Cheap Crap

Cheap Crap
When I was a kid I always looked forward to getting my allowance each week. I don’t know if you got an allowance as a kid, but when you are young anytime you get money it is huge deal. It’s like that 5 dollars is burning a hole in your pocket.

When you’re a kid and money makes you act that way, you end up buying a lot of cheap crap.
The dollar general/store/hut is your best friend.

Then you take all your goodies home, and within 2 days, everything is broken and worthless so you throwing most of it away.

Some things don’t change when you get older . . . adults still buy a lot of cheap crap.
Our culture kind of encourages it.

One of the greatest theologians of our time described our culture this way:
“If we don’t get cheap crap quick, then we are angry”

And where does all of this cheap crap get up . . . pretty much nowhere

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So I was reading this story in Jeremiah yesterday and I don’t think I had ever read it before. It really stuck out, because it was such a weird story.

So here is the background . . . Jeremiah is God’s prophet to Judah. God has told Jeremiah to go to the people and tell them to repent, because if they don’t God will have to bring them down, to draw them back to Him. The people don’t listen to any of Jeremiah’s attempts to get them to repent.

So in this little passage (Jeremiah 13:1-11) God gives Jeremiah a little object lesson.

Check this out

Verses 1-6

1 This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water." 2 So I bought a belt, as the LORD directed, and put it around my waist.
3 Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time: 4 "Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks." 5 So I went and hid it at the Euphrates, as the LORD told me.
6 Many days later the LORD said to me, "Go now to the Euphrates and get the belt I told you to hide there.” 7 So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

So God tells Jeremiah to go hide a belt in a rock near the river.

Weird. Right?

But God is making a big point, let’s check it out.

Verses 8-11

8 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 "This is what the LORD says: 'In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! 11 For as a belt is bound around a man's waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,' declares the LORD, 'to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.'

Because they did not listen, because they relied on other gods, the people of Judah became completely useless.

Useless like the belt.

Completely useless like cheap crap.

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As followers of Christ, we may think that if we are doing all of the right things, like going to church, reading the bible, and praying that we are doing all of the right things.

But in life it is so easy to rely on other things . . .

Maybe its another relationship . . . your mom, dad, siblings ? maybe a boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse ?

It could be a job ?

Or it could be a certain group of people like a sports team, band, or a social circle

Maybe even a role in life, like being a leader, or popular , or the funny person, the emo kid

Or whatever.
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I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to be useless to God.

I remember what it was like to have cheap crap lying around . . .

I would have rather had stuff that brought me joy, that I could use to accomplish things, things I could be proud of.

I hope that you don’t want to be worthless to God . . . because he has instilled you with a so much worth. He has given you gifts, abilities, talents, and opportunities to use all of those.

But the choice is up to you !

Are you going to be cheap crap ? Or are you going to be something useful ?

I pray that you don’t waste your worth.

For my King,
Dev

Kazaa, burnt cd’s, and spiritual nostalgia

Kazaa, burnt cd’s, and spiritual nostalgia

Does anyone remember back in the day (1996-2000) when there were programs like napster, limewire, and my personal favorite Kazaa , where you could download music for free? Those were the days ! I mean seriously other than the fact, that we were stealing from millions of artists the entire idea was phenomenal.

So I was going through some of my burnt Kazaa cd’s and just taking a stroll down memory lane. You know a little nostalgia. So I decided I would throw in what I called my “Rage Mix” which was full of great songs by Rage Against the Machine. If you don’t know who Rage was; it will help to understand that the cd is chock-full of sweet guitar solos and rambling anti-government and anti-authority venom. (Perfect material for a High Schooler with an attitude.)

So I put this cd in my truck and was rocking it out for a few days; which is pretty typical for me. But it just so happens that I was listening to it on my way to church Sunday morning (what a way to prepare my heart for worship)(not!)

Anyways one of the tracks on the cd is a song titled “Know your Enemy”

That was ironic . . . because that was the title for the sermon that day, at Plainfield Christian Church.

