Tim,

Thanks for your patience on this response. Let me consider your two scenarios, then one of your questions. You asked about two types of people:

1. What do you think God thinks and does to an atheist who lives his or her life feeding the poor, clothing the naked and healing the sick?
2. And what does God think or do to a Christian who attends church every week, and professes their faith, but other than doesn’t do much else to speak of?

I say both are being inconsistent with their worldview. (I’ll be much harder on one of them, and I know you have a degree in comparative religion and I could employ much more technical language here. Seems that here and on Facebook we’re both writing for others to track along, so I’ll present an argument as straightforward as I can. For those who follow for the pictures, sorry to disappoint .

Again, both are being inconsistent with their worldview. First, let me be blunt: the atheist has no actual moral basis to value people. (That isn’t to say atheists don’t have morals and high standards and do good. They can and do often. Very much so.) But, what is their foundation for these selfless acts of feeding, clothing and healing? If there is no design to this world, and therefore no cosmic justice, then what is right and wrong? Who’s to say? By what standard can an atheist say something is right, and something is wrong (universally)? I don’t think all atheists are relativists, but wonder how a standard of morality can arise from a belief that no God has acted in history and revealed Himself as Creator (law-giver, judge, ruler, Father, great love and source of all).

Can we all agree that we know these acts of compassion demonstrated by this loving atheist are noble and good? But from where does this love come? I don’t have much of a problem with that first scenario, because some of the innate sense of goodness and rightness in all of us is the residual traces of the image of God (the Imago Dei). Let me consider a parallel issue: our fallen, sinful nature (Depravity). The teaching of Depravity (according to God in the Bible) is not so much that we are horrific, awful beings. Most of us  really aren’t as bad as we could be, for sure. We’re bad and capable of terrible acts and thoughts (read the newspaper, follow the Police blotter around a college campus, tune into the evening news); most of these acts are trivial, and many destructive. We are also capable of so much good. Which is why sin and moral evil is such a riddle for this world. Enter Jesus who entered this Grand Story to show us the way, and reverse the curse of our ways. What does God think of this person #1, the selfless atheist? This person needs to turn from trusting in himself, to confess his evils, and especially his good works that are not done to make the true God known. It’s the same for a religions person.

It seems that Depravity is more that everything we do and are is tainted with sin. Our intellect is limited (“fallen” we call it), and our bodies break down towards death. Our spirits are not acutely aware of spiritual movements. The reality is more complex and deep than words can describe. What does it take for us to be renewed and become un-depraved? A total renewal of all things, which is one key reason why Jesus came. He offers His life to us to re-make us into God’s image, to pattern of life He granted us in the beginning. Much more to say here, but I want to underscore the other scenario you mention…

The bigger problem is with the Christian you mention who does all the “good” so-called-Christian things, but “doesn’t do much else to speak of.” In that way he/she actually isn’t acting as a Christian, for this new life should be God-centered and others-directed. Love gives its life away, as Jesus did. That person generally described by life before Jesus struck my soul like lightning (age 18). I was generally a “good” person by many accounts, at least by horizontal comparison to others. People would say I was “Christian” but I wasn’t. Not inwardly, and not outwardly. But, I was selfish, arrogant, and very much desirous to seem like a good person while using others to get my way.

Any person who names Jesus as Lord but lives a pathetic, lifeless, overall selfish existence (according to Christ’s standards) is actually in rebellion and defiance to whom they claim to belong. This cannot be the envisioned by Jesus, that moves from death to life, from purposeless to purpose, from self to others. This person #2 cannot be “professing their faith,” for the Christian message is more than mere words. Someone sold them a raw bill of goods, or they just want a ticket to heaven and nothing more. May get neither.

I’ve been thinking on and meditating the last week on a specific passage: 2nd Peter 1:1-10, which speaks to this kind of person, and the great potential for God’s live to shine through a person who submits to Him through Jesus. We must be profitable and fruitful in our experiential knowledge of our shared life in Jesus. If we aren’t growing and reproducing Christ-like love towards others, we have to wonder if we belong to Him.

This is the bigger scandal of the two people you mention, and I cannot make any apologies for a person who lives like this. What does God think of this person? Probably more than I might I regularly sit and speak with church-going people who are battling to not go the path of the quasi-Christian route you describe. To some I can give an urgent appeal and encouragement; to others I offer no immediate encouragement but a loving plea to turn to Christ, abandoning both their sin and their supposed goodness.

Let me wrap this up by pointing past my limited perspective and experience. I’ve appealed to God’s revealed Word — written in the Bible and come in human form in Jesus. I’ve aimed to represent them well.  Also, I’d like to suggest two current resources for reflection. One is a fast paced movie-documentary called COLLISION (came out last week, actually). Deals with this exact scenario you are talking about (the two people), and not distinctly from a Christian standpoint. Well-known anti-theist Christopher Hitchens (author of God is Not Great, et al) debates in a civil manner with pastor/theologian Douglas Wilson. They don’t just speak past one another; they care and come together like friends, it seems. They wrestle with the crux question, “Is Christianity good for the world?” One says no, the other yes. Find the trailer on YouTube or Vimeo (or my site). I’m happy to mail you a copy of the DVD to borrow for a bit.

The other is a book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, which is a fascinating read. New York City pastor and author Tim Keller shows how everyone has exclusive beliefs. He carefully argues that embracing the exclusive truth claims of Christ do not make someone an intolerant, threatening neighbor. And that is part of why Christianity (as Christ brought to us) should be good for the world. We above all people should refrain from seeking any privileged status and give our lives for justice, mercy, truth, and the good of others. We have everything to gain and nothing to lose, for our lives are hidden in God. (Again, I’m happy to send you a copy you can keep.)

Tim, you earlier made a point by asking that if Jesus has done everything for us (His believers/followers), then what is the point of doing anything? Well, He is the whole point. He is the new humanity, as God sent Himself to show us what He is like and how the world shall be. This is what the best human life looks like, how being connected to others in harmony should be. Jesus coming towards us makes life now worth it. (What did we do with Him? How did we respond to the most selfless one? We rejected Him.) It was through this self-emptying act in Jesus that God was reconciling the world to Himself, making good works possible. The message is Good News for us because He made us alive and rescued us from sin and death (Ephesians 2:1-9), because of His performance not ours. But are we just rescued from bad things (eternally)? What about the good (now and forever)? We read that He intentionally rescued us so that our lives would be His works of art to display His goodness, empowered by His love and walking in the path of good works He planned for us in advance (the very next verse: Ephesians 2:10; also 2nd Corinthians 5:9-16+).

