Beyond Mediocrity Blog

(Image courtesy of heritagebooks.org.) An Age-Old Threat When Jotham’s son Ahaz became king of Judah, the kingdom entered a dark period of spiritual decline. Ahaz was twenty years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. Unlike David, his forefather, Ahaz did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God. Instead, he followed the wicked practices of the kings of Israel, even going so far as to make his own son pass through the fire, imitating the detestable customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before Israel. Ahaz did not merely tolerate the idolatry of the surrounding nations; he embraced their practices. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hills, and beneath every green tree. The king of Judah, who should have led his people in the worship of the LORD, instead led them further into rebellion.

In the past decade, I have been forced onto a journey of considering my Protestant faith against the Christian traditions of my family. For starters, I have a sister who converted to Roman Catholicism about twelve years ago, and recently her entire family joined the very conservative Latin Mass tradition. When I was confronted with this new tradition, I dove in. I listened. I bought books. I read books. I ordered the over 1,000 page Catechism of the Catholic Church . I listened to the arguments of Scott Hahn and others like him. We attended Mass. At one point my wife asked me, “Are we converting to Catholicism?” Then, about four years ago, my in-laws converted to Greek Orthodoxy. How did I respond? In the same way, I dove in. I bought books. I read the early church fathers, digging and searching for anything that I may have missed about the “true church.” We attended Greek Orthodox services. I asked questions. And, again, because I pursued this knowledge with such zeal, at one poin...

Recently, I was reading a constitution for a local, volunteer fire department. In the document, several times the decorum of the membership is mentioned. One paragraph stood out to me above the others: Any member who misbehaves themselves during the meeting of the Department or disturbs the harmony thereof, either by disorderly conduct, abusive or profane language, or shall refuse to obey the presiding officer, shall be admonished by the chair for the offense, and if they offend again they shall be excluded from the meeting for the evening, and after removal dealt with as the members shall decide. I’ve been to some of these meetings, and they are anything but filled with decorum. Although written in the founding documents, the laws mean nothing unless they are enforced. The question is: who is going to enforce them? Face-to-face to these men, would you?

Over thirteen years ago, I penned an article called " The Art of Self-Loathing " where I fleshed out what I thought was wisdom. Today, however, I have learned that self-loathing (that is, self-hate  or self-pity ) is actually a socially acceptable and therapeutic way of describing what biblical wisdom rightfully refers to as the sin of pride. Let's face it: all of us think about ourselves too much. We are naturally selfish people - or, as the apostle Paul puts it, full of "all kinds of covetousness" (Romans 7:8). This is what selfishness really is: a covetous, self-indulgent passion, and this sort of living is contrary to the way Christ calls his followers to live.

"Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! ... Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it' (Genesis 28). We fickle humans place such an emphasis on the high points of life that we tend to miss the little points along the way. All too often we bypass the waysides of life, attempting to scurry around the monotonous and less luxurious moments of day-to-day life, in search of the firework displays and emotional highs. But our Lord works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.

"On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family" (Acts 4:5-6). Only days before this moment, Jesus was with his disciples on the mount before he left them and ascended into heaven; it was only a short time ago that Jesus exhorted his followers to preach the gospel to all people because all authority had been given to him exclusively.