First Things

Deep Waters

Welcome to the first post!  

I figured it would be a good idea to set the tone by talking about the why, who, and what of First Things.  In all honesty, I’ve struggled with how to properly inaugurate this blog.  Much of it has to do with the twin demons of perfectionism and procrastination with whom I regularly do battle.  

So, like a mentally detached World of Warcraft player returning to battle with a warm plate of chicken, “Let’s do this!”…¹

Three Kingdom Principles

Several years ago, a friend asked me, “Why don’t you start a blog?”  I don’t recall my immediate response, but the thought invoked a vision of my wearing a handlebar mustache, acquiring a sudden taste for Pabst Blue Ribbon, and spending all day at expensive coffee shops sporting horned-rimmed glasses, a Che Guavera t-shirt, and a MacBook Air.  Blogging seemed pretentious–reserved for hipsters, people who felt like they had a lot to say.  Because I wasn’t anything like that, I put the idea in the back of my head for a long time.  

So what’s changed?  

Three Kingdom Principles come to mind.

First, Jesus reminds us of the principle that to those who are given much, much is expected.  As I look back over the last decade, I recognize that I’ve been given a lot.  I’m not talking about material blessings, but rather Truth being revealed in Christ.  This truth didn’t land on me from out of the sky, but was slowly absorbed over a period of searching, desperation, and deep spiritual loneliness.  Because of this, it’s valuable to me and I need to share it.  As I share this truth with friends, family, and others, I hope to sow seeds of the Kingdom in others who have “ears to hear and eyes to see”.  This is what I believe I’ve been called to do.

Second, I hope to chronicle my own spiritual journey.  My thinking today has significantly shifted from what it was a decade ago and it’s vastly different than it was two decades ago.  I’m sure it will continue to change.  This demonstrates another principle–namely that spiritual maturity moves at a tectonic pace.  While slow, I’m encouraged by the maturity that has occurred in me.  Also, as I continue to sow the seeds of the Kingdom into our kids it just makes sense to store my thoughts and ideas in cyberspace where they’ll always be accessible to them, even after I’m gone.  While I have no expectation that this blog will be a lasting legacy and trusted repository of sublime revelation (such as the one this handsome devil has), I trust it will serve its purpose for those who are looking.

Lastly, writing is one of the few things that has ever come easy to me.  This gift has mostly been used to produce technical content as part of my profession.  Perfectionism has kept me fearful of using this talent for anything more valuable.  This leads me to the third Kingdom principle found in the Parable of the Talents.  It seems that we’ll all be judged to some degree based on whether we’ve invested or buried our God-given aptitude.  The time to dust off this skill and offer it to the building of the Kingdom is long overdue.  My prayer is that the Lord would speak through my meager, imperfect offering.  

The Average Western Christian

My hope is the content in First Things would benefit any believer as well as the curious.  But when I conceived the idea, I had a very specific audience in mind.  A group that has been largely forgotten in the church today–a lost demographic to which my heart is particularly attracted.  

I wanted to put my arm around the shoulders of the average western Christian.

You know the type:  

Sincere believers who go to church, honestly try to pray, read their Bibles, try to love the Lord and their neighbor with all the strength they can muster.

Some have made mistakes and sometimes find forgiveness a difficult concept.  Some may secretly engage in besetting sins and live a vicious cycle of guilt, hopelessness, sin, and self-condemnation.  They’re utterly dependent on God’s mercy but find God’s victory over their bondage an elusive prospect.  

No longer able to rely on youthful exuberance, many find the ‘Christian expectation’ a heavy burden.  They’re regularly reminded to try harder to “be like Jesus” but their attempts are wrought with inconsistency and failure.  Unable to meet the expectation they figure that true spiritual growth is attainable only by the religious professional or ascetic zealot.

Their church community is a collection of loose acquaintances who meet once a week to sing songs and hear a teaching.  It’s a comfortable respite with safe friendships, but where Christ will be difficult to find for the next 166 hours.

Surrounded by cultural shallowness and stymied by heady theological axioms, many have given up the idea of real growth and intimacy with the Lord.  Accepting the moniker that they are just “sinners saved by grace” they instead divert energy into the things that culture readily offers in abundance:  Career, entertainment, sports, hobbies, political engagement, social causes, religious causes, and other things that otherwise fill the void of purpose and meaning–things that appear more tangible and practical than the Lord.

Given the emphasis on inflexible religious patterns and dead tradition, maybe they believe that Bible reading, church programs, and regular attendance is all there is to the Christian life.  They feel like cogs in a machine.  Somewhere deep down inside, they know that there must be more but struggle to find the abundant life that Christ promised.  They recognize something is missing in their life and whatever it is seems profoundly simple yet frustratingly out of reach.  

