Spanking Clean

You know the room, it has white carpet, and white furniture possibly even with plastic covers. The walls are immaculate with carefully selected decorations. Yes, everything is perfectly dust free and practically sanitized like an operating room. Oddly enough this space is labeled a living room but so seldom does anyone go there that it bears no evidence of ever being lived in. Yes indeed it is spanking clean, by design and upkeep.

We often believe we must have a place like this to receive guests properly. After all, what would the neighbors say? Have you ever mowed the lawn twice so the criss-cross pattern is perfect? Have you spent time putting the contents of a cupboard into order by size? Have you contributed more money to your hair stylist than to, say, a missionary? What happens when you want to receive the utmost of visitation? How can you prepare to receive the Holy Spirit of God and enter into worship in spirit and truth? The truth of the matter is, you will never scrub it clean enough, never get it straight and orderly enough, never ever produce an orderly organized self to God almighty! There is simply no cleanser no disinfectant that can provide a space appropriate for Him. Those who must chase dirt until the last molecule is purged do so in an endless futility. Prepare yourself for a visit from God? How? We cannot create a bubble of nice, when we live under a smokestack spewing soot all day. So we must just give in, come to the Christ who was provided for just this condition we hate. This state of unclean, that we can neither sponge or vacuum, replace or organize. It is simply tainted by the nature of our being here in this fallen world. Cleanliness is next to sinfulness, because the perfection of a loving God can not be approximated so, why try?
He has offered you a free coupon for a complete make-over, and frankly, you will never achieve it yourself. So take the deal. Give up your personal preparation, it’ll never be ready.
What’s in Your Worship?

The Shielded Heart.

We shield our hearts from everything, we defend our pumping blood and the deepest cores of our very lives from contact with anything that could go too deep and cause us harm. Any extraction is too costly, so don’t risk it, better to keep this defended.

Our Spouses and children certainly belong there. But so do our extended families, and our neighbors too, according to the commandment, if we are to love. But we fill our hearts with the distractions of our world as well. Slowly we come to love our home, our car, our ball team, our careers, our work. Soon our entire heart can be so full of stuff that we want no more.

If we have experienced loss, we know heart break and heart ache. This experience builds calluses. “ Let’s not let that happen again. Man, too painful”. As we have a few bad experiences we begin to shield this heart from anything that might pierce, and only let in what we know to be safe. Then we focus on those nice safe ones. Or worse case, we grow so callous that we harbor evil in there and have no room for compassion or any extension toward another soul who may be presented to us with a need. And most of us can become so mesmerized by our mundane loves that there is no real space for the Holy Spirit of God. We come to our efforts of worship, hearts too filled with the rest to extend it, to open it to our loving father God who knows all about how these other things have affected us. It takes a concerted effort to unchain the shield we construct and let Him in there to heal and strengthen our life’s blood. It is so difficult to remember that He is the source of this very life that courses through at the pumping of the organ.

What’s in Your Worship?

That Comment

How are you dressed? Are you concerned with what others think? Feel that you maybe out of style, fashion, inappropriately dressed? Did you hear someone comment about your attire? As you see others what comes to mind? You may find yourself formulating comments in your mind about how others are dressed: “Suit and tie -he is trying hard to impress,” “baseball hat in the building, obviously no manners and not a professional. Does he hide a bald spot?” “Torn stockings, can’t she afford to keep those kids dressed?” The list goes on and on and we all do it, judging those around us and fearing their judgments in return. As a friend once prayed: “Forgive me Lord for what I am thinking and thank you for not letting it come out of my mouth!”
We were designed by God to be observant, and make judgments and discernments in order to cultivate his garden. This means spotting places for improvements, and planning actions to make them happen. But “the fall” gave us the twisted air of superiority and the fear of inferiority. Both these states translate into our bizarre obsession with our clothing and the insidious little game of words on the topic. How often when we stand to seek God we merely dwell on the comments made about us, or those we would make about others. It is a little obsession, but for some people it grows into an all consuming and total obstruction to a state of presence with God. Do you desire to be seated in the place of honor? It is not your attire that will get you there.
Consider the very first clothing. Fig leaves, quick covering from embarrassment. And the next set? God slew animals and made them of skin, introducing the concept of death to Adam and Eve in the making of the garments. We have not changed in all these generations.
From the 6th chapter of Mathew V 25: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying ….. 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

This is one of the OverHeads, exhibited in various cities in the US. for more see SculptureByTj.com
Thanks
Tj

High Flying Expectations

“Oh man, I can’t wait to get that thing! I barely slept last night just thinking about how great it is going to be! It will make me so happy, so complete. This is really it , I’ve wanted this for so long.”

Then we get it and within moments we begin to test the truth of those expectations. Then we note the first flaw, then another. If we encounter a major flaw too quickly the shock of disappointment strikes like a rock, pow. What! Oh Crap!

