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Categories Faith

Hallowed be Thy Name…

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Jesus taught His disciples to pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.”

But what does it mean for God’s name to be hallowed?

Hallowed means set apart, revered–glorified.

Yet how is God’s name set apart? How is God’s name revered? How is God’s name glorified?

A couple of days ago I was reading in Numbers 20 when I came across an interesting set of verses.

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.’ This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.”
Numbers 20:12-13

The people had complained against Moses because they had no water. Moses went into the presence of God. God told Moses to speak to a rock, which would bring forth water for them. Moses went and got angry with the people and then struck the rock, which then poured forth water for all the people.

But God was not pleased. Moses did not believe God, to hallow Him–to set Him apart, to revere Him, to glorify Him–in the eyes of the people of Israel. Instead, Moses took matters into his own hands: “Must we bring water for you out of this rock?”

God’s judgment ultimately came on Moses because he did not hallow God among Israel. Moses would not enter into the Promised Land.

Yet God would be hallowed–set apart, revered, glorified–among the Israelites. The difference is that He would be hallowed as just, in judging Moses–whereas had Moses believed, God would have been hallowed by Moses as merciful in providing water from the rock.

John Piper said something similar in a sermon I listened to this evening:

“The coming of Jesus into the world clarifies that unbelief is our fault, and belief is God’s gift. Which means that if we do not come to Christ, but rather perish eternally, we magnify God’s justice. And if we do come to Christ and gain eternal life, we magnify God’s grace.”
John Piper

God will be hallowed–either with or without the act of hallowing by man. But when man hallows God, he experiences great joy as a part of God’s glorification. When man does not hallow God, God’s hallowing is that man’s judgment.

I think of C.S. Lewis’s description of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. To those who loved Him (Aslan), He was great and wonderful–and even His name seemed fresh and sweet and lifegiving. Yet to those who hated Him, He was fearsome and awful and even His name made them cower and cringe.

For the glorification of God is the aroma of death, leading to death for those who are perishing–but the aroma of life leading to life to we who are being saved (2 Corinthians 2:14-16). It is one scent–the scent of the glory of God–but the unregenerate, unbelieving nostrils smell it differently. To them, God’s glorification is putrid–to we who are being saved, God’s glorification is life itself.

And so we pray, “”Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name–in Me.”

Categories Reflections

A Quarter of a Century

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25 years ago today, I was born on West Wilkins Street in Lincoln, Nebraska.

I lived with my parents and my older sister.

I was at Rejoice in the Lord Church–4111 NW 44th Street–for church the next Sunday.

25 years later–today–I am here.

I live in Lincoln, Nebraska with two roommates. My parents, two brothers, and a sister live across the lawn. Two more brothers live across town. My older sister lives in a smaller town a couple of hours away.

I am attending church at Lincoln Christian Fellowship–4111 NW 44th Street–this morning. It’s the church I’ve attended all my life.

Check out a slide show of the in-between: Commemorating a Quarter-Century

A quarter of a century passes quickly–and those who have gone before me tell me that the second quarter passes even more quickly.

Not much has changed in this quarter century–and everything has changed in this quarter century.

I entered this world helpless, sinful, desperately needy. Today I stand as a conqueror, made righteous, wanting nothing. God has changed me in this 25 years–drawing me to Himself, transforming me through the cross, conforming me to His image.

I look forward to the next 25 years–the summer of my life. I know not what the future will bring. I know not what changes are in store for me. I suspect they may be great.

But I enter this season expectantly, not hesitantly–for there is one thing I know:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Romans 8:28-30

God has foreknown me. God has predestined me. He has called me. He has justified me. He is in the process of conforming me to the image of His Son. And someday, whether in this next quarter century or another, He shall glorify me–so that I can glorify Him for eternity.

Ah, I can rejoice in the next years of my life–for I have an assurance that goes far beyond the power of time and matter.

