Becoming a fool

I recently read the book, Leadership and Self Deception. In a nutshell it is about how if we want lasting success in life then we have to learn how to value others and learn to focus on others rather than ourselves. The book is challenging, because it is counter-intuitive. We are wired to focus on ourselves. It would make sense if like worked this way: "the more I focus on myself the better off I will become." But the challenge of the book is that actually life works this way: "the more I focus on others the better off I will become." It seems backward.
I read another backward seeming book recently, the Bible, in particular the first few chapters of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. In which repeatedly Paul compares the "wisdom of the world" with the "wisdom of God". Paul writes in I Corinthians 3:18, "Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise."
Becoming a fool.
I believe that a guy 2000 years ago died, and then came back to life. I believe that he walked on water---literally walked on water. I believe that this guy was actually God in human form. I believe that this guy, Jesus, is the key to my peace and significance in life.  I understand that that sounds foolish, and I am ok with that.
Self Deception is subtle yet powerful. Is it possible that by focusing less on ourselves, we could actually improve ourselves? Is it possible that by embracing seemingly foolish ideas, we could actually encounter greater wisdom?

Is it God's fault or my fault?

I recently read Romans 6.

I have been a christian for many years, but I still regularly forget how this whole christian living thing works. I understand that there is a balance to it all: reliance on God and personal responsibility.

Some Christians live a poor example of the christian life and blame it on God; they ask for God's help to overcome their greed, and then when the IRS audits them for cheating on their taxes they blame God for not keeping them from their greed.

Some Christians live a poor example of the christian life and blame it on themselves; they try as hard as they can every day to overcome their greed, and then when the IRS audits them for cheating on their taxes they blame themselves for their greed---if only I could have tried harder.

So what is the balance . . .

Romans 6:11 says, "consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" So we are to have the attitude that sin has no power over us. We should live with confidence in full reliance upon Christ. Greed will not have power over me today because I am dead to sin and alive in Christ.
BUT
Romans 6:12 says, "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body" 6:13, "Do not offer any part of yourself to sin" So we can't just sit back and be lazy. Those are specific instructions--twice it says "DO NOT" Greed will not have power over me today because through the power of Christ I will resist greed.

So today I will rely on God AND take personal responsibility.

Ill let you know how it goes :)

2013

Happy 2013!

In 2012 it was my new year's resolution to journal as I read through the Bible in a year, and post those journal entries to my blog.  My blogging trailed off and became non-existant by July.

But it is a new year and I have new wind in my sails! I am looking forward to 2013. My plan for this year is to read through the Letters of the New Testament 3 times. I found this Bible reading plan here:

http://bibleplan.org/

If you are looking for a Bible reading plan for the new year, I recommend this site. They have lots of options and they email you your reading every morning.

My goal is to write once a week on here from one of my readings of the week . . . the writing isn't really the goal . . . the goal is really to be made holy by Christ through the washing with water of the word . . . but the writing will hopefully help document the process.

"The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul." - G.K. Chesterton

fast food

I am a little behind pace in my plan to read through the Bible in a year, but I am catching up :) I am reading big chunks of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles--taking in the ancient history of Israel.  I plan on writing some thoughts soon, but in the meantime I couldn't pass up this little gem.

In I Samuel 28 King Saul is visiting a medium to talk with the prophet Samuel, who is dead.  After Saul chats with dead Samuel, the medium offers Saul and his servants some food before they go.  I Samuel 28:24, "The woman had a fattened calf at her house, and she quickly slaughtered it.  She also took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread." What grabbed my attention was the word, "quickly".

You know you are reading about a foreign culture when fast-food, entails a quick slaughter; followed by kneading flour to make the bread from scratch.  Nothing spiritual about this thought today, I just wonder how Saul would have reacted to a drive-thru window in a rush.  And I wonder how I would have reacted to a quick slaughter of a calf if I were in a rush.

Sometimes I forget how disconnected I am from the culture of these stories, and I am so shallow that the concept of fast-food triggers my attention.

humility

". . . in humility count others more significant than yourself . . ."
the stranger on the street, the cashier at the grocery store, your neighbor, your co-worker, that annoying guy at school, that smelly guy on the bus, my wife, my child . . . more significant than myself . . .
". . . look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others . . ."
I wonder what would change if I asked the cashier about her interests, instead of mindlessly standing their listening to the beeps of the scanner.
I wonder what would change if I showed interests in my neighbors life instead of telling them all about mine.
I wonder what would change if I focused on my wife's interests instead of expecting her to be focused on mine.
I wonder if what would change is that my life would begin to resemble Jesus' life and the people in my life would become drawn to Jesus, "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross."
Philippians 2:3-8

The trouble with blogging is, it all sounds so nice as words on a screen, but it is only powerful if I actually put it into action . . .