Month: February 2021

Small acts

Posted on by Michael Wine

Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I have found that it is the small, ordinary deeds of everyday folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. -Gandalf in The Hobbit

Here is some encouragement and a good reminder from one of my favorite characters in one of my favorite stories.

The darkness in the world is not countered by something like it, but by its opposite. Anger is countered by love, pride by humility, greed by generosity, power by meekness, hatred by love.

For me, I think of my two kids. Their hugs, and small acts of love are more powerful than they know. And all it takes for them is the simple honesty of a child’s heart.

Two productivity books

Posted on by Michael Wine

The Practice by Seth Godin is a great book about building a habit of creating. It isn’t about the outcome, it’s about doing the work every day, being generous, and willing to fail in order to learn.

Ploductivity by Douglas Wilson, is a Christian book with similar ideas, but presented with a theological foundation.

I would definitely recommend these two books as my favorite on productivity.

Two offers

Posted on by Michael Wine

In our daily lives we face many tempations. We all know that the sinful nature in our hearts lies to us in order to tempt us to sin. So many of us have been told to find the lie, and combat it with truth as a way to fight tempation.

While I agree with this completely, sometimes sin is very crafty. Sometimes, telling yourself that this temptation you are facing is “just a lie” is of no help at all. Why? Because, in fact, sin is telling a lie, while at the same time telling truths.

I’ve found it helpful, then, to focus on the genuine promises of sin, the ones that are true, and compare them to the real promises of God. This is really about taking an honest look at the two offers on the table. Here are a few that I’ve thought of. If I think of more I can add them later. Let me know if you have more as well.

These promises, both from God and sin, are real. This means they deliver on what they promise.

  1. Sin promises temporary happiness (Proverbs 9:17), God promises eternal joy (Psalm 16:11).
  2. Sin promises freedom to live for ourselves, God promises freedom to live for others (Gal 5:1).
  3. Sin promises that you will never have enough, there is always more. God promises to never give us too much to bear (1 Cor 10:13).
  4. Sin promises to make us like God as an enemy of God (Gen 3:5). God promises to make us like God as children (2 Corinthians 3:18).

What I’ve found, is that when I take an honest look at sin in this way, and then consider God, I see that God is the one who is on my side. He’s the one who loves me, who wants my true good. Sin is a trickster, a snake oil salesman, just trying to manipulate me and use me.

Obedience motivated by love

Posted on by Michael Wine

I will keep your statutes. Do not utterly forsake me. Psalm 119:8

Previous posts: Psalm 119

The final verse in the first eight-verse stanza of the Psalm is a resolution and a prayer.

I will keep your statutes. It’s a decision. A resolution, boldly made. Often we can feel hesitant to make bold resolutions like this, for fear of not being able to keep them.

When was the last time you promised God that you would obey him?

Does this mean that the writer is relying on himself to follow God’s commands? From the context we see that the answer is no. In verse five we see him asking God to help make his ways “steadfast.”

And yet, after the asking, he takes on the responsibility of obedience. This is a dangerous, and necessary step for us as well.

Do no utterly forsake me. It is a beautiful, humble, pleading prayer of a man who longs for God’s presence, while knowing how little it is deserved.

The prayer is important because it gives insight into the motivation behind the resolution. The writer resolves to keep God’s statutes because he wants to be close to God.

It isn’t about impressing God. It’s not about keeping a checklist or being perfect. It’s about a relationship. It’s about being near to God.

The prayer also shows where the power comes from to actually keep the resolution. The writer knows that he cannot keep God’s statutes without God’s help, presence, and love.

All of this is flowing from the man’s heart, which is deeply in love with God. He see God as wonderful, and wants desperatly to be near Him. That is why he treasures God’s word. That is why he resolves to keep it. And that is why he asks God to stay with him.

Isn’t this where we want to be? So convinced of God’s worth and beauty, so in love with Him and wanting to be near Him, that we are willing to take the risk of resolving to follow God’s word, no matter what?

Jesus is the True Vine

Posted on by Michael Wine

I am the true vine. John 15:1

These are the words of Christ. He calls himself ‘the true vine.’

What could this mean? Sometimes it helps to pause on a single phrase and ponder.

First, it is a metaphor. Jesus is not saying that He is a literal vine. He is comparing Himself to a vine. Actually, looking closer, Jesus is saying that He is the true vine.

