Subtle Temptations

Today's guest post is by my friend Kastin Atash-Krupinski.  You can enjoy her blog, as I do, here.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

Lent is a new practice for me, but in the idea of it I find so much beauty and humility. It’s a time of awareness of the very things that place a divide between me and God, the things that are hidden idols, stealing my attention away from Him. It’s a time of observance and examination.

The last few days I’ve sat with God, asking Him to show me the areas of my life where I am separated from Him. I came to realize that it is in my mundane, daily life where I’ve turned toward my own strength instead of His. It’s the areas that I feel are so insignificant and vain. These things are not important enough to bother God. I should be able to get a handle on them on my own. But God lives and specializes in the “mundane”. He is here in the mess, in all the mess. When I choose not to bring these matters to Him, by default I turn to the enemy, who in turn floods my mind with lies. Subtle temptations give way to sin.

The sin I’m struggling with is excessiveness. The good things in life- those things that are God given blessings meant for me to enjoy in moderation- have become temptations that drive me to overindulgence. It’s food, time, money, focus…. me. Sinful desires.

It’s not a matter of removing these temptations out of my life, because they were meant to be a blessing. It’s a matter of taking these temptations before the Lord and asking Him to help me receive them in moderation. It’s a matter of facing the enemy, instead of turning away, and reclaiming these God given gifts.

My idols are the things that put the focus on me- on this temporary flesh and this temporary world. I need kingdom-driven days, living in the ordinary through Christ; approaching the mess as Jesus would; honoring my body in recognition that Jesus dwells in me; approaching others through and by the love of Jesus in my heart. The abstaining and the shedding, the denying of the flesh, invites God’s presence into everything I do.

I anticipate Lent to be a time of awareness and simplification, accepting God’s gifts with gratitude and in temperance.

Jesus, You are enough. Let me accept your blessings and take only what I need. Let me surrender all things to You. Prepare my heart as I move into a sacred space of awareness.

Because you've got to have faith

When I read the Scripture at face value (which I try to do),one of the themes that comes forward crystal clear is that of audaciousbold-faced faith.  The Word does notmince words when it comes to faith: you've got to have it.  God declares that “without faith it isimpossible to please him” and that “he who comes to God must believe.”  He says that “faith is the substance ofthings hoped for” and that it is the “evidence of things not seen.” 

Jesus says that if we have faith, just as small asthe smallest little seed, we can move mountains.  He says that we can say, “Hey mountain, timefor you to scat!” and it will.  (NewRevised Rob Tucker Translation)

Since I haven’t seen any mountains moving lately, I suspectmy faith is smaller than the smallest little seed.  I have been convicted of my own lack of faithin recent days.  There seems to be adisparity in what I believe God CAN do, and what I believe he WILL do, in mylife and ministry.

A friend of mine had a great quote about this onher Facebook info.  It’s from a man ofrenowned faith, Hudson Taylor, who did move mountains--metaphoricallyat least.  He said: 

“Many Christiansestimate difficulty in the light of their own resources, and thus they attemptvery little and they always fail.  Allgiants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned onHis power and presence to be with him.”

And herein lies the essence of power-filled faith: believingnot in one’s own strength, but in God’s power and presence to be with us.  Really believing.

Making God famous

Lately I've noticed a growing theological trend.  I saw it again the other day in the form of atweet.  It said something like this: “Whatcan you be doing right now in your life to make God famous?”  Implied is that we need to spend our lives ina way that is worthy of God, and in so doing, we will help others to see himfor how amazing he is.  I have seen this ideawritten in church mission statements, and have heard it expressed as the personalgoal of one’s life.  Some people see “makingGod famous” as the entire reason they exist on this planet.

I applaud the motivation behind these kinds ofstatements.  They are obviously stated bywell-meaning Christians who desire to make an impact for God in this life.  But I do have one little, tiny, theological disagreement:

God doesn’t need my help.  

