HOLD FAST HOPE!

so today i sandwiched attending a funeral in between calling to wish joey a happy birthday in the morning and calling to wish jason a happy birthday at noon. (being a pacific coaster, i figured he'd rather me not call him at 4:45 am his time...) but as i was getting ready for the day and also thinking about the impending birth of ryan and sarah's baby... i found myself meditating on this passage in Ecclesiastes 7:

"a good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. it is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. it is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools..."

the other night at men's bible study, we were talking about the complacency of normalcy, (say that 5 times fast) and the stunning nature of Revelation 9:20-21. 1/3 of mankind is destroyed, but the living DO NOT repent. they just keep on going...

i'd also been listening quite a bit to the new thrice "live at the house of blues cd" (and watching the dvd). some lyrics have really been sticking out at me... from "broken lungs": "A fire burns beneath Manhattan still we breathe with broken lungs we act like none of this matters is that what we meant when we said that we'd sing what must be sung?" yeah, it's totally possible to be shocked and then to go back to life as normal...

i found myself writing in the margin of my bible, "God, may i not be as obstinate!" and being humbled by the fact that He has opened my eyes to the reality of the gospel!

today, i have come face to face with birth and death; life temporal and life eternal. may my living in the one be always grounded with an eye towards the other!

self examination

i've been reading a book called Death by Love: Letters from the Cross by Mark Driscoll. in the chapter on reconciliation, he had some good stuff about bitterness... its source and some good questions to check ourselves for it:

"bitterness is often unrelated to the magnitude of a sin but is instead correlated to the emotional proximity of the offender. it is also often tied to betrayal. what i mean is this: if a stranger sins against you in a big way, you are unlikely to get bitter. but if a beloved family member or friend sins against you in a little way, you are likely to get bitter because you have opened your heart to that person and have high expectations for the relationship. therefore, those whom you love the most are most likely to provoke your bitterness because their sin rises to the level of betrayal."

am i bitter? questions:

"1. do you continually replay in your mind with great detail a negative past event and dislike for the person(s) involved?
2. do you find yourself continually referring to someone in a pejorative fashion because of some past hurt?
3. do you intentionally avoid certain person(s) because you find yourself becoming continually annoyed or angry in their presence?
4. do you find that your dislike of someone is growing over time?"

*** why is any of this important? remember the words of Hebrews 12:15 "see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;" bitterness can cause us to miss God's grace and keeps us from living out of it towards others. bitterness causes trouble. bitterness defiles others.

"for He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility" Ephesians 2:14