The Silver Lining of Common Grace... It Grows It Spreads

All over creation our good King is claiming His victory. In order to see that better we need to open our eyes to common grace. After Cain killed Abel he went on to be a father to faithless generations, but those offspring founded music and arts. Of course now we have Christians glorifying God through music and arts. The Phoenicians created the alphabet but God's chosen people use it to communicate the Gospel. Conquering nations such as the Greeks and the Romans destroyed many in the name of violence and selfish ambition, but these empires merely set a perfect stage for Christ to enter into the world and the good news of Him to quickly spread among various tribes and races. Holidays such as Easter and Christmas have pagan roots but are now days that we stress teaching about Christ's birth and resurrection. Rock n' Roll was created out of rebellion, now we have Christian rock concerts where some people are seeing and hearing a clear representation of the Gospel for the first time. Television was created for the purpose of mindless entertainment, today we have TBN spreading the... umm... ok, that's a bad example. Environmentalism is being heavily promoted and idolized by those who have no love for the Creator, but God is using these idolaters as well to bring restoration and redemption to His creation and soon, I believe, the Church will become more responsible to that which man has been given stewardship over.

Proverbs 21:30 "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord."

Yesterday I blogged about Christian freedom and common grace; the ability to find and appreciate what might be edifying beyond the church "walls." Can I find the silver-lining in this following secular poem? Can I open my eyes to see how this poet, this image bearer of God may sharpen my witness?


Silver-Lined Heart
By Taylor Mali (www.taylormali.com)

I’m for reckless abandon
and spontaneous celebrations of nothing at all,
like the twin flutes I kept in the trunk of my car
in a box labeled Emergency Champagne Glasses!

Raise an unexpected glass to long, cold winters
and sweet hot summers and the beautiful confusion of the times in between.
To the unexpected drenching rain that leaves you soaking
wet and smiling breathless;
“We danced in the garden in torn sheets in the rain,”
we were christened in the sanctity of the sprinkler,
can’t you hear it singing out its Hallelujah?

Here’s to the soul-expanding power
of the simply beautiful.

See, things you hate, things you despise,
multinational corporations and lies that politicians tell,
injustices that make you mad as hell,
that’s all well and good.
And as far as writing poems goes,
I guess you should.
It just might be a poem that gets Mumia released,
brings an end to terrorism or peace in the middle east.

But as far as what soothes me, what inspires and moves me,
honesty behooves me to tell you your rage doesn’t move me.
See, like the darkest of clouds my heart has a silver lining,
which does not hearken to the loudest whining,
but beats and stirs and grows ever more
when I learn of the things you’re actually for.

That’s why I’m for best friends, long drives, and smiles,
nothing but the sound of thinking for miles.
For the unconditional love of dogs:
may we learn the lessons of their love by heart.
For therapy when you need it,
and poetry when you need it.
And the wisdom to know the difference.

The solution to every problem usually involves some kind of liquid,
even if it’s only Emergency Champagne
or running through the sprinkler.
Can’t you hear it calling you?

I’m for crushes not acted upon, for admiration from afar,
for the delicate and the resilient and the fragile human heart,
may it always heal stronger than it was before.
For walks in the woods, and for the woods themselves,
by which I mean the trees. Definitely for the trees.
Window seats, and locally brewed beer,
and love letters written by hand with fountain pens:
I’m for all of these.

I’m for evolution more than revolution
unless you’re offering some kind of solution.

I’m for the courage it takes to volunteer, to say “yes,” “I believe,” and “I will.”
For the bright side, the glass half full, the silver lining,
and the optimists who consider darkness just a different kind of shining.

So don’t waste my time and your curses on verses
about what you are against, despise, and abhor.
Tell me what inspires you, what fulfills and fires you,
put your precious pen to paper and tell me what you’re for!

Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

Alright, I confess. I've been one of those people; an "uptight do-right" who idolized morality, the church and all its cultural habits. I only listened to Christian music, only engaged people from other denominations in order to wrestle with minor doctrine, and was a bit muddled in thinking that being a better Christian is defined by abstaining from all things not immersed in some evangelical holy water. I was so entrenched in all my major and minor doctrine and looking holy my spirit developed a metaphorical hunch, heavy laden with legalism.
Truth be told (expounding on what my pastor stated today in membership class) we all have a tendency and nature to slide our focus off the Cross & living for the glory of God and lean either towards making idolatry of our Christian freedom (grace abuse), or making idolatry of the law and the church. Those of us who claim to be reforming evangelicals would do well to read upon the words of early reformers who, if they were alive today, would no doubt instruct us to loosen the collar and enjoy the journey through a deeper understanding of grace. We miss out on far too much beauty in this world when we think the elect have cornered the market on it all.