The word for ‘true’ in Greek is alethinos. It means: that which has not only the name and resemblance, but the real nature corresponding to the name, in every respect corresponding to the idea signified by the name, real, true genuine.

It is like Jesus is using a metaphor in reverse. He is more saying that the vine is like Himself (the true vine, the real one), than that He is like the vine. Something about what a vine is, then, reflects the nature of Jesus, and was designed specifically to point us back to Him.

What exactly is that nature? What about vines should point us back to Jesus? Well, I am hoping Jesus will elaborate on that in the next verses! But we are not done with this verse yet.

Because vines are a super common picture throughout the old testament.

It was a symbol of the physical prosperity of the land of Israel. When God would judge the nation, would speak of the destruction of their vines (Is 32:12).

Even more than that, however, the nation of Israel was symbolized as a vine, planted by God. In the book of Ezekiel chapter 17, God tells a “riddle” about the nation of Israel. In this riddle, he uses the metaphor of the vine to show how he planted the nation and cared for it like a master gardener.

One of the points of this metaphor was to show that Israel’s purpose was to be a good vine, produced good fruit to serve God’s purposes. But instead of doing this, they disobeyed God and produced bad fruit.

And this is very significant, because God’s plan for Israel is connected to His entire plan of redemption!

How? Simply put, because of Abraham. Genesis 12:2-3 is where God tells Abraham about His plan to bless the whole world through him: And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

You see, it all starts here. His plan for Israel, His vine, was to be the nation, descended from Abraham, that would bless the entire world. This is His master plan.

But, Israel failed, didn’t they? That’s the whole point of Ezekiel chapter 17, which shows how they failed to be the vine that God intended.

And here is Jesus, saying “I am the true vine.” Just like the physical vine points to Jesus, so does the whole nation of Israel. Jesus is saying in effect, “I am the key to everything. I am the linchpin of God’s entire plan to redeem and bless the world. I am the center.”

Most of us know that this verse (John 15:1) is the start to the famous “abide in Christ” passage. I personally love this passage. But sometimes it is easy to have a shallow view of it.

When we abide in Christ, it isn’t just about our own little lives here (it is about that, but not merely that). It is much bigger. It is of cosmic, epic, mind blowing significance! It means we are connected to the One who is the center of God’s master plan. We are part of it. Here and now.

Today matters. Your life matters. What you do matters. Not because of you, but because and as you live connected to the true vine who is Christ, who is making all things new.

God’s word is the source of praise.

Posted on by Michael Wine

I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. Psalm 119:7

What is the source of true worship?

Is it good music? Does worship grow more true the more awake we are? What about the words of the song we are singing?

No, some would say. The source of real worship is the heart attitude behind the worship. It doesn’t matter if you sing the most solid theological songs in the world if your heart is not in it. Right?

But then, what if your heart is not in it? What are you supposed to do? It seems like maybe willpower should be used to force ourselves into a proper worshipful state. For example, the lyrics to a popular praise song from Highlands Worship called Place of Freedom say,

I’m gonna lift my hands
Til I can reach heaven
I’m gonna shout Your name
Til the walls come falling down
I’ve come to worship
I’ve come to worship

These lyrics seem to suggest we can force the issue of true worship with sheer willpower (albeit musically and emotionally charged willpower).

I’m going to be honest here, I don’t sing along to this song. I cringe whenever I hear it actually. If my connection to God depended on my ability to “lift my hands” or “shout” His name to bring down His walls (why would I want that by the way? Am I trying to conquer heaven?), nothing would ever happen.

(I’m not judging any motives of real people singing this song. I am merely judging the words of the song themselves, and what they mean.)

Thankfully, this silliness is corrected with our verse from Psalm 119. It says praise that comes from an ‘upright heart’ finds its source in the word of God. Specifically, when we learn the rules of God, it enters our hearts, and causes praise to come out.

Worship doesn’t come from willpower or trying to worship better. It comes from thinking about, meditating on, understanding, and believing what God says! This enters into our hearts from the outside (thank goodness we don’t have to do it ourselves) and produces praise to God.

So if any of you are like me and worry that our worship is not honest, the answer is clear. We should meditate more on God’s word, and trust Him to cause the praise He truly deserves to overflow from us, by His power.

Kids are good at learning math

Posted on by Michael Wine

Number Blocks is a great show for teaching young kids about numbers and math. This isn’t a commercial or anything. I am just drinking my coffee and watching the show with Noah. He’s four.

