CityFellowship | Union Square NYC » ljkim

Are you a good James Bond?

ljkim — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:31:54 +0000

Steve, whom some of you know, used to say that he thought the difference between the good James Bonds and the bad ones is that when the actor looks at a woman, the good ones look like they’re into the woman, the bad ones look like they’re more into themselves. I think this is true for a lot of things. The world is filled with vain people strutting to the tune of their own accomplishments, but what’s cool, what’s extraordinary is when someone is into their art, into their work, into their play, into loving people, without caring how they look. This the Bible’s idea of “humility.” As C.S. Lewis said, it’s ‘not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.’ It’s a holy self-forgetfulness and simplicity that is part of a carefree fun passionate life of meaning, not seeking to self-elevate with every act, but to serve and enjoy… I mean, how else do you think you’ll ever be able to save the world?

Related posts:

Redefining holiness…

More than just plausibility…

ljkim — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:31:19 +0000

Almost every Filipino I know is Catholic, this was once true for my Irish friends too. Almost every Korean American I know went to a Presbyterian or Methodist church as a child. And almost every older African American woman I know goes to church as well. What does this mean for us? It means it’s easy for our unbelieving friends to see us going public with our faith, and assume it’s a part of our residual cultural identity (whether it is or not). As a result they might respect our faith, but feel, “that stuff is fine for you, but it has nothing to do with me.” It’s like celebrating Thanksgiving in Kenya… It’s fine as an American tradition, and can be respected elsewhere, but it doesn’t mean the same thing for non-Americans.

That’s how many people interpret faith… a personal tradition. But what they need to see is how real faith is emotionally and intellectually alive – and not just a tradition… They need to see that grace and redemption, forgiveness and seeing oneself as a sinner under grace…lives in your heart and mind right now, that you wrestle with these things, and rely upon them… Because only then can Christianity be plausible as something for everyone…

Related posts:

The power of plausibility…

The power of plausibility…

ljkim — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:45:44 +0000

Studies have shown that people find it harder to believe someone when they are culturally different from you… So when someone from a foreign country who speaks and looks and sounds strange to you tells you something, it’s harder to believe even if everything they’re saying is true. I bring this up because if only certain kinds (culturally) of people talk about God, it’s very easy for your unbelieving friends to feel God and the Bible is implausible… But if people like them, (ie, people like you) who believe were to go public with their faiths… it creates a plausibility structure.

Your unbelieving friends actually need to know that you love your Savior… Even if it shocks and annoys them at first, even if they become suspicious that you’re “one of them” – your daily friendship and character can prove otherwise. Right now your friends might only have a mental folder for “those people” with a subfolder “those people/Christians.” By letting them know, you help create a new mental category of “people like me who happen to believe in Jesus.”

I’m not talking about trying to convince anyone of anything, I’m simply talking about coming out of the closet when it comes to your faith…

Related posts:

The gift of passionate worship…

ljkim — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:35:28 +0000

The spiritual gift of “tongues” was a controversial issue for some contemporary Christians, but it was a fact of life for the early church. Without getting lost in controversies, the main idea here is that there is a gift of “passionate worship.” People with this gift are able to worship “in the moment” standing on the very precipice of eternity and bask in the knowledge of God, experiencing His presence and goodness, trusting His wisdom, and losing themselves (if only for a little while) in Him. In the early church this led to babbling, or ecstatic utterances that were sometimes called the languages of angels… Anthropologists have noted examples of “ecstatic utterances” in non-Christian pagan religions from the Mediterranean to Africa and East Asia (mainly with the aid of drugs)… No matter, the point of tongues is not really the “tongues,” it’s the state of mind that led to it… Deep, heartfelt, in-the-moment worship of the kind we should all one day experience inwardly.

People who don’t have this gift sometimes look at this as over-emotionalism, but looking closely it’s clear that it’s more than that. People with this gift are changed and renewed and inspired and inspire others with the knowledge of God. They remind the less emotional among us how God is alive and real and active, and in their worship they help us to wake up from spiritual dullness… They’re the beating heart of the church, and we need them to stay alive.

Ironically, this gift does NOT make people good worship leaders… They get lost so easily in their own emotions toward God, that they get out of touch with the people they’re supposed to lead. It’s better not to hire a math genius to teach remedial math, she won’t understand why it’s so difficult for her students.

But just the way thoroughbred horses need to run in order to stay fit, churches need to have this passionate worship in order to be complete. Those of us without this gift need to make room for worship, understanding that when it comes to this they must take the lead and show us the way.