Forgive me if I’m being unclear here. Thanks for reading along.

While Kari graduated last Spring, I’m currently taking a class-at-a-time, and not exactly sure when I’ll finish. But, as you may guess, we’re more about the journey than the destination (deepening process > a degree).

It was around two o’clock in the afternoon on the eve of the Day of All Saints, October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther, hammer in hand, approached the main north door of the Schlosskirche (Castle Church) in Wittenberg and nailed up his Ninety-Five Theses protesting the abuse of indulgences in the teaching and practice of the church of his day. In remembrance of this event, millions of Christians still celebrate this day as the symbolic beginning of the Protestant Reformation…

• Read the rest, a reflection on Reformation Day by Timothy George (First Things)

The first point of the now famous 95 Thesis:

“When our Lord Jesus, said Repent, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

That my friends, is the difference between Religion (believe something and go on and live your life trying to be good enough, or not), and the Gospel (live in God’s grace, turning from false idols continually).

Later today I’ll be celebrating the liberty of the Gospel with some new friends, connecting a soon-to-be college student to new friends at our alma mater, and dressed as a Beaver Believer. (Go Beavs!)

“My love of consistency with my own doctrinal views is not great enough to allow me knowingly to alter a single text of Scripture. I have great respect for orthodoxy, but my reverence for inspiration is far greater. I would sooner a hundred times over appear to be inconsistent with myself than be inconsistent with the word of God.”
—Charles Spurgeon (more via Randy Alcorn, Spurgeon’s Theology: Embracing Biblical Paradox)

A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, by Paul Miller
The Relationship Principles of Jesus, by Tom Holladay (for our current Love & Relationships series at WCC, for group life; just finished)
Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional, by Jim Belcher
College Ministry 101: a guide to working with 18-25 year olds, by Chuck Bomar (recently finished)
The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission, by Lesslie Newbigin (just finished)
Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them, by Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley & Jason Hayes

(The last two books above are for my evangelism course at Multnomah. Enjoying being challenged.)

Ongoing reading for leadership development:

Leading from the Second Chair
Leading with a Limp: Take Full Advantage of Your Most Powerful Weakness, by Dan Allender

What? You don’t read eight books at once?

Next up (or really, read first chapter and want to dive into the rest):

Forgotten God: reversing our tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit, by Francis Chan
Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters, by Tim Keller
Broken-Down House, by Paul David Tripp
Learner-Centered Teaching: five key changes to practice, by Maryellen Weimer

—

If you’re looking for a challenging and awesome book to read, I highly recommend Your Jesus is Too Safe by Jared Wilson (review here), which is the best book I’ve read in 2009.

• Hitchens wrote “Religion is Absurd”
• Wilson wrote “Atheists Suck at Being Atheists”

Both make some good points, and only Wilson could get away with saying some of the things he does. Satirical and true, smart and savvy.

Read them both…

—

We’re having a small Collision party next Friday night (10/30). Let me know if you’re in the Portland area and want to come watch and discussion with us (mostly college & career-aged people at this party).

“The quest for a contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed, focused on my quiet and me. If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy. Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart. In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet. Because we are less hectic on the inside, we have a greater capacity to love … and thus to be busy, which in turn drives us even more into a life of prayer. By spending time with our Father in prayer, we integrate our lives with his, with what he is doing in us. Our lives become more coherent. They feel calmer, more ordered, even in the midst of confusion and pressure.”
—Paul Miller, A Praying Life

What’s more, documentaries of this type don’t normally have a rock soundtrack. Awesome.

New trailer (Oct. ‘09):

From collisionmovie.com:

In May 2007, leading atheist Christopher Hitchens and Christian apologist Douglas Wilson began to argue the topic “Is Christianity Good for the World?” in a series of written exchanges published in Christianity Today. The rowdy literary bout piqued the interest of filmmaker Darren Doane, who sought out Hitchens and Wilson to pitch the idea of making a film around the debate.

In Fall 2008, Doane and crew accompanied Hitchens and Wilson on an east coast tour to promote the book compiled from their written debate titled creatively enough, Is Christianity Good for the World?. “I loved the idea of putting one of the beltway’s most respected public intellectuals together with an ultra-conservative pastor from Idaho that looks like a lumberjack”, says Doane. “You couldn’t write two characters more contrary. What’s more real than a fight between two guys who are on complete opposite sides of the fence on the most divisive issue in the world? We were ready to make a movie about two intellectual warriors at the top of their game going one-on-one. I knew it would make an amazing film.”

In Christopher Hitchens, Doane found a celebrated prophet of atheism. Loud. Funny. Angry. Smart. Quick. An intimidating intellectual Goliath. Well-known for bullying and mocking believers into doubt and doubters into outright unbelief. In Douglas Wilson, Doane found the man who could provide a perfect intellectual, philosophical, and cinematic counterpoint to Hitchens’ position and style. A trained philosopher and and deft debater. Big, bearded, and jolly. A pastor, a contrarian, a humorist–an unintimidated outsider, impossible to bully, capable of calling Hitchens a puritan (over a beer).

It was a collision of lives.

What Doane didn’t expect was how much Hitchens and Wilson would have in common and the respectful bond the new friend/foes would build through the course of the book tour. “These guys ended up at the bar laughing, joking, drinking. There were so many things that they had in common”, according to Doane. “Opinions on history and politics. Literature and poetry. They agreed on so many things. Except on the existence of God.”

13-minute preview:

On the negative, those who fall away or do not endure to the end are not kept by the one true Rescuer. No one in the end will be able to blame God for rejecting Him and His Son, but (on the positive) all who are kept will speak forever of His awesome grace. This way, we speak not as people who are right, but decidedly as a people who are being rescued.