John Calvin: "Christian freedom, in my opinion, consists of three parts. The first: that the consciences of believers, in seeking assurance of their justification before God, should rise above and advance beyond the law, forgetting all law righteousness...
The second part, dependent upon the first, is that consciences observe the law, not as if constrained by the necessity of the law, but that freed from the law's yoke they willingly obey God's will... The third part of Christian freedom lies in this: regarding outward things that are of themselves "indifferent", we are not bound before God by any religious obligation preventing us from sometimes using them and other times not using them, indifferently...
Accordingly, it is perversely interpreted both by those who allege it as an excuse for their desires that they may abuse God's good gifts to their own lust and by those who think that freedom does not exist unless it is used before men, and consequently, in using it have no regard for weaker brethren... Nothing is plainer than this rule: that we should use our freedom if it results in the edification of our neighbour, but if it does not help our neighbour, then we should forego it." The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Further studying:
Doctrine of Common Grace, Wayne Grudem

Earthquakes and Economics

For two millenia, every time a natural or social disaster hits the "Chicken Little theologians" come out of their hen houses and pronounce that the "sky is falling." The newspaper headlines announce a local crime and they pronounce "the end is near." They sputter and mutter how the world is getting worse. Forget that throughout human history many national religions publicly practiced human sacrifice and were in an almost constant state of open warfare with their neighbors while plagues and disease periodically wiped out a significant percentage of the population until modern times.

"This is a happy time we live in. A certain race of croaking souls who are never pleased with anything are always crying out about the badness of the times. They cry, 'O for the good old times.' Why, these are the good old times. Time is never so old as it now. These are the best of times." ~C.H. Spurgeon from his sermon, Prayer-the Forerunner of Mercy

The light of the Gospel has been revealed to this world and is spreading through God's redemptive plan for His creation. The sinfulness of man is but a whisp and a vapor in comparison. There's no need to rip away a handful of verses from Revelation and news, taking them away from the context of the Gospel, and strangle and twist the truth out of them to fashion a bow-tie of madness around one's neck, suffocating the ability to reason.

We should all stop praying for ease and decadence, instead embracing our Refiner's fire as He burns away the idols of this world we turn to for contentment. Christians have commonly developed their finest qualities while being persecuted and through suffering. Pain is the alarm clock that wakes us from our lazy slumber.

...if we know anything of growth in grace and desire to know more, let us not be surprised if we have to go through much trial and affliction in this world. I firmly believe it is the experience of nearly all the most eminent saints. Like their blessed Master, they have been men of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and perfected through sufferings (... See MoreIsa. 53:3; Heb. 2:10). It is a striking saying of our Lord, "Every branch in Me that bears fruit [my Father] purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:2).

It is a melancholy fact, that constant temporal prosperity, as a general rule, is injurious to a believer’s soul. We cannot stand it. Sicknesses and losses and crosses and anxieties and disappointments seem absolutely needful to keep us humble, watchful and spiritual–minded. They are as needful as the pruning knife to the vine and the refiner’s furnace to the gold. They are not pleasant to flesh and blood. We do not like them and often do not see their meaning. "No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Heb. 12:11). We shall find that all worked for our good when we reach heaven. Let these thoughts abide in our minds, if we love growth in grace.

When days of darkness come upon us, let us not count it a strange thing. Rather let us remember that lessons are learned on such days, which would never have been learned in sunshine. Let us say to ourselves, "This also is for my profit, that I may be a partaker of God’s holiness. It is sent in love. I am in God’s best school. Correction is instruction. This is meant to make me grow." JC Ryle, Chaper 6: Growth from His book "Holiness"

Know What You Believe

This video is like, totally spot on awesome, ya' know?... or not. :)
Sometimes, especially when I'm tired, I think, I suffer from the linguistic problem depicted here. And I could be wrong here, but maybe because our society is detaching itself more and more from the Gospel message we've tethered ourselves to a myriad of uncertainties. But that's just my opinion that I'm totally willing to rescind it if it offends you.
To each his (or her... or its) own, unless that bothers you.

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

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My English teacher said my work was barley eligible.
This had a lot to dew with my pour spelling.
Manly, manly of my grades were being affected by my pour spelling.
How could I become the school's valley Victorian with such pour grades in my English clash.
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But then I discovered once I had spell choker it would be the the pollution two awl my problems.
So now I take the mouth next to my computer's key board, point the Aero, and clip-on the spell choker button.
All my righting mistakes disappear and my document looks prefect.
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and I am egg sighted to chair with yew the impotence of using a spell choker.