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:37-39

Categories Recap

Recap (March 7-13)

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On bekahcubed

Book Reviews:

Recipes:

On the web

Books for the TBR list:

  • Keeping the Feast by Paula Butturini
    Memoir, Italy, food, depression. How can it get any better? I think I’m going to like this one.
  • Still Alice by Lisa Genova
    A novel about a still-young college professor who finds out she has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. I think this’ll be a fascinating read.
  • Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
    This memoir sounds like fun.

News to take note of:

Thought-provoking posts:

  • Are you more productive when you’re tweeting? (or Facebooking?) This essay suggests that maybe it’s good for our brains–despite office efficiency experts naysaying. What do you think? (HT: Buzzard Blog)
  • Does the devil have a favorite verse? Check out one man’s take.
  • Lincoln police chief Tom Casady responds to the assertion that legalizing pot would reduce police workload:

    “And then, of course, we’d be dealing with bootlegged pot operations to avoid the taxes, thefts of pot in interstate transport, sales of pot before noon on Sundays, selling pot without a license, failure to pay the occupation tax on your pot dispensary, possession of pot with no tax stamps, underage pot smoking, procuring pot for minors, providing pot to a person already intoxicated by a substance, attempting to purchase pot with false identification, toking while driving, and all the other criminal and regulatory violations we deal with concerning legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco. This is what I think about whenever one of these legalization advocates tries to convince me that legalizing marijuana would free up police resources. We’d still be up to our necks in it.”

    He has a point.

  • Is Christian doctrine boring? No way!

    “It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man — and the dogma is the drama…. This is the dogma we find so dull — this terrifying drama [in] which God is the victim and the hero.” ~Dorothy Sayers

    HT: Buzzard Blog

  • In Defense of Marriage.
    Have we over-corrected for the idolatry of the married state by making it a cross to bear? Eric has some great thoughts on the topic.

Videos worth seeing:

  • Thank you, Abraham Piper, for warning us: This video does contain tobacco consumption.

    from Twenty Two Words
  • Dogs can do all sorts of things humans can’t–because they’re animals, and we’re not.

    HT: Vitamin Z
Categories Book Notes, Faith

Self-Aware Revolutionaries or God-Aware Conventionalists?

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Notes on Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck’s
Why we Love the Church:
in praise of institutions and organized religion
Chapter 2 : Turn the Page (Getting off the road and getting back to church)

Why We Love the Church is written by two men, Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck–and they write in alternating chapters. Odd numbered chapters are written by DeYoung and appeal mostly to the mind of the reader. DeYoung’s chapters are ripe with endnotes, mostly references to other published works. Even numbered chapters (like chapter 2) are written by Kluck and appeal more to the emotions of the reader. These chapters are filled with endnotes, too–but most of them turn out to be snarky asides to the reader.

I like the way this format allows each man to have his own narrative voice–while combining both of their perspectives for a more full defense of the church.

That being said, I find it much easier to write about DeYoung’s chapters, and much easier to relate to Kluck’s. DeYoung’s chapters are focused on propositional truths–things that can be easily grappled with in an objective sense. Kluck’s chapters are focused more on personal experiences–a more subjective, but no less real realm.

In chapter 2, Kluck explores our society’s obsession with being revolutionary adventurers. We love to overturn things, love to discover things. Memoirs of personal journeys (and blogs about personal journeys?) are some of the hottest literature of our day.

The revolutionary adventurers (and their books) are out in full force within Christendom. We can read dozens of memoir-type tomes telling the story of how some adventurer took a personal journey (with God?) that caused them to be a revolutionary and…drop out of church. Or, for something a little different, we can read one about how a revolutionary decided to drop out of church–so he could discover God.

The problem is that oftentimes, these revolutionaries don’t really do anything revolutionary. At least, nothing that would be considered revolutionary for the average non-God-fearing yuppie. They golf on Sunday morning with their pals. They go to concerts and movies and drive hybrids. They hang out at Starbucks and occasionally discuss social justice and the universe and other deep thoughts. And what’s more, the “god” they find oftentimes ends up looking, well, a lot like them. They become more self-aware. More aware of what they’re thinking. More aware of the wrongs that have been done to them. More aware of how everyone else is doing something wrong. But is that what the Christian life is about?

