My Lenten Devotion

“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor. Aware of this Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Matthew 26:6-13

A Worthy Performance
By Travis Taylor

I don’t always give my best. Why give your best when something less will do? Although this statement doesn’t actually describe the way I think, my actions sometimes confirm its truth. Honestly, it’s difficult to give this kind of devotion without confessing a sin that I would rather not confess, but regardless here I am confessing it… I don’t always give my best.

On the 2nd Saturday of each month I along with several other volunteers bring food and clothing to the street people of Indianapolis. It doesn’t matter if it is pouring down rain outside or if it is 10 below, each month at least a hundred men and women line a narrow street corner to receive a little food and a new hand-me-down outfit from the back of a old truck. Ultimately I am there to let my love for Jesus spill over onto them. But sadly I often just dip the stew into bowls, smile and say things like “Have a blessed day.”

Another good deed done, another way to feel good about myself, another worthy performance…

But the story in Matthew 26 is about a woman who poured out her most valuable possession on her Lord to express her love for him. She didn’t have to; she could have given less. She could have just stood in the room observing the scene. She could have just “dipped the stew.” But it was her valuable expression of love that earned her a place among the Scriptures.

Jesus doesn’t want an army of do-gooders. He wants those who genuinely love him to pour out their lives generously to him and for him. The disciples thought it was foolish to “waste” something that valuable on Jesus. “Couldn’t it be better spent?” they thought. “Aren’t there more important issues?”

Dear Lord,
Help us today to see you as the love of our lives. Help us to pour out our best lives generously to those whom you came to save and those whom you have commanded us to love.

PG-13

Yes, I've seen 27 Dresses... I am a 32 year old man who over the years has dutifully sat through his fair share of "chick flicks". I must confess that I've also seen The Notebook, The Devil Wears Prada, P.S, I Love You, The Prince and Me, and The Princess Diaries (1 & 2).

In last night's Jr. High Youth group, we discussed True Love; what it is and what it isn't. We are going to talk more next week, but we started off by discussing Love in pop culture, primarily in movies. I asked what movies had they seen recently that were "love stories" and these are the responses I got...

-27 Dresses (seen it) -The Notebook (seen it) -He's Just not That Into You (have NOT seen it) -Titanic (seen it) -PS, I love You (seen it) -Wedding Crashers (seen it, unfortunately) and 5o First Dates (seen it)

After hearing this list, I had them describe the plot lines and "love angles" of some of the films and basically came up with something that resembles this... Boy meets girl (or vice versa), Girl does not like boy (or vice versa), After doing something stupid, Boy does something heroic and wins girls heart, Boy and Girl have sex... maybe they get married, the end.

We then tried to think of romantic movies they have seen where the main characters do not have sex or were married. We came up with Fireproof (have Not seen it).

I went online this morning and looked at all the ratings of the above mentioned films and realized all of these films that the youth mentioned (except Wedding Crashers -R) were rated PG-13. And what invariably separates the PG-13 from the PG films is the sex. I tried to add up the length of time from when the main characters first meet to their first sexual encounter and here's what I got... 27 Dresses (4th meeting), The Notebook (2 months, although technically longer), Titanic (4th meeting), PS, I Love You (2nd meeting), Wedding Crashers (I have no idea, but I know it's soon), 50 First Dates (23rd Date).

I know that these are just silly movies, but without question, stories like these ARE affecting pop culture beyond the movie screen. I don't know many 13 year olds who are mature enough to watch and process the love scenes and sexual dialogue that are in these PG-13 movies without their idea of love being somewhat tainted. People of all ages (but, especially our youth) are quickly accepting the popular view that love, sex, God, self-respect and marriage are all separate issues and are open to individual interpretation, depending on a person's extenuating circumstances.

Mark Driscoll, one of my favorite pastors talks about the eventual dangers of this issue here...

The Games We Play

Sometimes I miss my imagination... When I was little, I could sit in my room on a rainy day and play He-Man all by myself. I didn't always need to have friends over; for the most part I could keep myself entertained. He-Man would fight Skeletor on top of my nightstand until Skeletor was thrown to the ground. The battle would then ensue across my floor and into my closet. Sometimes G.I Joe would get involved and then Skeletor was really in for it (He's no match for a Bazooka).

