Fireproof

The missus and I saw the movie Fireproof last fall during our anniversary. If you are not familiar with the movie, it is the story of how a couple was on the brink of divorce, and how a challenge of self sacrifice from the husband's father led to the husband's conversion to Christianity and the eventual winning back of his wife.

I thought that it was a well done movie. It might not sound like it from the above description, but I thought that the movie was convincing in the way it portrayed the reality of the relationships involved.  There were no magic answers, and the characters were believeably selfish, short-sighted and resistant to change.  The solution wasn't as easy as saying "Now I shall be self-sacrificing" - there was real struggle involved.  I found the movie very, well, moving.  I'm pretty easily affected by any movie or TV show where the characters actually show humility and say "I'm sorry," and so I cried several times during the movie.

The wife loved it so much that she preordered the DVD, and is organizing a private party of friends and our kids to watch the movie together. I heard her on the phone asking people to this showing, and apparently she thought that it would be a great selling point to relate how I had to fight "openingly sobbing" during the movie.  Now, come on, I know that a man being able to express and embrace his emotions is a good thing. But does anybody, guy or not, want to be known to all his or her friends as the one who couldn't keep it together during a movie, whether true or not?  I finally asked her to stop selling the movie that way.  Sheesh.

Now I need to face all these people when we watch this movie together.  Will I cry a lot?  Will they be watching me to see if I cry?  Will I embarrass myself?  Maybe I should go on the offensive before the movie starts.  "Where are the Kleenexes?  Watch out, I'm going to start bawling like a baby during the previews!"

Anyway, it is a good movie. I do recommend it to anyone who wants to see what sacrificial love can do.

Oh, and just so you know: I love my darling wife. If anything you read here seems to imply that I don't completely respect her or that I think ill of her, then you read it wrong.

Faith teaching

I've had a teaching running through my mind for several months now. I know that it is a "teaching" and not a meditation because I think about it when I hear other people teach. It's like someone else using their teaching gift activates this teaching in my spirit, and I think about and ponder it and imagine how I would preach it. It makes it difficult to focus on what other people teach. On the other hand, it makes listening to teachings very enjoyable, because this teaching really revs up my spirit.

It's about faith. See, for a long time I didn't really understand faith. The word faith is thrown around within the church, until it seems to mean many things, so for a long time it wasn't really something I felt I understood.

The classic definition for faith - or at least, the one I heard all the time as a young believer - comes from Hebrews 11:1. Here it is in the Revised Standard Version, which is how I learned it:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Let's see, I said to myself. Assurance means to be reassured that something is true, right? Hmm, what are "things hoped for"? "Conviction of things not seen" - what does that mean? How does all this relate to having faith for healing and that God will make everything work out?

So, this verse didn't really make much sense to me for a long time.

The verse that I like as a definition of faith is just five verses later: Hebrews 11:6. This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (NIV)

This verse defines what faith is. Moreover, it defines a specific kind of faith: the kind that pleases God. I don't know about you, but if I'm going to bother with faith, this is the kind that I want to bother with - the kind that pleases God. Note, also, the converse: if you don't have this faith, you are not pleasing to God. In fact, this verse says that if you don't have faith it is impossible to please God. Gotta get me some faith, then!

Note also the God-centric nature of faith. Faith is not defined as that which allows us to get what we want, or to gain heavenly riches, or to overcome obstacles. No, faith is that which allows us to please God. Faith also allows a person to come to God. Faith in Christian circles is sometimes talked about almost as if it were an entity in and of itself. "You gotta have faith to push on through." "Exercise your faith to make it strong." Nice ideas, but the Biblical view of faith is properly focused on God. Faith is a means to get to God; faith is the way to please God. God is the center point and object of faith.

I'm going to end here for now and pick up the rest of this later.