In seeking to be revolutionary and to “find God”, they end up being status quo and letting themselves become their god. Rather than being in a community of believers that forces them out of their comfort and forces them to be aware of God–they relax in their own company in comfort and self-awareness.

Kluck makes a great point towards the end of chapter 2:

In Revolution Barna says that he wrote the book to “help Revolutionaries gain a better understanding of themselves,” and “crystallize their self-awareness.” I would argue that we could do well with a lot less self-awareness, apart from the awareness of our own sinfulness and need for the gospel.
-Ted Kluck, Why we love the church

Wherever we’re at in the Christian journey, the last thing we need is more self-awareness. Knowing myself can only lead to death by narcissism or death by despair (depending on how truthful my knowledge of myself is). In and of myself, I am a dead creature, incapable of life or good. I poison everything around me. To become more self-aware is only to ingest my own poison and kill myself.

On the other hand, to be God-aware is to know life. It is to lose oneself in the grandeur of the infinitely greater one–and in losing oneself, one gains the life he could never gain on his own.

It is as C.S. Lewis says in the closing chapter of Mere Christianity:

It is no good trying to ‘be myself’ without Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires…. I am not, in my natural state, nearly so much of a person as I like to believe: most of what I call ‘me’ can be very easily explained. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own…

Your real, new self…will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him….Give up yourself and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.

More notes on Why We Love the Church by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck:

Categories Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Everyday Life

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Thankful Thursday banner

I’m a bit late on this week’s Thankful Thursday–but I am thankful, and I’ve been thanking God all day for…

…nylons without runs
…an unexpected break
…folded laundry
…expository sermons from John Piper
…clean desktops
…fantastic employers
…dinner with my family
…a puzzle put together
…a break coming up

And above all that, I’m thankful that while I was dead in my sins, Christ made me alive. What a glory to be captured by His irresistible grace!

Categories Homemaking

Kids, I blew up the honey

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There was a little over a tablespoon worth of honey in the honey bottle–just enough for my peanut butter and honey sandwich. The problem was, it was solid.

So I stuck the bottle in the microwave and, too lazy to push the buttons for just a couple of seconds, pushed the “minute plus” button.

Then, too industrious to do nothing while in the kitchen, I started emptying the dish drainer.

About 45 seconds later, I heard an enormous “POP!”

The lid had been blown off the now shriveled honey bottle and a thin layer of honey evenly coated all six internal surfaces of the microwave.

Well, at least the microwave got cleaned today.

Categories Technology

My secret(?) life

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My life is pretty much an open book. Anyone is free to read however much they like.

Case in point?

I’m a blogger.

Do I really need to say more?

But honestly, I share the events of my life, the thoughts of my head, the longings of my heart, and my journey with Christ within this blog. Body, soul, and spirit–you get it all right here on bekahcubed.

Well, mostly.

You can see quite a lot of me here. But I don’t share everything. Some things, I keep a little more hidden.

Did you know that I like stalking people online? Well, I do.

**Disclaimer: I don’t stalk in a creepy way, really!**

I like to read people’s blogs. I like to see what they’ve written and what’s been written about them. I like to see their Facebook pages. I like to see their wall-to-wall’s with their friends (even if those friends aren’t also my friends.)

**Disclaimer: I don’t do this all the time, honest. But when somebody comments on somebody else’s status and the comment intrigues me, it’s fun to click on the little wall-to-wall link and see the entire conversation.**

I don’t have any problem with people internet-stalking me right back. I have made no attempt to hide myself in the online world. Google “bekahcubed” and you’ll get me–a whole bunch of me. You’ll see my blog, yes, but you’ll also see the other blogs I’ve commented on. You’ll likely see old message board posts from my early high school days. You’ll see an awful lot.

