according to jeff

Christians find great comfort and encouragement in these words, recorded by the Apostle Paul:

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
— Philippians 4:13 (KJV)

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
— Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

However, faithful readers may be both surprised and disappointed to learn that I, in fact, cannot “do all things” as this verse suggests. For instance. I cannot run faster than a speeding bullet. I am not more powerful than a locomotive. I cannot leap tall buildings in a single bound. So, while “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” may make a good sound bite, evidence suggests that it doesn’t actually promise that I can be a superhero.

While you may be comforted and perhaps even encouraged by the fact that I haven’t been granted super-abilities, we’re left to wonder what exactly Paul meant when he wrote about being able to to all things if he didn’t really mean that we could do all things.

Perhaps Paul was referring only to himself. That is, perhaps Paul meant that he could do all things, but that you and I cannot. After all, Paul was involved in many supernatural events, including surviving death by stoning and restoring a young man killed in a fall from a third story window to life.

However, when we look at the context of Paul’s striking statement, we see a different picture.

“… for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
— Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV)

Rather than talking about having powers like Superman, Paul is talking about something nearly as rare and elusive: contentment. Contentment is the quality of being satisfied (though not necessarily complacent) with our situation in life. Paul said that he had learned the secret of being content in every situation.

How would you fill in this blank? “If only I had ____________, then I’d be content.”

• A nice car?
• A nice house?
• Better health?
• Just a little more money?
• A better relationship with my wife, husband, children, parents, boyfriend, girlfriend?
• Something else?

According to Paul, the answer isn’t in any of these things or people. Instead, the secret of contentment is finding satisfaction in Jesus, who provides strength to deal with everything in life — both the good (living in plenty) and the bad (living in need).

He wasn’t relying on Jesus to make him faster than a speeding bullet. Instead, he was relying on Jesus for the ability to face and deal with every situation of life. Thus, he can “do” (literally, “have strength for”) all kinds of things.

The Life Application Bible notes put it this way:

“Can we really do everything? The power we receive in union with Christ is sufficient to do his will and to face the challenges that arise from our commitment to doing it. He does not grant us superhuman ability to accomplish anything we can imagine without regard to his interests. As we contend for the faith, we will face troubles, pressures, and trials. As they come, ask Christ to strengthen you.”
— Life Application Study Bible

The IVP New Testament Commentary puts it this way:

“Here is a much-used sentence from Paul that is often taken out of context and thus abused. While everything seems to be all-embracing and is often applied to one’s activities (especially those that are personally demanding—athletics, learning to drive and the like), in context it refers primarily to living in want or plenty. Paul finds Christ sufficient in times of bounty as well as in times of need! Thus, rather than being a christianized version of the Stoic ideal, this passage points up the absolute Christ-centeredness of Paul’s whole life. He is a man in Christ. As such he takes what Christ brings. If it means “plenty,” he is a man in Christ, and that alone; if it means “want,” he is still a man in Christ, and he accepts deprivation as part of his understanding of discipleship.”
— IVP New Testament Commentary

However, just as Superman could be rendered helpless by Kryptonite, contentment may turn into discontentment when exposed to:

• hardship
• envy
• selfish desires

Knowing that the secret of contentment comes through Christ, though, helps us avoid the pitfall of thinking that more “stuff” is what we really need.

To quote a friend, I am not a long-haired, dope-smoking, Linux-using hippie. ¹

However, like many long-haired, dope-smoking, Linux-using hippies, I refuse to pay for Wi-Fi.

I was in Barnes and Noble this afternoon. You know, Barnes and Noble, the hip bookstore with a Starbucks inside. The hip bookstore where you’re invited to sit in a comfy chair and try out a book before you buy it. So there I was, in the hip bookstore and wanting to check a Web site on my iPhone when, much to my surprise, I found that Barnes and Noble isn’t hip after all. It’s only a facade. You see, Wi-Fi is available, but not free.

Hip bookstores, coffee shops, and small towns offer free Wi-Fi. They know that all kinds of people, not just long-haired, dope-smoking, Linux-using hippies appreciate it.

1. Actually, I’m not quite sure that’s how he says it; I have trouble remembering his exact words.

A federal court judge has recently limited the prayers offered at the opening of the Indiana House of Representatives. An official prayer (aka, an “invocation”) may still be offered, but must be “inclusive and non-sectarian, and not advance one particular religion.”

