The Truth About Bible Translations...

...is that you oughta pick up a Bible and read it, for cryin' out loud!

(If you want my opinion on the best translations, ask me.  In the meantime, get in there and read.)

Not So Fast...

You only think you know me.  If you know me personally, you probably think I'm a nice fella.  Decent family, good character, funny, plays guitar and sings.  You might know me just by the words on this blog, much like how I "know" a lot of other people.  Really, none of all that would be inaccurate, but it wouldn't be the complete picture.  Sometimes that troubles me a bit.  You know, to think of how other people are perceiving me because of the things I do and am involved in, yet knowing all too well the parts of me they don't see.  If people knew me, like really knew me, would they feel the same way?  What if they knew about my clever use of passive aggression, my loathing for people, my tainted imagination, and my depressive tendencies?

Of all the other humans on earth, my wife knows me best: the good as well as the bad and the ugly.  But even she doesn't know me as intimately as I do.  Not a day goes by anymore that I'm not struck by the realization of where I'd be if the Father hadn't found me, if Christ hadn't saved me, and if the Holy Spirit wasn't doing His sanctifying work in me.  If anything worthwhile comes out of my writing or ministry or living...it's just Jesus, and that's all it can ever be.

 

Pining For The Fjords (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

What an incredible thing to be brought to life by the Spirit of God!  When there was no possibility of self-resuscitation, God, through His Spirit, by the work of Christ, called me out of darkness and into life.  I wasn't just unconcerned about God before that day, it wasn't that I hadn't gotten around to getting saved yet - the problem was that I was "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1).  As Dan Phillips puts it in The World Tilting Gospel (while cleverly alluding two classic cult films - can you name them?):

"Paul says that we are dead. Not 'resting.'  Not 'pining for the Fjords.'  Not 'getting better.' Not 'only mostly dead.'"

When you're dead, he adds, "that's it.  The music swells, the credits roll, the movie is over....There are not degrees of death.  Death is an absolute.  It is a toggle switch, not a dimmer."

Consider where you would be, believer, if the "wind" of the Spirit had not revived you to repentance.  Now go worship, and work to see others brought to life.

Praying More Accurately

Ever notice how selfish our prayers are at times?  Ever realize how often we totally miss the point in prayer?  Without denying the fact that we need to pray for wisdom and guidance, Derek W. H. Thomas helps us think more clearly and accurately about the content of our prayers in his book How The Gospel Brings Us All The Way Home:

"Instead of a preoccupation with issues of guidance (the preoccupation of our era), we should be concerned to ask the Lord:  'How can I live in a way that reflects the holiness of my Savior?', 'Will You show me how to deny myself?', 'Which sin, or part of a sin, am I to kill today?' "

The World Needs Tilting

Last week (from the time of this writing) at T4G I met up with an old friend, met a new friend, and met Dan Phillips. Dan was friendly and I expect would make a fine friend, but I'm not sure our five minute conversation constitutes friendship, although it most certainly is an acquaintance, and I look forward to chatting with him again sometime either here, there or in the air.

A few months back I read Dan's book, The World-Tilting Gospel, and found myself highlighting a whole-lotta-stuff (technical term).  Since I met Dan in person last week, and since T4G is all about keeping the Gospel the center of our faith, life and practice, I think the following quote from TWTG more than apropos:

"The world needs tilting, and bad doctrinal barriers need busting. I say we do it....The greatest need of the church today is a strategic, full-orbed, robust, biblical grasp of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its transformative implications.  We don't need more glitz or glamour, better marketing or programs, snazzier decor or entertainment.  We do need a whole-Bible grasp of the Gospel."

It seems an odd thing to say, but the church does indeed need to stay vigorously centered on the Gospel; many churches are way off target.  As for transformation, what the Gospel does for the Church, it does for individual believers.  When I allow the Gospel to define my walk and filter my talk, to reign in my ego and open up my heart, Blaine Moore looks like a different person...more like Christ.

Caught Off Guard

Do you know what T4G is? Click and learn. The music is just one of the many soul-nourishing aspects of the T4G conference. It ain't loud (I like loud), it ain't plugged in (I like electric guitars on 11), and it ain't flashy (I like pyrotechnics). It is Bob Kauflin leading thousands of men in song from a piano: songs that are full of rich meaning and beautifully lyricised doctrine (and I like that the best).

Two years ago at T4G I was stopped in my singing tracks several times when tears came and my vocal chords had to halt. This year it didn't happen until the last day of the conference and we were singing "When Trials Come" by Keith and Kristyn Getty. We sang it in a somewhat more hymnlike fashion than the Getty's recording below, but the melody and words are the same, and it was halfway through the third verse when I suddenly stopped singing and the began to weep with joy.

"My confidence will rest in You, Your love endures, Your ways are good."

A Text From My Father

I really, REALLY, want to write about my experiences at T4G last week, but this story has to come first. All things considered, I suppose it is, in actuality, related to T4G in that it pertained to my trip home.

You see, I rode a motorcycle to T4G...was hoping Mark Dever would do an elimination round where I would be the only one left standing because I got there on two wheels, but oh well...and as the day of my 572 mile return trip drew near (the trip out was roughly the same *wink wink* ), heavy storms had entered the forecast near my destination.

This was really no big deal as far as riding was concerned as I've ridden in all kinds of weather, but it DID have the effect of prompting me to bug out of T4G a few hours earlier than I would have liked.

Other people were more concerned than I was, however, and sometime during the course of that day, before I had hit the road, I received a text from my 72 year old father. Yes, he texts. The message read:

"Good morning! Looks like you might get some rain today. Don't put yourself in danger...call and I'll come & get you if it's not safe. Dad."

Now read that again, keeping in mind his age, and my own (41). That is, I think, one of the sweetest things a dad could say to a son isn't it: "I'll come & get you if it's not safe." Do I even need to draw the spiritual connections here, or aren't they already painted in your heart and mind? Don't know if Dad is aware of what a beautiful, Godly thing he wrote in that simplest of statements. But I'm sure somebody in my nosey family will see this and point him toward my blog ;)

Apparently you never stop being a dad. I'll be pleased as punch if, in 30 years, I'm communicating these kinds of messages to my five boys. And I'm pretty sure this will have an influence on my dad skills right here and now.

While I'm thinking "dad" thoughts, CLICK HERE for a side trip to my dad's garage you can take as a bonus.