But if you’re a friend of a friend but not my friend yourself, you won’t see any wall-to-walls on Facebook. I only let my friends see what I put on Facebook.

I love it when other people do the friend of a friend thing. I really enjoy reading my friends’ back-and-forths with others. But I’m keeping my Facebook life secret, thank you very much.

Why do I have this secret(?) life?

Actually, that’s kind of a funny question. I have it because I teach at the same University I graduated from. I have siblings and friends in the same University I teach at.

And undoubtedly, some of my friends are friends with my students.

I don’t have a problem with letting my students see my life–but something has to be private. I have to have somewhere where I can tear out my hair about grading or rage about something or the other related to the University without my students hearing.

I’m very cautious, even on my private Facebook account, to never share anything that would make someone else look bad. I’m not griping about students on Facebook. But it’s good to have just one place where not just anyone can access–where I can unload about my overflowing e-mail inbox or my embarrassment over a personal classroom bungle without crossing student/teacher boundaries.

Yes, it’s a small thing, but I’ve got to have SOMETHING that’s kept secret.

Categories Technology

What does your emoticon mean?

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Facebook smileys

Emoticons. We use them all the time. Some people like to have them converted to smileys (see above). I prefer that they stay as ASCII characters.

Even when they’re ASCII, we generally know what they mean.

:-) means happy face or smiling
:-( means sad face or frowning
;-) means winky face or winking
:-D means grinning
:-P means sticking out your tongue

Emoticons are supposed to help us express emotion. They’re supposed to add some non-verbal information to our text conversations.

And they do. But sometimes they don’t really give enough information. Because yes, the above descriptions are true–but what do you mean by them?

I use a limited emoticon library, but what I use has very definite meanings (and not really exactly what they look like.)

What my emoticons mean

:-) means I’m happy, content, all is well
:-( means I just wrote something that I find sad
;-) means “inside joke alert”, that not everybody will get this but I think you will
:-P means I’m teasing you

What do your emoticons mean?

Categories Faith, Reflections

Argument

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Nothing gets me going like a good argument. I just love to argue. Let’s find something we disagree about–no matter how minute–and let’s duke it out.

I imagine my family tired of it on occasion–but they accepted that I enjoyed verbal sparring and they engaged me on that level.

Daniel used to needle me by taking a masochistic stance–which I would return with a feminist point of view. (Don’t freak out here–my feminism is of quite a different breed than this world’s.)

Timmy’ll suggest that Marx had a point and we’ll argue over economics and politics and the running of nations.

Dad and I will find some way to argue our two sides of the predestination/free will debate (I’m a hair more Calvinist than he.)

In early high school, I was part of an online community of homeschoolers. Some people frequented the just-for-fun type message boards, but I hung out almost exclusively in the debate board. We argued free will and predestination, creation and evolution, age of the earth, contraceptive use (there were quiverfulls among us), politics, abortion, and whether Christians should celebrate Christmas. I was in my element.

In my senior year of high school, I did a one year Bible program because I’d already finished my high school requirements. One of my classmates liked arguing as much as I so we’d argue with each other or play tag-team as we argued with a teacher. Eschatology, election, the role of the church–these were some of our favorite topics. And we argued them with vigor.

Arguing invigorates me. It makes me feel alive. My mind is active, my mouth (or keyboard) is active. I’m engaging the topic. I’m thinking as I’m speaking. There’s nothing that can put a spring in my step like a good argument.

But somewhere along the way, I learned that many people aren’t like me. They don’t like to argue. They don’t like to disagree. They don’t see arguing as a mental game, an exercise for the brain. They see it as a battle, an attack on who they are and what they believe.

Or sometimes they like to argue–but not for arguments sake. They are convinced that their view is the only correct view and nothing will change their mind. What’s more–they’re awfully bent on changing my mind. Which often means that they won’t actually engage my ideas–they just fire off with their own.

