On the balance of Ministry and Marriage...

At times, I've heard others (and wondered myself) about the balance and tension between loving my spouse/family vs. serving in ministry. The below story, taken from Gary Thomas' Sacred Marriage, helped paint a very insightful picture for me. Enjoy.

"A campus pastor named Brady Bobbink decided to take Scripture’s admonitions about love seriously. Brady married relatively late in life. He had become well known as a speaker on discipleship and single living, and he was in high demand, with plenty of opportunities to “serve God” through his gift of teaching.

When Brady asked Shirley to become his wife, life changed dramatically. Shirley had two children from a previous marriage, and it wasn’t long before Shirley and Brady began to pray about having a child of their own.

“What would it mean for me to love my wife in this situation?” Brady asked himself. In prayer, Brady made a pledge. If Shirley had another baby, for the first year he wouldn’t accept any outside speaking engagements other than the ones his current position required him to take. Shirley subsequently became pregnant and gave birth to their first boy, Micah. 

Months later, Brady received a lucrative opportunity to speak in Singapore. Brady is a student of history and loves to travel. The chance to go to the Far East was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, plus it would give him the chance to teach Christians from another culture.

He excitedly told Shirley about this great opportunity, then remembered his pledge midway through his conversation, and said out loud, “I can’t go.” 

Shirley tried to release Brady from his pledge. “Honey, I’ll be fine,” she said.

It would have been easy for Brady to play religious games here. “I certainly could have justified it on a noble idea,” he admitted, “preaching to another culture, but if that had really been my passion, I would have moved there and taken my wife and kids with me.” 

Some might think Brady was passing up an opportunity to please God by taking his gospel message to another nation, but Brady realized he could please God by loving his wife in a season in which she needed extra help and attention. To stay home and care for his wife in her need was every bit as much “Christian service” as leaving his hometown to go preach the gospel when he was single. 

“To fail to love my wife and kids rightly in the name of loving other people rightly is a sham,” Brady insists.

Sanctifying Silence

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

One thing that we tend to lack today is silence. I had a great conversation over the weekend with a friend (who is also a high school teacher), and we were observing how today's teenagers are never just silent (This is true of adults as well). We, as I've written before, always have something to entertain us, always have somewhere to be, something to do, someone to see. This leaves very little silence in our lives, even though silence can be very productive. It allows us to think about deep issues, to pray through things that are troubling or exciting, and to connect with our God. I would go as far to say that a lack of silence in our lives inhibits us from knowing God deeply.

In the above, frequently-quoted verse, two things really stand out to me.

1. We often think of this verse as a "warm-fuzzy" verse. To "be still and know that I am God" conjures emotions mainly of warmth and safety. When we look at the rest of the Psalm, however, we see that we are called to know the God who "has brought desolations on the earth," "makes wars cease," "breaks the bow and shatters the spear," and "burns the chariots with fire." This same God is also "is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble," and "is our fortress" as well. So we see that we are to "know" God in his holy fullness.

2. Notice the order of the commands. "Be still and know..." God commands us to FIRST be still and silent, and then come to know him. I think that order is very critical in our pursuit of knowing Jesus. If we do not obey the first command- "be still"- we will have a hard time obeying the second command- "know that I am God."

Remember, Paul said that the most worthy goal in life is to know Christ (Phil. 3:7-10). And Psalm 46:10 seems to indicate that to know him properly, we must be still and silent. Let's make time in our lives this week for sanctifying silence.

Church Life

Your life in the church...
People over programs
Lives over locations
Relationships over ritual
Fellowship over formalism...

Content Consumption

If your life looks anything like mine (and most of America's), you are constantly being presented content to consume. We have genius-phones and iPads and walkmans and apps and a billion ways to read, view, discuss, and consume content. The most popular websites are dedicated to this task as well (think facebook, Google, YouTube). For example, one morning this week, I grabbed my phone (while still in bed), shot off a few witty facebook comments, viewed what my friends were up to, scanned through some headlines via twitter, turned on the British Open and watched a few holes of golf, and texted a few friends with weekend plans. All from the bathroom. We are constantly consuming content.