According to the ruling by Judge David Hamilton:

To summarize, the evidence shows that the official prayers offered to open sessions of the Indiana House of Representatives repeatedly and consistently advance the beliefs that define the Christian religion: the resurrection and divinity of Jesus of Nazareth. The Establishment Clause “means at the very least that government may not demonstrate a preference for one particular sect or creed (including a preference for Christianity over other religions). ‘The clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another.’” County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, 492 U.S. 573, 605 (1989), quoting Larson v. Valente, 456 U.S. 228, 244 (1982). The sectarian content of the substantial majority of official prayers in the Indiana House therefore takes the prayers outside the safe harbor the Supreme Court recognized for inclusive, non-sectarian legislative prayers in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983). Plaintiffs have standing as Indiana taxpayers to bring their claims, and they are entitled to declaratory and injunctive relief. This relief will not prohibit the House from opening its session with prayers if it chooses to do so, but will require that any official prayers be inclusive and non-sectarian, and not advance one particular religion. [1]

Several questions are raised about this inclusive, non-sectarian prayer. For instance, to whom is the prayer addressed?

• Our Father in Heaven? No, this excludes Buddhists, who believe in nothingness, not heaven.
• Our Father? No, this excludes feminists who prefer to address God as “mother”.
• Dear God? No, this excludes Hindus and other polytheists, who believe in many gods, not just one god.
• In the name of Allah, the merciful? No, this excludes everyone except Muslims.
• Dear Supernatural Being? No, this excludes deists, such as Thomas Jefferson, who deny the supernatural.
• Dear, um, Whoever? No, even this generic greeting excludes naturalists, who view God as a thing, not a being.

Well, let’s just skip the greeting address, then, and move on to the topic. What subject qualifies as being non-sectarian?

• Thy will be done?
• Give us this day our daily bread?
• Forgive us our sins?

No, each of these are related to particular religions. Even if the wording can be agreed upon, the meaning may be vastly different. For instance, to some Muslims, “Thy will be done” includes exterminating Israel and flying airplanes into American skyscrapers, whereas to some Christians it means relieving suffering and spreading the gospel. Perhaps inclusive, non-sectarian content will be difficult too.

Even “prayer” itself is problematic. By definition, a prayer is “a reverent petition made to God, a god, or another object of worship.” Prayer presupposes one to pray to. That is, by definition, a prayer relates to a specific god or object of worship, and therefore is inherently sectarian.

Never-the-less, faithful readers know what an accomdating person I am. Therefore, in the spirit of Judge Hamilton’s ruling…

Please join me now in an inclusive, non-sectarian prayer.

“  “

Thank you.

1. United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, Case Number 1:05-cv-0813-DFH-TAB

This question took on new meaning at the London Zoo for a few days in August. Not only might you run into someone that you know at the zoo, but you might also recognize someone in the zoo. Yes, according to CBS News, for a few days in August, human beings were on exhibit at the London Zoo.

What motivated the London Zoo to offer this special exhibit? London Zoo spokeswoman Polly Wills offered this explanation:

“Seeing people in a different environment, among other animals … teaches members of the public that the human is just another primate.”

Tom Mahoney, one of the humans on exhibit, had a similar agenda:

“A lot of people think humans are above other animals. When they see humans as animals, here, it kind of reminds us that we’re not that special.”

Some visitors seemed to catch the spirit, too. At least Mark Ainsworth did:

“This exhibit made us come to the zoo. Humans are animals too.”

At the risk of offending (again) animal lovers everywhere, I’d like to go on record. My biblically-informed (but not yet perfected) worldview leads to this conclusion:

I am not a primate.

I am not an animal.

I am a man.

How can I make this distinction with certainty? Because mankind was created in God’s image. [1] This makes mankind unique, different than all animals. I agree with Henry Morris: this is a profound and mysterious truth.

“Man was to be more than simply a very complex and highly organized animal. There was to be something in man which was not only quantitatively greater, but qualitatively distinctive, something not possessed in any degree by the animals. Man was to be in the image and likeness of God Himself!” [2]

Morris continues, proposing that the image of God entails “an eternal spirit, possessed of esthetic, moral, spiritual attributes” and “those aspects of human nature which are not shared by animals — attributes such as moral consciousness, the ability to think abstractly, an understanding of beauty and emotion, and, above all, the capacity for worshiping and loving God.”

Why is this distinction important?

If man is just another animal, then there is no morality, no right, no wrong, no noble purpose to life. There is only survival of the fittest.

