May 2011 – LOVE | ACCEPT

Psalm 101–Eyes on the Faithful

My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me. Ps 101:6

The psalmist introduces a small group of psalms (101 – 110) that concentrate the larger themes of the entire psalter. Arranged concentrically, both 101 and 110 speak to the devotion of the king to God. He pledges to arrange his kingdom on the principles of the Lord and to reign in righteousness.

I will walk in my house with blameless heart. (v2)

I will set before my eyes no vile thing. (v3)

Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; (v4)

Faithfulness to the Lord begins with separation from the world. Dwelling in the muck does not leave you spotless. While we will reach into the mud to pull another to safety, it is not meant to be our dwelling place. We will spend time with the unsaved, but they will not direct our lives. When blame enters our heart, we will confess and repent.

Grace and peace to you.

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Average Joe Finds the Updraft

Average Joe by Troy Meeder

You won’t find but a handful of web sites devoted to the comings and goings of the average guy. Blogs, books and the media do not celebrate the dad who works all day and then coaches the kids at night and then does battle with his lawn on Saturdays. No paparazzi track their every move and no one votes via text message for the next “American Average Guy”.

And yet, it’s the ordinary guys that make the world work, socially and spiritually.

Troy Meeder invites us into the world of the average guys who have enormous and often unrecognized impact in Average Joe. He builds the book on the notion that God uses average guys for extraordinary works, paralleling the biblical men who stepped out of unsung, ordinary lives ( the fisherman, the waiter, the farmer ) with their modern counterparts who leave their marks on the lives of others while remaining in the background, as far as society is concerned.

Average Joe would have been ideal material for the Promise Keepers movement in its heyday. Meeder encourages Christian men to recognize that their status needn’t be governed by the categories of secular society, the big house, big car and the corner office. Instead, he says, what we are in the eyes of God is measured by how closely we live out the life that He outlines for us. It is a life in which we enrich others, not by what we can do for them in worldly terms, but rather, by what we leave with them that enables them to do the same for others.

If Average Joe only serves to initiate conversation among men as they see themselves or their mentors in the vignettes, it will be a success. If the pages help to open the eyes of a man who is driven to “be somebody” in order to have a Spiritual impact and to help him to see the power of his ordinary devoted life, the ripples will have effect long into the future.

I’m grateful to Multnomah who provided this copy for review.

Psalm 100–We Are His

The verses of this psalm strike a note of familiarity with the reader and the reason for this is twofold. The themes of praise for God, membership in His flock and the ultimate truth of His enduring love are all present. Because the truths present are all encompassing, the words of the psalm have made their way into countless hymns, choruses and prayers.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

Placed in the cultural context of Israel, there are also theological lessons that take root in the subconscious. The Lord is God, not one among many, not capricious and prone to tantrum as the imaginary gods of those surrounding Israel. Knowing this truth and the truths about God make worship and the joy inherent second nature. Unlike the way in which one might approach an idol—hoping but never knowing—approaching the gates of the Shepherd comes with assurance.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Assurance despite any temporary travail or circumstance comes through knowing God. The psalmist doesn’t speak from book knowledge here, he writes from the heart of one who has searched both his personal history and that of the people of Israel, knowing the peaks and valleys. Knowledge brings level to these ups and downs. Knowledge reminds us that time belongs to God and that the contours may only soften over time. Knowledge reminds us that we can still be joyful in this truth.

Grace and peace to you.

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A Crash of Christians

Unleashed by Erwin McManus

Domesticated Christians are far too willing to abdicate the battle for the soul of the world. Civility focuses our energy on all the wrong places. … In contrast, Jesus calls us to a different way. He tells us this is a battle of kingdoms. McManus

Activist pastor and thinker McManus is never shy about emphasizing a wild and untamed Christianity. He is less concerned with church structures, the recitation of creeds or spending all of his precious moments of life arguing theology. Instead, he sees in Jesus a Lord calling into followers into dangerous territory that is fraught with potential pain and even loss of mortal life, in order to reclaim it from the corruption that beset it in the Garden. Faith for McManus is not to be lived in the safety of the sanctuary while the world dies a little more around us. Rather, we are to be following our Lord into the battle for souls and the ground to extend the kingdom.

Unleashed is a repackaging of McManus’ earlier book The Barbarian Way. It was great read in its original form and the additions and edits in its new form make it appealing to reread. The subtle changes in the cover and the text appear to be aimed at opening up the book to more than just the men that the original title appealed to. McManus’ daughter has grown up over the years and her appearances in the book also show that the barbarian heart beats on both sides of the Christian family.

Pastor McManus doesn’t write Unleashed as a prescriptive guide to changing your life. Rather, each chapter encourages you peek outside the walls to see the untamed world outside of your safety zone and take the first tentative steps into it. As he says, “if you make the insane decision to live your life for the sake of others, if you choose to follow the One whose barbarian path led Him to the brutality of the Cross, and if you embrace His invitation to take up your won cross and follow Him, then it has begun.” You can choose safety and simply wait out your time to be called home. Or, as did the original disciples, you can follow the Lord into life completely different from every day that came before.

I am grateful to Thomas Nelson who supplied this book for review.