In wrapping up his brief letter, Jude gives two summarizes of the Christian life. The first underscores our participation/responsibility to always be moving forward in the deepening of our character and dependence:

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” (Jude 1:20-21)

In the final sentence commonly known as the doxology (lit., ‘a word of praise/glory’), Jude prays and ascribes the ultimate power for our being “kept” to the only true God:

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 1:24-25)

Calling Jesus “our Lord” is not simply religious jargon. In fact, it is not really a religious term at all. It means Master — and oh so much more — for He is the King of all, of the whole universe and beyond: having a name above any other name imaginable (Phil. 2:9-11). God wants to be known; He is known in and through Jesus. And He is the only one strong enough to keep us from stumbling, and what great it is to be considered pure and blameless, not because of our performance, but on solely on account of His.

“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. \\nGod is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”— 1 John 4:16

Being loved changes people. How do we know God loves us? What is His love like?

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.“— 1 John 4:10

God treated Jesus like He was us, so He could treat us like we are Jesus: His beloved, obedient, awesome Son.

How can we know God’s love? God’s love takes action; compelled by love, voluntarily seeking the good of the other at the expense of self. On the cross God shouted “I love you!” (And it was not some abstract truth; God came in the flesh proving His love.) His already accomplished reality then leads us to creatively and intentionally replicate His example by give our lives away for others. If we do not respond in love towards others, sacrificial love, then we don’t actually know God. This should be convicting, unsettling, and especially uncomfortable. All true and lasting change involves stress and tension that first makes us uncomfortable then leads us to re-orient our lives.

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”— 1 John 3:16

In short: God didn’t give us His leftovers. Think about how you show your love to your loved ones: do they get leftovers?

“By becoming a Christian, I belong to God and I belong to my brothers and sisters. It is not that I belong to God and then make a decision to join a local church. My being in Christ means being in Christ with those others who are in Christ. This is my identity. This is our identity. . . . If the church is the body of Christ, then we should not live as disembodied Christians.”

—Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and community, 41.

Reminds me of Romans 12:1-8, especially vv. 3ff:

12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Gifts of Grace

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

I’ve been looking forward to this release for months. A group of us are gathering to watch in Friday night the 30th. Let me know if you want to join in for the fun and discussion.

Here’s a quick teaser trailer:

Happy Tensions: What, Why, How … + Who // my favorite article on seeing all things through the lens of Jesus. We need a Redeemer, not a system of redemption (how-to’s). I was pastoral intern at a purpose-driven church at the time

Gospel-distorting approaches to change // perhaps another way of saying that all sin is idolatry, and since we worshiped our way to sin, we must worship our way out

Happy tensions: Head + Heart // objective + subjective knowing; God doesn’t want us to check our brain at the door

Clarity > Relevance // adults are like teens, just that teens can pay attention more/longer

Believing + Receiving // Do I treat Jesus like He is a Comcast cable guy, doing things for me so I can enjoy life without Him?

The Devoted Church // on first sermon preached at WCC

GOD: They is One // don’t apologize for the Trinity; it is not a technicality, it is the foundational relationship of everything

Our common Source of Significance // re-blogged another pastor’s thoughts; spot-on in my book

Living Our True Identity// 200-word essay for a local paper on the nature of the church. We are worshipers, family, learners, missionaries, servants. Are you?

Watch for a great description of both:

A Wilco Review & the Bible from Rethink Mission on Vimeo.

What’s in it? Pretty stuff. Hard stuff. An abrasion. It’s all there. Also amazingly beautiful. “You have to sit with it. You have to allow yourself the time to get something out of it.”

// Message by Jonathan McIntosh, rethinkmission.org.

Why write a blog no one else can read? Because it is so easy to search it later. Wordpress is the prime content management system for such a project. Another reason: given my propensity to lose a hard drive here and there, and thus the loss of important documents, I need one place to store some good insights. It’s also faster to post it online than in a document, and accessible anywhere.

As for God the Spirit, He is “Holy” because He is perfect, pure and without any defect. He’s God. Holiness also connotes wholeness. God is whole in its purest sense. God is the standard for a whole Being, Jesus the standard for a whole Person (He modeled a holistic life), the Spirit the One who brings rhythm and meaning so we can be holy like Him, broken beings being made whole.

Let’s bring balance into view when we consider the Person of the Holy Spirit. Here’s a couple paragraphs from Francis Chan’s new book:

“Some people talk a lot about—even boast of—the Spirit, but their lives do not bear His fruit. Others speak of the Holy Spirit in theoretical or scholarly terms, yet do not experience Him at work. Still otehrs ignore Him for all practical purposes and, as you might expect, rarely experience relationship or intimacy with the Spirit. And then there is that rare person who doesn’t talk frequently about the Spirit, yet whose life is a powerful display of His presence and activity.

Some of you would like it if I said we were going to find a healthy balance between unhleathy extremes. That’s not what we’re going to do. When we are referring to God, abalce is a huge mistake. God is not just one thing we add to the mix called life. He wants an invitations from us to permeate everting and every part of us. In the same way, skeeing a “healthy balance” of the Holy Spirit assumes that there are some who have too much Holy Spirit and others who have too little. I have yet to meet anyone with too much Holy Spirit. Granted, I’ve met many who talk about Him too much, but none who are actually overfilled with His presence.

Is it possible to get enough or even too much God? Is there a point when a person can be satisfied with the amount of intimacy, knowledge and power of God he and she experiences? I don’t see how there can be, because doesn’t every encounter with God only cause us to thirst for Him more?

Let me be clear. This is not a call to misinformed extremism, but an acknowledgment that as believers we can never be ‘done’ with God. He is infinite and we are finite; there will always be more of His character to discover, more of His love to experience, and more of His power to use for His purposes.”

—Francis Chan, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, p. 20.

A number of the kids are experiencing the fallout of a broken home: divorced, estranged or separated parents. John, one of our leaders shared how 40 years ago his parents divorced, and how at age 8 he somehow felt responsible. He then gave seven (awesome) principles for how to see yourself and others if your parents are going through something as devastating as divorce. I plan to get his notes and share on our student website, for the sake of parents.

During our discussion in break-out time (small groups), I needed to step in to lead a couple of the groups. We formed one larger group in a circle. Before I asked them questions the young ladies could ask me any question. One of their first was: what about your wife made you want to marry her?

