Musings and Mischief: a blog by Ben Gazaway

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  (1 Cor. 2:1-2  NIV)

^{1 -2}You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified. (1 Cor. 2:1-2 The Message Version)

One of my favorite apps on my ipad is a Bible app which displays the NIV and Message paraphrase simultaneously in split-screen style.  I know there are those who aren’t very kind to the Message paraphrase, but I’ve always been a sucker for its fresh take on some very familiar scripture.  I’ve enjoyed reading a chapter in the NIV and then re-reading it in it’s contemporary sibling and have been working my way through the Pauline epistles thusly.  It’s been a very rich way of studying scripture.

Last night, was one example as I was reminded of the simplicity of God’s call on our lives to keep things “plain and simple”.  That is, focusing the lion share of my attention on who Jesus is and what He did.  Just as the great commandment summed up the law into two intertwined phrases:  love God with all your heart and love others as yourself.  Paul reminds us that the experience of preaching the Gospel can be summed up into two intertwined phrases:  tell about who Jesus is and tell about what He did.

When the pure and distilled message of Christ is preached find a freedom as ministers of the Gospel, realizing that we are more akin to reporters telling about a person, a place and an action rather than a novelist who must manufacture a compelling story.  The story is already there, and it’s already compelling when presented free from my bias’ and soapboxes.  It’s also humbling because we realize our task is to “forward to all” without inserting our own name in the subject line.  As we do this, God promises His power to back up His message so that our testimony may be that of Paul in 1 Cor. 2:4:

[T]he Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else. (The Message)

Here’s a song I wrote this past year and will have critiqued at this year’s songwriter’s conference.  Let me know what you think (and please keep your comments related to the song, not the performance ;o)  I’ve included the lyrics below.  Click on the link to hear the song.

Home

Lyrics

Don’t pack a bag for me, Cause where I’m going I don’t need much

Just one glimpse of You, Just one final touch

Oh the questions that I have, Oh the wonder of life’s mysteries

and in the midst of my uncertainties

I know that God is here, I know the time is near, I know that He has called me home

To know the saviors face and the scars upon his feet

to fill my lungs with heaven’s sweet air the first time that I breathe

(chorus)

and in the midst of my own life, I’ve seen the fingerprints of God

why should I doubt Him now?

and though I walk to the unseen I catch the fragrance of my King

and to Him…and to Him I fly

Don’t waste your tears on me, cause prayers are answered in so many ways

and don’t close your heart to peace

Just know that I am here, and know that God is near you

and one day He will bring you home.

It is not enough to read God’s Word, or meditations as here offered, and when we think we have hold of the thoughts, and have asked God for His blessing, to go out in the hope that the blessing will abide.  No, it needs day by day time with Jesus and with God.  (Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray, page 7)

I have a confession to make.  I am a book junkie.  My library has books on everything from buying/ selling on ebay to Harry Potter to G.K. Chesterton and everything in-between.  I would name my dog Amazon if Becky would let me.  Occasionally, I’ll rummage through my books like kids in grandpa’s attic and pick one out of the archive to read before going to bed.  I never finish the book…it’s more akin to sitting down with an old high school friend and getting caught up over coffee.

Tonight, though, I picked up a weathered and water logged book that I haven’t looked at in years.  It’s called Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray; I think I picked it up out of the dollar bin at a Lifeway bookstore clearance sale.  What a great reminder of the promise/ precept of God that we are not called simply to know of Jesus, his mission and his love for us.  Rather, we are invited to abide in him via the power of the Holy Spirit.  Murray’s meditations on John 15 serve as a wonderful foil to the hurried lifestyles we so often embrace.  His above mentioned quote a reminder that we simply cannot enjoy the abiding power and peace of God apart from spending time in His presence.

Needless to say, I will be finishing this book in the nights ahead.