On nice days, me and my fellow Bargersvillian delinquents would play war in the field behind my house. Dressler's Tool and Dye shop stood just beyond my backyard and was always unknowingly our enemy headquarters. We would spy on the workers through the windows, just sure that they were Russians. Old bits of junk machinery littered the field, there were tons of ramps and ditches to jump over and crawl around in. We would toss dirt clod bombs at each other until dinner time.

I look back now amazed at the hours I spent in a world of my own and wonder how my boyhood hands could control a whole army of action figures. Now entertainment is cheap and we struggle to walk and chew gum. But then, we were little warriors. Although still children; We were men on a mission.

There is a borderland between grown-ups and children and teenagers live in it. They like to look and act like adults, but much of the time they are still just using their childish imaginations, acting older than they really are. When I was a teenager, I thought my parents were old-fashioned. I dreamed that I would do something marvelous with my life. I thought I could have it all, but in reality, I had no idea what that meant. Because for teenagers, life can be more like a game than reality. The danger being that for teenagers, that the enemy is very much real and the war is really going on, whether they believe it or not.

In John Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life, chapter 8 talks about living a "Wartime Lifestyle." The war is going on whether you know it or not or whether you choose to fight or not. John Piper uses the image of battle to inspire us to use the resources we have to fight for the cause of Christ, not to prosper for our own purposes. He says that we have what we have to use what we have to make much of God.

There are many excuses for stupidity and youth is a good one. If the devil looked like Skeletor, teenagers would probably fight him. But the Bible tells us that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. The American Dream is a monster, constantly bribing teens with candy and then devouring them. It promises that life lived for yourself is sweeter than life surrendered to God. All they have to do to obtain "the good life" is simply not fight.

In the world of children, good guys fight bad guys no matter what... I have to ask myself, if He-Man ever stopped fighting and chose to let Castle Grey Skull fall into the evil hands of Skeletor, would I still have played the game? In the Lord of the Rings, The armies of Mordor outnumbered the armies of men... A despairing soldier told the King "Too few have come, we cannot defeat the armies of Mordor." The King replied, "No we cannot... but we will meet them in battle nontheless." My fear is that the games teenagers play often reflect a defeated heart. But, isn't a big purpose of the people of God to fight God's battles?

Oh the magic of childhood! When right was right and wrong was wrong and He-Man kicked Skeletors butt all over Eternia (The planet where He-Man lived). I sometimes think that bravery and a desire to fight for justice is mixed in with our childhood innocence. As innocence fades, we grow up and no longer play with toys; the fight becomes real and defeat is the result of just not fighting.

"All that is necessary for the conquest of evil is that good men do nothing." -Edmund Burk

"What We Do In Life Echoes In Eternity..."

"I want to leave a legacy; how will they remember me; did I choose to love to love? Did I point to you enough?" This popular song, Legacy, by Nichole Nordeman asks one of the deepest questions of our hearts. How will I be remembered when I am gone?

In the movie Gladiator (one of my favorite films) Emperor Marcus Aurelius asks the same question. In a conversation with General Maximus, he says, "I am dying Maximus... When a man sees his end he want to know their was some purpose for his life. How will the world speak my name in years to come? Will I be remembered as the philosopher, the warrior, the tyrant? Or will I be remembered as the man who gave Rome back her true self?"

Our Solomon's Porch class is reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Chapter two is titled, "You Might Not Finish This Chapter." Again, the theme resembles my previous two illustrations, but emphasizes the notion that life could end for any of us at any time. So in Wednsday nights class, we went around the room and discussed the lives of people we have known who have died abruptly. We asked the questions, "What do you think they would want to be remembered for?" and "What regrets do you think they might have had when they died?" Although the topic was a little somber, I think it was good for each of us to discuss these things, because then we spun it around to ask, "What things would I like to be remembered for?" My kindness, love and generosity? Or will it be difficult for others to remember good things about me? Will I be the kind of person that gives generously of myself, dedicating my life to fighting for what is noble or will I be the kind that is so enraptured in myself that I live selfishly, taking more than I give?

