Failed attempts at holiness
My righteous deeds are filth
I put on masks to hide my shame
But in my heart I know
There's no deceiving
One who sees all
There's no hiding
So why not be free?
Wash me, cleanse me
I'm sick of death in my life
You can have me
Even the parts that I hide
Wearied exile
I don’t think I can keep on
I long for the place
Where sin will be rid of it’s power
You lived a life to cover mine
Before time began
You purposed in your heart to die
And pay for all my sin
There's no deceiving
One who sees all
There's no hiding
So why not be free?
Wash me, cleanse me
I'm sick of death in my life
You can have me
Even the parts that I hide
Wearied exile
I don’t think I can keep on
I long for the place
Where sin will be rid of it’s power
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Renegades at Heart
These are the lyrics to a song I recently wrote. It is a pretty extreme way of depicting how sin dwells deep inside of us and how none of us are far from becoming what we hate. Enjoy :)
RENEGADES AT HEART
I know the way you look at them girls
Just one more night of fun till their blood is on your hands
And you split out of the town
And ride until you've hit the next one
You ride through the night and the dawn comes too soon
You saw me sitting there outside the saloon
And you knew that you found trouble
When you saw my horse was white cuz your's was black
Yes, I'm sheriff of these parts
And you're a dead, you're a dead, dead man
Won't you step in through my doors
And I will give you just one chance
'Fore you're dead
And we'll see who drinks the most
And sticks the other one more fast
Watch my flash
I know your kind and you're all sick, sick dogs
Your pride swells like your chest and that's saying a lot
Cuz you're a big man and that alcohol
Treats you like you're only 30 pounds
Blink your eyes, you're slower than molasses. BANG!!!
You're dead, I see those girls, we do our thing
And I'm drunk out of my mind and see
The girls lying dead the next morn'
What a surprising thing:
The renegade I killed I've become
Won't you step in through my doors
And I will give you just one chance
'Fore you're dead
And we'll see who drinks the most
And sticks the other one more fast
Watch my flash
I'll take your horse, black like my heart
And race the setting sun
'Fore I'm dead
I'll carry on till someone next town
Sees the man I am
Oh, I'm dead
We're all plagued by the same disease.
RENEGADES AT HEART
I know the way you look at them girls
Just one more night of fun till their blood is on your hands
And you split out of the town
And ride until you've hit the next one
You ride through the night and the dawn comes too soon
You saw me sitting there outside the saloon
And you knew that you found trouble
When you saw my horse was white cuz your's was black
Yes, I'm sheriff of these parts
And you're a dead, you're a dead, dead man
Won't you step in through my doors
And I will give you just one chance
'Fore you're dead
And we'll see who drinks the most
And sticks the other one more fast
Watch my flash
I know your kind and you're all sick, sick dogs
Your pride swells like your chest and that's saying a lot
Cuz you're a big man and that alcohol
Treats you like you're only 30 pounds
Blink your eyes, you're slower than molasses. BANG!!!
You're dead, I see those girls, we do our thing
And I'm drunk out of my mind and see
The girls lying dead the next morn'
What a surprising thing:
The renegade I killed I've become
Won't you step in through my doors
And I will give you just one chance
'Fore you're dead
And we'll see who drinks the most
And sticks the other one more fast
Watch my flash
I'll take your horse, black like my heart
And race the setting sun
'Fore I'm dead
I'll carry on till someone next town
Sees the man I am
Oh, I'm dead
We're all plagued by the same disease.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Answer to Question Concerning Correction and Reproof
Question:
"The unbeliever can be the most injurious when we try to shed light into their darkness...how do we keep shedding the light while they continue to scoff?"
Answer:
Just to clarify, correction and reproof, as far as "progressive sanctification" (being made holy) goes, it's only towards the believer, not towards the unbeliever.
I think a lot of times, especially in churches in America, many conservative Christians try to enforce Christian morals on non-Christians. Churches a lot of times are more concerned with people needing to stop practicing certain sins than with people actually meeting Jesus. They will tell the sexually immoral to be sexually pure. They will tell the drunkard to stop drinking. They will tell the sluggard to get up and work. Etc. Etc. The problem with this is that even if they stop practicing these apparent sins, without faith in the life and death of Jesus Christ, they will still be going to Hell. We must understand that just because somebody fits the picture of a Christian as far as morals go, it doesn't mean they are a Christian. Christianity, we understand, works from the inside out. Jesus talks in John 3 about how in order for one to see the kingdom of God, one needs to be born again. This means that we have a new nature. The Spirit of God dwells in all those who have a saving faith in Jesus Christ. This is being born again. So the Christian has faith in Jesus, is born again, and everything else flows out from that intimacy now restored with God by our spiritual rebirth. The morals that Christianity teaches only apply to those who are actually born again. And once again, every Christian is walking with God at whatever pace the Holy Spirit is taking them, so more mature Christians can't go around pointing the finger at fellow brothers and sisters all the time because the less mature are not as "moral" as the mature are. I heard a friend give a good example of this: Let's say a father has two sons, one is 2 and the other is 10. The father obviously has different expectations for both of his sons. The father expects his 10 year old son to make his bed, but he does not ask his 2 year old to do the same. The 10 year old son asks the father, "Why don't you make my brother make his bed too?". The father says, "Because he is only 2. There are more important things he must learn before we get to making his bed, like being potty trained." So even though both sons are at different stages, they are both still sons. All Christians, regardless of where they are at in their relationship with Jesus, are children of God nonetheless.
