Posts By Dteb

“Repent, But Don’t Repeat!”

On September 13, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

My wife gave me a wonderful phrase today: “Repent, but don’t repeat!”

I forget the precise context. It was quite likely some big or little thing that I had done wrong. That context might well be the source of my memory relapse. Sometimes, I find that I don’t remember because I don’t want to remember.

The Bible and the God it reveals wants people to repent. For example, 2 Peter 3:9 refers to the patience of God while God is waiting for that very thing. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” The Greek verb that is translated “is patient” in this verse is in the present tense. The present tense in Greek often conveys ongoing or continual action. In this case, God is waiting ongoingly for us to repent. This verse is found in a passage that speaks of the ultimate judgment of planet earth and all those on it. Yet it portrays a God who is waiting with bated breath for us to come to our senses.

But notice also that repentance is not simply feeling sorry or saying you’re sorry. Repentance also involves a change in how we live—our way of life. The prophet Ezekiel, for example, is very emphatic. “Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (33:11)

Here is a quote that I think sums it up nicely: “When Jesus said “Repent,” He was talking about a change of heart toward sin, the world, and God; an inner change that gives rise to new ways of living that exalt Christ and give evidence of the truth of the gospel.” (https://www.journal-advocate.com/2015/09/24/jesus-says-repent-and-believe/, accessed 09-13-2021)

Repent, but don’t repeat! It isn’t merely a good slogan. It contains at least two crucial aspects of being a follower of Jesus Christ.

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“Spiritual Training Age”

On September 10, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

To ask a very personal question, what is your training age?

I am seventy years old and still playing slow-pitch softball. However, even though it is a good thing (maybe) to be still playing, that doesn’t mean I’m playing well.

So, I’ve decided to actually concentrate and learn to play well—or, at least, better. I am beginning with conditioning exercises.

I watched a brief video online just now at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAOs91KGpYQ (accessed 09-10-2021), and plan to do the exercises today, and for many more todays. I hope they help.

But whether the exercises help me to play softball better or not, I was intrigued with an expression that the young trainer used: “training age”. A person’s training age is not how long he or she has been playing a sport, but how long that person has been actually training for the sport. In softball, I am not even a toddler in terms of training age. This is not a particularly flattering way of being young.

This training age expression invites me to think about more than softball. What is my training age in addiction recovery? What about my marriage training age and my friendship training age?

And then there is my training age in Christian discipleship. The question to ask is not “How long have I been a Christian?” Rather, the question I need to ask (but often don’t) is “How long have I been training in following Jesus Christ?”

Søren Kierkegaard wrote a book entitled Training in Christianity. In it he said that Jesus called followers, not admirers. One crucial aspect of the difference between admiring and following is our training. Admirers don’t follow or train. They just spectate. Discipleship is not a spectator sport.

I heard of an interviewer who asked a job applicant a crucial question: “Do you really have twenty years of experience, of just a year’s experience repeated nineteen times?” Perhaps I should ask the same question about my Christian discipleship.

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“Three Excellent Questions about What I Want”

On September 7, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I listened this morning to two excellent sermons by Andy Stanley. They are the first two messages in the series, “How to Get What You Really Want.”

Stanley points out some real obvious truths that are not all that obvious when I want something. One of those not-so-obvious truths is that most of our regrets come about because we got what we wanted. I know this only too well. So, probably, do you.

Andy concludes his second message of this series by giving us three excellent questions to ask. In my own words, here they are:

  1. What do I really want?
  2. What is dragging me away from what I really want?
  3. How long am I going to let this continue to happen?

Now, before I get a lot of angry comments from my loyal readers, Andy Stanley is not talking about the health-and-prosperity-name-it-and-claim-it “gospel”. He is talking about what we really would want if we knew what was good for us. Stanley makes it crystal clear that he doesn’t naturally know what we really want. And our superficial desires are killing us and others.

These are three excellent questions, and I’ve been asking them repeatedly today. These questions have kept me from eating too much, talking too much (and saying things I wish I hadn’t), and playing too much chess. The questions helped me to buckle down and work on some projects I really wanted to do, but that I didn’t want to do.