Maybe God was trying to tell me something ?

I don’t want to go into the whole sermon, but there was some good stuff that I needed to be reminded of about Satan (and maybe you need reminding too)

1. Satan is a created being

Sometimes the devil is portrayed as the anti-god, like somehow he is the complete opposite of God. Many people view that he is equal to God, like he is yin to God’s yang, or whatever. But that is not true. Satan was a created being. (Job 38:4-7)(Isaiah14:12-15)

2. Satan is a limited adversary

This kind of ties in with the first point. But Satan only has limited power. We see in the book of Job that Satan has to ask permission before he does anything. And that if he was all powerful he would not have let Jesus die on the cross. (1 Cor. 2:8)(1 Cor. 10:13)

3. Satan is a defeated enemy

God has already won this battle. The Pastor used this illustration: “It is like Satan is the leader of a mob, and he is running things from inside his prison cell”. I really liked that mental picture. Satan is already defeated.

I don’t know about you, but these were helpful things to be reminded of.

And today I had another reminder as I was reading in Jeremiah 12. Verse 7 is God’s response to Jeremiah’s complaint and it says

“I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies.”

In this passage “the one I love” and “her” are representative of Israel or God’s people. The “enemies” are the pagans, and also the devil.

If we put ourselves into the context, as followers of Christ we are the ones He loves.
But I found this interesting . . . God doesn’t give us over to His enemy . . . the enemy is ours

Satan is not God’s equal enemy . . . he is our enemy. He is plotting and scheming to wear us down and take us out. He can’t beat God, so he has chosen to try and take away the ones that God loves.

Because of this we need to keep these things in mind (the following are from the sermon, mentioned earlier)

1. Don’t be arrogant because Satan is strong – (1 peter 5:8)
2. Don’t fall asleep because Satan is subtle – (2 Cor. 11:14)
3. Don’t be afraid because Satan is subject (Hebrews 2:7-8)

It’s amazing how a song off of a cd I burned in 1oth grade could help me see the kingdom picture . . . but that is just how amazing and creative and dare I say “cool” God is.

Know YOUR Enemy

-dev

Hey Spidy!

Hey Spidy !
if you are a huge movie goer like me then you know that this weekend marks the release of the much anticipated Spiderman 3 . . . it also launches us into a summer filled with blockbuster sequels (i.e. Shrek, harry potter, pirates, Bourne ultimatum)

so after realizing that I will be spending most of my “fun” money for the summer on going to the theaters, I figured I would share with you my thoughts about the movies that I do end up seeing.

Overall review .::. Spiderman 3 presents all the things we love about the Spiderman movies. The triumphant hero, the indestructible baddies, the unreal actions sequences, and of course the ultimate power of love to overcome all odds; all of these things are present. The focus of the battle within is a very strong element in this film which is different. It is something that resonates with anyone in any walk of life, and is a very strong piece of this film. Something that I loved which was added to this film was the “overtopness” which is seen through peter parker’s interaction with the alien symbiotic substance. I don’t want to give it away, but you will know what I am talking about when you see it. I’m glad they put it in the film; it gave it a more comic book feel. Bottom Line – Spiderman 3 was awesome! You should see it! and it got me thinking a lot about life and God . . . here is some of my thoughts about that

So the sub-title of Spiderman 3 was “the battle within” – a simple version of the plot being that a strange alien substance finds peter parker and bonds with him, and it amplifies parts of peter’s personality (only it’s the bad parts) so peter is faced throughout the film with different tough situations. Sometimes he chooses to be Spiderman and other times he chooses to be the black suited Spiderman.

There are some huge similarities between peter’s struggle and the struggle that we all face every day. If you are a Christian, then we deal and talk about this a lot. But if you are not, that doesn’t change anything because we all have a battle raging inside of us.

For the most part people are good. (I personally believe people who aren’t good, don’t have control mentally or have already lost the battle within) But the problem with our lives is that even though we are good, and mean well; there is a battle going on inside of us.

Some people call this the battle between good and evil, some call it the yin & the yang, it has many different names and is viewed in many different ways by all kinds of people.

