the ten commandments...

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behaviour his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

James 3:13

I’m not sure if you know this, but I’m pretty hardcore. Now wait, I don’t mean hardcore in the sense you’re assuming. I am most moved by teachers who preach raw and tough truths. I am either wholly out of something – or wholly into something. Ask my mom. I had a conveyor belt of fads growing up, granted they wouldn’t last past the weekend, but for that period of time...I was hardcore.

This past Saturday I decided to neglect my pressing paper (don’t worry Dad I got it done), and went to a retirement home down the road. Having just finished watching a Mark Driscoll sermon, if you know this preacher, you know you seldom leave one his sermons with neutral feelings. He’s one of the best in provoking a reaction – and I was pumped. I strolled from the car (with a little strut) and whipped open the door to Oceanside Retirement Centre. This was not wise.

I am no physician, but I thought I felt an abnormal heartbeat of poor Mavis as I plopped down beside here, eager for conversation. My rapid fire question style, “Where are you from? How’d you get here? Are you going to eat those bananas?” led to a quick formal conversation. As we sat awkwardly looking at the ocean I felt God telling me to breathe.

And in...and out. Deep breathe.

I have ignored a lot of truth because it wasn’t conveyed in gentleness. Why is that? Is it not still truth? We have these flaws, don’t we? As soon as someone starts speaking who we don’t respect, we turn off. When someone is in my face my human nature is fight or flight. In the same way are we abusing the Word and truth of God by presenting it in a monotone, and dry package?

I was reading a book this year for class and I wanted to stab myself in the eyes. But, I kept telling myself, no this is truth so push through. And that is going to happen; there will be dry authors that speak truth. But is this what God intended? If we look at the Bible, we have epic battle tales, romantic poetry, comedic stories, dramatic stories...magnificent stories. Maybe I’ve grown up in a visual generation, with Youtube, with HD TV, and Facebook, a lot of my intolerance for these authors probably stems from my nurture. Regardless, if the church is striving to be relevant, the way it communicates must change.

This brings me to youth at St. John’s this week. This week we split genders and guys stayed at the church while the ladies headed elsewhere. Before we got our ‘manliness’ on, we watched a video. Now to understand my feelings towards this video we have to go deep into the past and open some old wounds. I have beef with Focus on the Family, and there is a word limit on this blog post, so I won’t go into it. But know they have been a thorn in my side since early adolescence. As this video, on the topic of sex (obviously on guys night), told horror story after horror story as people in the midst of the mid – 90’s spoke on why abstinence could have changed their life, I sat stunned. Not at the message, I was in agreement, but at the way it was portrayed in a cookie cutter, right – wing, judgemental, and condemning way, that our faith has become synonymous with.

I am noticing that the tone, the words I use, the way I convey them, is almost as important as the message itself.

1 Corinthians 9:21-23 says this, “To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

For prayer this week I ask that you may pray that God would teach me to be versatile. That I would not be afraid to look weak, silly, or (heaven forbid) like a kid. A theme of humility is permeating this year, and I have a feeling it will continue.

Once again, your prayers and encouragement are a gift from God, thank you so much.

Jake