clean and unclean

"What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' " MARK 7: 20-23

Reflecting upon this passage, it seems fake, it seems impossible, as if humans couldn't possibly be this evil, alarmingly shallow, or frighteningly terrible. But when I evaluate it in truth, my own heart is revealed. I am this evil. I am this brutal. I am this terrible. I am the essence of this passage.

In any given day and at least week, I am all of these things. I am a cheater, a liar, a greedy fool, a lover of money, an adulterer, an arrogant snob, a thief, a deceitful scoundrel, a gross slanderer - a man full of pride and envy. I am all of these things and more. I am at any given time, the epitome of the fall.

We are warned of the yeast of the Pharisees. Yeast spreads through dough, the whole dough. In today's language we might have been warned of cancer or weeds. Cancer spreads through the body with disregard for health. Weeds spread and choke out anything in their path. They kill. The same is true for those who oppose the Truth. I often wonder how evil can spread so quickly, so ruthlessly, while good can take so long to take hold...? It seems backwards and silly. It starts with the man in the mirror. It appears the symptom of a fallen world where sin runs wild and evil flaunts around untamed and uncontrolled, while good is confined to a jail with walls made of greed, envy, jealousy, lust, sex, murder, arrogance and immorality.

Ultimately, I have come to realize that evil can be overcome but with one thing, Love. I don't mean the kind of love that we whisper in secret corners of past crushes, or about the kind of love we bestow upon our pets, or the love we profess for decadence like ice cream or cookies, or the love we proclaim for amusement park rides, or the love we attach to cherished possessions.

Rather, I mean the love someone would show by redeeming us for all of our debt with one single, incredible act. I'm talking about the kind of love someone would die for in order to free many from the grasp of demons. I'm talking about the kind of love someone would show by carrying the sins of the world upon their back only to be betrayed and put to death, as to pay the ransom for people like me.

This love manifests itself only when we sacrifice of ourselves for something, or should I say, SOMEONE, bigger than ourselves. So long as we look to the 'self' first, evil will have it's way. There is nothing greater in life than laying down our own for the sake of another - it is the very essence of love. I hope I will learn to lay down my life every day.

White Socks

I'm not sure why people choose to wear white socks with dress clothes or with sandals or with suits. It's such an eyesore, a terrible fashion. Why...? I'm wondering if God is trying to teach me something through my disdain for the white socks. Maybe, it's the very same way God looks at me and the sin in my life - he's wondering why I'm that guy with a suit on matched with white socks and loafers. He's probably wondering, "How in the world could I give Bret this beautiful new garment, washed in the blood of the Lamb, woven with precious linens of grace, hope and love; and he goes and puts on white socks - that's messed up!" It's gotta be a lesson. Why am I wearing white socks ...?

It appears that even Paul wore white socks at times, acknowledging that rebirth does not preclude us from the evil desires of flesh.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

ROMANS 7:14-25

It sucks to live like this. I do what I don't want to do all time. I hate looking in my drawers every morning and seeing white socks overflowing. Even when you know that white socks look terrible with sandals, you put them on anyway.

Thank goodness for grace. Thank goodness our weakness is made strong in the One who provides grace. Otherwise, I would look like a dork most every day - oh yeah, I still do.

WAKEUP!!!!

Another interesting link to follow about movements to change Wal-Mart... when I see the "wake up" part, I can't help but to think of a song by one of my favorite bands of years gone by, Rage Against the Machine. The song obviously isn't about Wal-Mart, but it about lies, oppression and holding the poor man down.

WAKE UP
Come on!
Uggh!

Come on, although ya try to discredit
Ya still never read it
The needle, I'll thread it
Radically poetic
Standin' with the fury that they had in '66
And like E-Double I'm mad
Still knee-deep in the system's shit
Hoover, he was a body remover
I'll give ya a dose
But it can never come close
To the rage built up inside of me
Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy

Movements come and movements go
Leaders speak, movements cease
When their heads are flown
'Cause all these punks
Got bullets in their heads
Departments of police, the judges, the feds
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
You know they went after King
When he spoke out on Vietnam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Yeah!
Yeah, back in this...
Wit' poetry, my mind I flex
Flip like Wilson, vocals never lackin' dat finesse
Whadda I got to, whadda I got to do to wake ya up
To shake ya up, to break the structure up
'Cause blood still flows in the gutter
I'm like takin' photos
Mad boy kicks open the shutter
Set the groove
Then stick and move like I was Cassius
Rep the stutter step
Then bomb a left upon the fascists
Yea, the several federal men
Who pulled schemes on the dream
And put it to an end
Ya better beware
Of retribution with mind war
20/20 visions and murals with metaphors
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
Ya know they murdered X
And tried to blame it on Islam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Uggh!
What was the price on his head?
What was the price on his head!


I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard, I think I heard a shot

'He may be a real contender for this position should he
abandon his supposed obediance to white liberal doctrine
of non-violence...and embrace black nationalism'
'Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them.
Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them
and neutralize them, and neutralize them, and neutralize them'

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

How long? Not long, cause what you reap is what you sow

a beautiful song...

Lately I've been humming Amazing Grace a lot. It's a soothing song, very soothing. Somehow, the song has resonated deeply and intensely with me over the course of the past few weeks as I learn of God's amazing grace for me.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, Who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.

fifty

I can't help but to miss fifty people at a place called fifty in a country that is about 4050 miles away. Fifty means community. Fifty means friendship. Fifty means faith and love and Jesus and gratitude and goodness and strength and serving and hope. There are fifty words in the post.