One of those tasks was writing and publishing this post. I heartily recommend these questions for your consideration and action.

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“The Sweetest Dream that Labor Knows”

On September 6, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“There was never a sound beside the wood but one,
And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.
What was it it whispered? I know not well myself;
Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,
Something perhaps, about the lack of sound—
And that was why it whispered and did not speak.
It was not dream of the gift of idle hours,
Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf:
Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak
To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,
Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers
(Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake.
The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.
My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.” (Robert Frost, “Mowing”)

On this Labor Day, I have been thinking about work. I haven’t been doing a lot of work, just thinking about it.

I think it was Studs Terkel who said that work is an act of violence. Sometimes that is so. However, Robert Frost has a different take on work. I don’t know precisely what the next to the last line of this poem means. Often, Frost’s poems mean more than they say. But I suspect that the poet is saying that the actual doing of the work is the thing that is sweet.

Now, I grew up on a farm. In fact, I have sometimes used a handheld scythe to mow hay next to the fence where it wasn’t safe to use the tractor and power mower. It was hard, sweaty, muscle-cramping work. So was much of the work on the farm.

However, once in a while, I felt a great satisfaction in work accomplished. The work I did on our own farm was not for pay. Dad felt that providing me with a house, food, and clothing was pay enough. He was right. But sometimes, that pleasure of finishing a task—or even being in the midst of it—was payment in and of itself.

I still feel that way sometimes. Sharon needed some help with washing the windows a while ago, and also some help getting the curtains back up. There was pleasure in doing so. I feel a similar pleasure when I write. Writing is work, but it is good work.

To take pleasure in work is not always an easy thing to do. But there is pleasure to be taken. And we should also take pleasure in appreciating the hard work of others. The pleasure of work is no substitute for adequate pay, but it is a nice perk.

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“Regrets: The Good, the Bad, and the Just Plain Ugly”

On September 5, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” (Philippians 3:12-16, English Standard Version)

Paul was a person who had a past. Specifically, he had murdered Christians. He later became on, and often mentioned his persecution of the early church. Yes, Paul had a few regrets. But based on the Scripture that leads off this post, I would say that, even though he had regrets, Paul was determined not to let those regrets have him.

I struggle with regrets all the time. So, in addition to rereading this passage from Philippians, I decided to do a bit of online “research”. My first stop was a popularly written, helpful article in Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201205/the-psychology-regret, accessed 09-05-2021).

Interestingly, the author of this article pointed out that regrets can be good. As a recovering addict, I was especially struck by the following sentence, under the positive functions of regret: “Regret is a major reason why addicts get into recovery.” Yes indeed!

However, the article also points out that regret can be very bad. They can destroy us emotionally. One guy, who almost always played the same number in the lottery, did not do so one day. That was the day his usual number was the winner. He ended up with so much regret that he took his own life.

Most of us are probably not suicidal in our regrets, but our regrets can seriously compromise our ability to live in and to enjoy the present. If you know someone who is filled with regret, you know someone who is not any fun to be around. Regrets make a person uglier than they need to be.

Part of the tag line for Andy Stanley’s “Your Move” podcasts is that he wants to help us “make better decisions and live with fewer regrets.” That is a wonderful goal!

So, here is my goal for this and every day: I am going to make good decisions today, so that I am not birthing new regrets for tomorrow. Can’t do anything about the past, except learn from it. But I can, by God’s grace, do a lot about the present and the future.

No regrets!

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“On Reading Larger Chunks of Scripture”

On September 4, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I like the YouVersion app on my phone a lot. I particularly use it to listen to Scripture while I’m walking the dog or doing other things. I also like their verse-of-the-day. However, sometimes I long for some context for their verse (or few verses, in some cases).

Now, in defense of the good folks who administer the app, they do give you the option of reading the whole chapter in which their verse/s occur. So, this is not really such a serious matter. People are busy. It is better to read and meditate upon a single verse or a few verses of scripture, rather than to do nothing. I get that.

Still, there are times when I especially need some context for the verse/s for the day. For example, today’s verse is:

“That is why the LORD says,

‘Turn to me now, while there is time.

