A quote:
If at first you don't succeed, redefine success.
If you are going to walk on thin ice you might as well dance
This is the personal website of Matthew Dellinger. I use it speak my mind on the continuing work of God in my life, our culture, the the church, and anything else that comes to mind.
I'm currently trying to move into a more serious realm. I want to use this space primarily to address the second and third topics I mentioned: culture and the church. I'm always looking for something to write about, so if ya'll think of anything, just ask and I'll talk about it.
Enjoy, or at least think about what I post.
The trip has begun. Get updates from the Roadtrip 2007 page on the right-hand side of the page
(5/16/07)
This site has now been viewed over 1000 times. I think that's fairly good, all things considered. Especially since it was viewed that much by a fairly small group of people.
(5/26/07)
Is it not plain therefore that there is one great task of the Christian life: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We need new hearts and new minds. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good (Matthew 12:33). That?s the great challenge. That is what God calls you to. You can?t do it on your own. You need Christ, who died for your sins. And you need the Holy Spirit to lead you into Christ-exalting truth and work in you truth-embracing humility.
Give yourself to this. Immerse yourself in the written Word of God; saturate your mind with it. And pray that the Spirit of Christ would make you so new that the spillover would be good, acceptable, and perfect-the will of God.
(5/14/07)
Hey, I'm sorry for sort of overwhelmingly everyone with posts in the last couple days. If you don't feel reading everything, at least read this and the John Piper one about wisdom. This week has been crazy, but I've seen myself grow a lot. It's been amazing, because I've actually seen my heart change, not only as I apply the Word throughout the day, but while I'm reading it. God has really been doing his work fast, and it's been incredible to watch. Anyway, here's what I've been thinking about today. It's more Piper... what's new. Maybe I'll get ya some Lewis on the trip, but Piper is easier to fit in my schedule right now, and he's more what my soul is in need of.
Verse 24 says, "Consider one another in order to stir each other up to love and good works" (literal translation). There is a clear goal. We are meeting so that when we leave, we will have more power to love, more resources to love, more motivation to love, more wisdom to love and do good works, so that people will see our good works, as Jesus said, and give glory to our Father in heaven. The visible glory of God is at stake.
And not only is there a clear goal, there is a kind of urgent intentionality. The word "Consider" suggests that we come on the look out for how we can specifically help other people get power to love. We don't just drift into a 20:20 meeting thinking about all kinds of worldly things. We come on a mission. We come "considering," on the look out, watching, listening. What does Doug need tonight? What would help Liz be stronger tonight?
I want to thank ya'll for being my 2 Cor. 7:5-7 Tituses. I pray that I can be the same for you, but know that that can only happen through the power of God. Those of you who know me well know that I on my own have no ability to counsel, and so any words of wisdom you receive from me are only by God's grace.
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
God has really opened my eyes to the truth of this: the power of coming together with the intention of praying for each other, sharing our struggles, and reaching out to lift each other up. I think the first time I really experienced it was at Passion, where God's response to the fervent prayer of a righteous man fulfilled his promise and accomplished much. I pray that I can, through Christ's righteousness, be fervent in prayer for you as well. I desperately need your prayers for wisdom that Christ will fulfill Colossians 1:11 and 2:2-3 in my life.
(5/12/07)
CCM is finally catching the vision. With the release of their May issue, they are officially changing their definition of Christian music.
"This month marks a historic step for our magazine, and, as a result, the fans and the industry we serve," said CCM Editor Jay Swartzendruber. "We're going to start mixing indie and general market Christians such as The Fray, Mary J. Blige and Sufjan Stevens in with artists with traditional Christian label affiliation. Rather than define "Christian music" just by its label or distribution, we're now defining it as Christian worldview music."
And with that, they're changing their acronum to stand for Christ - Community - Music.
[Launcher] The extent that the editors of the mag will challenge themselves to recognize spiritually powerful work in a broader range of music remains to be seen, but at least it's a step in the right direction. What do you think?
(5/11/07)
Hey, if ya'll don't listen to U2, you're missing out. The lyrics to some of their songs are amazing. Check out Yahweh:
Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn
Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticize
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn
Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?
Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break
(5/11/07)
Wow. Ya'll check this. It's one of my fav Pipers
Ruth: a Strategic Righteousness
(5/10/07)
The following is stolen from John Piper's website.
First, desire wisdom with all your might. Proverbs 4:8 says, "Prize her highly and she will exalt you; she will honor you for your embrace." These are not cheap words. To prize something and to embrace someone are signs of intense desire and love. Wisdom must be valuable for us. We must be willing to sell all in order to buy it: "Seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasure" (Proverbs 2:4). Blessed is the graduate who walks through the commencement line more hungry for wisdom than when he entered school, for he shall be satisfied.
Second, since wisdom is found in the Word of God, we must apply ourselves in study and meditation to know the Word and do it. "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." (Psalm 19:7). Therefore, we must devote ourselves to know and understand the testimonies of the Lord. And here I commend not only faithful Bible study, but also regular reading of great books on theology and biblical interpretation, books that distill the wisdom of the greatest students of the word over the past 1900 years.
