When I am tempted to get self-righteous, God has a great way of keeping me in check. While I tend not to be a proud person with regard to my rugged good looks (gulp) or my stark, raving mad intelligence (double gulp with whipped cream and maraschinos on top), I tend towards pride in my spiritual life. The Bible proclaims throughout Proverbs and sprinkled through Psalms and much of the New Testament just how much God hates/ is opposed to Pride. Today, from a hotel in Branson escaping the ice storm, I explain how He does it in my life. He lets me choose.
Before I get into the bashing of self, I need to explain a concept I learned from one of the most brilliant men of our time...John MacArthur. He, when asked if he thought of himself as a good person, said that he has an “alien righteousness”. Before you have images of ET sitting in a tie died shirt smoking a hash pipe, visualize this truth. Once we are a Christian, we have the Holy Spirit in us. What are the ramifications of this? Huge! Indescribable! God resides with us. What does this mean? There are many ramifications, but I will discuss one of the lesser ones here. In my humbled opinion, it means that every good thought, every good deed with the right motive, and anything else that comes from Mark Applegate is a direct result of God successfully being evident in my life in spite of the real Mark Applegate clouding things up. Don't mistake me for saying that I am God. I am an evil, Mark-worshiper at heart that has been made righteous (in right standing/ eternally justified by God) from the inside out. When I come to God's judgment when I die, all God will see is the alien righteousness of Christ living in me and paying for my sin. I will appear completely Holy, not because of me but in spite of me and because of His Son's goodness. He will not see the fiasco I made of much of my life. When we understand how much Jesus gave up to die for us, despite the fact that we lived in a way that shows our hatred and contempt for Him, how can we keep from worshiping such a great God?
How does this relate to my pride? God lets me make selfish decisions, then makes me aware of it later. When the ice came, I tucked tail and ran. We headed to Branson to swim at an indoor swim park. While this isn't sinful on the surface and is arguably quite smart as my house sits cold and dark, there is more information. Without giving it a second thought, I failed to serve my church family or my community during this hard time. I suppressed the alien righteousness in me and didn't even notice. My pastor is serving the community and his flock while I, a supposed leader in my church, swim. I have a long way to go. I would like to personally apologize to my readers, my church family, and the people of Stockton for being being a hypocrite in the service realm. Please don't hold God accountable for the lack of service, or for anything else people do because of stupid choices.
Another way this experience has made me see myself in a different way is the Bible. Without web access at the hotel and my trusted concordance/study software, I quickly realized how little of the Bible I have memorized. I am going to make it my goal to memorize a verse a week next year. It is so easy to be spiritually undisciplined when you have all your books and programs at your disposal. Take them away and you see really quick how good you are at finding verses in your Bible. I have work to do!
To conclude, as you consider Christianity, please be aware that it is a process. You get “born again” (see John 3), then life is a process of sanctification (big word for showing more of God and less of self). We make good decisions and bad ones but God still loves us. Don't become a Christian to be more like Christians, do it to have Heaven as your eternal destination. The consequences are too big to try to blame hypocrites like me for why you didn't accept Christ when you stand before Him when you die. Thank you, friends, for your patience with me! I, like all Christians,am a work in progress!
Weight accountability update...I am currently at 320.8. I lost 5.4 this week for a total monthly loss of 15.2. Only 144.8 to go! God is good, and patient, all the time!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
What I Want for Christmas
Today the column is kind of an all-you-can-eat-buffet of profundity/thoughts about Christmas, Christian life, and my weight loss. I realize it may come to a shock to my three or four regular readers (Hi Mom…send money), but not all from this column is of focused, deep theological significance. Laying this small deficiency aside, I enter this week’s exploration into journalistic excellence with a type of peace normally only found on my cat Silver when the finishes wheezing up his hairball then approaches his Meow Mix.
