I could easily have blogged about the beautiful blue skies and the puffy white clouds making our spirits soar on a chilly Monday morning. But, instead I chose something “heavier” to blog about.

In case you haven’t noticed, we live in a culture that possesses an odd relationship with “knowing.” Philosophical types will refer to this an “epistemological” problem. Whether in politics or pop culture, relationships or religion… we struggle with certain categories: What we know and what we don’t know; what we can know and what we cannot know; and how we know what we know. The problem is, our culture has confused or blurred all the categories. For example, a few years ago a popular stand-up comedian quipped, “We live in a strange world—a world that is firmly convinced that God is dead and that Elvis is alive!” O.K., so the people who still believe that Elvis roams the earth incognito may constitute the lunatic fringe, but they are not alone. For instance, even many well-pedigreed scientific minds firmly believe in the existence of absolutely unprovens such as UFO’s and aliens. For many of these academics, from a presuppositional stance, God cannot possibly exist, but, on the other hand, because there are so many cosmic entities in the universe, the probability of other intelligent life out there is (according to them) nearly statistically “certain.” Really. Or should I exclaim, “Really!.” Or should I question, “Really???”

If you are a “Christ Follower,” to survive in this topsy-turvy intellectual climate you MUST know WHAT you know, and HOW you know, and WHY you know. You must also know what you DON’T know, and whether what you don’t know CAN OR CANNOT be known. I know this may sound like a boring exercise in futility, but in reality it can prove to be quite stimulating—really. It will also help you come to a firmer grasp of who you are as a “Christ follower.”

In addition, in your study of the Bible, this can become quite a freeing exercise. There are certain items about the Bible that I know. I feel pretty good about those. There are also many items with regard to the Bible that I either do not know, or once knew and now have forgotten. I don’t feel so good about those. However, I am intrigued about the categories of Biblical “stuff” that I might LIKE to know, but that I CANNOT know. You know, there ARE categories like that… continued in pt.2

continued from pt.1

The Bible is an amazing book. It is (I know, and I know that I know, and I know how I know, and I know why I know) God’s communication to us of all that we need to know, and can know in order to live in a “right” relationship with him. But you can ask questions of the Bible that the Bible CANNOT answer. If that sounds sacrilegious to you, chill out and realize that the Bible is not some magical answer book for every question. It is what it is.The Bible is an amazing book. It is (I know, and I know that I know, and I know how I know, and I know why I know) God’s communication to us of all that we need to know, and can know in order to live in a “right” relationship with him. But you can ask questions of the Bible that the Bible CANNOT answer. If that sounds sacrilegious to you, chill out and realize that the Bible is not some magical answer book for every question. It is what it is.

I actually find great comfort that sometimes the answer to (even) big questions posed of the Bible are, “I do not know, because I CANNOT know.” For example, just this week, one of our CCH gals emailed me a question about Jesus’ encounter with a demon possessed man in Mark 5 and Luke 8. The demon(s) (actually plural —demons who referred to themselves as “legion” or “many”) per their own request, were allowed by Jesus to escape from the man they possessed and to flee into a herd of pigs. The pigs, without delay, hurled themselves over a precipice into the lake, and drowned. The question is, “Why did Jesus send the demons into the pigs?” Well, you can brainstorm any number of answers you have time and mental energy to conjure. But, in the end, do you know what the answer is? Yep, you guessed it. I don’t know. Neither do you. We don’t know the answer because we CANNOT know the answer. Why? Because the scripture that tells the facts of the story reveals nothing about Jesus’ motivation. And you know what? I am O.K. with that. Actually I am thrilled by that. There is mystery that remains.

I am happy to know certain things. I am happy to know THAT I know certain things. I am happy to know HOW I know certain things. And yes, I am happy—even thrilled—to be able to say that there are some things I DO NOT know because I CANNOT know them—because not enough information has been given to know them.

Care to join me in my ecstasy of “I don’t know because I CAN’T know?” I know that you want to.