The aerodynamics of our expectations begin to wither. The spiral downward ensues, and as we pass the threshold of negativity our opinion of that object of our desire is shattered. The thud of a wasted mass of anticipation is heard hitting ground, softened by cold rain. The parade is over. And we begin the cycle again.
Maybe we learn from the roller coaster ride, maybe we don’t.
Maybe we grow skeptical that anything is achievable, that any object will be true to it’s expectation. Maybe we become so sour to anything new that we adopt a bit more vicious version of Eore's litany “It will never work, why bother.” No one wants to be the delusional twerp who believes in a hopeless cause and then fakes bits of outcome to bolster his lame mental construct.
Our Maker desires neither unreal fantasy nor skepticism from us. He wants us to come without any of this. Our physical world gives us so many conflicting lessons that we cannot reconcile with an all-powerful spiritual being. So we must approach empty. This is not an amusement ride. Forget the trestles and the launching devices. There are no seat- belts either, just Him and you and all that He is which is not comprehend-able to our mortal selves. The Highest of our expectations are specks of dust to him. And the greatest disappointments rectified by his mere glance in eternity.

What’s in Your worship?

More of this stuff at SculptureByTj.com
thanks
Tj

Mathews Angst

They have been described as “the window to the soul” and there is truly a phenomena that telegraphs information about individuals when we look in their eyes. “Her eyes sparkled and shinned like the stars” says the love struck, “He had Blood in his eye”- a phrase denoting one who wanted a fight. “You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes, and your smile is a thin disguise” the eagles.

Consider this: Mathew 6: 22-24 The lamp of the body is the eye, if it is clear the body is full of light. But if the eye is bad your whole body is full of darkness. If the light in you is darkness then how great is the darkness.

Our world of distraction can lead us to total over-load. We just have so many things to think about, worry about. Our need to take action in so many directions can lead us to a virtual catatonic state, being frazzled, at the end of our rope. We can let the light in us fade like an old flashlight battery, we can burn it on unimportant concerns. And others can see it in our eyes. What is this energy? Where does it come from? In cartoons the dead are often depicted with just ‘x’s for eyes. The frail jewel of an eyeball in it’s liquid envelope of tear can tell so much about the depth of life within. Not just the physical blood pumping and breath, but the state of the soul, the events that have shaped this life, the hope for the future, and the probable impact this individual could have on us. Consider this about the author of life:

John chapter 1: “He was with God in the beginning. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

Our “countenance” comes through in our posture and in our eyes. If you are on the way to darkness it shows. We have so much to distract us these days from the true light of the world, we can get so concerned about this or that that our light can get so very dim. And our ability to come to a spiritual relationship can be virtually gone. But then, when we enter into darkness we may cry out in anguish and there in that despair a living God will come to us. The light does shine in the darkness. Will you comprehend it? You must be willing to let the rest of those draining concerns go.

What’s in Your Worship?

See all the art works at SculptureByTj.com

thanks

Tj

Tell me about your struggles with relating to God

Our Appetite

Oh yes, we have an appetite all right. After all, we must eat to live, right? But we develop an appetite for foods that will ruin our health, we develop appetites for activities that will wreck our balance and suspend any activity that could be considered spiritual. We are not only talking about our trips to the fridge, but to the internet porn site, and the shopping mall, the TV. How mockingly appropriate is the term “download” like a massive amount of stuff, pouring into an already burdened carrier. It strains and groans under the new burden of stuff, unwieldy and difficult now to climb a hill, so difficult to maneuver because of the shear mass of………..all the available things we crave.
Our American world is so chocked full of stuff for us to crave that most of us bear multiple versions of excess appetite. Then it comes time to seek a living God, to come before Him to partake of his wisdom, and who are we? What do we bring? He wants us with nothing and we show up so laden with the excess of our consumption that we do not know how to even seek his presence.
Fasting is not very fashionable. But it may be one of the only ways to even recognize what habits we have constructed for ourselves, and how severely they get in between us and a relationship to a living God who’s life is the light of men. Like Pavlov’s dog we respond to the bell on cue, we salivate on command just like Madison Avenue wants us to. Ah, so well trained, is it nicotine, alcohol, sweets, or sex? Do we know how it started and what should be considered normal? And worst of all, when we come before Him, can we be apart from our craving long enough to enter in? How often should we enter in? There are few natural curbs for appetites in our modern culture, we may have to create our own.
What is in Your worship?
All viewable at SculptureByTj.com

Cool Daddio- from the OverHeads series

Are we cool enough? Are we under control, suave and debonair? Do we rank with the “in” crowd far above the losers? Man, it is in our style, our dress, our talk, our crowd. This awareness comes in puberty and in many, just takes over everything. Some of us never grow out of it’s domination. We must be cool. And the act of pointing out the low status of another is like counting coo. It stimulates us and we believe we have achieved through these petty comments. The concern about cool is probably the greatest distraction from a spiritual relationship ever conceived. It is elusive, fleeting, and indefinable, making it only achievable by those who truly believe they have it, confirmed by those around them aspiring to be there themselves.

Cool can be a perfect mockery to the condition of righteousness, and a tremendous impediment to the ability to get close to a God who knows better of you and your state. The grand illusion of being cool deceives so many. Just look at the celebrity worship that the entertainment, and fashion industries receive. Yes we can be so cool, but what is in our worship? Can we be cool before God? Fat chance, and if we are focused on cool, then God is not in our consciousness. When we are cool our heart is cool, and warmth of heart is required to come to the presence of God. Ever loose your cool to get before God? But that brings another topic:

What’s in your worship? Dude