My first thought…the meatloaf part of the buffet…what I want for Christmas. I have been asked this several times lately. It is such an easy answer. I admit it is a little selfish, but it costs no money. You don’t have to wake up at 4am to buy it next to the flashing blue light. The only difficult issue at all is the number of people involved to fulfill my Christmas wish. All I want for Christmas is… for everyone I know to become a Christian. I don’t want the head knowledge/casual “walk down an aisle and say a fancy prayer you forget a day later”-type of experience for you. I don’t want a “works-based salvation that doesn’t”/ someone other than Jesus Christ gets the glory/ brood of vipers/ hypocrisy-type of salvation for you. I don’t want a man-made false gospel for you. All I want for Christmas is for you to read the book of First John with a reflective, honest mindset. Is Jesus precious to you? Is He more important than work, family, money, your spouse, your favorite team, your kids, your political party, or anything else? Does your sin repulse you (not in comparison to other’s sin but compared to the Sinless One)? Do you love other Christians? Do you love non-believers? Is Heaven real to you? Is Hell? Please read First John and call out to God if you don’t know. Repent (turn from sin) and Believe (that Jesus died as a substitute for the punishment we deserved and couldn’t pay for ourselves). You don’t have to tell me about your decision to be born again, but I am sure when it happens everyone around you will figure it out quickly (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). I know that when I die I am promised eternal life (I am the wretch the song talked about). My only wish is to see you there so I can enjoy it with you. (Note to my First Southern Baptist family… I am first in the buffet line, but you had better all be there too! Don’t let anything hinder you from knowing your eternal destination.) Heaven just won’t be heaven without all of my friends, family, and fellow Stocktonians! Selfish? Maybe so…but with the right motive.
The second thought is the green veggies of the buffet line. This is the stuff that is “good for you”. This area in the Christian walk closely corresponds with God’s correction of His kids. Job had this one down as best he could given the hard times he was going through when he said (in Job 5:17) “Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.” God does or allows the correcting for our good. Sometimes it doesn’t feel at all like it is for our good. My recent heart issues are directly tied to God’s desire for me to live a healthy lifestyle. It was a wakeup call to me. If we miss the correction God has for us, He doesn’t give up. He ramps up the correction. I have had high blood pressure symptoms for some time. He started getting through to me when I had palpitations couple years ago prompting me to need medicine. He really has my attention now after my visit to the E.R. I was told a couple years ago by my doctor that I must reduce my stress in my life for my heart’s sake (just before charging me a hundred bucks for the visit), and my response was saying “I am not stressed…I am a Christian.” I was missing God’s call to grow closer to Him (James 4:8) because of a sinful pride in my life. It took far too long to see what was right under my nose. God loves us so much He wants us to be refined into the image of His Son. He cares much more deeply about this than about the comforts of our life or that we are, to borrow a title of a current best seller, “Living our Best Life Now”. Join me in reflecting on this stuff. Have you found God’s purpose in the challenges in your life?
The final thought on the buffet is the dessert. My weigh-in this week was good. I am down to 326.8. I lost 4.3 lbs this week! Praise God! The sweet as chocolate pie part of this is the novelty/hilarity of seeing the ritual in which I do the weigh-in. I shed as much clothing as is appropriate in my house, shave my face, visit the latrine (sorry Dear), skip the deodorant (it’s so heavy!), tweeze my unibrow, scrub/pluck nostrils, blow nose, cut toenails and fingernails, scrub teeth for weighty gingivitis/plaque, wash face of heavy extra skin, and do anything else than can shave off an ounce. My Biggest Loser brand scale goes down to the ounce, so I wouldn’t want to miss all opportunities, you know. (Email me with your weigh-in ideas.) I am not sure cutting off the lower half of my body would get me to my target weight, but it has crossed my mind.
Such is life. All the good stuff we can do will not help us reach our goal of going to heaven. Sure we can seem closer to our goal to others by shedding a few pounds through giving money to the poor, recycling our cans, knocking on doors, or practicing Oprah’s random acts of kindness. The problem is that our goal is beyond our reach. All the cutting, tweezing, and scrubbing will not get us to our goal. We may make ourselves feel good with self-righteousness, but God isn’t impressed (see Isaiah 64:6). Doing all these things is important. They will make for a better house, neighborhood, and ecosystem. We will feel better, but still fall short (Romans 3:23). Address the sin issue, let God get the glory, and God will grant you heaven. Any other way is pointless, like cutting off our lower half.
I appreciate your visiting my buffet today. I hope the service was excellent and your waiter filled your cup. May God richly bless you until your next visit! I’ve got some dishes to do!