However, if man is not just another animal, but instead a special creation of God, then there is morality, there is right and wrong, there is noble purpose to life. We don’t have to live serving only ourselves. We can know God and follow his plan for our lives, which includes caretaking his creation and the animals under our care.

Indeed, the question of whether man is just another animal is one of the defining questions of our culture today.

1. (Genesis 1:27 NIV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
2. The Genesis Record, Henry M. Morris, pages 73-74.

P.S. If you think I’m all wet and you agree with the zoo official (“the human is just another primate”) and the caged human (“we’re not that special”), then here are three questions for you:

1. Why were the humans let out every night to go home? None of the other animals are let out.
2. Why were the humans let out at all? If it’s OK to exhibit animals permanently, why not have a permanent human exhibit?
3. If it’s not OK to cage a human in a zoo against his will, why is it OK to cage an animal in a zoo?

A visit to Starbucks® is like a visit to a strange land. It can all be very intimidating to the uninitiated (like me). I look at the menu board, and it doesn’t even seem to be written in English.

Cafe au Lait
Macchiato
Chantico

What is this stuff?

Double Latte

Now I’m starting to have some questions.

Is there a Single Latte?

Or a Triple Latte?

What’s a Latte anyway?

Frappuccino

Uh, fr… fr… fruit? A fruit drink? But in a coffee store?

Espresso

Espresso? ESpresso? With an ‘s’? Then why does everyone always say eXpresso?

By now, there’s quite a line behind me. No doubt everyone already knows what they want. “Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino”, “Cinnamon Spice Mocha Espresso”, whatever. They already know this foreign language. They’ve broken the code.

The pressure is mounting. Everyone behind me is starting to get restless; they need their caffiene. It could get ugly soon. Time to just pick something…

Decaf Caffe Verona®, please…

To be honest, I’m still not sure quite what I’ve picked out. I think I recognize the “Decaf” part, but my confidence is shaken. I’m not even sure of that part.

Size? Uh, size, uh, well, what are my choices?

Tall

Tall? No, that sounds too big.

Grande

Much too big.

Venti

Uh, sure, that sounds about right for me.

Yes, a trip to Starbucks can be intimidating to the uninitiated.

The Strange Land of Christianity

Christianity can seem that way, too. Strange words.

Sanctification
Justification
Propitiation

A big rule book.

Ecclesiasties
Obadiah
Second Thessalonians

Yes, Christianity can be intimidating to the uninitiated.

Lesson from the Garden

This spring, we received a packet of zinnia seeds in the mail. The instructions were intimidating.

The soil should be well drained, rich and moist to on the dry side. They will flourish in full sun. Set them 8 to 12 inches apart. Seeds may be started early indoors at a 70- to 75-degree temperature, 6 to 8 weeks before it’s safe to plant outside. Plant them in flats of sifted soil consisting of loam and leaf mold and humus or peat, with a bit of sand added. Seeds may also be sown directly outdoors where they are to grow when the soil is warm.

OK, sand I understand. But sifted soil? Peat? Leaf mold? Humus?

Who knew that gardening could be so intimidating?

So here’s what we did. Bethany found a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled through the bottom. She filled it with Miracle Grow potting soil and springled the seeds on it. Then she added a bit more soil. She watered daily. That’s it. No humus. No sifting. No planting 8 to 12 inches apart.

And do you know what happened? Some beautiful zinnias sprouted, grew and blossomed.

That’s the way God made it. Plant some seeds in dirt, add water, watch ‘em grow. Sure, there’s lots more about seeds to know. How they work. When to plant for best results. Pollination. But those are extras… not needed to get started. If we’d waited until we’d studied and understood all that there was to know about zinnia seeds, we’d never have enjoyed the flowers. We’d have missed out.

That’s like Christianity. Justification, sanctification, propitiation. Great words. Even greater meaning. But do you need a perfect understanding to get started? No. Here’s what you need to know.

1. God loves you. [Jn 3:16]
2. God is perfect. [Mt 5:48]
3. You aren’t. [Rom 3:23]
4. God’s standard for you is perfection. [Mt 5:48]
5. The penalty for your imperfection is spiritual death. [Rom 6:23]
6. God wants to rescue you from that penalty. [Jn 3:16]
7. Jesus, not your good works or lifestyle, is the way to salvation. [Jn 3:16; Eph 2:8-9]

Sure, there’s more about Christianity to know than that. But this is a good start. It’s a seed.

The word of faith we are proclaiming: that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” [Rom 10:8-11 (NIV)]

Will you let it sprout in your life?