On the spot I listed two primary reasons: she loves Christ, and she was too busy serving Him to try to flirt with me. It’s true, modesty and appropriate interaction with the opposite sex is much more attractive than being all “out there,” trying to flaunt one’s body. Seriously, ladies, guard your purity, and your brother’s purity by first pursuing beauty from the inside-out.

We chatted about other questions too, and I asked them some: since school starts this week (or next), what about middle school excites you the most? What leads you to be anxious or worry? I was surprised that not many of their answers focused on “fitting in,” or having friends. Actually, come to think of it, the enormity of peer pressure onsets a couple years later, and especially in the shift to night grade/high school.

Back to riffing about my wife … there are more than two reasons to love her.

A million reasons she’s attractive

Why is Kari so attractive to me? There are a million reasons I could list, from her mad parenting skills, to her depth of character. (On her last birthday I wrote her a card with the same number of reasons as years.) She is a wiz in the kitchen, a learner in all things, a perseverer in the direst of circumstances, an encourager when all looks hopeless, a writer of good words, a lover of simple pleasures (tea! cookie dough!). Kari is the best wife I could dream up. As the mother of our two kids she runs the house and yet finds passion and energy to devote herself to people as God leads.

My wife loves God. She is captivated with Jesus the Christ. In one hyphenated word, she is “God-centered” — more than anyone else I know. That’s why she waited for marriage, saving herself physically for me. As a single gal her keychain said “I {heart} my husband,” which of course is her Maker (Isaiah 54:5). She wisely knows I cannot fulfill her the way her true Husband can. I’m here to make her holy even more than happy (although we both know those two go hand-in-hand). As we become whole together, as one, we are happier than ever.

She is also people-directed. Kari’s passion for life and compassion for people shows itself in countless ways. Her selfless streaks extend far past our front doors. For one, her writing impacts so many. While we still have a private home life, we have a standard that given both of our buy-in, no experience is off-limits to share, if it will benefit others and make Christ look glorious. That’s because our most humiliating moments are often our greatest lessons. And the way to glory is the way of humility. Humility is not abstract; it must be learned in real-time, with real times of humiliation. In discipleship we are beckoned to share truth and faith, plus our falsehoods and un-faith, our obedience and disobedience. We learn experientially (the best kind of learning) with one another. Kari does that well, for she’s not trying to impress you or me. Christ has already impressed God for us.

Through Kari’s words others gain courage to live boldly, decide swiftly, and persevere radically. When I need a kick in the pants, I read her thoughts. Other authors teach me theology, but she shows me theology. Words about God put into daily practice.

Back in college ministry, as we were transitioning from life in Corvallis, she compiled the Bible study notes she had taught to dozens and dozens of ladies into a book (with lessons like “The Bride of Christ in Combat Boots”). I saved two copies, one for our kids to read someday, and a second copy for my own soul. Right now that copy sits on a shelf in my office, and I turn to it periodically. As a serial reader, coming back to one book is unique. Kari’s words are compelling and attractive, even in their raw form. While I may pour over a paragraph and still not get it right, Kari unleashes verbs, nouns and all the rest without so much as correcting her typos. What you read on her blog is the exact strokes of the keyboard (or “hte keboard” as she may type it).

At the most basic of level Kari is my pastor, shepherding my soul. She knows me deeper than anyone else—is not impressed—yet draws even nearer. (Can you heartily agree with me: I married up!)

While Kari is a rock, she is also real. That is perhaps her most elusive trait. How do you remain wise and discerning, yet open enough to share your life, in little and large bits? I learn that from her every day, in a million little ways. Every one is another reason to love and adore her.

Living Our True Identity

“Church” in our culture has come to mean an event or a building. “Worship” is thought of as the singing that takes place inside that building. Yet, Scripture teaches that the church is not merely an event or physical structure and that worship extends beyond words on a screen and the walls of a building. Everyone worships. We worship whatever it is that we most value.  We all devote our lives to that which we esteem most worthy.

So who are we, who worship the true and living God? We are the church. A people, rescued by grace, sent on mission to follow His Son. Our great mission is to spread the Good News of Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20). Fueled by thankful hearts, we make it our aim to make known the greatness of this One we’ve come to love.

Our identity is singular; our roles are many. We are God’s people. Our identity is found in Him.  As His, we are also worshipers, family, learners, missionaries, servants. Do we take our roles seriously? As the church, let us not forget our true identity. We exist for God. For people. For the city. For the world. Because we are His. Are you?

This Spring I spent a Saturday morning with a group of college students, most of whom would probably privately call themselves “Christians” (because their parents took them to church a bit and hey, they’re Americans!). Very few actually live in that identity. The meeting was with OSU alums and current students, and I sought to build some relationships through intentional conversation. Have stayed in touch with a few of them, particularly through a crisis that hit their group a couple months later. (College students still hold a special place in my mind and affections. Christ rescued me as one.)

High schoolers are right there in that transition as well. Identity is in some ways front and center, in other ways hidden. Confused, learning what it means to be socially acceptable, about consequences for their decisions (hopefully), and experiencing the full range of human emotions. It’s no wonder that firmly held beliefs become less certain to them as they explore life. As I’ve told junior highers, the greatest danger facing them is that they swim in a sea of triviality. God and His Word are just another distant voice competing for their affections.

High schoolers not only have the freedom to not only fill their minds with triviality (like middle schoolers), they are in part free to make life-altering decisions. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful, deep and life-altering. It must be unleashed in it’s power, it must be explored in all its depths, and it must form the whole basis and substance of our identity and purpose in life. We either make our decisions based on the Gospel, or on something else. It’s the “something else” that propels us forward in most of life. No wonder we get into messes (and are a mess)! These “something else” deciders can be a function of our fear and pride.

• Pride: What do I want to with my life? What should I do today? Who can I call? I wonder what so and so will think of me if I do _____.
• Fear: I need to do ____, because I don’t want to disappoint _____. What If I fail?

And because adults are simply and extension of their middle school and high school selves, we live on this same path, motivated by fear and pride. If only we would along Christ to change us through His infinite power, take us deeper than our fears and our pride have allowed, and let Him alter our lives completely, forever.