Now the point is this: we cannot go around requiring non-Christians to fit the morals of Christianity without first becoming a Christian themselves. God will require non-Christians to give an account of their sin eventually, but that is not our job. Our job is not to correct and reprove the non-Christians morality. Our job is to point them to Jesus. We preach the gospel to them, and this is the gospel: that we are more incredibly wicked than we could ever imagine; but Jesus lived the life we SHOULD have lived (a perfect and sinless life) and he died the death that we should have died for our sins, taking them upon himself and clothing us in his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21); and now, he is alive and risen and has conquered death so that all who believe in him will be saved.
Some people will accept the gospel, and some people will not accept the gospel. We preach the gospel both in speech and also in the way we live. If unbelievers will not receive what we say, are we to continue shoving it down their throats? I don't believe so. I do not mean that we should stop preaching the gospel in word, but we do not become those annoying Christians who degrade those who do not accept it and act like they are so much better than the unbeliever for accepting it. Rather, we continue to love the non-Christian in the way we speak to them. We pray for them, asking Jesus to soften their hearts to his glorious truth. We live a life of love towards them and continue to live lives centered around the gospel. We never stop telling them the truth, but that doesn't mean we never shut our mouths.
I hope that answered the question satisfactorily. Good question :)
"The unbeliever can be the most injurious when we try to shed light into their darkness...how do we keep shedding the light while they continue to scoff?"
Answer:
Just to clarify, correction and reproof, as far as "progressive sanctification" (being made holy) goes, it's only towards the believer, not towards the unbeliever.
I think a lot of times, especially in churches in America, many conservative Christians try to enforce Christian morals on non-Christians. Churches a lot of times are more concerned with people needing to stop practicing certain sins than with people actually meeting Jesus. They will tell the sexually immoral to be sexually pure. They will tell the drunkard to stop drinking. They will tell the sluggard to get up and work. Etc. Etc. The problem with this is that even if they stop practicing these apparent sins, without faith in the life and death of Jesus Christ, they will still be going to Hell. We must understand that just because somebody fits the picture of a Christian as far as morals go, it doesn't mean they are a Christian. Christianity, we understand, works from the inside out. Jesus talks in John 3 about how in order for one to see the kingdom of God, one needs to be born again. This means that we have a new nature. The Spirit of God dwells in all those who have a saving faith in Jesus Christ. This is being born again. So the Christian has faith in Jesus, is born again, and everything else flows out from that intimacy now restored with God by our spiritual rebirth. The morals that Christianity teaches only apply to those who are actually born again. And once again, every Christian is walking with God at whatever pace the Holy Spirit is taking them, so more mature Christians can't go around pointing the finger at fellow brothers and sisters all the time because the less mature are not as "moral" as the mature are. I heard a friend give a good example of this: Let's say a father has two sons, one is 2 and the other is 10. The father obviously has different expectations for both of his sons. The father expects his 10 year old son to make his bed, but he does not ask his 2 year old to do the same. The 10 year old son asks the father, "Why don't you make my brother make his bed too?". The father says, "Because he is only 2. There are more important things he must learn before we get to making his bed, like being potty trained." So even though both sons are at different stages, they are both still sons. All Christians, regardless of where they are at in their relationship with Jesus, are children of God nonetheless.
Now the point is this: we cannot go around requiring non-Christians to fit the morals of Christianity without first becoming a Christian themselves. God will require non-Christians to give an account of their sin eventually, but that is not our job. Our job is not to correct and reprove the non-Christians morality. Our job is to point them to Jesus. We preach the gospel to them, and this is the gospel: that we are more incredibly wicked than we could ever imagine; but Jesus lived the life we SHOULD have lived (a perfect and sinless life) and he died the death that we should have died for our sins, taking them upon himself and clothing us in his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21); and now, he is alive and risen and has conquered death so that all who believe in him will be saved.
