Countdown to Spring Training

15 Days, 21 Hours, 40 Minutes, 30 seconds and counting...

Friendships

Friendship is a tricky thing. There is no question that we need close, spiritual friends, but how do you handle that level of vulnerability? It is risky business letting someone get to know you. And it is a high honor to truly get to know another individual. But with the stakes so high, you don't want to get it wrong. Exposing a soul for what it is and revealing painful wounds is not easy; it's not safe.

Spiritual community MUST foster a sense of safety. We MUST develop these intimate friendships. It is crucial to both our emotional and spiritual well-being. But once you're exposed, there's no going back. There's no undoing what has already been done.

I have been privileged to have a few of these such relationships and I am challenged to deepen and strengthen them. But I am haunted by both sides of the coin. On the one hand, I have some ugly and painful sores that I am scared to reveal. Even if they've been revealed before, I'm ashamed to discuss them again. I may have been well cared for the first time, but what about the second? What about the time after that and the time after that? When do I cash in my last chip? When will my friend walk away?

On the other side of the coin, how do I protect the soul that has entrusted itself to me as a friend. How do I care for my friends? It is this last point that causes me great pain. You see, I tend not to be a good friend at times. I often forget to call or write and thereby neglect the affirmation of our friendship. When we do finally connect, I often don't ask the right questions and settle for far less than a meaningful conversation. I often forget that to care for a soul takes time, energy, commitment and an extra touch of grace.

However, I do one thing right with friendships that I do not regret. I tell it like it is. Shelley and I are known for speaking our minds and offering advice (wanted or not) to our friends. We take seriously the truth that "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." (Proverbs 27:6) We do a friend absolutely no good by "multiplying kisses." Sometimes a friend needs to hear that they are making a poor choice, and sometimes I need to hear the same from my friends as well.

The problem is: that's only half the package. The Bible also says: "A friend loves at all times." (Proverbs 17:17) I believe that I do love my friends at all times. However, the reality is that I don't always show it. It seems that speaking my mind comes a lot more naturally to me than picking up the phone and making contact. It is very true that "A person doesn't care how much you know until they know how much you care." And when the stakes are this high, you have to demonstrate a lot of care.

The Word Made Flesh

Every now and then one calls in to question the things he has been taught, sometimes deliberately or reactively. But every now and then, as is the case here, these questions are seemingly raised by pure accident.

Today’s question: The Holiness of the Bible.

Traditional Evangelicals have revered the Bible as God’s Holy Word. A statement held so firmly that many Bibles even print it on the cover: Holy Bible. My question is what makes it Holy? Is it innately Holy? Is the Bible the Word (Logos) made paper? Should we revere the Bible as we do God?

My opinion: Not exactly.

My central postulate is this: Nothing is Holy but God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are alone Holy. However, God has chosen to reveal Himself in many ways, and whenever He does so, the objects/people/places in question become Holy. They are Holy simply because of the Holy God they reveal.

There was nothing special about the ground around the burning bush, but God told Moses to remove his sandals. The place where he was standing was Holy ground because it was where God chose to reveal Himself.

The tabernacle was Holy because it was the meeting place of God. Each step closer to the center (where God most fully revealed himself) became incrementally more Holy and Sacred.

The Bible is itself Holy simply because it reveals a Holy God.

Some will say that many other Christian works throughout the centuries have also revealed God to us. Works by such individuals as Calvin, Luther, Lewis, Augustine, Edwards, Piper, etc have all revealed God to us. Are they then equal to Scripture?

No. Jesus, Himself, held the Scriptures to be the Word of God. He did not equate them with other works and nor should we. The Bible is the unique work of God penned as the only infallible account of the revelation of God. God’s divine hand orchestrated the writing of these 66 books to be the only perfect expression of God’s revelation to man.

Many other works have been written that enable us to clearly see our God; however, none but the Bible is inerrant.

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Thank you to Josh and Greg who both helped spark my thinking in this area. Though these may not be your thoughts or conclusions, you helped jumpstart this train of thought.

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Secondary Conclusion: If the basic postulate is true: “Something is Holy inasmuch as it is the revelation of God” then the same is true for us. God has removed our sin and made us Holy. Which means we now exist to broadcast the nature of God both as a body and as individuals. We are only Holy inasmuch as we are the revelation of God.