A thinking post. With links!

So, I've got another "they said it first" post, with a little introspective commenting to spare.

1. #329. Arguing about the "wives submit to your husbands" idea. from Stuff Christians Like by Prodigal Jon
He doesn't actually argue about that idea, nor does he set out to explain it, but he does lay out a "quick list of the things that have kept my marriage not insane." ;-) These include:
1. Don't call tasks around the house "chores."
2. Don't piggyback activities.
3. All exercise is real.
4. Don't say you are "babysitting" your own kids. and
5. Back rubs should not be timed.
The last one is, of course, the most important. ;-)


2. #330. Saying "if only"
In short, it's a bad habit to get into. That's pretty easy to get your head around, but if you're not careful, watch out! From his post:

If only is something we Christians like to say when faced with a temptation.
...
If only is a phrase I use to medicate myself. Instead of turning to God in a time of need, I pretend the only thing that stands between me and perfect happiness is one "if only."
...
I might be the only one with an "if only" in my life. Maybe you have never thought, "If only I could get married, then I would be happy," or "If only I had a different job, then I would be worry free." But if you have, if you are at all like me, I want to propose something. I think we need to retire the phrase "if only." Let's send it to an early grave. Let's strike it from our vocabularies and pull it from our hearts, because it's one of those lies that holds us back from seeing what is truly beautiful about our own lives. It takes our eyes of the good that already exists. It makes us blind.

I agree. We can't forsake what we have for what may be, but we also need to make sure that what we have is what God wants us to have, otherwise He may make things rough on us if we settle for it cause it's easy and cling to it when it's hard and He tries to take it away from us.


3. #335. Red Bull Christianity

Have you ever wondered what the prodigal son did the day after the welcome home party? I mean honestly, once the welcome home banners were down and the floor was swept and the sun came back up after a long night of celebrating, what did he do? How did he spend that day?

I don't know, but I do know how I spent the first few months after my most significant prodigal chapter. I spent them sprinting. I spent them running as hard as I could for the Lord. I was overwhelmed by this sense that I had to make up for all the lost time. Sin had swallowed so many years of my life and I felt guilty for the wasted time. It was now my job to fix 30 years of sin with a few months of intense holiness.

So I got drunk on Red Bull Christianity.

I really thought that was how God worked. ...I believed that I had to express my faith in hyperspeed. ... I couldn't do it. I failed, again. Do you know why? Because that's not what God wants. ... I want to tell you one of the reasons I am a huge fan of God.

In Isaiah 30:15 He lays out a pretty simple formula for life and in it, He expresses something really powerful. Here is the verse:

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it."

I love that our God is a fan of rest. I love that in His mind, rest is important. I love that our God demands we take naps. But I ignore that demand all too often.

Christian culture has done a really big disservice when it comes to this verse. In some ways, we've deleted the phrase "and rest." ... But here's the thing, I don't think it's accidental that God paired them together. I think He knows how exhausting it is to repent. I think He knows that at the end of a prodigal journey, when we have repented by walking home, the last thing we need is to run around as fast as we can and make up for lost time. No not that, never that. What we need is rest. What we need is quietness and trust.

I'm writing a book about the prodigal son because I think I might know what he did the day after the welcome home party. If he listened to his father. If he took the advice of God, it's not too hard to imagine.

I think the first thing he did was sleep in.

Now that's a handful... I don't ever remember seeing that verse, but I'm gonna save it to read over much more often. It's a real smack in my face when I'm hit with a verse like that and I'm trying to do my best to please God on my own strength. I can't. It's not possible. Only when I rest in Him are my actions pleasing to Him. Now, he isn't saying that we can just sleep the days away and be perfect Christians, we should be reminded of the sluggard. But we also can't make up for lost time, we just have to work with the time we're given.



4. 
This one I just thought was cute and funny.


5. Are tattoos sinful?
I say no. I say it's kindof like the meat offered to idols that Paul was talking about, except it's different because once you've got one, you've got one. You can't take off your tattoo when it makes other people uncomfortable. But it's also not going to make anyone else sin, and like any piece of art, they can be beautiful, or they can be grotesque. I think I'll go with simple and/or beautiful, thank you. But not on my body. Not for me, not now.


6. #339. Forgiveness (or lessons from the Cuban torture specialist)
This one hit me too, mainly cause it's on the topic of forgiveness, something I need to give a whole freaking lot of to a certain someone. To you, I forgive you, would you forgive me? I'll forgive you and ask again with each medium I can think of to say it. :-)

Stephe