Other times, I shift into high gear solo, devoting creative and planning energies to, well, get-things-done. I find my best thinking comes in spurts, often during a short walk outside, or especially in crowded spaces with lots of ambient noise. A few months ago I enjoyed the process of writing a memorial service message in a short time while in a very busy coffee shop, observing people, reflecting on the brevity of life, and mediating on Scripture.

Enter the idea of shifting into “surge mode.” Matt Perman quotes from Time Tactics of Very Successful People in Shifting Into Surge Mode:

High achievers from many different fields speak of being able to regulate their intensity — of being able to phase in and out of an intense state. Some people call this intense state the “surge mode.”

Mozart, Newton and Twain all shifted into high gear in creative spurts. The big idea of “surge mode”:

“It is really much more efficient to do huge chunks of work at a time than it is to start and stop a hundred times. The quality of the finished product is better too because it is more cohesive and has fewer seems.”

• Read Shifting Into Surge Mode

On Friday a new website launched:  rethinkmission.org. Team Rethink Mission, led by church planter and pastor Jonathan McIntosh, is all about “inspiring Gospel-centered missional churches.” I’ve been tracking Jonathan’s preaching and articles for a few years (he recently transitioned from the pastoral and teaching team of The Journey Church in St. Louis). His message is consistently about Jesus, and reaching people in our culture.

Jonathan notes the commitments of a Gospel-centered church:

1. Reading & teaching the entire Bible in light of the gospel.
2. Preaching the gospel to believers, not just unbelievers.
3. Leaders applying the gospel to themselves first; church leaders are the first repenters
4. Cultivating a leadership culture marked by ever increasing “gospel astonishment.”
5. Being known for an atmosphere of grace; gospel-centered churches are safe places for seekers, skeptics and those outside the faith.

Check out rethinkmission.org, perhaps starting with two key articles:

• What is a gospel-centered church?
• What is a missional church?

Team Rethink Mission writes that a missional church is committed to:

• Cultural exegesis – becoming humble students of the varied people & cultures surrounding the church.
• Faithful contextualization – communicating gospel truth in ways the culture understands.
• Producing missionaries instead of consumers – equipping people to live out the gospel through their daily lives and work.
• Building a great city, not just a good church – the goal being more than a full church, but a transformed city.
• Social justice – healing real wounds and righting injustices in the community around them.
• Church planting – multiplying to new towns, cities, states and countries by starting new local churches.

(If some interaction would help, then read an interview on Missional Preaching, an interview on suburban church planting, or a 3 min clip discussing “The Hipper Than Thou Church.”)

Another feature sticks out to me: the advisory board is a mixed bag of pastors and thinkers (at least Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist pastors). It seems each is committed to inspiring Gospel-centered missional churches—and committed to one another and the good of the Kingdom of God.

Looking forward to more challenging content from Team Rethink Mission.

—

For those in a suburban context (like me), see The Subtext (thesubtext.org) for similar Gospel-centered content and practical encouragement.

Shaun gives six non-earth shattering reasons why they dropped cable: time, people, morality, money, silence, and happiness.

For #3 he gives an appropriate analogy:

“Imagine I took in a house guest. And let’s say that guest regularly told my kids I was stupid, hung pictures of half-naked women up on the walls, constantly told my kids the opposite of what I told them and routinely asserted that God is a liar.  How long would it take me to kick that guest out of my house and change the locks?”

Now, there is much good on TV. But much of what we can learn there we can learn through other media avenues — including the web, print journalism, books (yes!), and good old conversation.

We’ve never had cable in our young family, and I can say we don’t miss the tube (that much). Sports games? … Invite myself over to a friends’ home, and bring some bean dip.

(Download Shaun Groves’ single “Kingdom Coming,” — he comments that he hopes this free song ends up costing you everything!

“That’s sick!”

We identify ourselves publicly with Him, before all these witnesses, just as Jesus at His baptism identified with His Father and the Spirit (Matthew 3:1-12). He certainly did not have to repent! But we do, and we must each choose Christ (continually). We can choose Him — and take on a new identity in His Kingdom — because He first chose us (John 15:16).

Dozens of people were baptized this weekend (more than five dozen actually!), in full street clothes, and it was a joy to celebrate new life with them. As we explored the doctrine during the sermon, we re-learned that no one can be saved through their baptismal work. It’s not our works that save us; it is Jesus’ finished work. It’s not our obedience, but His.

Baptizo, the common Greek word that we’ve transliterated into English as “baptism,” was used in a variety of ways in literature, both in the New Testament and outside of it, even in everyday writings (like a recipe for making pickles!). The word can literally mean dunk, dip, immerse, soak, wash. In the NT sense baptism has always been a public sign of repentance, a symbol of turning away from an old life. Whether or not you think Romans 6 is a “wet” passage, the picture remains: baptism identifies us with Christ in His sacrificial death, burial and glorious resurrection. His new life becomes ours through believing in Him, and we make this reality known to the world publicly through baptism. (I was baptized twice in my life, once at a few weeks old, and after I repented and began following Christ two decades later. The first was the choice of my parents; the second was mine.)

This identification always brings the family element of the church front and center. This weekend hundreds of onlookers been participants with those being baptized. We were encouraged, challenged, even convicted as we said, “welcome to the family!” Each individual had to get baptized on his or her own. Yet, we do not belong to ourselves. The happy tension of “I” becoming part of “us.” A child of God among the people of God. That’s because church is not an event or place we attend, but a people we are and become, the called-out ones, sent on mission by our King, Jesus. We can’t go it alone.

It’s a great book, and may now be in my top 10 favorites. Seriously, I read many dead guys, and am constantly dabbling in a few books at a time. This one made me put down all others and dive in. There are only a couple other authors who can do that to me (one is my gifted writer wife).

What’s the purpose of this book? Wilson writes:

“to remind us, for the glory of God and the hope of the world, of the original message of the historical person Jesus Christ, who was, in fact, God in the flesh” (p. 15, introduction).

That’s because “to really know God, one must really know Jesus” (ibid.). Wilson had me in the introduction; I was hooked.

