For God’s Sake

“For God’s Sake Johnny, pull up those pants.”

Maybe I have been watching too many 80s and 90s shows but this phrase strikes me as an odd one. It has been labeled to me as a swear. Of course, scripture doesn’t bode well for those who misuse the the name of God, but I want to examine this phrase a little closer, according to some words of Jesus.

Jesus taught us to pray (Matt 6) and in turn to hallow the name of God. As Jesus prays to the Heavenly Father, he states, hallowed be your name. To hallow the name of God is to set it apart as holy. To hold it up in high regard. But what of this name? What does it matter about God’s name, it’s His character and being that matters after all.

Within scripture a name means so much more. Living in a culture where children a named to sound unique and not get picked on at school, we don’t initially get what this phrase from Jesus means. The name meant the very character of the person. Naming a child meant labelling his or her character. Jacob, from birth, was known as the trickster. It’s what his name meant and it held up. He tricked his brother into giving up his birthright. Hollowing the name of God is holding Gods character as holy and set apart. Which, if we call ourselves Christians, means we bear the name of God and need to keep it holy in our lives. Which for me is absolute surrender to God.

So back to our phrase, “For God’s Sake.” It’s known as cursing when in fact it should be redeemed as a phrase meant to bring awareness to how we bear the name of God. Our issue is we use the phrase when we are fed up with something, usually that something is moralistic. So Johnny pulling up his pants is for Gods sake because its a matter of Gods name being smeared.

But what if “for God’s sake” was less of a moralistic phrase and one of surrender. What if it meant, I give up everything in this day to God. If I wake up in the morning and exclaimed, “for God’s sake,” it would be to remind myself for whom I live. An odd thought from an odd phrase.

Of course this is a flippant phrase that is simple jargon in our society, but here it goes: For God’s sake Christians, hallow his name.

 

“I’m sitting in…

“I’m sitting in the shadow of the sacred and strolling through the splendor of the supernatural without the slightest sense of what surrounds me.”

Dr. Steve Stephens likes his alliteration. Maybe it’s because of his name, but what matters here is the use of antithetical verbs with its corresponding nouns. Here’s what I mean: “Sitting” and “strolling” are leisure themed verbs while the nouns, “shadow of the sacred” and “splendor of the supernatural” are fairly intense descriptions of God. Stevens fleshes out the reality that we live in the ordinary not realizing that God is right there. He states earlier that our faith is often godless, but the reality of God around us is astounding.  He wants us to see that almighty, all intimate God is here with us and we live as though he doesn’t exist. Powerful lesson for christians as well as everyone else.

 

Dreaming is a Necessity

I always loved dreaming about what to do in life. I am in a career path at the moment and lovin it, but I always love to envision myself in other places. I have dreamt of being a teacher and can place that within my career, but what about the extravagant?

Another dream I have had is acting. It didn’t matter whether it was the stage or film, but just the thrill of acting. Here’s why I say this: The Hobbit! I Just watched a bit of this video of behind the scenes. Just to be the “Craft Service Manager” would be cool! Making lattes for Frodo? Sounds great. Get the benefits of being in New Zealand with a low pressure job! Ok I admit, I would also love to be Frodo! Maybe I can be an on-set Spiritual Care Person for films?

Dreaming is a part of life. But then, how can I be content with life where I’m at when I dream of being somewhere else? Why am I here? Well, thanks for popping my dream bubble Brandon! The truth is this: I have desired to help people find true life in Christ my entire life, notwithstanding some bumps in the road. And being a pastor is how I have chosen to live it out. Dreaming can deter me when times are hard as a pastor. Of course grass is greener in another dream. Should that deter me from dreaming? No, because dreams can also do something else, something divine even.