God is already pretty famous (understatement alert!).  I sometimes have the privilege of helpingwith this truth.  But he is not famousbecause I desire for him to be so.  He isnot famous because I have outworked others in my zeal for the kingdom,  He is famous because, well, he just is.

Maybe it’s because we are in an election year, but it seemsthat some Christians are embracing a political metaphor for the kingdom ofGod.  God is the politician, and we arehis handlers.  Like running a goodcampaign, our main job is to put out lots of ads making God look good andmaking his enemies look bad.  We are toparticipate in a kind of cosmic spin control so that our candidate that getsthe most votes at the end of the day.  Inso doing God is made famous, and we have done our part.

But I don’t think that’s a helpful metaphor.  I think that a more biblical picture isadoption.  God says that we have beenadopted into his family.  He is ourloving father.  We receive all the rightand benefits and blessings of the fact that he is already incredibly rich, powerful, and famous.  Even though we don’t deserve it,we receive the status of becoming his children, and the privilege ofparticipating in his eternal work.

In Genesis 12:2 God is blessing Abram (and through him, thewhole nation of Israel).  He declares, “Iwill make you into a great nation.  Iwill bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.”  Wait, what? Hold on there, God.  I thought wewere supposed to be making YOU famous? God, you have it backwards!  I’msupposed to be blessing you.  But ofcourse, this kind of thinking puts us in the seat of power, instead of God.  It unwittingly declares humans to be the oneswith control over the relationship, instead of the almighty Creator.

The good news is that breaking this political metaphor takesall the pressure off.  We no longer haveto worry whether or not we’re making our candidate look good.  Instead we can simply focus on being afaithful witness in this world, a small light to shine his glory wherever wego.

God is already famous. He is already on the throne.  Hedoesn’t need my help, or yours.  And yethe is pleased to allow us to be adopted into his family and to participate inhis work.

I drink your milkshake

We all get tired. Fatigued.  Worn down.  Deflated. Discouraged.  Depressed.  It’s part of the human condition.  In my experience, these feelings usuallyfollow some type of victory—spiritual or otherwise.  They may also follow a prolonged push to achievesomething, having achieved it, you may feel good for a short moment, and then fallflat. 

Fortunately, Jesus has some good words for us.  He says (Matthew 11:28-30), “Come to me, allyou who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  Ah, such nourishing words.  These are words of truth, life andencouragement.  Their application in mylife fills me up in a way that others cannot. Jesus continues, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I amgentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Amazing. Wonderful.  Necessary.  These are words of grace and provision.  Jesus satisfies our every thirst, including thatof our souls.  Where else can you go tofill up your soul?

One of the most riveting and troubling scenes of any movie I haveever viewed is that of Danielle Day-Lewis’ climactic performance in “There willbe Blood.”  In that oft-quoted scene, hedeclares that he will “drink the milkshake” of his enemy.  The scene reveals the world’s view of things—it’sall about taking, depleting, emptying. It’s all about what can I get out of this vapid, hollow existence beforeI die.  In order to succeed, some feel, Imust suck the life out of anyone and everything around me in order that I mightprevail.

Jesus, of course, has a different view.  His is an eternal one, where the last willbecome the first and vice versa.  His isa reality that says, “I will give you rest.”  Instead of taking from us, he promises to pourinto us.  He fills our spiritual milkshake.

Come to him this day if you are ready for a refilling!

A new name

Next month, my son gets his new legal name.  He was Mathewos, and now he will officially beMatthew.  Perhaps more significant isthat his full name will become Matthew Robert Tucker.  In other words, he will take on the name ofhis new father.  I wanted Matthew to havemy name as a symbolic statement about his place in our family.  He is our true son, in every sense of thatterm, barring shared DNA.  He receivesall of the benefits (as well as side effects!) of being my son.