Diving into Your Jesus is Too Safe, I was challenged, excited, laughed often, got riled up at some of my jacked-up views, and came back thirsty for more of this Jesus. Wilson points past himself. He wants us to know and see Jesus! The thing is, we think we know enough about Jesus. But we only know enough to make us dangerous. And we each have “a Jesus” in mind when we hear His name. Is yours “ATM Jesus” or “Therapist Jesus” or “Hippie Jesus” or “get-out-of-hell-free-Jesus”? Perhaps you like “friendly legalist Jesus,” who gives you 5 easy steps to better finances, God’s way. Scrap all of those — and any others — and open up the Bible to get to know the Real Jesus, the God-Man who is the full revelation of what God desires us to know about Him now.

Somewhere along the way we Evangelicals fell in love with ourselves and made a plastic “Jesus” in our own image. Nevermind that He’s the self-proclaimed Image of God. We like Him to be like us, just a slob like one of us — but in a cleaned-up, respectable sort of way. Don’t get too comfortable with “your” Jesus.

As I mentioned, I can’t recommend this book enough. In fact, I bought copies for our youth volunteers, to go hand-in-hand with a series through the Sermon on the Mount that is all about Jesus. If you want to be challenged to see Jesus’ worth, words, works and ways, pick up this book, read it next to the Gospels, and get to work. You won’t be disappointed.

Wilson is a capable writer, and he’d be the first to admit that the path to getting published in non-fiction is quite arduous, if you don’t have a PhD (and thus no one will read it), or if you are not a celebrity pastor (in which case many would read it).

What’s in the book?

Your Jesus is Too Safe is comprised of twelve “portraits” of Jesus emerging from the Scriptures. It’s an accessible “mini-biblical theology,” tracing Jesus from Genesis to Revelation (cover-to-cover, through the ages) to see how He embodies these dozen paradigms. Sandwiched between and introduction and conclusion, here are the twelve chapters:

1. Jesus the Promise
2. Jesus the Prophet
3. Jesus the Forgiver
4. Jesus the Man
5. Jesus the Shepherd
6. Jesus the Judge
7. Jesus the Redeemer
8. Jesus the King
9. Jesus the Sacrifice
10. Jesus the Provision
11. Jesus the Lord
12. Jesus the Savior

The book may make the most sense to Christians, but I won’t hesitate to hand it to non-Christians.  If we silly believers are often stumbling blocks to reflecting the true Savior, perhaps this raw take from the Scriptures can illuminate what we darken, and clarify what we make fuzzy. Whether you think you know about Jesus, or you know very little, pick up this book and learn the old truth through a new encounter. Plus, at about ten bucks, it’s a sweet deal. Skip three coffees over the next couple of weeks and read this book to energize your day. A few of the chapters (1, 4, 8 esp.) are worth the price alone.

Here’s a sampling of some of my favorite excerpts from Your Jesus is Too Safe:

“Jesus showed up and said that the kingdom of God was here now, coming and breaking into history. And he said the kingdom was coming by, in, and through him. This was a hard pill to swallow—then and now. Let’s be frank: if you find the message of Jesus easy to digest, you’d better check the label on the box. You may be consuming a diluted version of Christianity. The message of Jesus—that he himself is life and you can’t get it anywhere else, least of all in yourself—is the hardest message we could ever hear, because it goes completely against our perceptions, our prejudices and our opinions. It goes radically against the bent of our souls.” (p. 27, ch. 1, Jesus the Promise, emphasis added)

“But no, Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law, but to put it in its rightful context—which is to say he put the Law in the context of Himself.” (p. 28, ch. 1)

“Here’s the important thing to remember about the Sermon on the Mount: it’s not some long prescription for behavior modification… more than being stuff to do, it is stuff to be… [it] is a description of kingdom life.” (pp. 33-34, ch. 1)

“… our Redeemer lives. And one day, he will descend with a shout, and this old earth will get an extreme makeover in an eternal splash of glory, the likes of which will make the aurora borealis look like a Lite-Brite.” (p. 35, ch. 1)

“Repentance is the bottom-line call of any real prophet. It’s not all about predicting the future or just being a religious rabble-rouser. It’s about calling people to turn around, because the prophet wants them to have a heads-up for when God arrives.” (p. 41, ch. 2 Jesus the Prophet)

“God became incarnate in the man Jesus Christ, who is the embodiment of forgiveness. God, in his great love for us, wanted to forgive our irreparable offense to his holiness, so he came himself in the person of Jesus to work this miracle of forgiveness. Have you heard the phrase ‘grace has a face’? That’s the active work of the incarnation of Christ, and the task of incarnational ministry for those who follow Christ: to put a face on grace.” (pp. 70-71, ch. 3, Jesus the Forgiver)

“[Jesus] was an integrated man, a whole man, which means he was an unfallen man. Jesus, as one unstained by the mark of Adam’s sin, perfectly reflected the holiness of God. He was whole, so when we look at Jesus and hear what he said and see what he was doing, we are looking at and hearing no one less than the one true God himself.” (p. 96, ch. 4, Jesus the Man)

“Jesus is so intent on shepherding us the way we need to be shepherded, that he is willing to put his own life on the line to protect us. He lays down his life for the sheep. That’s not just a good shepherd—that’s a great shepherd! That’s a crazy shepherd …” (p. 112, ch. 5, Jesus the Shepherd)

“The dualistic approach is echoed even in current campaigns against the penal substitution theory of the Atonement. Critics maintain that penal substitution proposes an unloving god essentially inflicting child abuse upon his loving son. They are wrong. We cannot and must not set Jesus against God, either in our discomfort with God’s wrath or in dismissal of Jesus’ judgment. Take a look at John 5:21-23…” (p. 128, ch. 6, Jesus the Judge)

“The key to living in a redemptive way, to trusting Jesus the Redeemer, is to trust him to redeem you in the circumstances and situations, not after the fact…. It’s something entirely different to look forward into the invisible future, clouded by all that assails and assaults you, and still see Jesus the Redeemer. Trusting Jesus the Redeemer to bring you out of a trial while you’re still in the trial requires not just waiting for redemption, but also living redemptively. You can live redemptively by committing yourself and disciplining yourself to do these three things: 1. Take Heart. 2. Hold Hope. 3. Have Faith.” (p. 165, ch. 7, Jesus the Redeemer)

“There can be no serious talk about Jesus without reckoning with the idea of him as king. There can be no serious talk about Jesus’ message without reckoning with his announcement that ‘the kingdom of God is at hand’ (Mark 1:15). His kingship is perhaps the primary thing we must know about Jesus, the primary way to see him.” (p. 173, ch. 8, Jesus the King)

Why is it important that Jesus never sinned?

