this Sunday’s message is a tough one, but an important one. would love to see you for, ‘one heart or heart attack’
9 + 10.45a at 312 E. Wood St in Palatine.
cynicism is lame
“the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith”
1 Timothy 1:5
cynicism leads to destruction.
one of the great battles you must fight as you hit our 30’s + 40’s + beyond is the battle to continue to see good out ahead and not fall into endless negativity.
i have had good friends get divorced this year. i have had people who i thought i could count on let me down. struggled in ways i didn’t think i would. i felt my own humanity + weakness more deeply than ever during the long tricky days of repetition in late march - late may 2020. all of that stuff can lead us down a path toward assuming that more friends will fall apart and more people will let us down and i will keep struggling. negativity breeds negativity.
it’s easier to assume bad things about the future than to be surprised by them, we protect ourselves that way.
one of the dynamics at play in Jesus assertion that you must ‘become like little children’ to find Him, is that kids believe in stuff. they put their whole weight on the new chicago bears qb or a new friend they made at school because they haven’t been beat up enough by life yet not to. they live life from a place of optimistic trust.
adults tend to move towards their perceived high ground of never being let down because we never fully lean in. the verse above calls us to something different. with love set as the highest goal, paul unveils a triad of HOW we live out this love:
pure heart — a life unfettered by hidden struggle + sin.
good conscience - alignment between your public + private perception in community
sincere faith - a genuine belief that is ahead is good.
the way out of cynicism is doing the hard work internally to stay soft to the things of god.
if we simply follow the news, consume the facebook feed, are carried along by the stories of today, we will inevitably slide into long-term frustration and misery.
the way to be happy is to work on the (wo)man in the mirror.
“The law of the LORD is perfect reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is a great reward.” Psalm 19:7-11
Most of our lives are filled with looking for fulfillment and joy. One of the huge benefits about going to church, even when we find ourselves downtrodden or frustrated with circumstances in our life, there’s something that happens when we enter the house of God. There’s a shift in our heart and mind as we come together with other believers and sing to Jesus and learn from His word that shifts our perspective toward the maker of heaven and earth. It’s a reminder that no matter the here and now, God is in control and He is at work for our good and His glory.
But often as believers we forsake the opportunity of that type of paradigm shift on a daily basis because of the busyness that swirls around us. We have God’s Word at our fingertips in over 100 different translations. And yet we go about our day fretting about this, that and the other thing because we haven’t turned our eyes upon the maker of heaven and earth. I have a spot I sit, a few things I do when I meet with God but if I am honest there have been days lately where my tired or busyness that ends up overcoming my desire to meet with him. And I pay for it in my heart attitude all day long.
When I read Psalm 19 this week, I was blessed by the straightforwardness that it presents. This passage reminds us that God’s Word is perfect (not lacking in anyway), it revives the soul (who doesn’t need a revival on the daily?), brings wisdom (again, necessary for the everyday), it is right (need that!), it rejoices the heart (who doesn’t need encouragement), pure (that is sure to shift our perspective!), enlightens the eyes, endures forever (nothing like it), it warns us (we all could use a warning here and there), by keeping it there is a great reward (which we all want)!
Most likely, you possess at least one Bible. I just want to remind you this morning of all the benefits that God so freely gives us and yet we forsake the opportunity regularly over things much less important taking the priority. I pray this reminder of how good the book you hold is and encouragement to open it more frequently and see all that it offers you when you open it. After all Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
maybe our strategy for building people is wrong and that’s why our outcomes are poor.
in a book i was reading, tv producer carmi zlotnik describes the philosophy of high-end TV making and it unlocked an important concept for me: ‘people mistake our business for a manufacturing business, which is about the most amount of product at the lowest possible cost. in reality, we are a boutique business, which is the highest quality possible at the appropriate cost.’
we wonder why so many of our people are so flimsy + temporary. we wonder why people don’t commit or don’t volunteer or don’t lean in. it’s because often we are manufacturing them. the same class or the same program or the same paradigm for everyone can’t help but be inadequate because people are different and require different approaches.
disciples are made by hand, not machine. there is a temptation towards trying to systematize church work into easily efficient simply one-size-fits-all strategies, but it doesn’t work. Jesus built 12 men over 3 years. we shouldn’t expect 1000s who take our program to be mature. it takes time. and tinkering. and specialized care.
Saturday Morning Book Review
Phil - Alan Shipnuck
Phil Mickelson is all the things. A man of extreme generosity and dedication and talent and foibles and foolish galore, Alan Shipnuck paints a vivid and gracious picture.
the same enthusiasm for the moment makes Phil a huge tipper + occasional buffoon. the same desire to go for it makes Phil big moments legendary victories of choke-jobs. he’s generous + a compulsive gambler. culturally, our well-known people tend to be people of extremes. rather than trying to separate the pieces, the author brings them together as one.
if you are golf fan, you will love this book.
something kristen loved: I’m not a big content person, but Paula Farris podcast has become my favorite weekly companion. This recent episode was my favorite so far
something luke loved: ben hastings has written some of the last few years most loved worship songs (so will i + o praise the name) … he’s doing solo poetic work at the moment, this playlist of his best tunes is AMAZING …
that’s it for us … have a great weekend neighbors…
luke + kristen