In our last SPS study we studied the life of King David. One of the sticking points from that study (for me) is when Abigail tells David, "The Lord will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the Lord's battles." -1 Samuel 25:28. I thought how cool would it be if I was remembered as someone who "fought the Lord's battles".

The conversation was good and I believe hearts were honest. Wednesday night reminded me that Jesus calls each of us to "Take up our cross daily and follow Him."-Luke 9:23. It reminds me now that there is not only a purpose to our lives, but there is also a purpose to this day. How each day we have a choice to do the right thing or the easy thing and that carrying a cross is hard. But it is also right and good.

We wrapped up the lesson talking about regrets... If today was the day you actually met God, what unfinished things would you regret not doing? Some of us confessed things, others just thought quietly to themselves and both were appropriate.

"Why you don't even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that lasts a little while and then vanishes." -James 4:14

Communication Breakdown

From the Moody Radio Program, Midday Connection: "A couple from our church came home and caught their teenage daughter having sex with her boyfriend. As you can imagine, they were extremely upset. All three of them came to a counseling session and sat down on a couch in my office. The mother and father sat with the girl sitting right between them, who was obviously embarrassed. Her head slumped down between her shoulders. The mother and father started to relay in detail what had happened and I could see the girl becoming very uncomfortable, so I asked for them both to step out into the hallway, while I talked one on one with their daughter. "I used to have a good relationship with my Dad" the girl said. " When I was little I used to stand in the driveway and wait for him to come home... when he got out of the car, I would hug him and he would ask, How's my little princess?" The girl started to cry as she admitted, "I guess I'm not his little princess anymore." I asked for her parents to come back in and they both took their positions sitting on either side of their daughter. The Dad began to speak. "I used to have a great relationship with my daughter... my favorite time of day was when I would come home and she would meet me in the driveway." At this point he reached over and took his daughter's hand and started crying too. "She would come and give me a hug and I would always ask, "How's my little princess?"

I heard this story last week and thought about how sad it was that these two people who loved each other very much had grown so distant. The truth was that they both wanted the same thing, but failed to communicate it. They spoke to each other in passing, but had each become unapproachable when it came to their feelings. Things get busy, work gets hectic, schedules conflict, kids grow up and think they know everything and parents in an attempt to avoid awkward conversations stop talking to their kids about important issues.

Issues like sex, faith, entertainment and friend relationships hardly ever get get talked about in our homes. In a discussion in last nights Senior High youth group, the majority of kids said that the most talked about issue in their home was their grades. When asked if their parents talk to them about drugs or alcohol they mostly said "NO" because they were smart enough on their own not to do them. When asked what they would do if their parents ever approached them to talk about sex, most said they would walk away or just shake their head and go to their rooms. When I inquired if any families prayed together other than just at meal times, 99% said they didn't. Then when asked if they were a parent, would they think it important to talk to their teenagers about faith, sex, friend relationships or drugs & alcohol and pray together as a family all of them said YES.

In our modern age, communication has never been easier... Everyone I know has a cell phone and almost everyone I know has email, myspace or facebook. The internet has changed the way the world works. These "communication" devices make it so easy for us to talk to one another but also often take the place of dinner-time, family centered communication. Texting is now overtaking conversation.

I asked a middle schooler last year why texting is so popular? She told me, "It's less personal... it's less emotional. You can choose to respond or not to respond and there are no real expectations."

It is sad when people have more of a relationship with their cell phone or their computer than they do other people or their own families... How much easier is it to lie or mislead people on a cell phone then looking each other in the eye? Many parents can tell how their kids are feeling, just by looking at them...

All meaningful relationships involve time investments and real communication. If we want to have a meaningful relationship with our God, it takes spending time in His Word and time on our knees in prayer. Christianity is a relationship, but I don't think God would settle for a prayer of, "OMG, How R U? luv ya bff, ttly" and neither should we. This kind of "communication" is a shallow substitue for real family time.

"The Problem with Communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.."
-George Bernard Shaw