“First, by never sinning, Jesus redeemed the sin of Adam. As the New Adam, it was Jesus’ mission to pull a huge do-over on the fall of mankind, to right the wrongs of our ancient parents Adam and Eve. … Second … Jesus had to be a sinless man, an innocent man, because of God’s command, and thus by Jewish law, any sacrifice offered for the forgiveness of sins must be pure and unblemished… Only the blood of something pure could cleanse the hearts of the impure.” (p. 203, ch. 9, Jesus the Sacrifice)

“It’s imperative we see that God is not interested in making our lives better. He’ll have nothing to do with being a supplemental enhancement to support our personal goals and ambitions. He’s not a sidekick, co-pilot, or self-help guru, and we should stay far away from a so-called Christianity that presents God as a way to improve our lives.

“God is life itself. Christ is life itself. We cannot live apart from God.” (p. 224-25, ch. 10, Christ the Provision)

“Over and over, if not verbally or explicitly, at least practically and implicitly, Jesus went around placing himself at the center of the God-life, at the center of God’s kingdom, at the center of one’s faith in God. He was asserting himself as the one to orient your life around if you really want to be faithful to God. And, folks, a normal man doesn’t do that. These days, we put people in mental institutions when they claim to be God.” (p. 251, ch. 11, Jesus the Lord)

“We were, for all intents and purposes, anti-God, even if consciously we though we were just ambivalent. But then the resurrection power of Jesus—he who is mighty to save—ushered us into new life.

Where?

“In him.” [See Romans 5:9-11] (p. 273, ch. 12, Jesus the Savior)

“The most important way that I’ve tried to synchronize the disparate portraits is by tracing throughout the entire journey the great unifying presence of the gospel. The gospel is the hope of the world—and these days it’s a hope that many inside our churches are just as starved for as those outside. My prayer is that more and more churches in Western evangelicalism will repent of their relegating of the gospel to a place inside the Trojan Horse of attractive programming and performance-driven worship services and self-help sermons, and once again herald it boldly as the only and supreme hope of a dying world.” (p. 282, conclusion)

Wilson traced the Gospel throughout Your Jesus is Too Safe, pointing past himself so we see Jesus, and desire more of Him. Wilson hit his intended purpose, “to remind us, for the glory of God and the hope of the world, of the original message of the historical person Jesus Christ, who was, in fact, God in the flesh” (p. 15, introduction). Taking the dozen portraits together: Jesus is God’s Promise, Prophet, Forgiver, The Man, our Shepherd, Judge, Redeemer, King, Sacrifice, Provision, Lord and Savior. He is all!

• Read the book interview with author Jared Wilson

About the Author

Jared Wilson is a faithful husband and devoted father, plus a pastor of Element in Nashville. He blogs at The Gospel-Driven Church, and is on Twitter, Facebook (become a fan of the book), and MySpace (why MySpace?). Anyway, he’s connected and has a bent for all things literary (more at The Thinklings, a group writing project) and is a top researcher with the Docent Group — more about Jared can be found on his site here.

My thoughts and a short review will follow in the next post (here). Read on as Jared answers questions about Your Jesus is Too Safe and life and ministry.

Interview Questions with Jared Wilson

Jeff Patterson: It was hard to pick a favorite chapter—each one was somehow better than the previous—and almost equally difficult to choose a favorite footnote. Those are hilarious (e.g., p. 79, fn. 7, about asking telemarketers for their home phone numbers so you can call them at their home at your convenience; you do that too?). So, what’s @theBecky’s favorite chapter or footnote/anecdote?

Jared Wilson: Beck says her favorite chapter is Jesus the Provision. She’s an optimistic, hopeful, always-expecting-the-miracle person, though, and that chapter deals more with Jesus’ miracles then others do.

She says her favorite snarky footnote is in Chapter 6, footnote #3, related to Jeroboam getting his arm shrunk. It reads, “If you don’t think this is awesome, something is wrong with you.”

[Editor's note: theBecky is obviously Jared's wife Becky (or Beck, as he calls her).]

JP: You seem to assume the reader has “a Jesus” in mind, that is of course “too safe,” and needs to be outgrown. You’re real tough on the American Jesus as “ATM Jesus.” Do you think he’s the primary version you confront into in the south, the Bible Belt? (Other than perhaps “get-out-of-hell-free Jesus.”)

JW: I think the safe Jesus plaguing the Bible Belt is sort of a “friendly legalist” Jesus. I have long thought that most of our churches are dealing in legalism without even knowing it. We get around this, it sneaks in, because most of us think of legalism or Pharisaism as stuffy, traditional, judgmental, arrogant, etc. But legalism is just making the message of God one about doing things and not doing other things. No gospel. And that’s what we’re dealing with when our messages are about practical, relevant steps to victory, change, success, or better what-have-you. It’s casual and hip and happy and comes with a rock band and a speaker with a fauxhawk, but it’s still legalism. And consequently there’s lots of people who are starving for Jesus even as they think they’re getting closer to God through their behavior.

JP: Tell us a bit about the subtitle, “Outgrowing a Drive-Thru, Feel-Good Savior.”

JW: Well, that’s one of those marketing things. I don’t even know if I came up with that. Was part of the titling process, I believe. But I like it. It speaks to both the consumeristic and the therapeutic that comes through in our modern alternative Jesuses.

JP: In the first paragraph of chapter 8, “Jesus is King,” you write, “His kingship is perhaps the primary thing we must know about Jesus, the primary way to see him.” Do you think our Jesus is too safe primarily because we see him as an add-on to our lives, and not as our lives—calling all the shots as King of All?

JW: I think our Jesus is too safe whenever it turns out he looks, thinks, or acts like us. Or when he likes and dislikes the same people and things we do. And when all that starts happening, then, yes, Jesus turns out to be our reflection, a sidekick helping us but really doing the bidding of our hopes and dreams like a genie for our self esteem or something.