Noah already knows that 1, 4, 16, and 100 are square numbers! Kids are good at learning math if you teach them right.

Any way, if you haven’t already, maybe give it a try with you kids. It’s also on Netflix.

I hope you have a great start to the work week.

Turtle Wisdom

Posted on by Michael Wine

I am sitting next to a water tank with a box turtle in it. Her name is Daisy. My kids love her. Most of her time is spent sitting in her cave uderwater.

She eats. She sleeps. She holds her breath. Then, she lifts her nose (like she is right now) for a few minutes to breath. Then back to holding her breath.

Sometimes life can feel insane. You know? So many things going on. So much to do. So much COVID to avoid. We try our best, but fail all the time. Each day brings its joys, and pains.

Stress.

It’s comforting, for some reason, to look at this turtle. She doesn’t worry about anything. She doesn’t know about all the problems in the world. She has so little control over her life. She is totally relaxed.

Maybe Daisy and I are more alike than I think. Maybe I get stressed because I think I can control my life. I think its up to me to hold my life together.

But Colossians 1 verse 17 says differently. It says Jesus is the one holding it all together. So, I can breath a little, and rest knowing He’s got it. I don’t.

Thanks for the lesson Daisy. I’ll go hold my breath for a couple hours to relax… oh wait, that’s you. Nevermind I’ll just go take a nap.

Shame and where we are looking

Posted on by Michael Wine

Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. Psalm 119:6

Previoust posts: Psalm 119

There is a link here between avoiding the feeling of shame, and where we are looking.

Shame is a word that people have struggled to define in modern times. At the very least, it seems like I feel shame, humiliation, degraded, when something is wrong. Wrong with me. Wrong with who I am on some level.

One feels shame for her inability to stop lying. One, for his weight. One, because he’s a POW, living in a prison camp, treated as sub-human.

When you boil it down, it seems to me that we feel shame because of what we have done, or because of who we are.

Given the incredible range of factors that could be involved in this horrible feeling, it is remarkable that the verse above only gives one antidote. That is, having our eyes fixed on the words of God.

How could that be?

I don’t pretend to know all of the steps involved, or to be able to trace why this is. But let’s do a brief survey.

  1. We feel shame because of what we have done. When we fix our eyes on God’s word, we focus on prevention of shame. When you keep your eyes on the road, your intention is to drive safely, to avoid making an error. It is the same here. When we fix our eyes on God’s commands, we are intent and focused on doing what he says. When we do what He says, we have no need to be ashamed of what we have done, because we are following God’s commands.
  2. We feel shame because of who we are. Maybe we got ourselves into the mess we are in because we failed to keep our eyes on God’s word. Maybe we were born with a physical defect. Maybe we have cancer, and are weak from the chemo. Whatever the cause is, the current problem is the identity we give ourselves, or recieve from others. When we look at God’s word, we get our core identity from God, not from ourselves, society or our circumstances. God made us in his image, loves us, forgives us, sees us as His children. This is an antidote to shame.

These two things, prevention of shame through obedience to God and the relieving of shame through faith in God’s word about who we are, are the antidote to shame.

But the starting point is very simple. Look. Move your eyes. Focus your attention on what God says. Then, believe it. It’s the only true answer to shame.

Let me be steadfast

Posted on by Michael Wine

Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes. Psalm 119:5

Previous posts: Psalm 119

The writer of this song has talked about the importance of dilligently following God’s commands, in order to live a blessed life.

In this verse, he expresses a longing, a hunger, for the ability to be steadfast in doing just that.

I love the word steadfast. It pictures someone who does not waver, but firmly continues on his course. It stresses consistency over intensity.

Our culture favors intensity. Strong emotions. Vibrant experience. We like upbeat worship songs, flashing lights, and hip pastors.

Without making a judgement on the value of those things, I do think that what is lacking today is the idea of being steadfast.

Yes, have a wonderful Sunday filled with intense worship and praise to God. But are you steadfast Monday through Friday in keeping God’s word?

Of course, this is where we all fall short, isn’t it? Even the writer of this song does. This verse shows him talking to God, expressing a longing for something he either lacks currently, or is in danger of losing.

None of us are perfectly steadfast. But we do have a God who loves us. Who hears us. The first step in becoming a steadfast Christian is having a desire to be one, and asking God to make us into that kind of person.