I’ve learned this of other people and it has pushed me underground as an arguer. I don’t want to attack people. I don’t want them to think I’m a bad person because I disagree with them either. So I keep quiet about certain controversial subjects. I try not to provoke too many arguments.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t still love to argue. I still love a good argument–especially one with Scripture references and proof-texts flying back and forth.

But since I’ve realized that others’ attitudes towards arguments differ from my own, I’ve tried to be really selective as to who I argue with. I try to only argue with people who see it as a mental workout, as I do–people who recognize the inner Irenic (peacemaker) amidst the outer Polemic (fighter).

But then, every so often, I’ll start arguing with someone, and when I’m done, I’ll wonder “Did that get taken the right way?”

Did I read that person wrong when I thought they liked this as much as I?

Did I misestimate the depth of their feeling or attachment to this topic, such that my challenge might be seen as an attack?

Did I misjudge this person when I figured they would understand that I agree with them even as I’m disagreeing?

Because I only argue with people I respect. I only disagree with people I agree with. I only argue with people I care about and admire.

But what if they don’t know that and misinterpret my argumentation?

What if, in doing what I so enjoy, I hurt a dear brother or sister? What then?

And what am I to do with Paul’s admonition to Titus?

“But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.”
Titus 3:9-11

Is that what I do, who I am when I argue? Do I argue in an unprofitable and useless way? Am I divisive, warped, and sinning in loving argument?

Do I major on minors and let petty things become points of contention?

I don’t know. I don’t know.

But I so love it when someone challenges me and we can mentally and verbally spar. I just want to be sure that in doing so, I am encouraging them (as arguing so often encourages me) rather than tearing them down. I want to be sure that I’m bringing them life (as I feel more alive in the midst of a good argument) rather than bringing them death. I want to be sure that I’m demonstrating my respect for them (as I feel respected when someone engages my mind) instead of making them feel disrespected. I just wish I could be sure.

But I can’t. And that’s what worries me.

Categories Uncategorized

Putting my feet up

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My first ever job was as a dishwasher. I was nine years old and my pastor’s wife–who also happened to be our across the street neighbor–wanted someone to wash dishes on Fridays as she prepared baked goods to be sold at the local Farmer’s market.

We started at eight or nine in the morning and kept going until at least four or five in the afternoon. Malinda made sticky rolls, braided Danishes, angel food cakes, sponge cakes, and more. And I washed dishes and wrapped baked goods.

We were on our feet for most of the day. Malinda chided me for my lack of appropriate footwear and lent me an extra pair of Birkenstocks (my feet were already size huge, so hers fit me just fine). And once an hour, we took five minutes to put our feet up.

We’d go to the kitchen table, pull out a chair, and…lay on the floor with our feet on the chair.

It was purposeful, intentional, and utterly relaxing.

We’d been working hard. Our feet were tired. They needed a break. We needed a break.

And so we took one. Not a break to laze about and gossip, but a break to rejuvenate our bodies for the next task.

Undoubtedly we looked silly, an older woman and a young girl, lying on the kitchen floor with their feet on a chair. But we were catching our breath, relaxing our bodies and minds, and letting the fluid leave our feet.

I don’t wash dishes all day anymore. I’m rarely on my feet. The need to literally put my feet up occurs only rarely. But I wonder if I’ve forgotten what Malinda was trying to teach me.

It is good to take a break. Not to be lazy or idle–but to rest. I may not be on my feet anymore, but I sit at my computer for hours on end. Perhaps I need to get off the computer for five minutes an hour and rest my eyes. I read for an extraordinary amount of time each day. Perhaps I need to rest from that. I think for a living–studying, preparing lessons, grading papers. Maybe I need to rest my mind every once in a while–and take time to just be.

Instead of running as hard as I can and burning myself out, maybe I need to learn how to take purposeful breaks, truly relaxing breaks. Maybe I need to re-learn the lesson Malinda taught. Maybe I need to put my feet up every once and a while.