JP: I concur with Michael Spencer (iMonk) that your book is like a “mini-biblical theology.” So rich, so full of insights that thread the whole revelation from Genesis—Revelation. If you had to choose, which of the 12 portraits of Jesus from Your Jesus is Too Safe does your church need to know the most? (Knowing of course we need Him in His fullness!)

JW: I think Jesus the King may be the most important chapter. It sets up Jesus as the sovereign Lord of all, so it gets at some core theology. And then it teases that out into the reality of the kingdom and kingdom living, so it gets at eschatology, and in tandem with that, ecclesiology. In other words, if Jesus is king of the kingdom of heaven, and if that kingdom is present now in him and his reign, what does it mean to be citizens of that kingdom and how do we do God’s will on earth as it is done in heaven so that others see the kingdom’s coming as good news? So that chapter more than others covers the gamut of belief and practice for churches.

JP: I’m 31, continually seeking to be a faithful husband and loving father, and have been called by God to serve as a pastor (associate), in the suburbs. What is the greatest emphases a suburban pastor should have, particularly in shepherding and leading believers in community?

JW: You will have to fight idolatry tooth and nail. The idolatry of comfort and convenience, which are in abundance in the suburbs. It messes with our brains. We go from “Oh, this is neat that this Kroger is right here” to “I can’t believe I have to drive 8 minutes to Kroger and wait in this 5 minute line!”

The suburbs can make idiotic babies of all of us. But they don’t have to. Preach the gospel hard at them so they know the universe doesn’t revolve around us. (The “six steps to a better you” stuff is huge in suburban churches.) And keep reminding them of life outside the suburbs and in the third world and what-not. And take them there, if you can.

JP: Theo-dork here: Has Kregel thought about making the book available in PDF form (for those who have purchased it in print)? I think it could be valuable for missionary pastors who have their libraries on a PC.

JW: I am getting info on this. I know Kindle is a strong possibility. I am waiting on answer to the PDF question.

JP: What’s one piece of advice you have for young, aspiring, God-centered authors?

JW: Write well. There’s a lot of guys who are smart and good speakers and have interesting things to say but can’t write worth a darn. And then there’s guys who write really well but don’t say anything helpful or edifying.

If you don’t know if you write well, ask somebody who’s not related to you to read your work and tell them to be honest.

Jeff, good questions!

JP: I know you tweet (@jaredcwilson). Who is Jesus in 140 characters or less? (Who must we say He is?)

Jared didn’t answer this one, but perhaps I can make an educated take on it, borrowing from the table of contents:

Jesus is God’s Promise, Prophet, Forgiver, The Man, our Shepherd, Judge, Redeemer, King, Sacrifice, Provision, Lord and Savior. He is all!

Your Jesus is Too Safe is organized around twelve “portraits” of Jesus, each one illustrating one awesome aspect of His Person (the 12 being listed above: Jesus is the Promise … the Prophet … the Forgiver … etc.). As you read, you’ll be challenged, excited, perhaps become angry (in chapter 4, probably), and in the end want to throw “your” Jesus away for the Real One — who is far edgier, deeper, and awesome than any person you’ve ever known. He’s not drive-thru (consumeristic) nor feel-good (therapeutic), but I don’t we want those for all eternity. He’s the King of the Universe, come to die in our place in order to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

—

Editor’s note: A copy of Your Jesus is Too Safe was sent to me at no cost, in exchange for my review as part of the blog tour. I was not obligated to provide a positive review. I genuinely like the book — recommend it heartily without reservation — and am thankful for Jared’s time in answering these questions.

Here’s the fourth song of this series of reflecting on great God-centered lyrics, Songs of Sovereignty. The last one had the same title, “You Never Let Go.” This second song of the same name is completely different (except for the link of suffering—joy), and comes from the David Crowder*Band.

If I could own only one album it would probably be DCB’s Can You Hear Us? This song comes from their latest release, Remedy, a close second favorite.

I remember first hearing of DCB as simply the UBC Band, that is the University Baptist Church (Waco, TX) worship band. A friend had a cd with songs like “The Heights,” “The Color Song,” “Light my Eyes, ” and one that totally resonates with my soul, “All I Can Say.”

One thing I appreciate about the DCB’s music is the lyrics make you think God’s truth, and the arrangement draws you to know this truth experientially. I don’t know enough about music to tell you if they break the rules, are original, or even play on/off key. All I know is that when Kari asked me last when have I encountered God’s presence the most, I thought back of dozens of times crying in the car as I worshiped through pain to the God-centered words of the DCB. For me, thinking about theology, encountering the words of the Bible, coming as face-to-face with Christ as we can in this life — those are the places I see Christ the most. This broken world makes the most sense when seen threw new eyes. The DCB helps me to see better. How? They point me past themselves, which is probably what I appreciate about them the most. They aren’t concerned with impressing you, me, or God. Christ has already impressed the Father. (The band has a silly side too, as seen in their rockumentary, “twitter_will_kill_you.”)

As for the song, “You Never Let Go,” the part that resonates with my soul the most is near the end:

Oh, what love, oh, what love
Oh, what love, oh, what love
In joy and pain
In sun and rain
You’re the same
Oh, You never let go

Truth satiates our souls and takes us past ourselves to see that more is going on in our trials that we ever realized. God is for us, for if we are in Christ we see that His was all the joy, AND all the pain, He went through the sun and the rain (which perhaps could be a reminder that neither is enjoying to an extreme: the rhythm of seasons makes for life.) Exploring the mysterious union of joy and pain will no doubt become a great part of our learning for all eternity. IN any event, through every event, God the Creator is the same. His Love never fails, His promises always come true, and His hands will hold us through everything.

You Never Let Go

When clouds veil sun
And disaster comes
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
When waters rise
And hope takes flight
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul

Ever faithful
Ever true
You I know
You never let go
You never let go
You never let go
You never let go

When clouds brought rain
And disaster came
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
When waters rose
And hope had flown
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul

Oh, my soul
Overflows
Oh, what love, oh, what love
Oh, my soul
Fills hope
Perfect love that never lets go

Oh, what love, oh, what love
Oh, what love, oh, what love
In joy and pain
In sun and rain
You’re the same
Oh, You never let go