Revelation 2:8-11

From the journal of Sir KRut:

The church in Smyrna had it rough! They were dirt poor, lacking food, clothing, and shelter. They faced constant persecution and tribulation. They were beaten, tortured, and imprisoned. They knew at any single moment their lives could be taken. But…they were rich (verse 9). What? No, they were poor. They had absolutely zero on this earth. Nothing. So, in this parenthetical statement by Jesus, what is rich? Luke 12 has the answer. Verse 15 says, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Life is more than stuff. It is more than money and prosperity. It is more than food and clothes. It is more than health and security. Life is abundantly more than all these things (Jn 10:10). The point Jesus is driving home in both of these passages is: complete richness and fullness of life is found only in me. Nothing else can satisfy. The thirst will always return if I drink the water of this world (Jn 4:13). I know this, yet I still chug away. In Luke 12:16, Jesus begins telling the parable of the rich fool. This guy is so American! He has so much stuff that he has to build more stuff in order hold his overflow of stuff so that he can continue to accumulate more stuff (rough quote of Matt Chandler). He does all this to ease his soul. Now that the rich fool’s soul is comforted (temporarily), he can “relax, eat, drink, and be merry.” Here in Luke 12 the American dream is being played out 1,800 years before America even was. If the impoverished, starving, and persecuted people of Sardis were truly rich, could it also follow that we (who are rich, fat, and comfortable) are truly poor? Scary thought. None of this makes since to the unsaved world. The things of the Spirit are foolishness to the “natural” person (I Cor 2:14). Since being filled with the Holy Spirit, the Lord has been slowly putting to death the “rich fool” within me. As God reveals to me the infinite fullness that is available to me through relationship with Him, the desires of this world fade away. Richness. Be truly rich.

Butter Flyer

This post is a random photo w/ a random Bible verse. The picture is one I took a couple weekends ago on a visit home. My mom found Mr. Butter hanging out on a plant in the front yard. She knew I'd love such a photo opportunity. Good call mother. And the verse (Ps 84:1-4) is one I came across today. Read it and meditate on it. It's a beauty, a powerful beauty.

"How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord,
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God...
Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!"

Selah.

Two Young Gentlemen & Their Beloved Bicycles

There we are. Me and roommate. My Gary Fisher & his Gary Fisher. We make quite a pair. A lovely friend of ours took this picture while we were lounging around before our next class. It's a slab of concrete we frequent often, and it's a good one. So, since day one of classes this semester, the roommate and I have done the 13 minute, 3ish mile ride to campus every day. Whether sun or rain, we have braved the journey. We have had 4 flat tires, one bike-bike accident, and one bike-car accident. The car incident was my roommate's. Here's the story: a car pulled too far up when making its stop at the stop sign, thus entering the bike lane. The timing was perfect. Traveling at a good 20 mph, my roommate had no time to do much of anything, except T-bone the quarter panel of the sedan before him. The car received $1K worth of damage, the bike received a bent rim, and my roommate walked away with a bruised knee. The year is still young, and we have many rides before us. Wish us well.

Fall/Topple/Declivity/Plunge/Diminution/Cascade

This past chronology of seven 24-hour periods, a portion of my comrades (with whom I currently reside) and I made ourselves present and the cafe emporium that goes by the title of Sweet's. Upon entering the atmosphere, my olfactory senses caught drift of the robust fragrance of coffee fructification. A couple of hide-adorn pieces of furnishings became apparent to the rods and cones of my optic organs. They were at the present moment vacant. My mates with whom I room and I took residence upon the furnishing (formed of cattle ectoderm) and commenced a spirited match of Jenga. The tomfoolery evening was -

** that's enough **

The feeling you just felt after reading this nonsense is what I experienced yesterday morning. I picked up the Battalion (A&M newspaper) and flipped to the "Mail Call" section for some good laughs. Usually I find humor in the horrible, off-base opinions. Yesterday, I found humor in something else. Apparently, the author wrote her piece in baby language, then spanked each and every word with a thesaurus to beef it up a bit. This "beefing up" happens frequently in the "Mail Calls," but this time the bar reached a new high (or low). She used so many intellectual words that the article was unreadable. The opinion she was trying to convey got lost in the jumble of words, but at least she was "wise beyond years." In culmination, keep an optical organ attentive for such linguistical clout, and you will most certainly chance upon an ebullient guffaw.

Revelation 3:1-2

The American church is very much like the church in Sardis. We are pretty Christians. We look the image and talk the lingo. We play acoustic guitars, wear purity rings, read “My Utmost for His Highest,” and slap ICHTHUS fish on our bumpers. All this stuff is easy. Anyone can become a super-Christian in today’s society. But does that person know Jesus Christ? John is writing to the church of Sardis, a bunch of fakes and phonies. He had seen their works and heard their wisdom, but he did not buy the façade one bit. Sardis had the reputation of being spiritually alive, but John knew they were really lifeless (verse 1). The majority of American churchgoers are no different. We are whitewashed tombs, outwardly beautiful but inwardly full of death and decay (Matt 23:27-28). We seek the reputation of being holy, without actually desiring holiness. We desire the praise of men for our righteous works, yet we forget to praise Jesus for His perfect righteousness. I don’t think I am as off base as the men of Sardis (verse 4), but I do taste elements of this corruption in my own life. Sometimes I put on my pretty face and Christian garb, other times I humbly become transparent and let the guilt, pain, and ugliness show. Sometimes I pray so others may hear, other times I pray so that my Father in Heaven will hear. Sometimes I study the Word for intellectual pride, other times I study so that I might know more about the perfect Author. In his sermon, The Open Door, Matt Chandler talked about our skewed fascination with forming these grand lists of Christian rules, then spending every bit of energy we have abiding to them. He said that the issue is not “Is it [work, deed, speech, action, attitude, etc.] right or is it wrong?” But rather, “Does this stir my affection for Christ, or does it rob me of my desire and passion to know Him more deeply?” When I heard this, I was blown away. It makes so much sense! When situations are viewed in such a light, the opportunity for doubt/uncertainty/bias/excuses disappears. Are our works genuine, or are they a production? Are our works stirring or stifling our affections for Jesus?