My first thought…the meatloaf part of the buffet…what I want for Christmas. I have been asked this several times lately. It is such an easy answer. I admit it is a little selfish, but it costs no money. You don’t have to wake up at 4am to buy it next to the flashing blue light. The only difficult issue at all is the number of people involved to fulfill my Christmas wish. All I want for Christmas is… for everyone I know to become a Christian. I don’t want the head knowledge/casual “walk down an aisle and say a fancy prayer you forget a day later”-type of experience for you. I don’t want a “works-based salvation that doesn’t”/ someone other than Jesus Christ gets the glory/ brood of vipers/ hypocrisy-type of salvation for you. I don’t want a man-made false gospel for you. All I want for Christmas is for you to read the book of First John with a reflective, honest mindset. Is Jesus precious to you? Is He more important than work, family, money, your spouse, your favorite team, your kids, your political party, or anything else? Does your sin repulse you (not in comparison to other’s sin but compared to the Sinless One)? Do you love other Christians? Do you love non-believers? Is Heaven real to you? Is Hell? Please read First John and call out to God if you don’t know. Repent (turn from sin) and Believe (that Jesus died as a substitute for the punishment we deserved and couldn’t pay for ourselves). You don’t have to tell me about your decision to be born again, but I am sure when it happens everyone around you will figure it out quickly (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). I know that when I die I am promised eternal life (I am the wretch the song talked about). My only wish is to see you there so I can enjoy it with you. (Note to my First Southern Baptist family… I am first in the buffet line, but you had better all be there too! Don’t let anything hinder you from knowing your eternal destination.) Heaven just won’t be heaven without all of my friends, family, and fellow Stocktonians! Selfish? Maybe so…but with the right motive.
The second thought is the green veggies of the buffet line. This is the stuff that is “good for you”. This area in the Christian walk closely corresponds with God’s correction of His kids. Job had this one down as best he could given the hard times he was going through when he said (in Job 5:17) “Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.” God does or allows the correcting for our good. Sometimes it doesn’t feel at all like it is for our good. My recent heart issues are directly tied to God’s desire for me to live a healthy lifestyle. It was a wakeup call to me. If we miss the correction God has for us, He doesn’t give up. He ramps up the correction. I have had high blood pressure symptoms for some time. He started getting through to me when I had palpitations couple years ago prompting me to need medicine. He really has my attention now after my visit to the E.R. I was told a couple years ago by my doctor that I must reduce my stress in my life for my heart’s sake (just before charging me a hundred bucks for the visit), and my response was saying “I am not stressed…I am a Christian.” I was missing God’s call to grow closer to Him (James 4:8) because of a sinful pride in my life. It took far too long to see what was right under my nose. God loves us so much He wants us to be refined into the image of His Son. He cares much more deeply about this than about the comforts of our life or that we are, to borrow a title of a current best seller, “Living our Best Life Now”. Join me in reflecting on this stuff. Have you found God’s purpose in the challenges in your life?
The final thought on the buffet is the dessert. My weigh-in this week was good. I am down to 326.8. I lost 4.3 lbs this week! Praise God! The sweet as chocolate pie part of this is the novelty/hilarity of seeing the ritual in which I do the weigh-in. I shed as much clothing as is appropriate in my house, shave my face, visit the latrine (sorry Dear), skip the deodorant (it’s so heavy!), tweeze my unibrow, scrub/pluck nostrils, blow nose, cut toenails and fingernails, scrub teeth for weighty gingivitis/plaque, wash face of heavy extra skin, and do anything else than can shave off an ounce. My Biggest Loser brand scale goes down to the ounce, so I wouldn’t want to miss all opportunities, you know. (Email me with your weigh-in ideas.) I am not sure cutting off the lower half of my body would get me to my target weight, but it has crossed my mind.
Such is life. All the good stuff we can do will not help us reach our goal of going to heaven. Sure we can seem closer to our goal to others by shedding a few pounds through giving money to the poor, recycling our cans, knocking on doors, or practicing Oprah’s random acts of kindness. The problem is that our goal is beyond our reach. All the cutting, tweezing, and scrubbing will not get us to our goal. We may make ourselves feel good with self-righteousness, but God isn’t impressed (see Isaiah 64:6). Doing all these things is important. They will make for a better house, neighborhood, and ecosystem. We will feel better, but still fall short (Romans 3:23). Address the sin issue, let God get the glory, and God will grant you heaven. Any other way is pointless, like cutting off our lower half.
I appreciate your visiting my buffet today. I hope the service was excellent and your waiter filled your cup. May God richly bless you until your next visit! I’ve got some dishes to do!
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