Related posts:

Everyday prophets…

ljkim — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:09:54 +0000

We don’t really use the word “prophet” the way the Bible does, so you might think of it as a kind of “wisdom” or “maturity” or the gift of “faith” or a “passion” for God. Prophets are especially gifted to speak for God when no one else will. And for disciples, they can speak in such a way that it’s clear that they’re not speaking out of pride or self interest, but from a clear push from God. So prophets are the ones who said before Y2K that the world will not end because of a computer glitch, or any other kind of human accident, but it will end only as God makes it end and gives us a new beginning.

Prophets are also the people who said during the last few elections that no political candidate can save America (from anything), don’t think too highly of them, or else you’ll be disappointed. Simply try to vote for the ones who are best equipped for the job, and pray for them. Prophets are also the ones who might have reminded us during the stock market bubbles not to put our trust in wealth but to trust God and use wealth for God and people (rather than use God and people for the sake of money). To the church, the prophets are also the ones who tell us not to worry about buildings and lights and fancy equipment, but to humble ourselves and pray.

Now being a prophet is a thankless job, because unlike teachers, they’re only needed when everyone else goes wrong. In other words, their job is to speak for God when what God has to say is least popular. the prophet Nathan had to bust King David on a private sin that nearly ruined him. Jeremiah was thrown down a well after he told people that it was God’s will that they lose the war to Babylon. John the Baptist was beheaded for constantly reminding the royal family that the King had killed his brother and married his wife. So it’s understandable that people with the gift of prophecy tend to shy away from the spotlight. For a true prophet, the spotlight has no appeal, only difficulty.

What we need to do then is to honor the prophetic people among us, even if we disagree with them at first…

Related posts:

Wisdom from an old fogey…

ljkim — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:00:42 +0000

In places other than New York, people really like to hear that God accepts you “just the way that you are…” It doesn’t mean you don’t have room to grow – but that God loves and adores you right now, just the way a parent loves his newborn, even as he expects the baby to one day grow up. Here in NY, the problem isn’t so much that we worry about God loving us as we are – the problem is we have trouble loving ourselves as we are. Not self-hate in a psycho babble sort of way, or a religious way… But we have trouble loving how we look, how we act, our pedigree, what we do for a living, what we’ve accomplished. We look around and there are people who are younger, better looking, more successful, smarter, etc – and since we have such good taste, we can’t stand being anything less.

One of the things that I find gets easier as I get older, is accepting myself for who I am…limitations, history, and all… I know this sounds a bit like self-help mumbo jumbo, but bear with me here. If you can’t love yourself as part of God’s work in progress, and really delight in who you are, chances are you can’t really delight in anything else God sends your way either. To be unhappy with yourself in a way that you can’t see how God delights in your ‘sinful saved by grace-ness’ means being at odds with God. Because on some level you realize that He who can give you everything you want seems to have different plans.

Sure it’s fine to be dissatisfied with Sin and sinfulness, selfishness, self-absorption. Or even to be dissatisfied with failure and want to get up and do better… But getting down on yourself is the first sign that you’re seeing things contrary to how God sees you. When a baby tries to walk and falls, normal sane parents don’t berate the baby for its stupidity… and God doesn’t think less of you because of Sin. He accepts you, and plans to grow you up so that one day you’ll be able to walk and not stumble, and run and not grow weary. You’re beautiful right now baby, and one day you’ll really shine, but that doesn’t mean you’re any less right now. Jesus has made you a child of the Almighty, so cheer up!

Related posts:

The real deal with evangelism…

ljkim — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:42:59 +0000

Imagine you had a coworker who was a nice guy, easy to work with, easy to talk to, and everyone knew he was cheating on his wife. So here’s the question: is it any of your business to say anything about that? What do you think? Personally, I don’t know… For myself, I think I’d ask about it, but it wouldn’t be my place to say anything outright. Okay, second scenario: what if you knew the wife and you were friends with both the cheating husband and the spouse. Would you say something to the wife? Or say something directly to the husband? And imagine you ask a coworker friend about this and he/she says “what someone else does to be happy is none of my business…” So what would you do? Just one more scenario: what if the wife, who was your friend, came to you knowing about her cheating husband and begged you to talk to him? Would you say something then?

I would. I’d be obligated to. But I’d tread lightly, trying to be as understanding and considerate as I could be… realizing it’s not my business, but that because I know the situation, and because I was asked to, I am involved in some way. Refusing the wife’s request would mean I’d have to turn my back on her too.

