Captivity

Captivity [kap-tiv-i-tee] (n):  the state or period of being held, imprisoned, enslaved, or confined.

            On Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, Jimmy Lee Dykes, a Vietnam War veteran, boarded a Dale County school bus, killed the bus driver, and abducted a little boy. Dykes took the boy to an underground bunker on his property. He held the boy there for seven days, until FBI agents raided the bunker, shot and killed Dykes, and freed the young child. He did all this because he wanted his voice to be heard.

            It amazes me that it took the death of Mr. Dykes to free the little boy. Of course, the conflict could possibly have been resolved without any deaths (though it would still have required surrender/submission from Dykes), but unfortunately, that’s not what happened the afternoon of Feb. 4.

            I bring this story up not to discuss the mental health system in America, gun control, or any other sociopolitical topics. I bring it up because I see parallels between this story and our story.

            Jesus tells us that, “…anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:15). In order to enter the kingdom of God, we must have childlike faith in Him, not relying on anyone else but him, and we must be free from all captivity. The problem is, just like this little boy was held in captivity by Jimmy Lee Dykes, so our own sinful nature and desires hold us in captivity. That child was unable to escape his captor’s clutches for seven days, holed up in an underground bunker, essentially cut off from everyone else.

            Are we not in the same position as the young boy? Are we not captives to sin, unable to escape by our own attempts, by our own power? In order for the child to be set free, he needed the help of someone else; in order for us to be set free, namely our childlike faith, we need the help of Someone Else, and God has provided Him! Jesus defeated death, and in doing so, has killed sin, our captor, and set us free! Aren’t the parallels here amazing?

            The same way FBI agents freed the little boy, so Christ provided a way, the way, to free us from captivity to sin, to dissolve the confinement of selfishness, and to break bonds of the sinful nature we are enslaved to!

“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:11

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

Life Lesson 1 - What People Want

I wrote the following post many months ago, but I've never posted it because there wasn't a time that really felt appropriate. In light of recent events, I think now is the right time to share this. I hope this helps you, the audience, and my deepest sympathies go out to the Byrd, Dunn, and Robertson families. These are trying times, and I can't even scrape the surface on what you all are going through. May the peace of Christ rest upon you.

Much love,

Matt

            Shai Linne wrote, “To share some of the things that I’ve learned is a must / ‘Cause in just a little while, I’ll return to the dust / And the top concern in me is to reach you with a lesson / As I watch eternity bleed into the present.” I would like to share something that I’ve learned, something that will benefit you for the rest of your life.

            During Christmas Break of 2010, I traveled with my mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my niece to North Carolina to see my grandparents. The plan was to hang out for a few days like we always do, maybe visit Chapel Hill, and hit up a few of the local restaurants with my aunts and uncles. However, there was a hitch in our plan; my grandfather, in his mid-seventies, underwent major shoulder surgery just twelve days before we arrived. Thus, his upper body mobility and strength were limited. Also, traveling in crowds or large groups was not an option; if someone accidentally bumped into his shoulder and caused more damage to the already stressed tissues, he would be in immediate, severe pain.

            I did not realize that this had the potential to be a source of conflict. After all, trips to Granddaddy’s are always relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable. Then it happened. My brother and I discovered that the men’s basketball team was playing in the Dean Dome while we were in Raleigh. Being lifelong Carolina fans, we freaked out. Neither one of us had ever seen a men’s game in person. Granted, the Heels were facing William & Mary, but the opportunity to see Roy Williams coach a game in the Dean Dome was enticing. We figured thirty bucks would be worth it, even if we were in the nosebleeds.

            So, the conflict I did not expect had manifested itself. We wanted to see the game with our grandfather, but due to the state of his shoulder, his attendance was not possible. We wanted to see the game because we had never seen one before, but that would mean leaving our grandfather behind, which would be flat-out ignorant because the whole purpose of the trip was to visit him. Decisions, decisions…

            Despite our deepest desires to see the Tarheels play, we elected to stay at the house and watch the game on TV. Admittedly, it was a lot more fun yelling at the TV and switching between the basketball game and a hockey game than it probably would have been in an arena with a few thousand complete strangers.

            In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (4:18). In his second letter, Peter tells us that the “day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” (3:10). How urgent is that? Do I live my life by those words? Do you? Knowing that everything, even my body, will one day cease to exist, and knowing that I have absolutely no clue when “one day” is, time becomes one of the most valuable things God has given us. Tomorrow is not promised.

