Money, fame and sex will be fun for a season, but cannot fullfill which is exactly why we see so many "has-beens" in culture end up in rehab, VH1 and several other life-wreck collection plates.
From a Christian perspective, it is a much brighter long term picture. This is due to the completely different basis for understanding happiness. Happiness is a passing emotion that is great, however not sustaining and can not compare to joy which is a lasting, sustaining life theme. Love in this sense is not the fleeting sex scandals, nor the over-romanticised excursions between a lead actor and his supporting lady who end up divorced in a month. it is real, raw love that is so un-bridled, it calls for sacrafice and hurt and grinding out the problems issues and mess until the end. it goes without saying that i still believe in the institution of marriage though most of our culture seems to given up on that idea. Christianity speaks to that longing for money and fame, but responds with two things: 1. Jehovah Jirah and 2. humility. as far as money goes, we are called to rely on God to be our provider. now THAT is a rush if i've ever had one: wondering how we're gonna make this month's bills happen and then getting to the end of the month and seeing that you have a little left over. God will always provide for his children. and then humility as a calling card for the christian life. this doesn't seek to glorify self, but to lift up others in community. God blesses that, because it is imitation of his son, Jesus. Christ calls us to live life abundantly, but this doesn't mean getting caught in the ebb and flow of pop culture's mission for comfort. this means being truely counter-culture and seeking the joy of living in humility and life in God's perfect will where he is your provider. we are called to love God and love his creation, specifically, people. If you really want fullfillment and lasting comfort, than be a dare devil, live on the edge and be radically different from pop culture by living the christian life.

peace,
the dread

What is love? or rather, How is love?

Hello all! I just wanted to share a little bit about the thoughts i've had this week.

This week is what is called "Builders in Ministry" week at my college (Southwestern College). Some of the lecture topics were Christ-led leadership, organizational leadership and many other themes aimed at...well, Builders in ministry. This really has gotten my brain ticking on what it means to be called into ministry as i feel i am and where does it leave me in the grand scheme of things.

First, what does it mean to be "called". I feel like the word "called" is a nice churchy term we come up with to say something extremely personal and profound that most people don't think about. That is, it is not hearing an audible voice and, no, my cell didn't ring. God didn't get on the nations fastest network and shoot me a text. To be called is to feel a distinct, unquestionable impression from The Holy Spirit as to what it is i am to use my gifts and talents for in ministry (because we're all called into ministry of one type or another). So when i sit back and evaluate those things in my life, i come up with a picture of what it is that God has blessed me with.
I want to be slightly more specific than the obvious things like living in America and attending a private Christian College and having a family and a roof over my head, food on my table and means of transportation. I want to talk about the gifts and talents that i have.
In an effort to not sound conciented, however, i will stay kinda vague...if that makes sense....specifically vague. I have done music all my life and i really feel like God has given me an unexplainable love for people. Now while these two things might be a red flag for anyone looking in on the outside (hey, you pastoral tendencies) for me, that was just not an option.
I have found when you are moderately good at anything at all, it is easy to try and steal the glory. I like how i said it in conversation with my wife: "God calls us to be mirrors of his glory; reflecting his love to the world and the peoples praise back at God as opposed to being fabric that absorbs light and only reflects a color based on its make up." this is what true christianity is. being Jesus to the world by following what he called the two greatest commandments: Love God and Love People.

i've picked up from the discussions this week that people want leaders and this world is in a sorry lack of them. Shouldn't we as the church be the ones to go out and do just that? Love on People. Now you may say "Dread, man, i just can't do that. i mean, you haven't met my co-workers!" and truely you are right: you (and i) DO NOT possess the power within ourselves to love on the unloveable which is why the first commandment has to happen before the second. One has no other option but to love God in order to discover what it is like to love someone who is absolutly unworthy of love. Namely, ourselves. Only after knowing this kind of love can one, in turn, love those that hate us. This is no small feat, but if we can start pulling the layers of fabric that cover the mirrors of our lives off, we will learn better how to reflect the love of our God.

Well, i don't feel like i went where i wanted with this, but i feel like i said what i needed to. have a great day! Love God, Love people.

Peace,
The Dread

Thaaaa Music!!!!