Give me your hearts.

Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.’” (Joel 2:12, New Living Translation)

“That is why” leads off verse 12 in this translation. It provokes the question “What is why?”

The preceding verses in Joel 2 speak of the desolation and destruction that an army is about to bring on Judah and Jerusalem. Scholars debate whether this is a literal locust plague or a metaphor for an invasion of a foreign army. In any case, the most shocking thing for God’s people is the name of the general who is leading the invasion: It is their own God, the LORD, Yahweh!

And yet, there is hope for God’s people. There is still time to make peace with their God.

At least two observations come out of reading Joel 2:12 in its larger context. First, God does, in fact, punish his own people. This is a wonderful antidote for getting cocky about having God on our side or being on God’s side ourselves. And we are all prone to this. There are no exceptions! Liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, men and women—you fill in the blank. Before we are too sure that Joel 2:1-11 applies to “those people” (whoever they are), we had better take a long look in the mirror.

Secondly, God does not want to destroy us or even punish us. Instead, God wants us to turn back to God. This is not simply a matter of behavior modification, although it certainly involves that. Notice that God inspires Joel to call people to heart-repentance. In fact, giving God our hearts precedes weeping and fasting.

And one final comment about Joel 2:12, as well as a general strategy for reading the Bible: While Joel 2:12 is good as a stand-alone, it is even better when it marches alongside the other verses. This is true of the entire Bible.

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“God’s Love and Chasing Righteousness”

On August 26, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,

but he loves him who pursues righteousness.” (Proverbs 15:9, English Standard Version)

Apparently, God doesn’t just love those who are righteous. God loves those who merely chase righteousness.

Okay. But what is righteousness, anyway?

First, let me clear away some mental debris. Righteousness isn’t being right in an argument or proving that you are right and someone else is wrong (which is, in some ways, even more fun than being right yourself). Righteousness is not only about doing the next right thing. Righteousness includes doing the next right thing, but it is not simply that.

Righteousness, in both the Old and New Testaments, is about being in a right relationship with God and with other people. It certainly includes what we do, but also embraces our attitude, feelings, thoughts, and words.

And, of course, none of us gets this relationship thing right all of the time. After listening to Proverbs 15:9 on my smart phone, I listened to an Andy Stanley Your Move podcast. He pointed out that we are all hot messes. Since Proverbs 15:9 and God’s love for those who pursue righteousness was still simmering in my mind, I put Andy Stanley in the mix as well. (Don’t worry! No real live Andy’s were harmed in the production of this post!) Here is what came out of the oven.

We are all a mess, but if we at least are pursuing right relationships with God, others, and ourselves, we can count on a God who loves us. You don’t have to catch righteousness; you need to pursue it.

Care to join me in the Chase today?

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“A Very Serious Teeter-Totter!”

On August 21, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

A good friend of mine, in an accountability-support phone call yesterday made some intriguing comments about his core values. He spoke of courage and discipline, which are balanced by wisdom and compassion. He pictures these qualities as if they are a teeter-totter. For him, learning is the fulcrum.

I am not sure precisely what he means, but those words and the image of the teeter-totter has been marinating in my brain for the past twenty-four hours. Here is the current flavor of my thoughts about these qualities and the fulcrum.

Let me take a stab at the first two core values—courage and discipline. My first observation would be this: I don’t really know what these words mean, and I’m not sure that I want to know what they mean. Courage and discipline sound scary and costly to me.

I googled “courage” and found this definition at https://www.google.com/search?q=define+courage&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS844US844&oq=define+courage&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l9.3232j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.

“cour·age

noun

  1. the ability to do something that frightens one.

‘she called on all her courage to face the ordeal’

  • strength in the face of pain or grief.

‘he fought his illness with great courage’”

I suspect that the first step in cultivating courage is admitting that I’m afraid. And I am very much afraid to admit that. I would sooner admit that I am angry than to admit that I am afraid. (Typical man!)

Perhaps I could begin with some small fears and work my way up. Okay. Let me begin right now!

I am afraid of . . . Wow! I’m having a difficult time thinking of any little fears. All the ones that come to mind seem big. Hummm . . .