Some people will accept the gospel, and some people will not accept the gospel. We preach the gospel both in speech and also in the way we live. If unbelievers will not receive what we say, are we to continue shoving it down their throats? I don't believe so. I do not mean that we should stop preaching the gospel in word, but we do not become those annoying Christians who degrade those who do not accept it and act like they are so much better than the unbeliever for accepting it. Rather, we continue to love the non-Christian in the way we speak to them. We pray for them, asking Jesus to soften their hearts to his glorious truth. We live a life of love towards them and continue to live lives centered around the gospel. We never stop telling them the truth, but that doesn't mean we never shut our mouths.
I hope that answered the question satisfactorily. Good question :)
Correction and Reproof
I was reading in Proverbs 9 today and something huge caught my eye. Here is what it says (vs. 7-12):
7 "Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.
8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it."
The first thing I want to point out is that the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord, which Proverbs 8:13 defines as "hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I have hated." So before one has wisdom and knowledge, one begins to hate evil, or sin. This is also congruent with the doctrine of repentance. It all begins with the changing of one's mind: seeing our sin the way God sees it. So the fear of the Lord is hating sin.
Our lives should be marked with repentance. When Jesus saved me, I realized how wretched a man I was and how much sin there was not only in my outward life, but also in my heart. I have (and so should all Christians) this deep desire to mortify all sin in my life and become more like Jesus, more holy. I want to destroy all the sin that is in my life. It is my new nature that wars against my flesh.
The way I see this tying into Proverbs 9 is the following:
Proverbs 9:7-8 says that when someone reproves, or corrects, a scoffer, that scoffer will hate you. They get all defensive and start blame shifting everything on to the one who is correcting. I have seen this in my own life sometimes as well (the truth is, we all receive correction sometimes and deny it at other times; we are both the wise and the scoffer to some extant). Somebody might come up to me and give me some advice or speak correction into my life and I will not hear it. I begin to think up every excuse of how that person has no idea what they are talking about. I never gave them permission to correct me; I'm way smarter than they are, they have no authority over me; they have way more problems than I have. Blah blah blah...And a million other excuses why I should not receive it. Maybe sometimes the heart of the one correcting us might not be in the right place, but that doesn't mean the correction isn't true and right. The point is, the scoffer is denying something that actually would help him.
Proverbs 9:8-9 then describes the wise man as receiving correction. When we receive correction and instruction, it says we become even more wise! Reproof increases our learning! When somebody is correcting us, whether it is done in a way that is loving, kind, and out of sincerity or whether it is done out of spite, dislike, or ill-intent, we should never cast it away without asking Jesus whether or not any part of that is true. If it is not true, then we cast it aside. But if it is true, we receive it and accept it. WE ARE CHRISTIANS. We want to grow to be more like Jesus.
And this is what Proverbs 9:12 says. If we are wise, if we receive correction and reproof, we are wise for ourselves. We know that all the correction can do is to cause us to become more like Jesus! If we do not receive correction, it is to our own downfall and we will bear it upon ourselves. I once heard an example, though I'm not sure who from, that goes like this: We are a white piece of paper that has been tainted by sin. We have a billion black dots on us so we look like a black piece of paper. When we become Christians, God begins to "progressively sanctify" us, and begins to remove the black dots. As the black dots are removed, we begin to see more and more white underneath us; but the whiter we become, the more noticeable the black dots are. So it is with sin. The more like Jesus we become, the more our sin is destroyed in our lives, the more noticeable all the other sins are that we have.
We receive correction because it causes us to be more like Jesus.
This completely changes the way we should both give and receive correction. We need to understand that all Christians are becoming more like Jesus AT THE PACE THAT THE SPIRIT IS WORKING IN THEM. We all are at different places. This means that when we give correction, it should ALWAYS be for their benefit and never out evil intentions. We must be quick to see the evidences of grace in their life and comment on them so that they will understand that our correction is not coming at them out of anger or dislike, but out of love and goodwill. We are not doubting the Spirit's work in their lives. Also, we should not just speak out every sin we see in people. We need to trust that the Spirit is working in people's hearts. At the same time, we need to be listening to when the Spirit would have us to point out sin in other's lives. I've noticed for myself that a lot of times Jesus deals with sin in my life and it is only between me and him. We need to trust that Jesus is doing the same in others. At other times, I need a word from fellow Christian brothers and sisters to help correct my sin. We need to trust that Jesus might lead us to do the same for other people and act upon that leading in a loving and kind way.
Likewise, we should be quick to receive correction. Even if somebody has ill-intentions in pointing out our flaws and sins, we must ask Jesus if any of what they are saying be true. I've heard many people say that we should turn our critics into coaches, and I think that is true. Although we should never beat ourselves up over our problems (Jesus already took that beating for us!!!), we should be willing to receive correction.
Think about Jesus: HE is the one who has perfect knowledge and wisdom, but he never used it to degrade other people out of spite. HE is more holy than EVERYBODY, and yet he is constantly helping us to become more holy, not despising us for all of our sin. He always loves, even when we don't love back. He loves his church, and so should we. Let us be people who are always confirming the work of the Spirit in the body of Christ. Let us be people who are pointing out sin in others SOLELY to see them become more like Jesus, become more holy! Let our love for one another, our true desire to see the body of Christ uplifted, be the arrow pointing to Christ in this world!
