Tracy and I bought our first house back in 1999. Full of youthful excitement and the idea that we would live long-term in Albuquerque we hocked ourselves to the gills to buy our “dream home.” One of the first things that we did upon moving into our palatial estate was to pony up and get a state-of-the-art security system.
Now, we were protected against the prowlers and burglars that wreaked havoc upon the North-East Side of the ‘querque. We valued the service and religiously set the alarm at night or before leaving the house. We felt safe knowing that the local authorities would be alerted if anyone breached our walls and infiltrated our home.
However, when we moved to Texas we opted to fore-go the security service and the accompanying 30 a month fee that went with it. We prided ourselves on this bit of financial responsibility.
It was several months later that we were hit was a $400+ bill for the remainder of our service agreement. It seems that we had signed an agreement that carried substantial penalties if we opted out early.
After careful wrangling and lengthy discussions we were able to extricate ourselves from this balance due us. It was pointless to charge us for security service for a house we no longer owned.
I had to deal with a similar situation with our cell phone company when we moved to Michigan.
In both of these instances we were dealing with the issues that surround contracts. A contract is an agreement between two or more parties that is often enforceable by law.
Just as often, however, a contract can be broken. It can also be rendered null and void if certain conditions are met or particular circumstances occur.
In our society, that has become our view on marriage. A contract that two people enter into but which can be broken if one of the parties so chooses. Marriage is, for far too many people, a mutually agreed on arrangement that can be severed for a multitude of reasons.
The attitude that the bonds of marriage are predicated upon the whims of individuals runs counter to Scripture. Malachi 2:14 tells us that husbands and wives are joined together by covenant. Marriage is a covenant and not a contract.
A covenant is so much more than a human contract. In a covenant, God is a participant. The binding nature of a covenant is seen by the sacrifices of animals in the Old Testament. The idea was that the covenant was ended only by death. It is, in essence, saying “May I be put to death before ending my obligation to you and to God to love you all of my days.”
Marriage is not something that we can opt out of as we see fit. It is a solemn bond between two individuals and the One True God. Our powers to negate that covenant are non-existent.
That is why I applaud my home state of Arkansas and its governor Mike Huckabee for bringing attention to a little known law in Arkansas, Louisiana and Arizona.
On February 14th, Huckabee and his wife, Janet, renewed their vows before 5,000 people and upgraded their marriage to a “covenant marriage.” This law, pending in 4 other states, requires counseling before marriage and before divorce. It also greatly limits the grounds for divorce.
These laws acknowledge what Scripture proclaims, that marriage is for life. It is a gift to be treasured and maintained. If more of us with commit to living covenant marriages we would see great benefits in our society.
Let us treasure one another and the bonds that we have made. It takes just a few minutes to make a wedding but it takes a lifetime to make a marriage.
May we love our spouses a little more…
…take the time to touch
…to say I love you
…to build up
…to model Christian living to our children
…to learn to communicate and share
…to learn to resolve the conflicts and issues that arise
…to value this covenant that we have made between our spouse and our God.
That is far greater security than ADT or Brinks can provide.
Browsing Posts published in February, 2005
I will admit when I heard the new album, Share the Well by Caedmon’s Call , I was not overly impressed by it.
However, on repeated listening, it is one of the best Contemporary Christian recordings I have heard in a long time. After spending time ministering in India, Ecuador and Brazil you can hear the influence that mission had upon them.
In every line you can hear a palpable desire to reach all cultures with the love and grace of Jesus Christ. Do yourself a favor and pick up this album.
Christian preachers, more than all others, should know that
people are starving for God. If anyone in all the world should be able
to say, “I have looked upon thee in the sanctuary, beholding thy power
and glory,” it is the herald of God. Who but preachers will look out
over the wasteland of secular culture and say, “Behold your God!”? Who
will tell the people that God is great and greatly to be praised? Who
will paint for them the landscape of God’s grandeur? Who will remind
them with tales of wonder that God has triumphed over every foe? Who
will cry out above every crisis, “Your God reigns!”? Who will labor to
find words that can carry the “gospel of the glory of the blessed God”?
If God is not supreme in our preaching, where in this world will the
people hear about the supremacy of God? If we do not spread a banquet
of God’s beauty on Sunday morning, will not our people seek in vain to
satisfy their inconsolable longing with the cotton candy pleasures of
pastimes and religious hype? If the fountain of living water does not
flow from the mountain of God’s sovereign grace on Sunday morning, will
not the people hew for themselves cisterns on Monday, broken cisterns
that can hold no water . . .?
We are called to be “stewards of the mysteries of God.” . . . And
the great mystery is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” . . . And that
glory is the glory of God. And “it is required of stewards that they be
found faithful” – faithful in magnifying the supreme glory of the one
eternal God, not magnifying as a microscope that makes small things
look bigger; but as a telescope that makes unimaginably great galaxies
of glory visible to the human eye.
John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Baker, 1990), p. 108-109
Tracy asked me the other night what it was that possessed me to start running. Her question is one I have received numerous times in the last 9 months. It seems that people want to know my secret for having lost 60+ pounds and how I moved from a sedentary individual to one who prizes activity, especially long-distance running.