We are created to dream. Our imagination sets us free from the constraints of our situation and can help us look into it from the outside. Thinking outside the box is difficult when we have to live in the box. So, we dream! Dreaming of being a Craft Service Manager for Peter Jackson and Frodo can turn into an Einstein moment in life. Though it hasn’t yet, I can still dream! Who knows, maybe God is the one giving us these dreams? Joseph was convinced that his dreams were from God (of course we know they were), despite the backlash from his brothers and godly father! Though he didn’t know how it would all work out, he still dreamt. Joseph kept that dream pocketed for years but he did keep it and it came about. We need look for moments where our dreams can be integrated into life. I think this will invigorate and re-imagine life. It will give us hope, passion and purpose like never before.

Dreaming is a Necessity! We need it in so many ways. It brings light, joy, fun, prophecy, direction. I could unpack any of the above. Without it, we miss out on re-invigorating life. God uses imagination for us to dream in this world. To dream of how to be all he has created us to be. Dreaming makes us human! So here’s what I say to that: Dream away humans and see what the Lord does!

 

From Proving Christianity to Living Christianity

As I began to read Hearing the Call, a collection of Essays by Nicholas Wolterstorff, I came across a
paragraph that struck me as the description of the Christian life. Over the past 5 or so years, I have been going through a transformation. I have been going from pride to fall, from narrow to open, from arrogant to convicted, from teenage to adulthood in my Christian walk. The paragraph comes in story form as Wolterstorff depicts his life in light of grace that shaped his life. He is talking about Calvin College and it being grace in his life:

Here too nobody was offering evidences for the truth of Christianity, arguments for the inspiration of Scripture, proofsfor the resurrection of Jesus, best explanation accounts of Christian faith. the challenge set before us was to interpret the world, culture, and society in the light of Scripture — to describe how things look when seen in Christian perspective, to say how they appear when the light of the gospel is shed on them (Wolterstorff, Hearing the Call, 2011, 10).

My immaturity in the faith has been maturing by going through the journey described above. This journey was one from proving Christianity was the best way of life to actually living as a part of God’s kingdom. The former is not a bad place to start, but I have to admit, it is only a starting point. The point of proving Christianity as the best way of life is not as major of a contribution to the world as it is to oneself. We feel as though we need to stand up for God to prove he exists. This may be the task for some, but it is majorly for getting use to being a Christian. We have to prove to ourselves that Christianity is the best way.

Going from this way of Christianity to the latter way has given me life. It allows me to both rest in Christ, yet work vigour sly for his kingdom. At this point we can “embody Christ in culture” (Wolterstorff, 9). The former way we are fighting with the world as we would envision “aliens and strangers” to do (1 Peter 2:11). In the latter way we have a chance to form the world from within it. We live as a part of the world and yet shed the light of the gospel as we go. This is the true meaning of “whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:17).

Now I go back to reading. I think I am going to like reading this guy’s thoughts.

 

The First Blog: An Introduction

First, let me say welcome. For those who are coming from my last blog, I hope to continue the fun from that blog to this one. For a refresher for you and a little introduction for those who are here for the first time, let me tell you my goal with this blog.

My Blog is called Frequent Thoughts. Have you ever had a million things go through your mind and not be able to hear one of them? That has been me. Sometimes, the only way for me to process thoughts is to write them out. So write I do, hoping that they can also help you out in your thoughts.

The word “Thoughts” is intentional. Human thinking is so very powerful. I wonder. Wonder is healthy for both a person and a community. Wonder provokes. It provokes communication, brainstorming, box-breaking. It stretches our minds beyond where we are at. Wonder allows us to be wrong. It frees us up from the paralytic cynicism of the world. Though this blog will review or even critique the world and its contents, they remain thoughts. Simply thoughts for us to chew on and let challenge us. I am not absolute truth. Though if God speaks truth through me, then kudos to him.

I pray God does speak through this blog. The other thing wonder provokes is action from convicting thoughts from God. The world of wonder is a place where we open up. Our creator works with open minds and hearts. He can then shape us. Then, I step more into the reality of who I am as a writer, a communicator, a mentor, a husband, and, most importantly, a christian.

So let’s wonder together. Let’s wonder who we are and how we should live in Christ.