            Here is the lesson I have learned, a lesson that I hope changes your worldview for the better. People do not want your money. They do not want your car. They do not want your clothes. They do not want your house. They do not want your food. They do not want your stuff. People want your time.

Love

Imagine that…another blogger writing about love. Very original, Matt, very original. Well, at the risk of becoming just another random dude on the internet exploring and explaining his thoughts on love to an audience of all of about three people, I am going to do just that. However, let not your heart be troubled; I’m not going to tell you what love is and what it isn’t and that if you don’t agree with me you’re incorrect and immature and all that stuff. No, I want to talk about our application of love.

My inspiration for this post comes from one of my favorite poems, “How Many, How Much?” by Shel Silverstein. The poem goes like this:

How many slams in a screen door?

Depends how loud you shut it.

How many slices in a bread?

Depends how thin you cut it.

How much good inside a day?

Depends how good you live ‘em.

How much love inside a friend?

Depends how much you give ‘em.

Think of metaphors we use to describe our relationships with others. We value people. We invest in people. Our relationships can be bankrupt. The list goes on. What I’m driving at here is that we tend to use love as a commodity. We assign value to people based on what they have done/can do/will do for us, and then return the favor only so they will keep doing things for us. I am only 19 years old, and I might not know everything that love is, but I have a pretty firm grasp on what it is not. “If you love me then I’ll love you” is not love. That sounds more like a contract than a commitment. We have developed a sense of obligation rather than devotion. The bottom line is, we distrust each other. If you tell my secrets, I’m telling your secrets. This is no way to live life.

Why do we distrust each other? I think it is because we are all insecure with ourselves. We are always focused on ourselves, and this constant self-examination exposes all of our flaws and short-comings. At some point, each one of us realizes just how pitiful we are, and so we do whatever it takes to make all the other pitiful people around us think we are less pitiful than them.

Take a look at Adam and Eve. They lived together in a state of complete innocence. Then, enter serpent, stage right. After a brief exchange about which fruits were and were not off-limits, “The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves” (Genesis 3:6-7).

Adam and Eve were ashamed. Their eyes were opened, and despite the beauty God saw in them, they became insecure. Think about it. Why are dreams about being naked in front of a crowd so embarrassing? We are insecure. We are flawed, and because of that, we are ashamed.

What is the solution? Let Jesus be the satisfaction of your soul! Nevermind what other people think! Who cares? Only one opinion matters:  God’s. And apparently He found you so valuable, so precious, so beautiful, that He became flesh like me and you, and He allowed Himself to be mutilated beyond recognition so that we would understand that love is not a commodity, not something to be bought, sold, or traded. Love is something God gives freely, and in doing so He sets an example for us. He loves us furiously, regardless of whether or not we love Him back, and so we should love others (and ourselves, for that matter) regardless of whether or not they love us back.

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:25-26

Anticipation

Sometimes people ask me what my favorite movie or TV show is, or maybe what my favorite dessert or breakfast food is. I always cheat and say that it depends on the category, or that I just can’t decide, or try to explain how it is unethical to compare Star Wars and Harry Potter for some abstract reason(s), thus rendering me incapable of choosing one over the other (yes, yes I do think about it way too much). But before you judge, you’ve cheated, too. I’ve seen your eyes. Everyone cheats at some point. However, there is one exception to my indecisiveness.

If you ask me what my favorite YouTube video is, I will probably answer before you can finish the question. My favorite YouTube video is less than two minutes long, and it shows a young woman, not quite 30 years old, testing out a hearing device after a rather expensive ($30,000) medical procedure that would allow her to hear clearly and crisply for the first time in her life. Before I tell you why it is my favorite video on YouTube, I really want you to watch it for yourself.

This is why I absolutely love this video and have watched it probably 20 or 30 times:  I earnestly believe this will be our reaction when we hear our Father’s voice calling us Home. When we, the sheep, hear the Shepherd’s cry for His people. When the Bridegroom calls His Bride into eternity.

This woman couldn’t hear anything for more than 10,000 days. Nothing. No Frank Sinatra. No Wiz Khalifa. No George Strait. Silence. Now she hears with the clarity you and I have. I think that on that Day when God calls us Home, when we hear His voice, all the things we’ve heard in our lives will seem like silence. Everything we’ve ever heard, from the most horrifying noises to the most eloquent poems will instantly pale in comparison to the love, the passion, the jealousy, the mercy, and the grace of our Redeemer’s voice.

TLC - MMM

Just a reminder that we should all slow down and think before we leap. You may think you are ready for something when in reality you aren't even close to being ready. Be patient.