As I have reflected on the answer to these questions I have discovered that it is much more deep-seated than I realized.
The main reasons are simple: I couldn’t get health insurance while I lived in Michigan because of high triglycerides; I was setting horrible examples for my girls; the reality that I might not see them grow up was unthinkable; I was tired of being tired all the time; and I felt that I was being a poor steward of the body that God has given me.
But it goes farther than that. When I was in 11th grade my school hosted a jog-a-thon. For this fund-raiser you were to solicit people to sponsor you for how far you jogged and/or walked. In the previous years that I had participated in the annual jog-a-thon it was held on the track around the football field. People pledged money for how many laps you went.
This particular year, however, was different. We would be dropped off different distances from the school and jog our way back.
Of course, I opted to be dropped off at the 5 mile mark. Although, I had never covered the full five mile distance around the track I was sure that I would be able to do it this year.
I was a football player after all. The fact that I was a very bad football player did not diminish my confidence in the least.
I started out strong, keeping up with the more athletic and fit. But about 10 yards into it I began to lag a little.
Then I began to lag a lot.
Then I started to walk.
Slowly.
And slower.
And slower still.
Eventually I began to realize that I would not make it back to the school in the allotted time. The confidence that I had at the outset of the race rapidly diminished.
Before long a school van came and picked up the stragglers and drove us back to the school.
There I was: with the underclassmen and the unathletic, the disinterested and the frail.
I was embarrased. And ashamed.
I had thought that I was better than that. But I was wrong.
I had thought that I could do more than my ability. But I failed.
Over the years I have learned a lot from that experience:
- When I think that I am better than I am, I am always wrong.
- When I rely on my ability rather than God’s, I will fail.
- If I rely on His strength I can do more than I can imagine.
- There is no shame in running the race at whatever speed I can maintain.
- Starting the race is enough. Jesus will carry me to the Ultimate Goal.
I had allowed a part of my life to defeat me. I was unhealthy. And lazy.
I thought I could make it through on my own strength and ability.
The truth is: I wasn’t making it very far. I needed to rely on His strength to change a part of my life that I had kept from Him for far too long.
Why the change? Because I will not be a slave to food, only to Christ.
I will not be content to sit idly by, but will rise up and work for Him.
I will not depend on my own power but will run with Him.
Someday soon, I will travel back to Arkansas. I will have Tracy drop me off five miles from my old high school.
And I will run. . .all the way back.
Not on my strength.
But through His.
Well, I went back out there and did the two miles. It was a lot better. My heart rate was back down to a decent level but I was still a little dead-legged. Here is hoping for a good 3.5 miler today.
Yesterday was the worst run of my life. I was increasing my Tuesday/Thursday base from 3 miles to 3.5 miles in anticipation of moving from 4 to 5 miles on Sunday for my weekly long run.
For some reason I barely finished. My heart rate was high the whole way through. My legs felt dead and I could never seem to establish a rhythm.
I’ve read repeatedly that this happens. That there will be days that you just can’t do what you intend. Still, it was very disheartening. I had never come this close to quitting.
Today I am supposed to do 2 miles. I don’t know if I can.
But I will try.
Christian, you might have a bad day. Discouragement may set in and you feel like you cannot take the next step.
The good news is . . . you don’t have to. Fall in His embrace and He will carry you.
“It is pride which had been the
chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began .
. . Pride always means enmity-it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.
In God you come up against
something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that-and therefore
know yourself as nothing in comparison-you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know
God. A proud man is always looking down
on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you
cannot see something that is above you.
That raises a terrible question. How is it that people who are quite
obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to
themselves very religious? I am afraid
it means they are worshipping an imaginary God.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Weekly I will recommend an artist worth checking out. Hopefully, you will find some edifying and uplifting music each week. Feel free to leave your own recommendations. I might use it in a coming week.
Ephesians 4:29 says to “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (ESV)
That is the driving focus behind Building 429. They seek to build up others by lifting up the name of God. They do so with a refreshing rock sound. Their signature song “Glory Defined” has just been nominated for Song of the Year at the upcoming Dove Awards. You can hear the song at the website:
Each week I plan to bring you a website that is worth checking out. This week’s is a site that I have enjoyed thoroughly over the last year or so.
We, as Christians, are called to transform the world, not become so immersed into the popular culture that we are unrecognizable. Much in our common-day incarnation of mainstream Christianity is just that, however, A blending-in.
We often seek to make Christianity more palatable to the masses and end up diluting the message of all of its saving power. The good folks at Christian Counterculture are sounding the call to be revolutionary in our approach to society. Meeting the sinner in love, yes, but with the power of truth.
You may not agree with everything but it is sure to stimulate thought and discussion.
Check it out at: Christian Counterculture.
Link: Myspace.com/michaelmcdermott
As many of you know Michael McDermott is might favorite artist. I also consider him to be a friend.
Check out his new website where you can listen to some of his music. If you create an account and sign up to be a friend of Michael’s you can be a part of new music added weekly.
Don’t miss out.