Perhaps I should just move on to discipline. To paraphrase a saying of Jesus, “If they persecute you in one word, flee to another.”

Discipline! I don’t like that word either. But perhaps, discipline is courage in the small things. Maybe discipline prepares me to develop some courage.

I use these blog posts, not just to write, but to grow. So, here is what I am going to pledge to you, myself, and God: Today, I will make disciplined choices about what I eat. I will eat only healthy foods today. That is about as much discipline as I can probably muster. I will let you know how I did tomorrow in my post.

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“Remembering Who’s in Charge Here”

On August 20, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Psa. 93:1       The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty;

                        the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.

             Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.

2           Your throne is established from of old;

                        you are from everlasting.

Psa. 93:3         The floods have lifted up, O LORD,

                        the floods have lifted up their voice;

                        the floods lift up their roaring.

4           Mightier than the thunders of many waters,

                        mightier than the waves of the sea,

                        the LORD on high is mighty!

Psa. 93:5         Your decrees are very trustworthy;

                        holiness befits your house,

                        O LORD, forevermore.” (Psalm 93, English Standard Version)

Like everyone else, I was hoping that covid was mostly behind us. I did not believe that it was, but, as I say, I was hoping.

So, who’s in charge here? If that sounds more like an accusation than a question, that sounds about right.

As a Christian, I believe that God is ultimately in charge of this and all planets and of all other aspects of the universe. However, that doesn’t mean that God is responsible for everything. He has given his creation free will. Our choices matter, and God does not, in my opinion, override all the bad decisions we make. Whether we choose to wear masks or not, get vaccinated or not, socially distance of not—these things matter. Yes, God is charge here. But then, so are we, at least to some degree. God sometimes intervenes. These interventions are called “miracles”. However, God generally lets things play out as they will.

But we need to counterbalance human responsibility with God’s sovereignty. As the psalmist reminds us, God is ultimately on the throne—not the Taliban, not the Democrats, not the Republicans. Not covid either! God! And while the raging waves can and do lift their voices (Psalm 93:3), God gets the last word.

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“Getting in Tune and Staying in Tune”

On August 18, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I long to make beautiful music, but it’s hard to stay in tune.

This matter of staying in tune is on my mind because of a Hazelden Publishing reading that I did recently. Here is part of the reading:

“Meditation for the Day

You should strive for a union between your purposes in life and the purposes of the Divine Principle directing the universe. There is no bond of union on earth to compare with the union between a human soul and God. Priceless beyond all earth’s rewards is that union. In merging your heart and mind with the heart and mind of the Higher Power, a oneness of purpose results, which only those who experience it can even dimly realize. That oneness of purpose puts you in harmony with God and with all others who are trying to do His will.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may become attuned to the will of God. I pray that I may be in harmony with the music of the spheres.” (From Twenty-Four Hours a Day © 1975 by Hazelden Foundation.)

This reading led me to think about keeping in tune with God’s will. How can I get in tune? And how often do I need to get a tune-up?

So, I began with the literal. How long does it take musical instruments to get out of tune? I asked Professor Google. The answer wasn’t easy to find, nor was there a consensus, but here is one interesting comment that I found. One musician who responded to the question wrote this:

“At a smaller size, I reckon that the persian (sic) hammered dulcimer, otherwise known as the santoor, is very tough to tune. If played vigorously by a professional, it needs quite a bit of tuning after every piece played.”

It has to be tuned after every vigorously played piece! Yes! That would also be me! I require almost constant tuning. I get out of tune and out of sorts very quickly. I am a santoor kind of person.

So, how do I get in tune? Here is a list of things that seem to help me get in tune:

  • Reading the Bible.
  • Reading other good books.
  • Listening to good music of all kinds.
  • Nature.
  • Exercise.
  • Talking with my wife.
  • Laughter.
  • Friends.
  • Spending time with our little dog.
  • Doing something thoughtful for others.
  • Gratitude.

Some of these things may be on your list, but you need to come up with your own list of what works for you. When you’re having a rough day or simply waking up grumpy, you may want to say to yourself, time to tune up! This is especially true if, like me, you are a santoor.

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