Now, I know what you are thinking: I don't have the time or the ability to get anywhere in books like that. So I want to show you something really encouraging. When this was shown to me about four years ago by my pastor, it changed my life. Most of us don't aspire very high in our reading because we don't feel like there is any hope. But listen to this. Suppose you read about 250 words a minute and that you resolve to devote just 15 minutes a day to serious theological reading to deepen your grasp of biblical truth. In one year (365 days) you would read for 5,475 minutes. Multiply that times 250 words per minute and you get 1,368,750 words per year. Now most books have between 300 and 400 words per page. So if we take 350 words per page and divide that into 1,368,750 words per year, we get 3,910 pages per year. This means that at 250 words a minute, 15 minutes a day, you could read about 20 average sized books a year! When I heard that, I went home, analyzed my day, and set aside the 15 minutes just before supper to read Jonathan Edwards' big book, Original Sin. And I did it in a couple of months. Then I turned to something else. I was absolutely elated: reading that I thought never could get done was now getting done in a 15 minute slot that would have been wasted anyway. Therefore, I encourage you, there is hope. Choose some classics that you've always wanted to read (St. Augustine's Confessions, or City of God; John Calvin's Institutes; Martin Luther's Commentary on Galatians, or Bondage of the Will; John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress; Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections; etc.), and set aside 15 minutes, maybe just before you go to sleep, to read. You will not be the same person next year at this time. Your mind will be stretched, your heart enlarged, your zeal more fervent. Above all, you will have grown in wisdom. And it may not be long until someone says of you: "The words of his mouth are as deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a gushing spring" (Proverbs 18:4).
The third thing we should do to get wisdom is pray. Solomon was not born a wise man. He prayed for wisdom and God said, "Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold now I do according to your word" (1 Kings 3:11). And Daniel admitted that in himself he had no wisdom (Daniel 2:30), but he said, "To thee, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for thou hast given me wisdom and strength, and hast made known to me what we asked of thee" (2:23). And we have seen how Paul prayed that the churches might be given "spiritual wisdom" (Colossians 1:9) and that they might have "a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God" (Ephesians 1:17). And finally, James puts it as clearly as we could wish: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God" (James 1:5). The wisdom that leads to true and lasting happiness is not natural or inborn. It is supernatural. It is a gift of God. Therefore, if we would "get wisdom," we must pray.
The fourth biblical instruction for how to get wisdom is to think frequently of your death. Or to put it another way, think of the shortness of this life and the infinite length of the next. Psalm 90:12 says, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." There is scarcely any thought that will purge our priorities of vain and worldly perceptions like the thought of our imminent death. O how cleansing it is to ponder the kind of life we would like to look back on when we come to die. There is great wisdom in such meditation. Therefore, think often of your dying.
Finally, there is one last, absolutely essential thing to do if you would "get wisdom": you must come to Jesus. He said to the people of his day, "The queen of the south will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold something greater than Solomon is here" (Matthew 12:42). What an understatement. Greater than Solomon indeed! Solomon spoke God's wisdom. Jesus is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30). Others had spoken truth; he is the truth. Others had pointed the way to life; he is the way and the life (John 14:6). Others had given promises, but "all the promises of God find their yes in him" (2 Corinthians 1:20). Others had offered God's forgiveness; Jesus bought it by his death. Therefore, in him are "hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). To know and love and follow this Jesus is to own the treasure of ultimate and eternal happiness. Therefore, the command, "Get wisdom," means first and foremost "Come to Jesus! Come to Jesus!" in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom.
(5/10/07)
Sorry for the language. If you don't know what this is a take off on, then you are retarded, uneducated, a loser, or smart enough to not watch random internet videos. Hanyway.
Hokay.
So here's Middle Earth. 'S chillin. Damn, that is a sweet Middle Earth you might say. LUMPY.
Hallright. Ruling out the icecaps melting, the strength of men failing, the elves sailing west and the sun exploding... Mordor's definetly going to blow us all up.
Hokay. So basically we got Rohan, Mordor, Gondor, Mirkwood, Isengarde, Rivendell, Lothlorian, the Shire and Ents, with people.
Mordor's about 26 billion times more evil than anyone else... whatever.
Hanyway, one day Mordor decides that they're going to enslave all these sons-of-bitches. So they send Nazgul to the Shire
So while they're on their way Gandalf's like "Shit Shit who the fuck is hunting us?" "Oh well, let's help!"
Then Rohan is like "Shit guys, ze eye of Sauron is coming! Fire ze beacons!" "But I'm le tired," "Oh well, take a nap, ZEN LIGHT ZE BEACONS!"
Meanwhile, the Shire is down there like "WTF, mate?"
Elves, men and dwarves fire their shit, so now we got armies running everywhere fighting each other.
Gondor's like "AAAAH! FOR GONDOR!!"
Then Elves are like "'Bout that time, eh, chaps?" "Right-o."
So now men are like "fuck, we're dumbasses." Ents are like "What's going on, baroom?"
The Shire's still "WTF, mate?" Star Wars fans are laughing at us and some huge metor's like "Well fuck that."
So now we got dominion all over. Everyone's enslaved, 'cept the Shire. And they're still like "WTF, mate?" But they'll be enslaved soon. Fucking Hobbitses.
But, assuming we don't enslave everybody, Mordor just has to worry about some Hobbits destroying the one ring. With help from a fellowship. Gollum can come too.
THE EIND!
(5/7/07)
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(5/7/07)