The Last Thing He Said Was...

"Go make disciples of all nations" - Matthew 28:19

The last words Jesus uttered before he ascended into heaven focused his disciple's attention on their calling to be ministers of reconciliation between God and man.

Priests.  Light on a hill.  Salt of the earth.  Ambassadors for Christ.  The aroma of Christ.

The New Testament is littered with metaphors that remind us that we have tasted of the kindness of the Lord  so that we can proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:3-10).

But, "going" gets crowded out by a lot of other things - good things - that displace going to the margins of church life.  We talk about it.  We strategize for it.  But, church is largely about...us.  "Going" is more of an assumed experience.  It's more idea than practice.

Can you identify with that?

Someone recently sent a video to me that encapsulates a truth that we need to hear.  It's short and to the point.

May it bless you in days to come as we think about and, more importantly, engage God's calling of us to be a "going" people.

http://vimeo.com/m/6407480

Randy Daughery - Stephenville, Texas

Apart from Me You Can Do Nothing

I recently ran across a very stimulating article by Dr. Keith Albow.

Before you read the comments from Dr. Albow, consider these words from the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul.

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”

 – John 15:5-6

“Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”  - Ephesians 5:15-17

 

Article:  We are Raising a Generation of Narcissists

A new analysis of the American Freshman Survey, which has accumulated data for the past 47 years from 9 million young adults, reveals that college students are more likely than ever to call themselves gifted and driven to succeed, even though their test scores and time spent studying are decreasing.

Psychologist Jean Twenge, the lead author of the analysis, is also the author of a study showing that the tendency toward narcissism in students is up 30 percent in the last thirty-odd years.

This data is not unexpected.  I have been writing a great deal over the past few years about the toxic psychological impact of media and technology on children, adolescents and young adults, particularly as it regards turning them into faux celebrities—the equivalent of lead actors in their own fictionalized life stories.

On Facebook, young people can fool themselves into thinking they have hundreds or thousands of “friends.” They can delete unflattering comments. They can block anyone who disagrees with them or pokes holes in their inflated self-esteem. They can choose to show the world only flattering, sexy or funny photographs of themselves (dozens of albums full, by the way), “speak” in pithy short posts and publicly connect to movie stars and professional athletes and musicians they “like.”

Using Twitter, young people can pretend they are worth “following,” as though they have real-life fans, when all that is really happening is the mutual fanning of false love and false fame.

Using computer games, our sons and daughters can pretend they are Olympians, Formula 1 drivers, rock stars or sharpshooters.  And while they can turn off their Wii and Xbox machines and remember they are really in dens and playrooms on side streets and in triple deckers around America, that is after their hearts have raced and heads have swelled with false pride for “being” something they are not.

On MTV and other networks, young people can see lives just like theirs portrayed on reality TV shows fueled by such incredible self-involvement and self-love that any of the “real-life” characters should really be in psychotherapy to have any chance at anything like a normal life.

These are the psychological drugs of the 21st Century and they are getting our sons and daughters very sick, indeed.

As if to keep up with the unreality of media and technology, in a dizzying paroxysm of self-aggrandizing hype, town sports leagues across the country hand out ribbons and trophies to losing teams, schools inflate grades, energy drinks in giant, colorful cans take over the soft drink market, and psychiatrists hand out Adderall like candy.  

All the while, these adolescents, teens and young adults are watching a Congress that can’t control its manic, euphoric, narcissistic spending, a president that can’t see his way through to applauding genuine and extraordinary achievements in business, a society that blames mass killings on guns, not the psychotic people who wield them, and—here no surprise—a stock market that keeps rising and falling like a roller coaster as bubbles inflate and then, inevitably, burst.

That’s really the unavoidable end, by the way. False pride can never be sustained. The bubble of narcissism is always at risk of bursting.  That’s why young people are higher on drugs than ever, drunker than ever, smoking more, tattooed more, pierced more and having more and more and more sex, earlier and earlier and earlier, raising babies before they can do it well, because it makes them feel special, for a while.  They’re doing anything to distract themselves from the fact that they feel empty inside and unworthy.

Distractions, however, are temporary, and the truth is eternal. Watch for an epidemic of depression and suicidality, not to mention homicidality, as the real self-loathing and hatred of others that lies beneath all this narcissism rises to the surface.  I see it happening and, no doubt, many of you do, too.   

We had better get a plan together to combat this greatest epidemic as it takes shape.  Because it will dwarf the toll of any epidemic we have ever known. And it will be the hardest to defeat. Because, by the time we see the scope and destructiveness of this enemy clearly, we will also realize, as the saying goes, that it is us.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/01/08/are-raising-generation-deluded-narcissists/?cmpid=cmty_other_We_are_raising_a_generation_of_deluded_narcissists

O Father,  awaken us to our utter bankruptcy apart from you.  We are surrounded by messages and influences that lie to us about who we are and what we need.  May your Spirit continue to convict people as your Son promised He would so that we can see that the Son is the only one who can truly satisfy us now and forever.  

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

God Reveals His Name

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.  This is what you are to say to the Israelites:  I AM has sent me to you.”  Exodus 3:14

When I counseled juveniles at the detention center I liked to tell them what their names meant and how the meaning sounds in real life.  For example, “Poetic One, it’s time for supper!” or, “Be home by curfew, God’s Gracious Gift.”  “Call me when you get there, Merry One,” or “You did a great job with your chores, Helper of Man.”

Names meant everything in ancient times.   When God told Moses to go back to Egypt and free the Israelites from slavery, Moses didn’t want to.  He argued with God about it like God’s people have done since time began.  “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’  Then what shall I tell them?”

“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.  This is what you are to say to the Israelites:  I AM has sent me to you…the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.’” (Exodus 3:13-15).

I read Daniel’s prayer in Chapter 9 of Daniel and jotted in the margin some descriptions of how I AM relates to His wicked, rebellious children.  He is described as great and awesome; faithful to keep His promises; righteous in everything, merciful, forgiving, and omnipotent.  He disciplines lovingly, but that doesn’t mean we’ll necessarily enjoy His discipline at the time.  He puts us where He wants us to be for our good and for His ultimate glory.  God made a name for himself by freeing his people from captivity which means He also has the power to free us from our self-inflicted bondage.

“Lord, we don’t make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.  O Lord, listen.  O Lord, forgive!  O Lord, hear and act!  For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”  (Daniel 9:18b & 19). 

Sandra Milholland

Abilene, Texas