Category: personal comments

Compatibility for Dummies

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Believers are to learn the skills of compatibility.  The classic definition is “to be able to exist harmoniously.”  The word is used in a dozen different fields, from agriculture to zoology.  But the particular area we are to look at is the “spiritual.”

The Holy Spirit is the prime teacher.  The same Spirit that holds me is holding you as well.  As a result we connect in a way that is profound.  This is all done supernaturally, and it is one of best arguments for the existence of God I know of.  The world is full of discord.  It is fractious and divided.  But believers can walk in harmony and love.

I was just 17 when I enlisted in the Army.  It truly was a learning experience. One of the basic principles is conforming by adaptation.  We all wore the same clothes.  Wore the same boots.  We ate together, and developed military skills together.  We also marched together in both large and small formations, keeping in step as a group.  We did lots and lots of marching, hours and hours a day.  It had a definite purpose.

Compatibility is learned; but it also is supernaturally given.  A piano player may play Mozart, because the gift lies within.  But that same musician must practice.  You could say what they have is both a talent and a skill.  In the very same way, the agreement I have with you is supernaturally easy—and physically hard.  However it is a skill to be learned.  Once we learn to do this, it will become easier and easier.

The essential foundation for this is the “Word of God.”  We can’t walk with a brother who is clearly at odds with the Bible’s teachings.  But we all know that sin is at epidemic levels, and we are all affected.  I suppose “humility” plays a huge part of staying in step with another saint.  The Lord is so gentle with the strugglers, can’t I do the same?

“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.”  1 Peter 3:8, ESV

Nevertheless (even with this in mind) we must be committed to the Word—first and foremost.  Everything must proceed from this common point.  Loving someone else will almost always involve servanthood.  Washing someone elses feet will almost always develop compatibility.

In Bible college I had a running feud with a fellow student.  He seemed to me to be incredibly arrogant.  Things came to an ugly head and the animosity was thick.  One day in prayer I heard the Holy Spirit speak.  “Go to your brother and wash his feet.”  I charged into his dorm room and became a servant.  I became connected to him in a profound way.

Being compatible does not mean we all do the same things.  We share the same Spirit but we don’t have the same gifts.  My theory is we are all designed with certain strengths, and proscribed weaknesses.  These make us vulnerable and open to another.  In Nehemiah 4, we read of men who built, and men who guarded.  Both were necessary.

The main issue for us is learning compatibility—and all the skills that enable us to practice unity.  We must understand, we are already connected in an amazing way.  But we must “practice” it.

“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”   Phil. 2:3, ESV

 

Finally–A BB Milestone

50,000 Visits

 

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Since September 23, 2009–May 2, 2011 we have reached 50,000 distinct hits on Broken Believers.

 

We have come a very long way.  On BB first day we had 10 hits,  since than we have climbed very steadily.  Our best day was just a few days ago—the total hits was 712 for the day.  Right now our average is about 180 distinct views a day.  (Sometimes a little less, but often a bit more.)

This ministry to Christians with a mental illness is a rarity indeed.  I look and look and have never found a blog like this with such a ministry focus for these struggling believers.  And the appeal is broader than mental illnesses.  People with other issues benefit by this blog.

I beseech you to pray for the people who come to BB.  Pray for the blog itself, and for me as I battle my own issues.  I have no illusions or self-deception about my own heart condition and dealings I’m working through.  I am most certainly a “broken believer.”

I continue to put together a daily post.  I’ve been somewhat weary the last few weeks.  FYI, I receive no financial help from the BB ministry, rather I have paid the incidentials out of my own pocket.  I guess I just needed to make it clear.

I so hope you’ll continue to make BB a regular stop on your travels.  And if you should read something to merit sending me an email, I’d love it.

                                        flash99603@hotmail.com

 

ybic,

    Bryan

Theoretically Hackable

I encountered this particular phrase as I attempted to do a download from a reasonably effective source.  They came out and made this simple statement.  I suppose it was done for legal issues.  It was “theoretically hackable.” (That word, “theoretically” cracks me up!)  But I understand what it means.

