One Good Thing This Week
I have a few Kentucky [where I grew up] heroes… one is poet Wendell Berry. I spent time with Wendell this week, reflecting on 'The Objective.' His poem [his voice] is much needed as we blindly pursue the objective. Wendell reminds us that there is good in this world, we just need to slow down long enough to recognize and enjoy it…
The Objective
Even while I dreamed I prayed that what I saw was only fear and no foretelling,
for I saw the last known landscape destroyed for the sake
of the objective--the soil bulldozed, the rock blasted.
Those who had wanted to go home would never get there now.
I visited the offices where for the sake of the objective,
the planners planned at blank desks set in rows.
I visited the loud factories where the machines were made
that would drive ever forward toward the objective.
I saw the forest reduced to stumps and gullies;
I saw the poisoned river--the mountain cast into the valley;
I came to the city that nobody recognized because it looked like every other city.
I saw the passages worn by the unnumbered footfalls of those
whose eyes were fixed upon the objective.
Their passing had obliterated the graves and the monuments
of those who had died in pursuit of the objective
and who had long ago forever been forgotten,
according to the inevitable rule that those who have forgotten
forget that they have forgotten.
Men and women, and children now pursued the objective as if nobody ever had pursued it before.
The races and the sexes now intermingled perfectly in pursuit of the objective.
The once-enslaved, the once-oppressed,
were now free to sell themselves to the highest bidder
and to enter the best paying prisons in pursuit of the objective,
which was the destruction of all enemies,
which was the destruction of all obstacles,
which was to clear the way to victory,
which was to clear the way to promotion,
to salvation,
to progress,
to the completed sale,
to the signature on the contract,
which was to clear the way to self-realization, to self-creation,
from which nobody who ever wanted to go home would ever get there now,
for every remembered place had been displaced;
every love unloved,
every vow unsworn,
every word unmeant
to make way for the passage of the crowd of the individuated,
the autonomous, the self-actuated, the homeless with their many eyes
opened toward the objective which they did not yet perceive in the far distance,
having never known where they were going,
having never known where they came from.
'"Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup." — Wendell Berry
One Concerning Thing This Week
I was lamenting this week as another evangelical giant fell to sexual sin. This time, it was a guy I was close(r) to, thus I called a mentor of mine to process. My mentor told me something profound… 'The higher you get on the evangelical mountain the thinner the moral air, and if you ain’t got a good oxygen tank, you’re in trouble…'
He was speaking right at me. Sure, giants fall harder, but all of us can fall—none of us are above sin. None of us are above erasing a legacy of faithfulness in moment of moral failure. John Owen calls this proclivity to sin the 'indwelling' power of sin—that sin has the power to lead us into sin because it still dwells within us. As a new creation I no longer WANT to sin—the power of grace is in me—but there is another power, an old power [still] at work in me. This is the battle that rages within every Christian:
“For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” — Romans 7:18-20
The only thing worse than losing a fight is not even realizing you’re in one.
Brothers, we are in a fight, every day. A fight for our families. A fight for our marriages. A fight for our hearts. I used to think that if anyone broke into my house and tried to assault my family, I would stand between them and my family. I have come to realize [as a Christian] the person capable of coming into my house everyday and assaulting my family is me. My indifference. My harsh responses. My lack of gentleness. My critical spirit.
Brothers we are in a fight against the dark forces of this world. And we are fighting the dark forces within us. Make no mistake, we’re in a fight.
“May God have mercy for my enemies because I won’t.” — George S. Patton Jr.
My 3 Favorite Quotes of the Week
"Don’t own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire" — Wendell Berry
"'Kindly let me help you or you will drown,' said the monkey putting the fish safely up a tree…" — Alan Watt
"There are three things that grow more precious with age; old wood to burn, old books to read, and old friends to enjoy." — Henry Ford
Stat(s) I Found Fascinating [And Alarming] This Week
Turns out Harris or Trump have little effect on our church attendance, fewer and fewer of us are regularly going…
This fastest growing 'religious' group? The nones [no affiliation]:
My Favorite Meme This Week:
Song I had on Repeat This Week
Just discovered this guy… digging his sound and vibe. Love this song.
"I give you space but never leave… A father’s love knows where you live."
Book(s) I Read This Week
This week I am in Jim Ramos’ Dailed In, excited to share my thoughts next week. BUT, I did come across someone new this week… and by new I mean 140+ years old. Toyohiko Kagawa (1888 - 1960) was a Japanese pacifist, Christian reformer, evangelist, and labor activist. He wrote, spoke, and worked at length on ways to employ Christian principles in the ordering of society. His vocation to help the poor led him to live among them, and he established schools, hospitals, and churches. He was also an innovator and a critical thinker, in everything from economics and theology to gardening techniques. One of his best lines:
"I read in a book that a man called Christ went about doing good. It is very disconcerting to me that I am so easily satisfied with just going about."
We have so much to learn from the great cloud of witness that went before us (Heb. 12:1).
Video I Watched This Week
This is a powerful video by Leon Bridges (incredible gospel song as well).
Take me to your river… I wanna go.
What God Showed Me This Week
"Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven." — 1 Cor. 15:49
I am a big fan of the television show Forged in the Fire. What man doesn’t want to hear 'it will kill…'
Into the fire. Out of the fire. Into the fire. Out of the fire. Banging and shaping and banging and shaping until it takes the form the blacksmith wants it to take. Plunging, sanding, polishing, until the blemishes and imperfections have been removed.
Working in an actual forge last week, it hit me—this is exactly what God is doing to me. Into the fire. Out of the fire. Hammering and shaping. Plunging. Sanding. Polishing. Over and over again. God is forging me into the image of His Son.
Brothers, a good 'smith is not finished until he can see his reflection in what he is creating… God allows you and me to tarry in the fire so the imperfections can be burnt away. And He will not stop forging until He can see the reflection of His Son in us.
Hammer away…
Many have reached out asking if I will be anywhere 'live' in the coming weeks! The answer is YES! I travel and speak 2-3 times every month. This week:
Sunday, Sept 22, I’ll be preaching at Lake Church, Arlington Texas. Later that evening I’ll be speaking at the Georgia Baptist Conference in Rome GA (West Rome Baptist Church)
Tuesday Sept 24 I will be at For the Church at Midwestern Seminary (Kansas City).
If you are in the area(s) I’d love to meet you and chop-it-up!
I hope you have a spectacular week. May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.
Love y’all,
—Harp
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