Here’s the deal with God and other people. It’s none of my business what other people do to be happy, and how other people relate to God… that’s between them and God, I’m not part of it. But God is asking me to go talk to him as an understanding third party. To help make His case understood, to explain the grievance and the problem… The problem for lots of “good” people is this: we are like neglectful husbands. We don’t talk to him or care about him, and we seek our fun elsewhere. But we get all upset when dinner is not on the table or the laundry isn’t done: “God why are you doing this to me?!?!” When communication breaks down, sometimes it helps to have an understanding third party come talk to the person…

Related posts:

Discovering your unique genius…

ljkim — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:29:19 +0000

There are objective ways to see if you have a high IQ, and fall into the “genius” category – but there’s actually no test to see if you’re an artistic genius. There’s also test you can take with a number 2 pencil to determine if you’re a musical genius. In some sports, certain athletes are said to be geniuses as well… it’s not just their speed of physicality, but their inventiveness and mastery of the game. Paul Ekman, who basically founded the scientific study of human facial expressions found that some people had a natural ability to do what took him years of doctoral work to determine… just the way some people can understand mathematical concepts easily, he found these people had genius level natural abilities of recognizing minute facial expressions…

So we now know there are different kinds of “genius.” It’s not just IQ that matters but EQ (emotional intelligence), and…who knew that the world of computers would be revolutionized by the iPhone, and people who cared about the aesthetics of design?

Now not everyone is a genius in any one thing: maybe you’re not an artistic genius or a math genius or an empathic genius…BUT I can guarantee you that no one else on this planet has your particular combination of abilities… You may not be the best when it comes to math, but no one is as good as you in that who’s at the same time as good in people skills, or design, or sports. No one has your combination of gifts and abilities – and so there are jobs in a time and place that NO ONE in the world can do better than you.

Think about that for a second… When it came to a certain kind of theoretical physics in the 1900′s, perhaps no one was better suited than Albert Einstein… Well, when it comes to the things that you are built for – even Einstein couldn’t do it better. You are the Einstein of what God has made you for… Believing that and being part of the body of Christ means finding and developing our unique genius…

Related posts:

Being a miracle worker…

ljkim — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:25:24 +0000

I think one of the reasons why all the spiritual gifts don’t receive the attention of gifts like “knowledge” and “teaching” is because when we get to the part in 1 Corinthians 12 that mentions “working miracles” we are embarrassed and toss the list… None of the lists or items on the lists are definitive, so no one thing has to apply to every place, but I really believe there are people with the spiritual gift of doing miracles today… And we need them…

These are people who if they were willing to throw away their idea of self and follow Jesus wholeheartedly would be capable of anything God wanted. People whose passion and intellect would make it so that they could do impossible things, as long as they knew it was what God wanted them to do. When everyone says “it’s not possible… it’s not the right time… maybe God doesn’t want us to succeed…” those with the gift of miracles will make it happen. That’s a spiritual gift. It grows as one grows in trust and passion and depth as a Jesus-person.

Related posts:

Spiritual gifts of healing…

ljkim — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 10:03:42 +0000

Some people have a green thumb, others have to work at it to keep grass alive. I once had one of those potted things of grass on my desk. It died in two weeks. In the same way there are different kinds of healing gifts in the Bible. Some people can make you feel better just by their presence (when I was a little kid, it was mom – not dad – that I wanted when I was sick). Some people are better at nursing sick people and putting them at ease so they can get better. Some people pray in such a way that it helps people get better. Whatever the form, there are many kinds of spiritual gifts involving healing…

“Now isn’t that all just superstition?” someone asks? Not at all! Just the way some people have an aptitude for fixing things – problem solving mechanical things… To someone who has no aptitude in that sort of thing it’s quite miraculous! In the same way, some people have an aptitude for helping people get better.

But doesn’t “science” and “medicine” make people better? Yes of course… Science helps us to know what will help the body heal, but it doesn’t fix a body the way the guys at Tekserve will fix your computer. Medicine aids the healing process but it doesn’t actually give life any more than a farmer “makes” things grow – all she can do is plant the seeds and make the conditions as good for growth as possible, the miracle of life and healing happens elsewhere.

Now just because you have a green thumb doesn’t mean you have to be a gardener by profession. And just because you have a healing gift doesn’t mean you have to be in health care by profession… But it’s something you can offer that will benefit you (imagine what it would be like to be a healing presence!) and benefit your friends, the church.

Most people who have this as a spiritual gift won’t suspect it until it really comes out. We spend most of our energy taking care of ourselves, fixated on our needs and our well being. Even married people argue a lot about their own needs. But as God starts to take hold of you, and you start to look after people who are not you – so closely that you’re there when people need you the most – when they’re physically weakest… Then you might find you have this gift.

I think too many people want to be teachers. Teachers seem to get all the glory… But what we really need more are healers… People who can make the world better by helping people when they need it most.

Related posts: