In many conversations I’ve had recently I sense many of us struggle to know what God’s will is for our lives. Especially in the emerging adulthood time of life, direction can be tough to come by while working dead end jobs, looking for a significant other, and trying to find ways to live a life of significance.

I often find true Christian faithfulness to be doing something without realizing God was pushing in that direction all along. God often calls the unqualified to do miraculous things in His name.

I’m a realist. Meaning I never ever dream big. I never think about what God could do through me, because I always go back to what God “will” do through me. I go with the predictable. The comfortable. The easy button. I never ever move without direction. I make calculated, logical decisions.

So much of what makes me who I am seems disconnected from many of our favorite Biblical stories.

Consider the story of David and Goliath. Never in the story do we read…And God came down in the form of a magnificent white light in the darkness and spoke to David telling him to fight Goliath, because he would easily be able to kill the great giant of the Philistines.

No that isn’t the story at all. In actuality we see that Saul says to David, “The Lord be with you.” And on numerous occasions David says that the power of God is fighting against Goliath, not merely himself alone. David moved ahead into the battle without a specific direction from God. The story of David and Goliath is an easy one, but looking at many of the stories in the Bible shows that one of the common themes in our favorite people in the Bible is their willingness to forge a path without a specific word from God on what direction to go. God provided in the midst of the uncertainty.

What can we learn about moving without direction knowing God calls us to do so all the time?

Be Rooted in Relationship

Often God’s direction is given underneath the surface in subtle ways. Through prayer, meditation, and time in His Word, God often provides direction even when we don’t realize it. The only way to receive this direction is the value the relationship that feeds these quiet nudges. By being rooted in relationship to God, he’ll be providing direction even when we don’t realize it.

Be Faithful In the Small Things

David had prepared for the battle against Goliath. He had served his father and his family well by tending to their flocks over many years. David wasn’t new upstart who got lucky. No, David had been faithfully stewarding the resources and role God had given him previously. Be a steward where God has placed you.

Go

He’s calling you to something. It’s likely something you don’t sense His leading toward. It’s likely something you feel unqualified to do. Move forward in faith, knowing that God will provide for those who stay rooted in Him and faithful to Him.

Make the leap.

(Photo: Laura Scarlett)

Recently I spent some time with a local Eastern Orthodox priest who delved into the role of icons during their times of corporate worship. Icons are used in the normal worship practices of many Eastern Orthodox churches. While most evangelical church services spend their times of worship around music, I was intrigued by the use of art in corporate worship.

The Orthodox priest describes icons as a lens to show the Kingdom.

To me, the icons were, at first, nothing more than old pictures, but for the priest they delivered Him to a place of experiencing the Divine.

Madeleine L’Engle describes icons as vehicles to oft-hidden truths.

On the surface icons are merely pictures drawn anonymously many years ago, but each picture is drawn for the purpose of leading us toward the truths we often miss in life, or the person who brings all of life together. Each drawing is not meant to be an accurate representation of the person, but they each are honing in on a characteristic of this person.

One of my favorite icons is an icon of Jesus showing his left eye to be bigger than his right. While this may have been true of Jesus, the point of the icon is to show that Jesus sees and convicts us of our sin (the left eye and left arm), while at the same time bringing forgiveness and grace for those who come to Him (the right eye and right arm).

Consider the similarities between holy living and icons:

• Our interactions with holy people draw us closer to Jesus and His Kingdom. Each of us likely know people where we walk away from time with them sensing we encountered a taste of the Divine. Being around a truly holy person helps us catch a glimpse of Jesus through the window of their lives.
• Holy people first introduce us to the Jesus inside of them rather than introducing us to their pastor who can teach us about Jesus instead. Icons don’t save us but they point to the person who saves us.

So what does it mean to live a holy life? What does it look like to be pointing others to the One who saves?

Paul tells us to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” similarly to the way we clothe ourselves every morning (Romans 13:14 ESV). We are not to merely imitate to the character of Jesus, we should be in such a close relationship with Him that we continue to reflect more of who He is with our lives.

This deep intimacy with Christ should lead us toward devotion to Him infectious enough that those who encounter us cannot help but see Jesus through the window of our lives.

We are windows to the Saving One.

Coming to you this week is 3 videos that I have enjoyed recently. Some you may have seen, some you may not have seen.

