Don't Waste Life's Poop

Okay, that title got your attention, didn't it!  Great insight from Ben Reed at  Life and Theology from a youthful experience working on a pig farm.

One thing that stuck with me from that class was the way that nothing was wasted on the farm. Not even the pigs’ poop.

The poop was piled in a barn, and over the course of a year, the poop would compost, leaving a rich fertilizer that the farmers would use to fertilize the fields that other animals would graze. It was an incredible additive and boost to those fields, giving yields that greatly surpassed the non-fertilized fields. In other words, the poop made the crops grow faster.

Pig poop, though foul-smelling to us humans, contains nutrients that help crops grow really well. After it was harvested and composted (by which time it didn’t stink anymore), it was simply spread across the field in the spring, just before a rain, its nutrients used by the budding crops.

The poop from your past

You’ve got poop in your life. Things you’ve done that you’re not proud of. Things that have been done to you that you wish hadn’t happened. Dreams that you lost, relationships that crumbled. Jobs lost. Marriages destroyed. Addictions that you’re ashamed of. You’ve messed up in a way that you’d hope and pray nobody would ever mess up. You’ve done things…or not done thing…that you never want to repeat.

We typically do one of two things with that pain and suffering:

1. Ignore it and act like it never happened.
2. Wallow in it.

Neither is healthy.

Option 1 leaves us judgmental of others who have real pain, ignorant of our own Pharisaical stench. We’re left with a shallow understanding of our sin and pain…and thus a shallow understanding of God’s goodness and grace. Acting like “poop” never happened wastes our pain.

Option 2 leaves us in a crying, heaping, depressed, self-depracating mess. All of the time. We get stuck in what “could’ve been,” what “should’ve been,” and “who I wish I was,” constantly making ourselves pay for our past mistakes over and over again. OR making others pay for our past mistakes by disengaging from those who love us, and who would love to help. Wallowing in our “poop” wastes our pain.

I’ve got a 3rd option, and I take my cue from the pig poop.

Allow your failures to help someone else.

The way God brought you through the junk can help someone else who, right now, can’t see the light. They’re stuck. They’re in the middle of an addiction or the throes of suffering.
Live a life full of grace because you’ve been graced so much by the King. Live a life of love because you were loved first. Live a life of forgiveness because of the heaping amounts of forgiveness you’ve been given that you can never repay. Live a life of generosity because you’ve been given so much.

Your valleys can become great pastures that others can graze from as they see you living life to the full. (John 10:10)

No need to ignore the past. It’s purpose isn’t to hold you back. No need to wallow in it, either.
Let someone else graze from it.

If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.  And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. – 2 Corinthians 1:6-7

In other words, don't waste your life's pig poop!
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Defining the Term "Gospel Centered"

The term "Gospel Centered" is a very popular and frequently used "buzz word" now-a-days, at least in the books and on the web pages I've been reading. A danger that comes when a term gets quickly and widely used, when it becomes a "buzz word," is for the term to lose meaning, or to be defined differently by different users so that we are not really communicating. Another danger is that it simply becomes an identity marker, defining who is in and who is out of an "in crowd."

To define the term(s), I like Joe Thorn's definitions in an old post (Hat Tip Tim Challies) These are statements I can totally agree with!

THE GOSPEL:

"In the simplest of terms the gospel is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that accomplishes redemption and restoration for all who believe and all of creation. In his life Jesus fulfilled the law and accomplished all righteousness on behalf of sinners who have broken God’s law at every point. In his death Jesus atones for our sins, satisfying the wrath of God and obtaining forgiveness for all who believe. In his resurrection Jesus’ victory over sin and death is the guarantee of our victory over the same in and through him. Jesus’ saving work not only redeems sinners, uniting them to God, but also assures the future restoration of all creation. This is the gospel, the “good news,” that God redeems a fallen world by his grace."

GOSPEL CENTERED:

"Therefore, to be gospel-centered means that that the gospel – and Jesus himself – is our greatest hope and boast, our deepest longing and joy, and our most passionate song and message. It means that the gospel is what defines us as Christians, unites us as brothers and sisters, changes us as sinner/saints and sends us as God’s people on mission. When we are gospel-centered the gospel is exalted above every other good thing in our lives and triumphs over every bad thing set against it."

GOSPEL CENTERED LIFE:

“[T]he gospel-centered life is a life where a Christian experiences a growing personal reliance on the gospel that protects him from depending on his own religious performance and being seduced and overwhelmed by idols.”

These are truths we can (and should) unite around, not divide over!

Sola Christi

“Whoever is not satisfied with Christ alone, strives after something beyond absolute perfection.”

