THIS WELL WORN NIKE AD SLOGAN IS A CALL TO ACTION TAKEN FROM A MOST UNUSUAL SOURCE : The last words of the condemed killer Gary Gilmore Jan 17 1977 to the firing squad were "Let's do this " made famous in the media at that time , the phrase was adapted to "Just Do It " by an advertising agency for Nike who would rather keep it s origins obscure You may be sure.
The ad campaign however was a runaway success and created an unintended although well received coultural revolution.
The Company was inundated with mail about how the slogan became the turning point for many people ,overwhelmingly women, the target audience since reebok had a dominate position in the mens running shoe market at that time, to finally take action and change something in their lives.
For some it was a job or career change others a relationship or destructive habit or dependency and of course the fitness challenge ,weight loss etc.
This call to action resonates with us all because of the natural inertia to implementing positive change can often impede the best of intentions...just in time for NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS.
We can succeed however with discipline and determination and the positive role models and encouragers we surround ourselves with (or become) , and a dependency on the power of God.
In life ,fitness, spiritual growth and personal development we may measure this process in a variety of ways to gauge advancements (and declines) and to continue to improve and excell.
I think of the business phrase "what does not get measured ,does not get done"
The summary of the book of James is spiritual maturity and like a fitness gym the process is compared to a view of ones self in the mirror, notice how Mirrors are everywhere in gyms to let you see your form and technique. Mirrors are everywhere in the Bible also as we see ourself in light of the truth of scripture and the lives and struggles of the people described therein.
A quick way to tell how this maturity process is going is to look at the impact of obstacles, setbacks and distractions to our progress. (How many times did I blow it today? )
More goals are reached by creating capacity and reducing clutter than by adding yet one more thing to do to an already overcrowded agenda....simplify, create margin." Lead us not into temptation"
This is sometimes easier said than done in reality but we must be vigiliant to protect the commitment and priority of goals.
I see this in my own life and in Psalm 119:37 "Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things"
I like the "Message version"
vs 17 "Be generous with me and I will live a full life; not for a minute will I take my eyes off your road. Open my eyes so I can see. vs 35 " God give me lessons for living so I can stay the course. Give me insight so I can do what you tell me -let my whole lifelong be one obedient response. give me a bent for your words of wisdom , and not for piling up loot.
Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets, invigorate me on the pilgrim way"
Notice the terms road and pilgrim way...Life is A Highway..Rascal Flatts.
Toys and trinkets litter the highway of the immature as they (we all) seek satisfaction in aquisitions and achievements ..I Can't Get No Satisfaction..Rolling Stones..I try, and I try..
We all seek to define ourselves by what is most important to us and the price we will pay (have paid ) ..Think song/video Lyrics "Hurt" by Johnny Cash "What have I become? ..You can have it all my empire of dirt ,if I could start again..I would make you Hurt" A reflective look at the futility of things compared to relationships and the exacting toll on ones life(and others) and true happiness.
Still yet the offer still must be considered continually in a cost benefit analysis..Just look at the use of time, our most irreplacable asset . We are enticed on every internet home page to click to view more or buy more or..e-mail offers ,advertisments and solicitations for some good and some worthless things.
The book The Pilgims Progress by John Bunyan circa 1667 has a chapter titled Vanity Fair..this where we get our modern day magazine name.Its origins are none other than the temptations of Christ.
In the book the central Character named Christian and his companion named Fruitful are ontheir pilgram journey though this mortal life and the physical world we live in to the Celestial City (heaven),with the unseen realm of affliction and advesaries he is (and we are) experiencing .
In this Hububub In The Fair" there are all such merchandise sold as houses, lands, trades ,places ,honors, preferments ,titles ,countries, kingdoms, lust, pleasures; and delights of all sorts, as harlots , wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood , bodies, souls, silver , gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not."
The way to the Celestial City lies just through this town and one must go through or go out of this world. ..which is to say keep oneself from being polluted by the world while we must live in it as a light or salt of influence but not be distracted by the temporary pleasures and ultimately unsatisfing desires of the flesh. "Their destiny is destruction there God is their stomachs"( This can also be warning to those who would use outward or physical austerity and fasting as a means to rightousness in context ).
The larger truth as it relates to spiritual maturity is to think long term "For our citizenship is in heaven " Philippians 3:20
As Christian and Fruitful pass through they are noticed for their dress , speech, righteousness, they speak the language of heaven and they traffic in the truth (Buy the truth and do not sell it. Proverbs 23:23...compromise) In the Vanity Fair there is no such thing as tolerance, a sinister spirit lurks. There is a law, and the unspoken law is you must become like us-you either buy or burn.
