Give up. Look up.

Try. Fail. Two words that, when placed together, form a painful and unpleasant speed bump. Press on. Try ‘harder’. Fail again. With each unsuccessful effort, stacking another ‘try’ on top becomes increasingly awkward. The task grows bigger – and your last bit of hope… fades. You’ll never win. You can’t.

You’ll never get control of your thoughts, let alone your careless words. You can’t prevent losing your temper – you’re only human! Why try? You can’t be a good parent all the time! Everyone makes mistakes. You gave it your best effort, but you’ll never break your addiction. You just can’t. How many times have you promised God now… only to break your word in a time of weakness.

So… wait, is this it? Am I really supposed to… give up? Somebody HELP!

Look up! Smile! It’s not the end. No, brothers and sisters, this… this is the beginning. You’ve arrived at the first half of the equation – you cannot be holy, pure, and Godly – you cannot… on your own.

We need God. We must depend on Him, and rely on Him as our source of power and the mode of success in the process of becoming more like Jesus Christ. God knows that you have no ability within yourself to be holy. This is why we must give up on trying to do life on our own. Jesus said anyone who wants to follow Him must, “deny himself”. Jesus also illustrated this submission as letting your “self” die. Your self – everything that is independent of God – DEAD. Sure, dead things don’t get things done… but they tend to stay out of the way. And in this case – that’s a good thing.

The power necessary to achieve holy living is given freely from God – and is something we don’t deserve. We call this grace. And, we’ve been given more than we could ever need. “My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness.” [2 Corinthians 12:9]

Consider this: God could take all the pain and difficulty out of our lives, if He thought it best. So, why does He allow us to experience all the challenges of life? We need to be constantly reminded of the impossibility of winning on our own, and the impossibility of God ever losing. He tells us, “You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” [John 16:33] Stop whining, and start relying. The suffering we face is real, but Jesus Christ says that He has already accomplished victory.

We can claim for ourselves what the apostle Paul said,

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." [Galations 2:20]

Give up. Stop living. Let self die. Submit. Let Jesus live through you.

Try. Succeed.

Image: Help me out of this darkness by Carly Faust

Thoughts on 'Naming the Elephant'

In Naming the Elephant, James Sire makes clear his philosophical belief that ontology must be the basis and undermining factor of all philosophical, religious, and practical (physical) structures and arguments. His fundamental argument that knowledge and practice begin with the existence of God seems to me to be quite in agreement with the sum of Biblical truth. From the existence of God stems a necessity of relationship, and a character God who is knowable, and in due process all knowledge. That this ontological starting point must be taken upon faith does not weaken Sire's explanation, as any opposed epistemological foundation assumes that knowledge, the thinker, or the topic of thought pre-exist. In the same vein, the language system or cognitive framework used in the rational thought process, “I think therefor I am” itself demands external true existence, despite the thought being internal.



The centrality of ontology seems to me to be synonymous with a basic belief in absolute truth. If one's world view assumes that what is really real is unchanging, constant (present - future), and can be known at least relatively, one quickly falls into naturalism or theism. When a man commits to the understanding of this truth framework having always existed (eternal) and being unchangeable by verdict of society or one's own intentional decision, one has essentially accepted the existence of absolute truth. It only remains at this time to decide how that truth can be identified. I would offer, as does Sire, that the Bible is as close as one can get to discerning these absolutes. I argue with the one who says the Bible encompasses the entirety of truth, as it does not grant man with a complete understanding of God and existing things, but as God's specific revelation, scripture when accompanied by the wealth of natural revelation in agreement with the scriptures, does embody the whole of the vastness of knowledge that God has determined to reveal to man at this time. In this way it can be said that the Bible is truth. And this the character behind the Bible is the basis for truth. Indeed, it is God all the way down.

Biblical Family Roles

I worked with two other guys in my "Family Life" class to prepare these lesson plans. They are designed for a young adult Sunday school class.

Biblical Roles in a Family
Lesson 1: The Husband's Role

Duration: 50-60 minutes

Audience: Career/Young Adults

Presenting Biblical family roles in five lessons in a Sunday school class setting.

Learn: How the family should operate based on the Biblical patterns in Scripture.

Goal: Help current families better serve one another.

Profitable for young adults planning on future marriage.

Discussion style: teacher should ask questions and initiate discussion in order to understand what the group already knows about the subject.

Part 1
Questions:
1. What is Sacrificial Love?

• Sacrifice as Christ did for the church.
• Sacrificed His own wants and desires.
• To the point of dying. (Phil 2:1-8)

2. What is Purifying Love?

• Protects from sin
• Examples - Fear (1 Jn 4:18)/ Anxious (Phil 4:6)/ Covet (Rom 13:9)/ Contentment (Heb 13:5)/ Never violates her conscience/ Goal is her holiness

3. What is Caring Love?

• Tender / Comforts / Nourishes / Strengthens / Not harsh or harmful

4. What is Unbreakable Love?

• Permanent, Cleave (Mk 10:6-9; Mt 19:3-6)
• Become one, no independence (Gen 2:24)

Lesson 1: Part 2

What are some ways in which the Husband should behave or act?
(1) Does not provoke his children (6:4)

• Meaning:
  Put teeth on edge, hopeless, no way out.
  Does not mean anger
• Causes:
  Overprotection
  Favoritism
  Pushing achievement beyond reasonable bonds.
  Discouragement
  Failing to sacrifice, feeling unwanted
  Failing to let them grow up at a normal pace
  Using love as a tool (punishment/reward)
  Physical or verbal abuse

(2) Brings them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (6:4)

• “Training”: The systematic training of children. It includes the idea of all that is involved to build character. (Heb 12)

The Biblical Pattern; 2 Timothy 3:16
Teaching: Showing what is right
Rebuking: Showing what is wrong
Correcting: Making the wrong right
Training: Learning to repeat the right