Pearl snap shirts are one of God’s finest creations. Different colors, patterns, and styles offer many options for decorating the torso. Short sleeves when it is warm. Long sleeves when it is cold. Long sleeves rolled up when the cold morning becomes a warm afternoon. Feeling formal? Tuck it in. Feeling confident? Pop the collar. Plaid is like Montana camouflage. Wear it everyday. A simple white with pearl snaps is fitting for the finest wedding celebration. Senior pictures? Pearl snaps. Chopping firewood? Pearl snaps. First date? Pearl Snaps. Preaching a sermon? Pearl snaps. Going 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu? Pearl snaps. It doesn’t matter where you are, what you’re doing, when you are there, whom you are with, or why you choose to do so – pearl snaps are always an option.
For some people, pearl snaps shirts are very familiar, old news, or even out dated. Other people have no clue what is being described. In between these two groups are those who have not considered the significance pearl snaps can have on a human life.
There was a time in my life when my pearl snap perspective was distorted. I thought only older gentlemen who wore cowboy boots to church covered their backs with those pearl snap shirts. During this unfortunate time in my life, a fortunate event took place - I was introduced to my church’s summer youth intern, Matthew W. Nelson.
When I met Matt, I didn’t just look at pearl snap shirts differently, but I only saw Jesus as a part of Sunday morning, Wednesday night, and maybe a week at camp in the summer. Reading the Bible only came after singing the songs on Sunday and Wednesday. I was a teenager who “knew what was up” and wanted to do my own thing. It was also during this time that I hated wearing collared shirts. Collared shirts were for church. Pearl snaps were for old guys at church. Maybe it was clear to the wise, parent-aged people at church that Matt had some work to do...
Matt showed me the joy of digging through the bowels of thrift stores, searching for the ever so illusive pearl snap shirt. Only now do I look back and see the intentionality behind Matt’s dedication to spend countless hours in stinky old buildings, digging through piles of stinky old clothes, with a stinky young man. At the same time, God was hard at work as Matt showed me how to search for Jesus in my everyday life.
That summer with Matt, I was able to follow a man walking the walk that I heard about on Sunday morning. No matter where we found ourselves, the conversation turned to Jesus. Driving through town in a church van? Matt asks thoughtful, Spirit-led questions. Vacuuming the floor of the movie store? Matt is talking to the manager about the God who brought them both to Montana. Buying another pair of polyester pants at the Salvation Army? Matt lets the cashier know that Jesus has paid the price for us all. Disagree with the head of the household? Matt talks to God about it. Late nights followed by early mornings? Matt put Jesus on top of the priority list for the day.
Fortunately this friendship didn’t end with the internship. Countless times during high school I would call Matt to tell him about the cool new pearl snap I found at a thrift store. Quite often he would let me know about the cool new nugget he found in the Bible. We have both grown and changed over the years. Life’s experiences have shaped familiar memories into the present reality. The difficult changes are easily overshadowed by the beautiful things that remain the same – pearl snaps and the open invitation to allow Jesus into our everyday lives.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The aroma of Christ
I watch for a blue painted mail box that tells me I've made it to my destination. I turn left and drive a quarter of a mile down the gravel road, park my car next to the garage and grab my bags. I enter the door with out knocking and yell out hello. A corresponding hello greets me from the kitchen. By the time my bags are dropped and shoes are kicked off my grandma is there to give me a big hug. At some point my grandpa comes in and as I hug my Papa Bob I inhale his smell. It's a smell I love. It's a smell that's all him. It's the mixture of sweat and wood smoke. While it isn't exactly the most pleasant smell, it's a smell I love because it is my Grandpa.
The Bible says we are to be the aroma of Christ.
My grandpa always had this distinct smell because of who he was. He spent hours about the farm working on projects, chopping and hauling wood, building, gardening, working in his wood shop, hence the smell of sweat. For years my grandparents used a wood burning furnace to heat their house, hence the smell of wood smoke. Because he worked and fueled the fire he often smelled of it when I arrived to their house.
As Christians we will smell because of who we are and what we do. It was always evident that my Papa Bob had been out working or that he kept the furnace going by fueling it with wood. You could smell it on him. He simply had that aroma.
