Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

So I just recently finished reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. Admittedly I had some reservations about reading this book because I have always heard really mixed reviews on Mr. Bell. I am happy to report however that I really enjoyed this book.

Now I have never really done any serious research on the theology of Rob Bell, and I am still a little shaky on what all he believes. But in this book, he just genuinely seems to be painting a picture of what he wants the Christian faith in the world to look like. In it’s simplest, Bell calls for the believer to fall more in love with Jesus, and to be more in awe of Him.

In Chapter 2, Bell describes the necessity of biblical interpretation. Interestingly, he argues against the idea that people can just live as the bible says, stating that everyone has there own biases and interpretations. Chapter 3 is possibly one of the most thought provoking chapters in the book, where Bell delivers his thoughts on missions and the reconciliation between truth and our experience. These are just things I found interesting in two of the eight chapters in this book.

There is a lot of great discussion points in this book, and I really wished I had read it with someone else so that we could have discussed it as we went. In my opinion Bell is not presenting anything that has not been presented by others who are questioning and “repainting” as it were what the Christian faith looks like.

A lot of people would fault Bell for being post-modern and emergent church folk, but I am not going to do that. The fact is, as I see it, and read it in this book, Rob Bell has a genuine love for Jesus, and he wants others to experience that kind of love also.

I just recently picked up one of his other books, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, and I am excited to read it when I finish the last chapter of Crazy Love by Francis Chan.

A New Prayer

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, “Rise up my love, fair one, and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

~A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Do We Really?

I am a huge fan of music. I love listening to it, playing it, and recently I have become fascinated with what is being said in the lyrics of songs. So recently I was listening to the song “Hosanna” and I started to think about the lyrics I was singing. Here is the line in particular that caught my eye:

“Break my heart for what breaks yours”

Here is what gets me. This is an incredibly popular worship song. I have seen hundreds of teenagers and college students lift up their hands and sing these words to the God of the Universe. But do they, do we, really know what we are asking for? This line is asking for God to break our hearts over what breaks His. Now I am not claiming to know the heart of God, but I would venture a guess and say that there is probably a lot in our world that breaks God’s heart.

But are we really ready to open ourselves up to that? I think if we truly allowed ourselves to be broken by all the things that break the heart of God, our lives would be radically different. We would look at the world, the events in the Sudan and elsewhere, and just be broken about them. I think we would not be so apathetic towards others, we would be revitalized with care for our fellow man. I think what this line is asking for is right.

But do we really want to be that broken? Are we really ready to let God rip away from us our comfortable world were everything is not perfect, but sugarcoated non the less, and let us see the world and all of it’s junk? I’ll be honest, the thought frightens me. I absolutely want to have my heart broken about the plight in this world, but to ask God to break my heart for what breaks his, that seems to open up quite a bit of brokenness to me. I would be very afraid to open myself up to that, I feel I would become very pessimistic about the world.

But still I sing the line. I think Christians need to be careful what they declare to God. If I am singing this song to God, and truly worshipping him, then I had better be expecting God to do what I ask. I had better be ready for him to start breaking my heart to things I knew nothing about. I try and remind the youth group that I work with that they should not sing empty words to God. I try and encourage them to really think about the words in the song and try and understand the implication of what singing that to God means, particularly if it is declaring or asking something of God.

I think truly, deep down inside me, I do want my heart to be broken by the same things that breaks God’s heart. In the last year or two, I have become more aware of a lot of injustice in our world and it truly does break my heart. But I always want to remember that when I ask something of God, I should be prepared for Him to give it to me.

I pray that I will never sing or say words to the God of the universe and have them be empty. I also pray that God would prepare my heart and my mind for just what I am asking, to be broken by the things that break his heart. But I also pray that God would show me the beauty of what the rest of the song talks about, of Christians rising up and being the agents of change in our world. I pray that I will still be able to see the beauty of this world, because I sometimes tend to be a little pessimistic when it comes to the condition of our world, the glass is half empty as opposed to half full if you catch my drift.

I ask that you would realize what you are asking of God, and that you would look at the words you say to him and the words you sing to him, and really make sure you believe what you are saying and are prepared for what you are asking.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:14