Rogue State of Heart

Archive for the ‘Heart issues’ Category

I went to my buddy Dom’s for a little summer hair cut. He’s a fellow rogue, able to dialogue about the wide and wild experiences life throws at us - the highs & lows, peaks & valleys, and even the darker issues we wrestle with. We can go from telling stories about the kids to revealing the ‘adult’ issues that haunt us.

In other words, he’s a cheap psychologist with a trim to go.

Anyways, he passed along a great quote from CS Lewis concerning the nature of the changes inside us God desires to make, and how we resist the very things that could breathe new life into our soul. I thought I’d pass it along for you to enjoy: 

“Imagine turning a tin soldier into a real man. It would involve turning the tin into flesh. And suppose the tin soldier did not like it. He is not interested in flesh; all he sees is that the tin is being spoiled. He thinks you are killing him. He will do everything he can do to prevent you. He will not be made into a man if he can help it.

 

The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself; He is beginning, so to speak, to ‘inject’ His kind of life and thought, his Zoe, (spiritual life) into you; beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.”

CS Lewis perfectly describes the rogue state of heart inside us.

Thanks for the quote, Dom. And no offense about the shrink joke, right?

Guess I’ll know if I walk out with a mohawk next time.

When I heard this song, I thought about our life-long journey to discover and experience Love. Isn’t that what life is all about? We’re continually searching and seeking, trying to make good choices that will allow us to reap the reward and joys of a satisfied soul, and avoid the choices that bring misery and destruction. And along the way, we discover that all that glitters is not truly gold, and that the external things we cherish so much may not deliver what they promise.

HT to Aaron K for first passing it on to me. You have a poet’s soul, bro…

(excuse the 10 second commercial that come up first. Gotta pay the bills somehow)

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One of the most authentic, realistic, and moving songs about marriage ever composed. This version will just show the lyrics, so you can hear every word and experience the power behind them.

I meant to post it last month, but forgot. Thanks to Jerry P. for the reminder to do it.

When I hear of people claiming to be followers of Christ whom I respect admitting to extramarital affairs, I get a very stirred-up reaction. Actually, it’s a variety of emotions—sadness, disappointment, anger, and more. And with this particular episode of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, all of those came in spades.

I was immensely let down by a man whom I knew very little but respected from articles that I read about him turning out to be such a disappointment in some extremely important areas of his life.

I felt strongly for the state of his heart—what is the condition of his soul that would encourage him to repeatedly make destructive and hurtful choices over and over again?

I was angry that he’d break his vows, and put his wife through a tremendously public humiliation—and his sons through a bewildering series of painful life situations.

But I also felt something else: a very humbling sense of kinship.

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As I enjoyed our Sunday baptism service, which was all about people telling stories of how they came to Jesus, I hearkened back to a chapter in The Jesus Creed which viewed the baptism of Jesus like I had never seen before. I remembered a new angle for reflecting on Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, and why it is such a powerful image for me even today as I watched people take the plunge.

You may recall that before Jesus arrived, John the Baptist was calling people to repent—that is, to change their strategies for living and coping and seek God’s way instead. It was time to make a clear and decisive change from the past, humbled by the reality of personal darkness and aided by the Spirit of God. It’s easy to see why everyone else was “going under” – they wanted to stop living independently of God’s truth and love and forge a new direction in a right relationship with Him. That’s a no-brainer.

So why did Jesus do it? What did he have to repent of?

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I found another nugget from Scot McKnight and The Jesus Creed in a story I had heard a long time ago, but was reminded of it’s centrality in my life even today.

It involved Ben Franklin, and his attempt at moral perfection. He reasoned that if he was intentional and purposeful about achieving moral virtue, over time it would just unfold and emerge in his life as he practiced each virtue and targeted it for growth in his life.

So he set about tracking his progress each day, evaluating how well or poorly he did with each virtue that he was focusing on. His conclusion after about a month or so of this effort?

“I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined.”

It was a rogue state of heart moment for Ben Franklin.

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Subtitled: “I’d rather be eating.”

Two ‘fellow rogues’ & I meet weekly for some “below the waterline” discussions. We’ve elected to open the closet doors of our hearts and let each other take a peak inside down in the dark places. We also decided recently to try fasting on the day we meet as a way of helping us explore the deeper issues within us that we’d allow each other to see.

Fasting?? What were we thinking?!?

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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or abstaining from media for the last 6 months, you know that by now we are undergoing a metamorphism of sorts—good-bye analog, hello digital TV. When DTV finally becomes reality tomorrow, many of us anticipate clear channels with great pictures and more options.

But there is one silent problem lurking for some of us on that fateful day. If you have cable, then you’ll be fine. But if you’re too cheap for cable like me, you may face something called the “cliff effect.”

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Recently I was playing a game with my son, and losing. It was not pretty. He bought this complicated Star-Wars type of game, and was both playing and instructing me at the same time. It’s not even my game, and yet I found myself getting upset over not understanding how to play this game, and the fact that I was losing badly.

Boy, did it expose my pride. I wanted to win, to show myself superior. I acted impatiently, irritated and just mad that I was getting my keester handed to me. At that moment, it took a lot for me to keep my composure and not allow a regretful action to erupt.

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Reputation or identity – What is so different about these two aspects of my life? Which is easier to shape and cultivate and control? Which do I live with an eye toward more? Which do I attend to more? Which is more important to me?

I reflected on these and other questions recently as I read through a chapter in Scot McKnight’s The Jesus Creed. The challenge we all face is whether we covet, cherish, and refine our reputation more than our identity. Because sometimes, the two can stand in stark contrast to each other; a life of faith may call us to lose the former to gain the latter. But can we rise to the call when the opportunity arises?

McKnight lays out an interesting observation: “Spiritual formation begins when we untangle reputation and identity, and when what God thinks of us is more important than what we think of ourselves or what others think of us.”

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