It has been said "You are what you eat." And I believe that we can tie that principle to the content that we consume as well. You are the data you consume. What you consume is what you worship.

If what we consume is of utmost importance, I need to ask myself is where God's word falls on my list of content that I consume. Is it at the top of the list, constantly receiving my first time, my most dedicated time? Is it in the middle, something I casually tune into when convenient for me? Or does it not even make the list?

You've likely been interacting with content, data, news, blogs, stories, video clips, highlights, messages, music, and "+1's" since you rolled out of bed this morning. Let's make sure that above all else, before all else, more urgently than all else, and more frequently than all else, we consume God's word.

"Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." 1 Peter 2:2-3.

A Monday Thought

"...all solid relationships are built on quid pro quo: doing something for someone who, in turn, does something for you."

In reading a business article this morning, I came across the above sentence. It indicates that relationships are give & take; that, you serve someone because you know they will serve you back. This view indicates that love and service to others is motivated by their love or service back to you.

While the above has some practical value in business relationships, it is not the principle of Christian relationships. Love takes joy solely in loving others; not for some favor that may be returned. To modify the above sentence...

"...all solid relationships are built on love: rejoicing in doing something for someone who, in turn, may or may not do something for you."

Ultimately, God is the perfect lover, and true love follows his example. "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's love was initiated not based on our love or service to him. Neither should our love for others be.

Japan, Jesus, and Judgment

The title of this post will likely remind you of comments made by Pat Robertson (American televangelist) after the Haiti earthquake. He posited that God allowed the Haiti earthquake as judgment over a "pact with the devil" made by Haiti's founders. He also attempted to explain reasons for God allowing tragedies such as Hurricane Katrina and 9/11. He is certainly not the only one to make assertions like this, but he is one of the most prominent (You may read of a few of his infamous blunders here).


When tragedies happen, God-believing humans want to know why such things have occurred. We feel better if there is a specific & known reason for cataclysmic events. The recent earthquake and tsunami is Japan is one such event. We'd, frankly, like to know what God was thinking in allowing such a tragedy to occur.


It is a common thought that if a tragic event occurs, it must be a judgment of God. But that thought process is The Jews of Jesus' time also struggled with such questions, and they also wanted answers. 


Luke 13:1-6 recounts, "There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”


There were two tragic events that these Jews were wrestling with. 1) Pilate apparently had some Galileans unjustly killed while they were offering sacrifices. 2) A tower in Siloam collapsed, killing 18 people.


While these 2 events were not immediately viewable on YouTube minutes after they occurred, the theological questions that Jesus deals with are the same ones that we deal with in light of Japan. Did this happen because they were being specifically judged? And, what should my response be?


Jesus' response was simple. Tragedies like this do not mean that they were worse sinners than you. You were not spared because of greater intrinsic holiness, since you are all sinners. God will not give humanity specific reasons for why most events like this occur, so don't bother speculating too much. Tragedies like this are meant to remind you, here and now, that the judgment of God is coming to everyone someday. We shouldn't spend time speculating why this happened; rather, we should spend time thinking of God's judgment. Therefore, repent and make yourself right with God.


We have many thoughts and emotions over tragedies like Japan, 9/11, Katrina, Haiti, etc. In addition to our thoughts, prayers, aid, and missions to the suffering, let us also soberly think of the judgment of God, a tsunami coming to all humanity not bound by geography. And also think of the lone way to escape this judgment: the grace and forgiveness of Jesus, bought for you on the cross.

Quick Thought- Truth & Emotions

Good afternoon.

I just had a quick thought on TRUTH and emotions. In various discussions with friends, sometimes we talk about tough issues- those things we may disagree on. (This conversation could be Christians talking about theology or a conversation with an unbeliever.) What I want to stress is that the way we feel about a topic is not a good test case for the truth of that topic. For example, I may not like the topic of death. However, death is a reality and my negative feelings about death don't change the reality of death.

Same with Jesus. You may not feel great about his claim over your life. You may not feel great about God's standard of holiness. You may react adversely to God's 100% true Word. But those feelings do not change God's truth OR your responsibility to submit to God's truth. 

Kapish?