And I started to see something.  It was a thing of some sense.  I am most vulnerable to things that are beyond my control.  I’m pretty much accessible to the many different things that could and should take me apart.  I have to tell you, that I regularly buy cheap “netbooks” with this fully in mind.  In a way they are like “Bic lighters,” I use them over and over, for 1 or 2 years, and than I ditch them.  I have gotten more than $400 out of them, and it beats the $800 plus to keep them going as they should.  It’s “Bryan’s Rule of Good Computing #87.”

“Theoretical Hacking.”  There is so much theology that gets rolled up into this phrase.  It has the idea that you can be accessible to anyone that has just a special urge to make things rough on you.  “Theoretically” speaking they can possibly walk right in and wipe you out.   It’s a bit nebulous, I’m sure, but the threat is out there, and it can happen–to the best of us.

“Hacking” is a bad word.  It carries with it a trickery, or a deceitfulness.  It most certainly is a word we avoid, as it carries with it very substantial problems.  And yet, it has a deeply theological concept.  Deception has incredible issues.  To walk out on it is thin ice.  You never, ever realize what the next step will bring us.  It really comes down to a deception.

We struggle with deception.  Kind of a theological deception.  The idea of being taken in, tricked and then destroyed.   We are so trusting.  Few of us carry the 24/7 “on guard mechanism.”  We step out without the slightest sense of betrayal.  We become “lambs” for the slaughter.

Evil is such, that we can never really factor through it completely.  It folds on itself to dimensions we could never fathom.  We can’t really approach it, because it expands things so rapidly.  It is full of deceit.  To encounter it face-to-face is destructive in itself.  We must hope in the presence of God.  He is the only one who can dismantle it.  Our trust (in the face of such evil) is in Him.

Yes, we are “hackable.” We are in a deep place of vulnerability.  But I must tell you, this is not a bad place to be.  In a theological sense we are pretty much accessible.  We have an openess that places us in front of the dark evil.  From here we have nothing to say.  We can do nothing but to believe that we are immune from the darkness.  That someone has stepped in and altered us, in a way that will prohibit us from harassment.

More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(computer_security)

Exulting in Our Shadow

 

“So that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.”

Acts 5:15-16, ESV

 

Astonishing!  It was Peter, who denied the Lord—three distinct and definite times. Since we are moving past Good Friday and our celebration of Easter, so we should rest for a moment and consider Peter, and think about this “rascal.”  He really isn’t magical, or a “miracle worker,” Peter, quite precisely is a definite loser.  The best you can say is that he is a displaced and “has-been”  fisherman, who hasn’t really got a good track-record.  He tries hard, but he always muddles it up.  He falls very short.

Peter’s shadow reveals the power of unconscious influence.  His shadow wasn’t magical or possessed a healing virtue.  In a deep sense we all influence people around us–for good, or for evil.  Our imprint on others is quite significant.  Our impact is quite noticable.  Watchman Nee in his book, “Release of the Spirit.”  Nee compared our influence to the “ring” we leave in the bathtub.  Everyone leaves his mark.  Looking at that we can understand (to a degree) what that particular person is really like.  But the reality is, we all leave behind some scum.

J.R. Miller relates this thought.  “There is a legend of a good man for whom was asked some new power. He chose that he might do a great deal of good and might not be aware of it. So it was ordered that when his shadow fell behind him, where he could not see it, it should have healing power, but when it fell before him, so that he could see it, it should have no such effect.”

We need to view this thing closer.  How exactly do we influence others?  What manner of people are we to acheive such attention?  Do we really deserve “the praise of men?”  Do we go as far as to exult  in our shadows?  If we really want to powerfully affect others, we have to be humble, perhaps even dismissive of the good that may follow behind us.  (It doesn’t belong to us.”)   When we become really conscious of our significance or sway, we are in mortal danger and risk spoiling everything.

The kingdom is not big enough for Jesus, and than us–who takes over the center stage?  There is a disturbing assumption that we are most significant.  We stack-up our blocks and create a facade of being quite exceptional people.  The reality is this–we are all very much like Peter, our lives belie what is truly real.  But our authenticity really is found in the “blood of Jesus,”  which covers our wickedness.  That dear one, is our “claim to fame.”  Essentially, due to the proportion of our pride, determines the glory that the Lord receives.  We often eliminate him from our consideration.  Your pride determines His glory, plain and simple.  So step up, who goes next?