Monthly Archives: September 2007

I discovered this morning I could send Scripture straight from the ESV search site to my blog… below are select texts from the search: heart and mind…

This morning I heard from the Lord in a fresh way that there should be no disconnect in them (the heart and mind). He created us as beings with emotion and reason. We should not seek therefore to elevate one over the other. He gifts us differently but we are all one. He who may look more toward the emotion should not look askance at she who he terms a “brain-iac” nor should she who is more inclined toward reason look down her nose at he who meets God in emotion. Indeed we have both and I do not believe that this compartmentalization of these is biblical, in fact I would posit that this “division” is a result of the fall. Scripture is replete with texts that call us to understand the amazing gifts of God the Holy Spirit. Consider the gift of knowledge given to Daniel and the boys in Babylon because of their faithfulness to God and HIS wish to show himself as God to the Jews in exile as well as to their Babylonian keepers. But I know too the deep sorrow that I have felt as the Spirit convicts me of my sin… the great loss that I have felt at the loss of a child, and the great comfort that enveloped me as the Word of God was real to my mind and my heart was filled with joy… mind or heart? NO! We are the image bearers of God and should never ever seek one over the other, we should glorify God in brothers and sisters who are gifted by the Spirit in these wonderful attributes we all share. God wants no compartmentalization of the individual or of the church… we are one. When will we embrace one another as one? When will we realize the wonderful potential that exists within us and release our selves truly to HIM who wishes to bring joy to us and, in that GLORY unto HIMSELF.

Let us love HIM with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength.

ESV Bible Online: Passage: 1 Peter 3:8: “1 Peter 3:8 <> Suffering for Righteousness’ Sake 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.”

ESV Bible Online: Passage: Luke 10:27

ESV Bible Online: Passage: Psalm 26:2: “2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind. [1]”

David’s Charge to Solomon
1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. (ESV)

This morning while listening to the radio, I heard these words from a former US Army Staff Sergeant who fought in Fallujah.

“I couldn’t understand a Judeo-Christian God, that, uh, I was always told was graceful and all-forgiving and loving, to exist in a environment that was, just so, haneous and horrible so, I… I decided that, you know, I knew that, that God was still out there, I’m still a believer, but, you know, I figured if, uh, if he could handle this, he would’ve, and, he’s got me here for a reason, so, let’s just close the New Testament and do the job that we have to do…”

Just before this the interviewer had remarked about his Christian upbringing, etc. That comment sparked the words he spoke…

read them again…

“I couldn’t understand a Judeo-Christian God, that, uh, I was always told was graceful and all-forgiving and loving, to exist in a environment that was, just so, haneous and horrible so, I… I decided that, you know, I knew that, that God was still out there, I’m still a believer, but, you know, I figured if, uh, if he could handle this, he would’ve, and, he’s got me here for a reason, so, let’s just close the New Testament and do the job that we have to do…” (BBC-The Interview 29 Sept. 2007)

I was taken aback by these words because they are, in my mind, quintessential to the way SO MANY people box God up in their cultural thinking, or worse yet, in what they learn about God in SO MANY churches in America (and elsewhere too, I guess, but I am into American church bashing, you know). So many people have God enveloped in this package of their own construction so that when they are faced with stuff that is outside that envelope, they are just at a loss for what to do with God. So, what they do is what Sgt. Bellavia did: “…I decided that, you know, I knew that, that God was still out there, I’m still a believer, but, you know, I figured if, uh, if he could handle this, he would’ve, and, he’s got me here for a reason, so, let’s just close the New Testament and do the job that we have to do…”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not disrespecting the soldier or his service. Heck, I used to believe in this war. And I get where this guy is coming from. I (kinda) don’t fault him. He is operating on what he knows and believes (what he was taught or what he ‘caught’). But as I look at his words (that were broadcast around the world on the BBC), I see that he has been let down by the church. The church did not give him an adequate understanding of God. He was taught to believe in a little box shaped God that he can put in his pocket and then do what he felt was best. American Christianity: ain’t it great?

Miroslav Volf said in Free of Charge, “Our Hearts become factories of idols in which we fashion and refashion God to fit our needs and desires.
Yet the most powerful and seductive images of God are not the ones we craft in the privacy of our hearts. They are the ones that seep into our minds as we watch TV, read books, go shopping at the mall, or socialize with our neighbors. Slowly and imperceptibly, the one true God begins acquiring the features of the gods of this world.” (Volf, p. 22)

Followers of Jesus are charged with knowing God personally and relationally through Jesus’ work on the cross and the Spirit’s work in us. But there must be a true biblical knowledge of GOD, not just our view of God that has been tainted by this or that writer or teachcer, and surely not from TV and the movies, and no, not from the BBC either. This is our calling: to read and know the inspired Word of God as the Spirit of God teaches us, and to continually build our relationship with God to serve and honor Him, biblically… thoughtfully.

Capturing, as Paul said, every thought for Christ.

I heard on BBC radio this morning that in the trial of some leaders in the Vukovar Massacre, sentencing was yesterday.

Croatian friends are outraged. They feel the men on trial were not judged rightly, those who know the 200+ killed believe much harsher sentences were deserved. In the capital city of Croatia, Zagreb protesters held photos of the dead. (Photo:AP Photo/DARKO BANDIC)

The BBC report is here. My good friend Laci, who lives in Vukovar commented on his blog. There are some other articles linked from Laci to learn more about the battle of Vukovar. The Herald Tribune’s article.

Meanwhile in Burma, the crackdown has taken lives and stopped internet cafes from sending pictures.

What a fallen world. Come, Lord Jesus.