Is the aroma of Christ evident in your life? Do you simply have that aroma?
The Bible says we are to be the aroma of Christ.
2 Corinthians 2: 14-17 "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God."It's a distinct smell. To some it may be sweet smell - the fragrance of life, but to others a bitter smell - the smell of death.
My grandpa always had this distinct smell because of who he was. He spent hours about the farm working on projects, chopping and hauling wood, building, gardening, working in his wood shop, hence the smell of sweat. For years my grandparents used a wood burning furnace to heat their house, hence the smell of wood smoke. Because he worked and fueled the fire he often smelled of it when I arrived to their house.
As Christians we will smell because of who we are and what we do. It was always evident that my Papa Bob had been out working or that he kept the furnace going by fueling it with wood. You could smell it on him. He simply had that aroma.
Is the aroma of Christ evident in your life? Do you simply have that aroma?
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
A Good Conscience
A couple of verses in the book of Acts caught my attention last week as I was reading it. From chapter 25 starting with verse 15, "...having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man." The context of these verses includes Paul being on trial by the Jews before Felix in Ceasarea and these words come somewhat in the middle of his defense.
What strikes me about Paul throughout all of his writings is his farsightedness. He was always looking ahead into the future. To the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. He understood that one day we will all stand before God and give an account for our actions. Whether we have been just or unjust doesn't matter, at least in the sense that both will be resurrected one day; so we ought to, as Paul did, "take great pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man." This coming from the man who wrote the book of Romans detailing out God's plan of salvation for us. This from the man who said that "faith is a gift of God and not of works so that no man can boast." Paul understood that our works toward God and man did not save from eternal damnation. He knew that his works, as great as they were, in the end would not save him. What then is his purpose for saying this, for living like this, as he thinks of the coming resurrection? I think that part of the answer is Paul's knowledge about grace. He knew that there was no such thing as cheap grace. R. C. Sproul makes a comment about cheap grace saying that it is not simply a matter of raising your hand and signing a membership card in the local church (that's not the exact quote but it's somethig like that). Paul knew that a life saved by Christ was simply free to go on living as it once did, but was now called by God to live a life of service towards both God and man.
Jesus touches on this same them when he gives the warning that one day some may stand before Him and He will say to them, "Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you." Though some people will claim to know God and do many things in Jesus name if the life is not transformed into one of righteousness they will receive no mercy.
This can be kind of a hard concept to grasp, at least it has been for me, but Paul knew that his actions, although they couldn't save him would still count for something in the end. The fear of God and the knowledge of a coming resurrection spurred Paul on to be as God wanted him be. May both do the same for us today.
What strikes me about Paul throughout all of his writings is his farsightedness. He was always looking ahead into the future. To the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. He understood that one day we will all stand before God and give an account for our actions. Whether we have been just or unjust doesn't matter, at least in the sense that both will be resurrected one day; so we ought to, as Paul did, "take great pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man." This coming from the man who wrote the book of Romans detailing out God's plan of salvation for us. This from the man who said that "faith is a gift of God and not of works so that no man can boast." Paul understood that our works toward God and man did not save from eternal damnation. He knew that his works, as great as they were, in the end would not save him. What then is his purpose for saying this, for living like this, as he thinks of the coming resurrection? I think that part of the answer is Paul's knowledge about grace. He knew that there was no such thing as cheap grace. R. C. Sproul makes a comment about cheap grace saying that it is not simply a matter of raising your hand and signing a membership card in the local church (that's not the exact quote but it's somethig like that). Paul knew that a life saved by Christ was simply free to go on living as it once did, but was now called by God to live a life of service towards both God and man.
Jesus touches on this same them when he gives the warning that one day some may stand before Him and He will say to them, "Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you." Though some people will claim to know God and do many things in Jesus name if the life is not transformed into one of righteousness they will receive no mercy.
This can be kind of a hard concept to grasp, at least it has been for me, but Paul knew that his actions, although they couldn't save him would still count for something in the end. The fear of God and the knowledge of a coming resurrection spurred Paul on to be as God wanted him be. May both do the same for us today.
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