Does this describe you?

If it doesn’t, then consider yourself fortunate.  In my experience, you are the exception.   

If it does, please know that you’re not alone.  I’ve been there too.  In many respects I’m still there.  I get it and I know many others who also get it.  You are who Jesus refers to as the poor in spirit.  Christ promises that under His Reign, you may inherit His Kingdom.  My prayer is that this blog helps you to both see and thrive in that inheritance.

The Mystery and the Ordinary

I want this blog to give voice to ideas that are critical and foundational for all believers, but are rarely discussed within the Christian conversation.  Things that I wish more believers would talk about.  This isn’t some gnosticism or special knowledge revealed only to a few.  It’s all clearly in scripture–the hidden obvious.  It’s just that, over the centuries the emphasis has shifted to lesser things–theological squirrels and shiny objects.  

We’ve lost practical grasp of the vital connection which supplies life, sustains us, and allows us to thrive as we engage our true purpose.

The title of the blog originates from C.S. Lewis and his discussion on the relationship between what he calls first things and second things.  First things are fundamentally connected with our core identity.  Second things are the lesser things that we are tempted to pursue above first things.  Lewis asserts that if you seek second things above first things, you will ultimately lose proper apprehension of both.  Keep in mind not all second things are detrimental unless we seek them above first things.  For the believer, the first things are Jesus Christ, His Kingdom, and our moment-by-moment call to bear His image.  The integral connectedness between these three things is what the Apostle Paul refers to as “the mystery”.  Conversely, second things refers to anything else with which we occupy our time (i.e. “the ordinary”).

I contend that ineffectiveness as the church is primarily rooted in our failure to maintain our individual and corporate focus on the person of Jesus Christ–not as an historical figure, good moral example, or vague theological construct, but as a living, breathing, life-giving Spirit that seeks intimacy with, energizes, and directs those who seek Him.  Of course there is great mystery in the mechanics of how that works.  Rather than be a vanilla Christian blog full of random musings and shallow sentiment, my hope is that it would be a place where we exchange practical words and insight to engage that mystery.

So What Will This Blog be About?

First Things is about widening the aperture through which we view Jesus Christ.  It’s about filling our view with His greatness, majesty, and supremacy to be awestruck and compelled by the new things we see.  It’s about disentangling and de-cluttering our worldview to more easily see the grand narrative that surrounds us, calling us deeper.  It’s about returning to our King as our source of Life and letting that life lead us in the fulfillment of God’s own eternal purposes. 

It’s for those who are tired of superficial Christianity, who are drawn by the echo of depth and purpose, and who are desperate enough to wager their lives in fierce pursuit of our King for nothing but His glory.  If this describes you then I offer my hand that we might help one another search for higher vistas from which to behold our King.  

While chronicling my own journey, I hope to offer you my thoughts, encouragement, and practical insight from a fresh and unconventional perspective gained from the day-to-day experience of walking with my King as a member of His earthly colony.

But before we dive in, we need to first lay some groundwork.  Over the next seven posts I hope to introduce a theological framework that will help us understand what Christianity is really about. It will be a massive shift in the way we think about church and life overall.  These posts will be longer and more dense than the stuff I will normally post.  There’s going to be a lot to unpack and I’ll reserve the right to edit these in the future as my understanding changes.  We’re going to talk about some things that even seasoned Christians many have never heard of, but are nonetheless foundationally important.  We may also spend some time de-constructing a lot of contemporary emphasis which often gets in the way of a proper apprehension of the Holy.  

Rather than just read the posts, I invite you to engage them by posting your own thoughts relevant to the topic.  I only ask that we focus on the big picture and not derail the conversation for minor theological differences.  I concede that my understanding is still a work-in-progress.  Over time it will change (though it will likely never look exactly like yours).  

Until we all attain perfect knowledge, your grace is appreciated.

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This said, I welcome you into the conversation and into the journey.

We’re departing the shallows and setting out into deep waters.

The deep waters are alluring, but they’re not safe.  

They’re not comfortable.  

They may change us.  

In fact, we may never return.

But it’s in the deep waters where we’ll find Life.

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¹ First Things is not responsible for explaining not-so-popular cultural references, dad jokes, or other hazards you may run across while reading.  The inherent worth of every human being will be aggressively upheld, but do not mistake First Things as a “safe space”.  Thinking will be continuously challenged in an environment of compassion and understanding.  Though the writer will not intend it, someone, somewhere will be offended.  I will remind the reader that taking offense is always a choice.

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Image Credit: Rujhan Basir from Pixabay