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Name: steph
Metro: San Mateo
Interests: pondering what has never had the pleasure of being pondered before. ceaselessly pursuing the unimaginable. finding treasure in the unfathomable.
also, typing 'lol' and really meaning it.
Expertise: chasing fun. doing what i'm not quite s'posed to be doing. running things into the ground; pursuing things until they become meaningless. tripping. starting things and not finishing them. drinking root beer.
Message: message me
AIM:  elephantjuice55
AIM:  youaresteph
Member Since:
6/1/2005
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| Make Your Calling and Election Sure 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us tohis own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualitiesare yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. Christ's Glory and the Prophetic Word 16 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. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
... or any in-between time really.
also: vintage piper
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| (thought about this this morning as i made my way to church, which is across the street from a mormon temple:)
a lot of christians are obsessed with truth - being the truest truth around.
they usually bring up elijah's showdown versus the false gods as an example of standing up for truth.
"if people could only be convinced of truth, then they would believe." (sometimes unspoken: then they would finally respect me. then they would finally stop looking at me like i'm crazy for giving my life away. then they would come after me profusely for pursuing them, these thankless fools.)
but if "knowledge puffs up, and love builds up" - truly - this should perhaps be my verse for daily living - and we lay claim to the ultimate truth too easily to bolster our own insecurities about ourselves and our status in one another's eyes... can we first remember the truth we claim to possess?
i've been stuck on romans 5 for weeks now:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, wehave peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and werejoicein hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
here's our truth: we are weak, helpless, unrighteous, awful, unloving, wretched people. even our best deeds on our best days are "filthy rags" in the sight of a strong, mighty, perfect, complete God who is our father.
there is no other everlasting hope but Christ.
so why do we act like it all depends on us? how could it possibly??
mediate on your truth before you preach it. many of us so need to be brought to our knees. what truth are we standing on right now? we have no rights to any of this; it must be given away.
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| (so i ranted on this on twitter earlier, but i wanted to expand my thoughts here. i just get so worked up when barriers are placed to the gospel that God never intended... also, i had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season and a lot of it.)
the other night driving home from davis my ipod fm transmitter wasn't behaving so i put on the fish, the sacramento area christian radio station. i usually dont do this - it's a limit i have to place on myself because somehow christian songs drive me away from worship, rather than toward him. but it had been awhile (we dont have such things in the bay area anymore) and i had a decent drive ahead of me so i did.
overall i actually enjoyed the 20-minute set i heard. for one, they played monk & neagle! and i really love them. they harmonize so well. and chris tomlin's version of "amazing grace" was in there too and i like that verse they "added" (it's really from the original) even if i could do without their chorus (i just dont think it adds anything to the song and as such its just filler. which leads me to another thought... are our collective attention spans so small we cant meditate through a chorus-less song?).
so i quickly settled into a content lull. it was good background music, catchy and harmless. but i was not prepared for what came next.
the first verse of this song quickly sketches out a harried life - always feeling like you're two weeks behind. "i do the best i can, but i don't know how long i'll last." general enough for me to feel comfortable enough in his shoes. then his voice went up several octaves and i was briefly distracted into wondering if his voice was going to crack out of earnestness - but i too easily digress - then i was startled by the chorus.
here it is:
I try to be so tough,
but I'm just not strong enough.
I can't do this alone, God I need you to hold on to me.
I try to be good enough,
but I'm nothing without your love
Savior, please keep saving me
i couldnt believe what id heard - it had to be a mistake. so i waited for it to come around again.
nothing had changed. he was still pleading for God to save him despite his inability to do life well.
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For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
- romans 5:6-11
In the letter to the Philippians, even while the apostle Paul gives thanks for them and the robust gospel the God of the universe has given them, he addresses their concerns about detractors of the same gospel: "Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice." (1:15-18)
With these words he puts to rest their pressing issue, showing that it is merely secondary, and elevates that which is of first importance. So what if others slander him in the preaching of the gospel, which is "liberty to [those who are] captive" (isaiah 61:1). The great news is that they are preaching the gospel! People are hearing the means by which they can be reconciled to their heavenly father. Because he has a new identity that cannot be taken away, Paul need not defend his reputation, he only needs to defend the gospel. And this allows him to support its proclamation in whatever form, as long as it is true and complete.
I believe this artist, Josh Wilson, wittingly or otherwise does the exact opposite in and with this song. While his intentions may be innocent - the use of the word "saving" in the bridge ("Hallelujah! Everything you are to me is everything I'll ever need / and i am learning to believe cause you're the one who's saving me") does seem more like rescuing from tough situations than hope from eternal separation from God - it doesn't matter when he refers to God as Savior throughout the rest of the song. The thrust of God's saving nature is his mercy on the human race - that's why we refer to him as "Savior" - not our friend who lends a financial hand while we live paycheck-to-paycheck, not our neighbor who knocks us out of the way of certain harm if we're crossing the street carelessly, not our roommate who rushes to campus ten minutes before our senior thesis is due with another copy because the printer on campus suddenly isn't working. While we can still use the term "wow, you just saved me!" in each situation with great integrity and gratitude, we're certainly not confusing these goodwill acts with Christ's death in our place so we have right standing before God.
Like all things, context too matters so much. We in Western societies already live with a Christian culture that too often promises that spiritual activities mean greater intimacy with God - confusing the process of sanctification (where God by grace allows human saints led by the Holy Spirit to grow into that new spiritual rank) with justification (where, again, our faith in God's grace alone makes us adopted into God's new family, no longer separated by the sin and unrighteousness that is our earthly birthright). So it's especially dangerous that this song is all over American media channels - in a sense, we are the ones who can bear it the least. We've been conditioned to work for our own righteousness because we cannot bear the idea of owing someone else our very life.
But that's part of the very gospel - we have absolutely no power to save ourselves. We will always come to the end of our abilities and whatever luck or providence we survive on. That's why it's SUCH good news that God's love for us is greater than any of our sins: "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." I am always sobered that even before I had a care about him at all he had already made a way for me to dwell in the presence of his perfect holiness. When every thought and every action was rebellion, meant to drive him away, he came still closer. Jesus early in his human life is able to teach his followers to "love your enemies" because that's exactly what he came to earth to do. He understood that every evil in the world can be overcome with good and he gave willingly, freely of himself because he alone, as God, has the ability to do good and make it last forever. To sing begging God to "keep saving me" insinuates that Jesus' death on the cross is insufficient to cover our past, present and future shortcomings. It's SO dangerous to even start down this road, confusing God's lordship over our lives with his plan of salvation for us.
Let's not even start down this road. It's too dangerous. Please say lordship when you really mean that and not salvation. It's reckless theology and it can only hurt those who are listening... even halfheartedly on a two lane highway.
Because the truth is, my pride wants to hear that I have something to do with all this. I love walking by sight - it makes me feel like I'm the one who's leading. I feel powerful. I feel invincible. If I have control in this that gives me all the more reason to live like this life is about me. And it's just not.
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| i have forgotten that people are dying while i update my netflix queue...
thanks this passionate sister, leah hitchens, for the inspiration (unlikely place, right? :0)
john 12
Some Greeks Seek Jesus 20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. | | |
| as i write i am reminded that whatever's wrong with me right now as a leader will be what's wrong with those i lead in a few years.
by grace it will not destroy them.
by grace i am picking up pieces of myself all the time.
but i must become intimate with this weight to lead others to the cross and not to myself.
(repeat)
edit: (3:53pm) hm. there is no real grace in this at all
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