Ok, so i'm hi-jacking a practice room here at Southwestern College in order to write this blog which is appropriate due to the topic of this blog.
So i wanna start by sharing a little bit about me and my musical history if you will. Growing up, my dad was a member of a Tejano band..if you don't know what that is, its that mexican music you here bangin out of the trunks of 40-something year old mexicans everywhere haha..aaaanyway, this was a bizarre way to really be introduced to music since it has very little in common with what we know music as now. The other of my earliest music influences was white, protestant "contemporary" (whatever that means) Christian music. Now i appreciate both of these beginnings because, from the start, i've had an increadable diverse music background. As i went through school, i started playing drums in 5th grade and from there got exposed to traditional orchestral/band music as well as jazz and all of its cousin's.
All this said to give you an idea of how much music has been a part of my life...and now, i miss it.
i don't miss it like i never hear music anymore, but like i just don't have the time to do it as much as i wish i could. on top of that, when i do find those moments (like now for instance) i don't have anyone to jam with.
Then, i thought "how does this translate into my spiritual life?" I suppose we are, to an extent, God's music and he misses us. but we can't place the blame on him for not having time to engage..we can only look at ourselves as the ever-elusive music that God wants back. i don't know about you, but for me, when i hear amazing music, i am just blessed and i think when God hears from us, it just completly blesses his heart. so this blog doesn't have an insanely revalatory point, it is merely a note to say "Be that music!" This is how i plan on coping with my limited music time in my life. I simply choose to be God's music at every chance i get and play the ultimate jam with my life in order to glorify God. i encourage you to do the same.

Peace,
The Dread

The Loneliness of Busy

Have you ever just felt like life is just an on-going movie and someone lost the pause button? I've been thinking about this..well, not this specific analogy, but just how rushed i feel sometimes. Maybe it's just the time in my life that i'm in, or maybe its the demands i place on myself, but i found that for all the things i have on my plate (i.e. school, work, family, band commitments etc..) i find myself occasionally lonely. now this isn't the type of lonely thats like "no one loves me and my  name is Eeyor"...no this kind of lonely is the type that just hangs out in the background and makes me wish life were simpler.
I have to admit that that most, if not all, of the commitments and time demands i have are completely self-inflicted, however i wonder how i got like this.
As far back as i can remember i've always been the type of person to just stay  busy. In school i did band (drumline on top of that, which usually was more involved), choir, school plays, forensics/debate...and the list could go on and on. In college i had/have a child so i'm constantly balancing family time with school and the ever-important work. I think (and i doubt any red-blooded American would argue with) that America as a whole is so caught up in staying busy that no one looks up from what they're doing to realise that we've lost something.
Now you may be looking around the room. "i think i have my cell phone, car keys, wallet...nope! haven't lost anything". This isn't exactly what i mean. i think God intended us to have "quiet time"; a concept that seems to have disappeared shortly after pre-school. in Mathew 4 as well as several other places (garden of gathseminy and others) in the Bible, Jesus himself found it important to get away from the hectic, noisy crowed to seek solitude and quiet. Now if Jesus felt the need to get away back then when people weren't baraged with a storm of media, expectations and...well, busieness (sp?)...then, i think it's safe to say that today it is all the more important.
Jesus did this not just to have some quiet but to hear from God..his father..our father. This is something i really struggle with and as of late have been trying to do better at. you see, we are so good at doing what is known as "prayers of petition"...we ask God for things all the time (dang, lost my keys again...) this turns the creater of the universe into nothing more than (to borrow the phrase from a book i read) a cosmic vending machine; there to give you whatever you want when you want it as long as you use the right currancy (right prayer, if you will.) I believe in God wanting an authentic relationship with you and I. this means a 2 way street; he wants to hear, but he also wants to talk to us. I've personally taken upon myself as a challenge to try and spend sometime in prayer simply listening to God and i have to say its been an experience that i'd recomend to anyone and everyone. My personal struggle is not in finding the time to be quiet, but in simply letting the quiet BE quiet and accepting the fellowship with God and the self discovery therein.
To conclude, i would just say that if you're reading this, you obviously have a little time on your hands. why not let that time be used up by the one who created you in an authentic, 2-way conversation of love? and if you don't have the time right now, i'd seriously recomend finding that pause button in order to find the most fullfilling fellowship out there. more than family, more than friends. Find God.

Peace,
The Dread