Of love, and hope.

Love is not defined
by the hopelessness of past relationships

Love is not characterized
by the negativity of one's own limited frame of reference

Love is not an uncontrollable temporary passion
that passes when the inferno fades

Love is as hopeful
as the work you are willing to put into it

Love is as strong
as the habits of years

Love is as energetic
as the emotion you invest in it

Love is as long-lasting
as your own humble tenacity with it

Love is as happy
as the joy of serving the object of one's love

Love is as powerful
as the source from Whom true love is experienced

Love has no inevitable collapse,
it needs no optimist's saccharine promise

Love is evidently modeled. Look up.

Skinny Contemplations on Art

Is it just me, or does it seem that the more immersed an artist (regardless of field) is in a particular art, the further away from truth about God that artist seems to get?

Maybe I'm generalizing from my own limited experience, but it just seems that eccentricity and moral ambiguity seems to be directly proportionate to serious art, and it makes me wonder...

Edit:
On further thought, I applied this to audio-visual media: entertainment, movies, books, music... and the prognosis isn't good. Art in general does not deal with the righteousness of God. Having realized the secular-humanistic (and therefore godless) perspective of the entertainment industry as a whole, it becomes obvious that the morality present in these art forms will be fatally flawed. Not because it is always necessarily immoral or amoral (as many times is the case) but because even any morality that is sourced in humanism is limited by its very man-centeredness. Holiness is not the measure, and therefore God is not the standard; social relationship is.

In sum, be it the most inane work of art, what is presented about love, about romance, about human relationships, about service, about politics, about violence, about peace, about sexuality, about business, about anything you can think of, even religion, all this is ensconced in a man-centered world-view. Man is the focus of the universe. The godlessness of it all is not explicit, but subtle.

The themes of good vs. evil, or the goodness of man, or the love between human beings all become a facade that subtly encourages the ignorance of God's perspective and ultimately the abandonment of true religion. Morality by itself is damning, a religion that in reality despises God.

All that to say guard your heart. Protect the gates. Know what you watch, read and listen, and don't inform your morality or practice from entertainment or art, ultimately, set God at the center and inform your life with His Word at the center. Let that center inform all pursuit of art.

I will ponder the way that is blameless.
Oh when will you come to me?
I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;
I will not set before my eyes
anything that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.
Psalm 101:2,3

Simple in truth, profoundly hard to imbibe.

In line with what's been on my mind for the past few months, here's parts of a book report that I wrote recently:

Christ is infinite in his fullness – in Him is a boundless abundance of supply for those in great personal, spiritual and emotional need. It does not matter what the misery or bondage is – Christ is sufficient. Christ deals not superficially or symptomatically but with the root of the matter – the human heart.

...it is only when we see Christ in his all-sufficient fullness that we can confidently embrace his power to change lives – whether in emotional issues, broken lives or depression. Any attempt to apply the world’s theories to attempt to solve these problems is an implicit affirmation of Christ’s inability and insufficiency.

True believers are those who have seen and been captivated by Christ – they have experienced the immensity of His gloriousness. A central feature of His glory is the glory of His all-sufficiency (Col 1:19, John 1:16). Christ is supreme in His glory (2 Cor 2:14-4:6) – no other shares His glory. Not only that, His Glory is sufficient. At the center of His glory is his infinite fullness (John 1:14-17). In light of this, the believer can rest in Him in full confidence, that nothing outside of what He provides is necessary for the soul ailments of life.

This morning an old (relatively) song that I knew popped into my head... which sums up the idea simply in its title. It is so easy to understand, yet I am coming to realize that for me this is going to be a lifelong quest in terms of submitting my life to that understanding. I hold on to so much, despite knowing that I can let go, He holds me. It's not that the storm isn't strong. He holds me, and knowing who He is, as the song begs, then why do I sway?

You're All I Need
The Kry

Why do I sway
I can't face the day without You
my heart drifts away
but Your love remains always true

As I'm sailin' away
on the rivers of time
Your love will carry me through
the storms in my life

You're all I need
when the world is closin' in
my strength is runnin' thin
when i'm lost in the storm
You're all I need there's no need to look anywhere
there's nothing that can compare
to the love that You give
You're all I need

Sometimes I wait
until I can't take anymore
You show me the way
You help me sail back to the shore

When I'm drifting away
on the angry tides
I cast out my anchor into
the sea of Your love

You're all I need
when the world is closing in
my strength is running thin
when I'm lost in the storm
You're all I need there's no need to look anywhere
there's nothing that can compare
to the love that You give
You're all I need

You're all I need
You're all that I want
nothing in this world
could give me more

Why do i sway
I can't face the day without You!
all I can say
You're all I need

Who is sufficient for these things?

I just finished a conversation with one of my closest friends. Who just got saved. Who's resisted during decades of prayer and conversation. Who knew all but rejected it just the same. Now he testifies that God forgave him, changed him, saved him.

And on that basis, as I told him, I am amazed - you just cannot force the hand of God. It is instances like these that reinforce his sovereignty over the human heart, that he will call when he wills. And when he does, the hardest heart turns to flesh and sings his praise.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:16,17

And this is why we preach, because faith comes from God. And we trust, because there is never one without hope. And we love Christ, because salvation is found nowhere else.

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1 Corinthians 1:17-25

I have been struck again with the lack of human wisdom to save a man - even if that wisdom is based on Truth. Man cannot convince anyone to be saved, even if there is great love in that relationship. We are foolish, powerless on our own - But we preach Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And he saves to the uttermost, because his salvation is not about words, but actual cleansing and heart regeneration.

Better than I can say myself.

Epiphanies are so subjective: they mean the world to the person involved but are just run-of-the mill words to most everyone else. With that understanding, I share this anyway.

It's easy to wonder about God's timeline - the "whens" and the "how longs".

Well, I think I'm starting to "get it" in my own life... "when?" "how long?" - "till" I begin to understand just how great God is: how marvelously applicable His Word is - the power of His grace, the effectiveness of his comfort, the marvel of his shepherd's care, the rest that can be found in the goodness of His sovereignty. "till" I rest my joy in these things alone, and "till" I hang on every word.
It's impossible to talk about these truths in abstract anymore! How can I not point people to Him?

I ask myself: were it not for these things he's allowed, would I have even stopped to ponder His purposes or His glories? Oh, but now He has arrested my attention.

So in agreement with the Psalmist, I post this testimony to the treasure that God is: Immensely simple words, yet truer and better than I could ever say myself.

Your testimonies are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.

I open my mouth and pant
because I long for your commandments.
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
as is your way with those who love your name.

Keep steady my steps according to your promise,
and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
Redeem me from man's opression,
that I may keep your precepts.

Make your face shine upon your servant,
and teach me your statutes.
My eyes shed streams of tears,
because people do not keep your law.

Psalm 119:129-136