Archive for God
Valuing Perseverance
Posted by: | CommentsI enjoy the Olympics. Though I am not sure I would watch any of the Olympic sports at any other time, I thoroughly enjoy them every four years.
One of the things that comes with every Olympics is personal stories of perseverance. It is inevitable and, it seems, constant, during the Olympic broadcasts. Every athlete has a story. And many of the athletes have a particular setback that they were able to overcome or endure in order to make it to the Olympics. An injury, a death in the family, failure four years ago, etc.
While watching one of these stories the other day, it hit me…I thoroughly enjoy these stories of perseverance, yet I don’t really want to be one of those folks who have to persevere and endure such difficult things.
That goes for most of it doesn’t it? We are inspired by tales of overcoming difficult obstacles, yet we tend to despise the obstacles in our own lives, the very things that can make us people of perseverance. We seem to simply want little more than everything coming easy. We are content with being inspired, when we could become inspiring.
According to Scripture, God is jealous to make His people people of perseverance. We are even told that Christians should count various kinds of trials joy because they are used by God to make us people of maturity and perseverance (James 1:2-4). While watching the Olympics, I am wise to use the plethora of perseverance stories to remind myself that I should not despise the means God ordains to making me a man that, just maybe, can inspire others and not just be inspired. Maybe you can watch and be reminded of the same.
Great Quote on Work and the Christian
Posted by: | CommentsI will be sure to get my second group of observations concerning the OTL piece up soon. Until then, here is a great (and needed) quote from Dorothy Sayers. I am not sure who originally posted this quote, but I saw it at both my man Larry Lazarus’ blog and at Justin Taylor’s.
The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.
. . . Let the Church remember this: that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade—not outside of it. The Apostles complained rightly when they said it was not meant they should leave the word of God and serve tables; their vocation was to preach the word. But the person whose vocation it is to prepare the meals beautifully might with equal justice protest: It is not meant for us to leave the service of our tables to preach the word.
The official Church wastes time and energy, and moreover, commits sacrilege, in demanding that secular workers should neglect their proper vocation in order to do Christian work—by which she means ecclesiastical work. The only Christian work is good work well done. Let the Church see to it that the workers are Christian people and do their work well, as to God: then all the work will be Christian work, whether it is Church embroidery or sewage-farming.
Swearing to our Hurt
Posted by: | CommentsI so promise to get back to the white guys and the NBA, but I came across another article in the New York Times concerning the trend of homeowners walking away from their homes and mortgages. If you remember, I linked to an article a bit back about the same thing.
One of the things I mentioned regarding the other article was the minimal attention paid to the fact that people are failing to keep their word. The same holds true for this article, but the author is a bit clearer about the problem of banks looking to maximize their profit without seeking the good of those who borrow from them.
It seems that because many banks are not willing (or at least do not appear willing) to renegotiate the terms of their agreement with the borrower, many people choose to walk away. Though I agree that banks should do a better job seeking a win/win situation, the folks walking away from their homes and mortgages are still in the wrong for doing so (especially the folks who can afford the payments). They still have a contractual obligation to pay up. And the reality is that they are walking away simply because it seems financially advantageous for them to do so. They are only thinking about themselves.
A verse from Scripture comes to mind. I can’t remember where it is (maybe Proverbs), but it says something about a righteous man ‘swearing to his own hurt.’ That is, keeping his word even if it leads to greater difficulty for himself.
We are desperate for more people who believe in such a thing. In the banks and in the homes. Among lenders and borrowers. It’s not overstating the case to say that for the good of the whole world, we should let our ‘yes’ be yes and our ‘no’, no. Even or especially when it hurts.