In the Scriptures, receiving a new name was a big deal.  It was God’s statement about a person’s newidentity.  You once were Abram, but nowyou will be called Abraham.  You once were Saul,but now you will be Paul.  You once werean outsider to God’s grace, but now you bear the name of Christ.  Your identity is bound up in Him, with all therights, privileges and benefits that His name carries.

Having a new name also means that our past is justthat.  It’s the past.  The future is ripe with new potential, a newstory, a new life.  Having a new namemeans starting over with a new heritage. It does not forget the past, but neither does it dwell on it. 

No matter what you are dealing with in your life right now,don’t forget the new name that has come to you through Christ!  Through faith, you become his beloved child, bearing His name.

Tom Brady's crazy belief

You don’t have to like Tom Brady to appreciate hisstory.  Just before Brady was picked asthe 199^th pick in the NFL draft, he went for a teary-eyed walk with hismom and dad, wondering why he had been passed over, once again in this, the sporthe loved.  He was looked over in Highschool, and twice in college, losing out to other quarterbacks.  Six quarterbacks were taken before Brady in 2000: Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin, MarcBulger and Spergon Wynn.  

Who even remembers Giovanni Carmazzi?

When Brady met Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots, he shookhis hand and asked if he knew who he was. Kraft said, sure, you’re our 6^th round draft pick.  Brady looked him in the eye and said, “I’mthe best decision this organization has ever made.”  Now while it may strike you as arrogant for askinny, gangly, 4^th string rookie quarterback to say this to theowner of a proud franchise, it also happened to be true.

But only Tom Brady believed it.

For the next years, Brady dedicated himself to being thebest QB he could, and prepared as if he could be called in at any moment.  Most New England fans had never heard of himthe day he finally got called in to rescue injured Drew Bledsoe, and the rest ofcourse, is history.  In a couple weeksBrady will be playing for his 4^th super bowl ring. 

His story makes me ask a few questions about my ownlife.  First: do I believe in the greatnessof the God given calling on my life?  Also:am I preparing myself in such a way as to be prepared for whatever comes next?  And, do I care too much about who others think I am, rather than who God has made me to be?

How about you?

The history of dating

For our young adult ministry, Liquid Tuesdays, we are doinga series on dating.  I started out theseries with a brief history of dating. Many young adults who are finding dating to be anything but enjoyable intoday’s culture, find some relief in knowing that this thing called dating hasnot been around for a very long time.

The earliest one can find the word “dating” in print is1914, and that’s about how old it is. Before that, courtship reigned in the Victorian age for several hundredyears.  Before that, of course, wasarranged marriages.  The idea of findingone’s true love for marriage would have been a strange concept for people inmany cultures, for many thousands of years. Social, financial or familial reasons would have been much biggerfactors in finding a spouse.  Also, theidea of  individuals making all their owndecisions about marriage would have been just plain weird.  Families got together to talk, matchmakerswere procured, dowries or other considerations would have been hashed out.  The advent of the automobile really launchedthe idea of the modern date, as now the couple could leave the hawking eyes offamily members and head out to dinner and a movie. 

The sad thing about the history of dating is that in thepast several decades it has taken a significant moral downturn.  The 60’s and 70’s brought about theprominence of sex in the relationship, the 80’s brought legwarmers, the 90’sbrought fierce independence and emo-angst. The TV show Friends revealed a trend of casual friendship dating,friends with benefits, and dating that is generally not headed towardmarriage.  And now we are seeing a wholenew revolution called internet dating, which allows people to meet in virtualreality without the risk of in-person rejection.

Where all this will go is anyone’s guess.  But I personally hope that younger adultswill reclaim some of the positive aspects of the past, without losing what hasbeen learned in the present.  I hope theywill allow for a healthy community to be active in the process (the church),allow dating to be headed toward relational permanence (marriage), and thatthey will allow Jesus to be the center of their relationship(Christianity). 

It all makes me very glad that I am not in today’s datinggame.

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