It is the verdict of the world that condemned the Son of God. Can we come to grips with this? Friendship with the world and friendship with God are two incompatible entities.
.
Friend of God or Friend of the world ? James 4.4 ,
1John 2 15-17
"If anyone loves the world , the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 The world is passing away and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."
Read James test of obedience chapter 1 , test of religion..
test of good works chapter 2 test of the tongue chapter 3...rebuke of worldliness chapter 4 ..
warnings to the rich in chapter 5 and an exhortation to take the long view of the coming of the lord and shape up .
Watch out for each other as we sojourn, 1 James 5:19 "Brethren , if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways (wrong road ..way) will save a soul from death and cover a mutitude of sins.
Just do it !
Sunday, December 12, 2010
THE WANDERER
In the song titled THE WANDERER by Johnny Cash and back up with U2 we see a man reflecting on a journey...the journey of life. Listen to the youtube link and note the lyrics
.
A common theme in all our lives expressed here is the will to control our own lives and destiny.
" I went out in search of experience to Taste and to Touch and Feel as much as a man can before he repents "
I like to think of this as a search for truth and understanding of life as we move from a Theoretical to an Experiential Knowledge of Good and Evil or conscience as explained by Scofield.
We first see this in the Bible in Genesis 3:7..".Man sinned By entering the door of moral experience by the wrong door..So Man became as God through a personal experience of the difference between good and evil..(CONSCIENCE )..but unlike God in gaining this experience by choosing the wrong instead of the right. Thus he was placed under moral responsibility whereby he was accountable to do good and abstain from evil. " Scofield Study Bible
Man has since been undergoing trials and testing and ultimatley failing in this responsibilty to abstain from evil. This testing is from God to reveal our "fallen condition" in contrast with his perfection.
The terms Test, Trials and Tempt are often confused and used interchangably but should be understood as to their purpose and origin.
This brings us to James 1:2 "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience "
Contrast with James 1:13 " let no one say when he is tempted , " I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by Evil, nor does He Himself tempt any one. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own evil desires and enticed "
So the Tempter (Satan ) a created being who succumbed to his own pride knows the heart of man is deceitful Jer 17:9 and cannot be trusted and has been using the phrase "follow your heart " to trick man since the original sin in the Garden of Eden that he can "be as God" and figure out life without God.
Satan even uses "Religion" to decieve us into the fatal ease that we and God are both in control.
"If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his own tongue but deceives his own heart (there's that deceitful heart again) this ones religion is useless"
(That is one who is outwardly religious) Think song "Losing My religion" (system)
Pure and undefiled religion is this : to visit orphans and widows in their distress (fruits of faith)and to keep oneself unspotted( or polluted) from the world.
These are some of the talking points for this blog series of self discovery as seen in the "mirror of oneself ' from a sudy of the Bible James 1:22-24 " be doers of the word , and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (there it is again deceit)23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immiediately forgets what kind of man he was.'(more on this "Just Do It" next post)
All of the characters and truth in the Bible are a mirror or snapshot of each of our own lives ..strength and weaknesses in common experience of life.
The challenge beforeeach of us is to enjoin ouselves to the truth and forsake the solicitation to evil.
We cannot be a friend of God and of the World 1 John 2;15 "Do not love the world or the things of the world (more on this Vanity Fair) if any one loves the world , the love of the Father is not in him "...James 4:4 "..friendship with the world is enmity with God "
In his 1667 allegory Pilgrims Progress John Bunyan describes this attitude in the charachter Mr Wordly Wiseman ' Religion is fine , as long as you keep it in its place. going to church is good as long as you maintain balance with the rest of your life and only if you avoid going to extremes ."
Mr Wordly Wiseman views religion as a once-a-week happening-a social statement of morality,
He is the respected influential citizen of the community opposed to any kind of religious activity which might interfere with his pusuit of worldly pleasures or monotary gain.
Rather than viewing sin with the hopeless despair and anguish of the soul produced by a sensitive conscience, he carries no weight of guilt or fear of judgment. Further his treachery is found in the counsel he gives that one can serve both God and Satan ( Money or..?) at the same time.
Modern psychology therapist and the educated elite have offered this humanistic view that only the weak minded read the Bible and we must lay hold of the problem and solve it ourselves.
"How's that working for you ?"