The basics of this battle are this . . .

we want to be good people

we want to do good things

we don’t want to hurt others

we want to do what is best

but we are selfish

and we don’t always choose what right

sometimes we don’t realize what we have done until it’s over

we make mistakes and bad choices

bottom line .::. We want to do what is right, but we can’t

there was this guy named Paul who wrote about this dilemma, I think what he has to say is really powerful, because this problem is one that we all deal with, and I know I need a solution to this issue. Here is what he writes:

"I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

(romans 7:14-8:2 the message)

The reality is that the battle within never goes away entirely. There has been and always will be a battle for your heart. That’s why we talk about guarding our heart, because it is the wellspring of life. (It Came From Within). But Paul says, that God already took care of this problem for us. He sent Jesus to die on a cross, and take away our sins. (no matter how many times I say that, it just amazes me, that God would do that for me) He took away this black cloud from our lives.

I find it very interesting that Spiderman’s alter-ego wears a black Spiderman suit. The movie clearly present’s two different personalities. There is good Spiderman, and bad Spiderman.
The climax of the movie comes when Mary Jane asks Peter: “Who are you?” and peter responds “I don’t know anymore.”

And isn’t that the question “who am I”

Am I someone who chooses good or someone who chooses evil ?

This question should push us to make the choices that we need to make, even if they are tough choices, because sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same (the fray)
Jesus has taken away the ultimate consequence of sin (death) for those who choose to follow him. But that doesn’t take away our responsibility to make good choices now. It only makes the choices we make every day more important.

Don’t lose the battle that is raging within. Do the hard things, stay away from the things, or people that influence you to make bad choices. And take your responsibility seriously.
At the end of the movie, peter says . . .what makes a person is the choices that they make. And everyone has the choice to do what is right

Do what’s right

Fight for the heart of your king.

-dev

dirt

dirt

So this week I started my new job, working 3rd shift at Lowes.

It’s not that bad of a gig. Basically my job consists of unloading two 52 foot trailers, and then stocking a small portion of that during the night, so the next morning you can pick which of the 54 grills that I unloaded you think looks the best.

The only drawback to this job is that when I go home I am filthy. I don’t know if you have ever handled any small amount of cardboard. But cardboard might be the nastiest thing known to man. Cardboard is like a filth magnet. So when you are handling oh say 2,000 cardboard boxes in a night, a lot of that filth ends up on you.

The way I look when I get home reminds me of the picture above – (zoolander)

But I never realized how much I loved showers, and more than that soap.

It’s crazy how I can just watch the layers of dirt wash off of my hands and arms.

It is amazing how dirty someone can get in just a few hours. I get so filthy that it’s hard to breath. The best part of the shower is getting out and blowing my nose and realizing how much dirt got caught in my nose.
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it is crazy how dirty a person can get.

Today I saw an ad for a new tv show called dirt . . . the premise of the show is about some media personality who goes around digging up dirt on people.

We all have our dirt.

We all have those things that we know were wrong, those things we are ashamed of. If someone was able to see our life uncensored as a movie, I’m positive that all of us would have scenes that we wouldn’t want anyone to see.

So there is a little bit of a problem . . . every day we come home dirty. We come home so filthy that you can see the layers of dirt on our lives. It’s in our hair, our eyes, our nose, our mouth. (it’s in our heart)

I know what it feels like to be filthy, and to desperately want to be clean.

Our lives need to be cleaned as much as our bodies do when they are dirty.

King David felt this need in the Psalms he wrote:
“Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”
we have this deep need created inside of us to be clean.

Sometimes we try to clean up our lives, by being good, and being nice, and trying really hard to do more good than bad.

The reality is that no matter how hard we try we can’t clean up our lives.

God is the only one who can help us clean our dirty lives. He is the one who can clean us up.

So maybe today you but down the proverbial “religious soap” and turn to God and let him wash your heart whiter than snow.

Keep fighting for your king
-devin

p.s “I think I got the black lung pop”