           — John Calvin  Commentary on John
Hat Tip: Philip Ryken, Of First Importance

Other Voices on "The Bible"

Tuesday I shared my thoughts on the History Channel' "The Bible." Here are some other interesting reviews, comments and analyses on the content of the presentation and its effect on our culture and society:

Stand to Reason

CT Gleanings

Breakpoint

Get Religion

Joe Carter

The Examiner

American Thinker - Robert Wilcox

I am certain that there will be many more interesting reviews as the series continues.

Some Links

Miscellaneous links from my Blog roll:

Three Ways to Pray for Missionaries

When You Are Sick of Theology

Top 5 Ways to Shrink Your Bible Study Group

The Death of the Bookstore

First Thoughts on The History Channel Series "The Bible"

The first episode of the History Channel's mini-series "The Bible" aired last Sunday night. There was a lot of anticipation for  this event in the blog-a-sphere, on Twitter, and on Facebook. Since the producer, Mark Burnett, was involved with Survivor, some joked that Eve would get voted off the island in the first episode. Since it was on the History Channel, some wondered if Moses would be hawking the stone tablets to the guys on Pawn Stars!

Here's my first impressions and thoughts.

1. They sure skipped a lot. The first episode covered the entire Pentateuch  all the way up to the early chapters of Joshua.  Lots of time for Abraham and Moses, but totally skipped the story of Joseph, one of my favorite sagas in the whole Bible. And how do you skip Moses' marriage  the golden calf, the twelve spies, etc. If they are going to cover the whole Bible, I guess a lot is going to be left out.
2. There are some inaccuracies. I mean, hey, they didn't carry the Ark of the Covenant around uncovered, and Joshua did not kneel in front of the Ark open to the view of others. He wasn't a high priest, and would have been struck dead for doing so. And we won't even go into the whole ninja, samurai angels in Sodom stuff. As I expected, they were far too politically correct to even touch on the homosexual aspects of the Sodom story.
3. Don't expect any deep theology from the series. As Ben Witherington described it, this is the "Less Filing, Tastes Great" version of the Bible. This is going to be a dip in the shallow end of the spiritual pool, no a deep ocean journey.Some commentators have been concerned about lack of theological sophistication among the advisers to the series, and even some potential heresy. So far, however, I did not notice any heresy, but only shallowness and a surface level presentation.
4. As the old cliche goes, the book is always better than the movie. If this series gets some people to actually pull their dusty Bibles off the shelf and try reading them, more power to it. That will be a great service. The Book is truly better than the movie!

"The Bible" was followed by the premiere of another interesting and much anticipated historical saga, "The Vikings." Who knows - maybe the ratings for these two series will be so big that the History Channel will now realize that airing, uh, you know, actual "history," might get better ratings than "Ice Road Truckers."

Identity & Idolatry - Reviewing Driscoll's Newest Book

Back on January 26 I promised a review of Mark Driscoll's newest book,  Who Do You Think You Are: Finding Your True Identity in Christ. In the interest of full disclosure, and in conformity to my book review policy, I' informing you that I received a free pre-publication copy of the book from the publisher as part of their program for bloggers. However, I would review it the same had I paid full price for it.

This book is a study of identity, based on Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. I have read Ephesians countless times, and have read many commentaries and studies on the book. But until now, I have never read or heard anyone point out something Driscoll does. Every commentator points out that the Book of Ephesians has too parts: Chapters 1-3 are theological in nature, and chapters 4-6 are more practical. Driscoll adds a unique (to me anyway) insight that chapters 1-3 are about identity in Christ, and chapters 4-6 attack the idols in his readers lives based on that understanding of their true identity. That makes perfect sense to me. 

Those two themes have come up over and over in my recent reading of books and of Scripture. I think God is trying to tell me, and tell us, something important. I've published a lot of quotes from the book on this issue over the past month to emphasize this point. Getting identity right- knowing who you are in Christ, is foundational to Christian living. Once that is settled, you can then reject the competing idols of other sources of meaning and identity.

I have read several (but not all) of Driscoll's previous books. I have not found anything in the ones I have read that I seriously disagree with. Pastor Driscoll is controversial, and I certainly am not going to blanket endorse everything he has written or done. However, anyone who has built a church as large as his in one of the most unchurched cities in America deserves at least some benefit of the doubt.

There is nothing flashy or unique about his treatment of Ephesians, other than the insight mentioned above. It's just good solid Bible teaching on two themes that are sorely needed by Christians today. I got a lot of of it - could you tell by all the quotes I published? 

I recommend the book.
   

Mini-Lent

From Radio Free Babylon  (click to enlarge)

Reserved Seat

From The Sacred Sandwich

Written in the Dust

You can't love the Bible or live the Bible if you don't read the Bible.  RT @AceAviatron: