Reading from Friday, September 3

So I just got through the majority of this post on my iPhone and the app crashed and I lost everything. The portability of a little iPhone blogger app is great, but its not as stable as doing it on a laptop. I guess it's a tradeoff. So here's take two.

Reading for September 3
Ecclesiastes 4:1-6:12
I'm gonna give the teacher a name just to make it easier to talk about. So his name is Alfredo.

So Alfredo continues talking about the futility of money and posessions and power.

10 Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless.

This is a pretty common idea, but with the Jews hunger for power and land and plenty in the Old Testament, it's a breath of fresh air to see something like this sandwiched in the same Holy text.

Then Alfredo goes on to talk about something that has been on my mind a lot lately.

11 As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owner
except to feast his eyes on them?

Jilly and I have a pretty sizable collection of media. Books, DVDs, Video Games (those are mine), even VHS tapes. And what good are they? I'll focus on the games since those are my problem. I have over 150 video games in our apartment. I have all three current gaming systems. What logical reason could I have to hoarde such a massive collection of crap? Sometimes I look at my shelf of games and admire them. Sometimes I like to brag to nerds on nerdy gaming message board about my big nerdy collection - which pales in comparison to theirs...Sometimes I hope that I'll have a friend over who aks if I have a specific game and I just happen to have it, and then he'll be impressed with my collection. When I think about all that stuff it's so stupid. And yet I have a mental breakdown when I think about getting rid of my games, or even selling them off. I'm at least trying to get through all of them in my other blog.

Alfredo then breaks character a little bit and goes into how we should pray.

2 Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

I think the temptation when we go to God is to go asking and pleading and begging and confessing and venting. Alfredo suggests that we shut our yappers and just listen. Maybe give a word of greeting and just ask for his wisdom to come upon you. But then again, wisdom is meaningless.

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:7

14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15[...]What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

I really don't like this. Well, in some ways I do, but in others I don't. I do believe that if you are going to pursue Christianity and pursue discipleship, that it is very difficult if your spouse is a non-believer. So I think there is wisdom in this. However, I think this verse can be dangerously taken out of context. It promotes an ethno-centricity among Christians. It feeds into the idea that Christians should live in a safe Christian bubble with no interaction with anyone who does not believe the same way.

I think it was in Blue Like Jazz that Donald Miller addressed the problem of the "Christian Bubble". He said that we have Christian colleges, Christian radio stations, Christian TV stations, Christian music festivals, Christian Christian Slater - we are segregating ourselves as superior. But remember that Jesus ate and broke bread with "the least of these." The tax collector. The prostitute. The sinner. Jesus hung out with them and loved them - so should we live in the world and spread love. 

Psalm 47:1-9
Nothin really interesting in this one. Very praisey.
Proverbs 22:16
16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth
and he who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.

Much love kids.