You know the scene. We’ve all watched it…many times. Saturday mornings or ABC’s TGIF. It’s the scene of the teenage kid in his room, listening to music. Enter little sister. “Where’d you put Mr. Bear?!” “I don’t know where your stupid bear is.” Little sister, confident she knows exactly where to find Mr. Bear, reaches for the door handle of her (messy) teenage brother’s closet. As he cringes and manages to mutter half of a “No!,” we all know what’s coming next. Predictably (and with added canned laughter), lil sis disappears in the avalanche of soccer balls, shoes, and a hockey stick or two. Cheesy as it is, if we’re honest, that’s a little bit of our own lives depicted in Technicolor.

After moving apartments, cleaning out my car, and - most recently - sorting through a closet here at the Campus House, it’s amazing just how much STUFF we accumulate – without even knowing it! “Maybe I’ll use it someday.” “I spent some serious $$ on that.” “I need this. It really shows ‘who I am’.” Like the man who hoarded his grain in Luke 12:13-21, perhaps we find security behind our walls of clutter, choosing to trust and take pride in our own wealth than in God’s faithful provision when we are truly in need.

Are these reasons just nice masks on our materialistic idolatry? Or do they hide our doubts about who we are in Christ – doubting that we don’t need outward stuff to define who we are? And how much does the material clutter in our lives clutter our relationship with God and other people? Distracted by material things, we fail to spend time reading & reflecting on the Word or in prayer or getting together with a hurting friend. (Plus, coming from an affluent society, we don’t realize how much our consumption affects those in our world who have little. A man named Dr. Charles Birch once said, “The rich must live more simply that the poor may simply live.” But that’s a whole other subject to tackle.)

Proverbs 23:4 states, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.” I’m planning to do a little “spring cleaning”, clearing out the clutter of stuff and of busyness (and feel free to hold me to it!). Now, I do not question the importance of wise stewardship. It would be unwise and uncaring to those around us to make ourselves so materially destitute that we become burdensome to others. But can we live more simply? Can we be creative with what we already do have rather than instantly hopping over to Wal-Mart and always buying new? Can we choose to consume less and give more – give more of our stuff, money, time, and prayers? Yes to all. But the real question is “will we?”

How often do we pray about selfish things? God give me a great day, God help me to do well on this test, God give me strength, God give me wisdom, God give me patience, God give me everything that I want. Gimme gimme gimme. I am all too guilty at this type of prayer too. It’s not a bad thing to ask for wisdom, patience, or strength, but what I do want to focus on is how often is the subject of our prayers ourselves? How often do we pray for others?

To everyone reading this blog, all I’m asking for us to do is to take some time this week and while you are praying to stop yourself in the middle and see what you are praying about. If you find yourself praying about yourself, then shift your focus of prayer to other people. And you might say, well I don't know who to pray for!

Here’s what you do, sit down and make a list of all the people that are close to you then work outwards. family, friends, classmates, professors, the staff here, family group leaders, your family group members (an assumption that you are in a family group, if you're not I highly recommend you to join one), your church leaders at your home church, and if you are thinking more globally, then people in Haiti, people in Chile, or any other country where you know they need prayer. Now don't think that the list I just gave is the only list you can use to pray for, it is only an example, a guide to help you start thinking about others. Use this list every time you pray and go down it as you progress through the week.

I talked yesterday about the idea of “adopting” two of your Facebook friends for a more intentional friendship for the next 30 days. For those of you who weren’t at Campus House let me explain.

We all have people in our friend list (some of them numbering over 1,000!!) that we don’t necessarily think about (or sometimes even care about) at all. So to increase our intentionality in these friendships, let’s take one month and consciously think about being more intentional with just two of them.

For example, you might find out what, specifically, is going on in their lives, and I don’t mean knowing what their status updates are…I mean really finding out what is going on in their lives and then encouraging them accordingly.

Or maybe sending them a message that is just for them…not on their wall…but yes, in their inbox, for them alone.

Or how about asking them to join you for a meal or coffee sometime (if distance allows), and no I don’t mean trying to pick up a date…this is for their benefit not for your own. An exercise in humility as well as intentionality.

So how about it? How about some of us do this for 30 days and see if at the end we feel closer to those two people? See if intentionality makes a difference online as well as offline. Let’s try this together.