Sunday marks the biggest television and sporting event of the year. So the first two videos have to do with the game and all it entails.

—

1. Starting with one of the great comedies of all time…Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the spin Honda put on it for this extended commercial. I’m sure a shorter section of this will make it on during the game and it will be a big favorite for best commercial.

—

2. Most of you will watch the Super Bowl, either with your own family or at some sort of Super Bowl Party. Here’s a nice little video to help you with your etiquette at that party. Enjoy.

—

3. And lastly this is one crazy dunk. One 6 foot 10 inch guy dunking over (with authority) one of the best defensive centers in basketball who is 7 feet tall himself. Hard to imagine seeing a better dunk than this over the course of the season.

Have a great weekend friends. I’ll be rooting for the Giants because Victor Cruz helped end my fantasy football season. It’s decision I’ve made out of respect mostly.

For those of you in the dark here, yes I am writing a book. I finish up the manuscript writing process in the next few weeks. One the things the team at Moody and I have been working on lately is the book cover. I have my opinions, but mine aren’t always best so I thought I’d post a few of the book cover options that are on the table and let you pick out your favorite.

As you’ll see the title of the book has already been determined and it is Why Holiness Matters || We’ve Lost Our Way  — But We Can Find it Again.

I’ll admit it’s extremely surreal to see your own name on the covers of books, but at the same time it’s a bit surreal to have been working on the same project for almost half a year now too.

I’m excited to see what all of you have to say about each of these. You can vote in the poll at the bottom and feel free to leave more detailed thoughts in the comments.

#1

#2

#3

#4

A while back I wrote a post that I really loved. I mean really loved. I won’t say which one because that isn’t the point.

I bragged to Rose about how good it was. Surely, I thought, this would gets lots of traffic. By the end of the day it hadn’t made much headway. Sure it had a few hits, but nothing substantial, nothing even close to what I had I hopes for.

And then almost the second after having that thought I had another thought.

Where does my satisfaction in life come from? Why am I even disappointed in numbers or hits?

I’ll never get enough followers on Twitter, friends on Facebook, or hits on this blog to ever come close to fulfilling myself day after day, moment by moment. It is simply not possible. The moment I am comfortable with a certain level of achievement then I start to place higher demands on my capability. At the end of this rat race is the empty life of a worn out man seeking to make much of himself for the sake of himself.

None of it will ever be enough to meet the high demands of my low self-esteem.

Maybe the point of it all isn’t about self-esteem, but instead maybe it’s about self-emptying for the sake of Jesus.

Have you learned this lesson the hard way?

Being that I’m writing a book on holiness I figured it would be important to read what others who have gone before me have had to say on the subject. While my end goal for someone reading my book might be different than these other writers, it was extremely helpful for me to engage with their works.

I think it’s always important to understand the context in which a book is being released into. The context of a book on holiness means that in some ways my book will be grouped with these works. So it was key for me to see where and how I differed from them, while not just regurgitating the same things they already said. If I had nothing unique to say what need is there for another book on the subject to be put out.

Certainly I have not read even close to all the best books on holiness, but I think I’ve covered some of the key ones and hopefully some of you have a few to add to the list.

• The Holiness of God // R.C. Sproul. My professor called this one a classic which seems a bit weird since Sproul is still alive and well. Sproul does a great job of engaging the Biblical texts that have a strong emphasis toward holiness. He never comes across as leaning too far in any particular theological bent which is also important to me.
• Rediscovering Holiness // J.I. Packer. You’re thinking…is there some kind of prerequisite of having two initials in your name to write on holiness? I’m glad there isn’t. Packer is one of my favorite writers. This is not one of his most popular works, but I did appreciate the piece added on Mother Theresa when the book was republished in 2009.
• Knowledge of the Holy // A.W. Tozer. While this isn’t really a book on holiness, Tozer does have one chapter on the holiness of God and it is quite great. The book as a whole is top notch.
• Holiness // John Webster. Easily the best book I read emphasizing Trinitarian theology within this subject of holiness.
• The Pursuit of Holiness // Jerry Bridges. For the average reader I found this one to be the most accessible. While Bridges does cover some of the difficult subjects surrounding holiness he does it in a way that makes it quite understandable.

What are some of the best books on holiness you’ve read?