7 "Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.
8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it."
The first thing I want to point out is that the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord, which Proverbs 8:13 defines as "hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I have hated." So before one has wisdom and knowledge, one begins to hate evil, or sin. This is also congruent with the doctrine of repentance. It all begins with the changing of one's mind: seeing our sin the way God sees it. So the fear of the Lord is hating sin.
Our lives should be marked with repentance. When Jesus saved me, I realized how wretched a man I was and how much sin there was not only in my outward life, but also in my heart. I have (and so should all Christians) this deep desire to mortify all sin in my life and become more like Jesus, more holy. I want to destroy all the sin that is in my life. It is my new nature that wars against my flesh.
The way I see this tying into Proverbs 9 is the following:
Proverbs 9:7-8 says that when someone reproves, or corrects, a scoffer, that scoffer will hate you. They get all defensive and start blame shifting everything on to the one who is correcting. I have seen this in my own life sometimes as well (the truth is, we all receive correction sometimes and deny it at other times; we are both the wise and the scoffer to some extant). Somebody might come up to me and give me some advice or speak correction into my life and I will not hear it. I begin to think up every excuse of how that person has no idea what they are talking about. I never gave them permission to correct me; I'm way smarter than they are, they have no authority over me; they have way more problems than I have. Blah blah blah...And a million other excuses why I should not receive it. Maybe sometimes the heart of the one correcting us might not be in the right place, but that doesn't mean the correction isn't true and right. The point is, the scoffer is denying something that actually would help him.
Proverbs 9:8-9 then describes the wise man as receiving correction. When we receive correction and instruction, it says we become even more wise! Reproof increases our learning! When somebody is correcting us, whether it is done in a way that is loving, kind, and out of sincerity or whether it is done out of spite, dislike, or ill-intent, we should never cast it away without asking Jesus whether or not any part of that is true. If it is not true, then we cast it aside. But if it is true, we receive it and accept it. WE ARE CHRISTIANS. We want to grow to be more like Jesus.
And this is what Proverbs 9:12 says. If we are wise, if we receive correction and reproof, we are wise for ourselves. We know that all the correction can do is to cause us to become more like Jesus! If we do not receive correction, it is to our own downfall and we will bear it upon ourselves. I once heard an example, though I'm not sure who from, that goes like this: We are a white piece of paper that has been tainted by sin. We have a billion black dots on us so we look like a black piece of paper. When we become Christians, God begins to "progressively sanctify" us, and begins to remove the black dots. As the black dots are removed, we begin to see more and more white underneath us; but the whiter we become, the more noticeable the black dots are. So it is with sin. The more like Jesus we become, the more our sin is destroyed in our lives, the more noticeable all the other sins are that we have.
We receive correction because it causes us to be more like Jesus.
This completely changes the way we should both give and receive correction. We need to understand that all Christians are becoming more like Jesus AT THE PACE THAT THE SPIRIT IS WORKING IN THEM. We all are at different places. This means that when we give correction, it should ALWAYS be for their benefit and never out evil intentions. We must be quick to see the evidences of grace in their life and comment on them so that they will understand that our correction is not coming at them out of anger or dislike, but out of love and goodwill. We are not doubting the Spirit's work in their lives. Also, we should not just speak out every sin we see in people. We need to trust that the Spirit is working in people's hearts. At the same time, we need to be listening to when the Spirit would have us to point out sin in other's lives. I've noticed for myself that a lot of times Jesus deals with sin in my life and it is only between me and him. We need to trust that Jesus is doing the same in others. At other times, I need a word from fellow Christian brothers and sisters to help correct my sin. We need to trust that Jesus might lead us to do the same for other people and act upon that leading in a loving and kind way.
Likewise, we should be quick to receive correction. Even if somebody has ill-intentions in pointing out our flaws and sins, we must ask Jesus if any of what they are saying be true. I've heard many people say that we should turn our critics into coaches, and I think that is true. Although we should never beat ourselves up over our problems (Jesus already took that beating for us!!!), we should be willing to receive correction.
Think about Jesus: HE is the one who has perfect knowledge and wisdom, but he never used it to degrade other people out of spite. HE is more holy than EVERYBODY, and yet he is constantly helping us to become more holy, not despising us for all of our sin. He always loves, even when we don't love back. He loves his church, and so should we. Let us be people who are always confirming the work of the Spirit in the body of Christ. Let us be people who are pointing out sin in others SOLELY to see them become more like Jesus, become more holy! Let our love for one another, our true desire to see the body of Christ uplifted, be the arrow pointing to Christ in this world!
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