" For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God' 1 corinthians 1:18
" O Timothy guard what was committed to your trust, avoid the profane and idle bablings and contradictions of what is falsly called knowledge-21 by professing it some have strayed from the faith' 1Timothy 6;20-21 *
* Truth cannot contradict the Bible , since God , who knows all things, kept the writers of the Bible from error. If theories that rest upon mere speculation or insufficient evidence are presented as fact in any area of knowledge, e.g. in religion ,philosophy, science, etc., they deserve the description the apostle Paul gives here "what is falsly called knowledge,' which we are to avoid . reference *Scofield
Note the lyrics to The Wanderer " They say they want the Kingdom but they don't want God in it"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm looking For" U2 song describes the hopeless condition of self reliant Man.
U2 and Johnny Cash , I guess that pretty well sums it up for now.
.
A common theme in all our lives expressed here is the will to control our own lives and destiny.
" I went out in search of experience to Taste and to Touch and Feel as much as a man can before he repents "
I like to think of this as a search for truth and understanding of life as we move from a Theoretical to an Experiential Knowledge of Good and Evil or conscience as explained by Scofield.
We first see this in the Bible in Genesis 3:7..".Man sinned By entering the door of moral experience by the wrong door..So Man became as God through a personal experience of the difference between good and evil..(CONSCIENCE )..but unlike God in gaining this experience by choosing the wrong instead of the right. Thus he was placed under moral responsibility whereby he was accountable to do good and abstain from evil. " Scofield Study Bible
Man has since been undergoing trials and testing and ultimatley failing in this responsibilty to abstain from evil. This testing is from God to reveal our "fallen condition" in contrast with his perfection.
The terms Test, Trials and Tempt are often confused and used interchangably but should be understood as to their purpose and origin.
This brings us to James 1:2 "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience "
Contrast with James 1:13 " let no one say when he is tempted , " I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by Evil, nor does He Himself tempt any one. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own evil desires and enticed "
So the Tempter (Satan ) a created being who succumbed to his own pride knows the heart of man is deceitful Jer 17:9 and cannot be trusted and has been using the phrase "follow your heart " to trick man since the original sin in the Garden of Eden that he can "be as God" and figure out life without God.
Satan even uses "Religion" to decieve us into the fatal ease that we and God are both in control.
"If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his own tongue but deceives his own heart (there's that deceitful heart again) this ones religion is useless"
(That is one who is outwardly religious) Think song "Losing My religion" (system)
Pure and undefiled religion is this : to visit orphans and widows in their distress (fruits of faith)and to keep oneself unspotted( or polluted) from the world.
These are some of the talking points for this blog series of self discovery as seen in the "mirror of oneself ' from a sudy of the Bible James 1:22-24 " be doers of the word , and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (there it is again deceit)23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immiediately forgets what kind of man he was.'(more on this "Just Do It" next post)
All of the characters and truth in the Bible are a mirror or snapshot of each of our own lives ..strength and weaknesses in common experience of life.
The challenge beforeeach of us is to enjoin ouselves to the truth and forsake the solicitation to evil.
We cannot be a friend of God and of the World 1 John 2;15 "Do not love the world or the things of the world (more on this Vanity Fair) if any one loves the world , the love of the Father is not in him "...James 4:4 "..friendship with the world is enmity with God "
In his 1667 allegory Pilgrims Progress John Bunyan describes this attitude in the charachter Mr Wordly Wiseman ' Religion is fine , as long as you keep it in its place. going to church is good as long as you maintain balance with the rest of your life and only if you avoid going to extremes ."
Mr Wordly Wiseman views religion as a once-a-week happening-a social statement of morality,
He is the respected influential citizen of the community opposed to any kind of religious activity which might interfere with his pusuit of worldly pleasures or monotary gain.
Rather than viewing sin with the hopeless despair and anguish of the soul produced by a sensitive conscience, he carries no weight of guilt or fear of judgment. Further his treachery is found in the counsel he gives that one can serve both God and Satan ( Money or..?) at the same time.
Modern psychology therapist and the educated elite have offered this humanistic view that only the weak minded read the Bible and we must lay hold of the problem and solve it ourselves.
"How's that working for you ?"
" For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God' 1 corinthians 1:18
" O Timothy guard what was committed to your trust, avoid the profane and idle bablings and contradictions of what is falsly called knowledge-21 by professing it some have strayed from the faith' 1Timothy 6;20-21 *
* Truth cannot contradict the Bible , since God , who knows all things, kept the writers of the Bible from error. If theories that rest upon mere speculation or insufficient evidence are presented as fact in any area of knowledge, e.g. in religion ,philosophy, science, etc., they deserve the description the apostle Paul gives here "what is falsly called knowledge,' which we are to avoid . reference *Scofield
Note the lyrics to The Wanderer " They say they want the Kingdom but they don't want God in it"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm looking For" U2 song describes the hopeless condition of self reliant Man.
U2 and Johnny Cash , I guess that pretty well sums it up for now.
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