Coram Deo

coram Deo - "to live one's life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God." literally, the term coram Deo means "before the face of God"

The idea behind coram Deo is something that, since I was in high school and read John Piper for the very first time (after seeing the college ministry at Southcrest Baptist go through "Let the Nations be Glad"), I have tried and tried to live out in my life. In I Corinthians 10v.21, we read "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Whatever we're doing, we are to live in the knowledge that it is all in front of God's face.

I know that I live this out completely imperfectly and, in fact, am the chief of all hypocrites who seek to do this. But oh, how I wish to remain in a constant state of remembering this truth. In the society in which we live, though, we love to compartmentalize our lives, spiritually and in every other facet.

We seem to think that it really doesn't matter what we do the other six days of the week, as long as we're there on Sunday (or Thursday, if you're in college in some parts). We love to play the game and be "spiritual" or "religious" or even "Christian" people (it saddens me, though, when these "Christians" are the ones who compartmentalize most). How much different would churches be if Believers actually lived out a sense of coram Deo, that every little bit of life is for the glory of the Lord?

The Over-Dramatized Death of Stephen

As a society, we love having a flare for the dramatic. The movies we watch are full of drama, shows like American Idol and the Bachelor keep many Americans on the edge of their seats, and our teenagers are inundated with the idea that romance, especially teenage romance (if that even really exists) is full of it. We have these overly-dramatic views, too, of scenes from the Bible. These "Alas! Woe is me!!!" Shakespearean scenes of death, torture, glory, etc. One of my favorite examples is Christ's death on the cross. 

The common view is of a sickly skinny guy with hair that was once long and flowing, but now matted, giving an Oscar-worthy farewell address. The truth is that Christ, even in death, spoke with authority and power. He bore the pain and took it, as well as the weight of sin, for hours and hours in the heat of the day. There is nothing that says he writhed and squirmed like so many images of the Catholic church portray. I believe that Christ showed another glimpse of His power in how He faced death... not like a weakling, but like someone who knew exactly for what He was dying.

This morning, it strikes me how similar the death of Stephen is. I knew that there was similarity, but what really struck me is the same way in which we tend to over-dramatize his martyrdom. Up until this morning, I'd always thought of Stephen in a nice, long robe just kind of giving a really good speech to a bunch of people who were going to hate him, regardless of what he said. In my mind, for whatever reason, he had almost a whiny appearance. Then there's this conclusion to his incredible speech: "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you."

Those are not words to be uttered forth by a weak man. Stephen called the Israelites out on their home turf! After speaking of Moses and redemption and Christ, Stephen used the same words to denounce the Israelites. He called them out for being no different than their ancestors, so long before. These Israelites, who thought they had everything figured out and fit into a really solid religious mold, Stephen defied and told to bring it on. We often tend to wonder why the people got so upset with Stephen? Because he knew them and called them out.

For many of us, we tend to think that a lot of guys, in the Bible, went down without a fight. Stephen went down calling out the Israelites (even though he probably knew it was going to be the last thing he ever did on this earth, and it was) and praying for them. There are plenty areas in our lives where we need to call things out and, even if it means an end to us in that area, we go down calling it out and praying, praying, praying.

Long Night, Early Morning

It is just after 5:00am and my brain is chugging steadily onward towards its morning rush hour of caffeine and sugar in the form of one 20oz. cardboard cup. I have been awake steadily since about 3:45am and off and on before that since Carrie went to sleep at 11:30pm (after a run to McDonald's for a Happy Meal and anxiously awaiting the passing of tornado sirens and massive thunderstorms). I have spent my time dozing, thinking and praying for this beautiful woman next to me. Although it's not even been 24 hours since we came in with Carrie's acute abdominal pain and the procedure done wasn't what one would necessarily consider "major," for my wife to be in any pain is just about enough to make me want to bust some heads.

In these waning moments of night, though, I'm reminded of several things, though:

1. Carrie and I have incredible people around us - our family, friends, co-workers at NEXT, and our fellow Providence church-goers... wow, I've been blown away. We talk and talk and talk about "being" the Church, not just playing church, living missionally and a host of other catch-phrases to make us sound as though we're "different from those other churches and Christians..." but rarely see any difference. Cancel that thought. God has put us in the middle of a network of people who continually challenge, support, tease and yes, even "endure" us. But, more than anything, the Lord has placed us in the middle of an incredible network of people who know what it is to love.

2. The Lord's timing is perfect - So many factors that could have gone wrong... I was out of town all day on Monday, Carrie had an inkling that something was amiss just a few days ago, we didn't have an uber-stressful day ahead at the office, Andy and Robin were already coming down to spend some time with us and also Cassie and Curtis, Cassie was already coming up to the Northern Climes to watch LK for the day... it's ridiculous to see God's hand at work in such huge ways. All of that aside... Carrie found her new OBGYN down here (she was the OBGYN on call for the ER)!

3. I know that there will be rough times in marriage, but, I'm reminded again of the pain that Christ suffered for His Bride, the Church, and that I would willingly take all the pain that Carrie has endured on myself in a heartbeat. - This brought to mind Ligon Duncan's call to husbands from last years "Together for the Gospel" conference when he said these words: "You love your wife in light of how Christ loved the Church. He gave His life up for her and you are to do the same!" In a world awash in the heresy of emasculated men, husbands must be, in the words of Steve Farrar, the "point men" of their families and LEAD. I've been praying that God might enable me to treasure my wife and my daughter even more and I don't know how I could love the woman next to me any more, at this point in life.

God is good. He continues to watch over His people and lead them forward in advancing His Kingdom and, ultimately, magnifying His glory.

Redemption

As a little boy, I had a fear of being kidnapped. I can remember planning out how I would pretend that someone had already "gotten to me" if there was ever a kidnapper in my house. Whether it was because of movies I saw when I was little, the constant "Have You Seen Me?" advertisements in mailers and at the post office, or even broadcasts in the middle of Chicago Cubs baseball games on WGN, I was scared of being kidnapped and held for ransom. The movie "Man on Fire" was playing in my head almost two decades before it came out.

As we began our new sermon series at Providence over Exodus, some of these thoughts came flooding back to me. Exodus is the story of God's redemption of His people from slavery in Egypt. As I sat there and thought about these fears from childhood, it reminded me of how incredible it is that Christ has redeemed His children.

What would it be like to be kidnapped and not even know it? The heartache, loneliness, abuse, and everything else that comes with our idea of being kidnapped? Or, even worse, to be constantly wooed into a stupor by your kidnapper to where you just thought the things that were going on around you were how things were supposed to be?

To realize and really understand what Christ did in redeeming us is an incredible thought. He paid our ransom so that we might no longer be under the control of the kidnapper. Through His sacrifice, He glorified Himself by purchasing our lives.

We live in a world that doesn't even know it's been kidnapped. In fact, it's very being desires to be with the kidnapper, since we fall into believing that he gives the best treats and candy. Yet, we know the ransom that has been paid, in Christ's blood, for us.

I pray that my daughter and wife know that, if one of them were ever kidnapped, their man would not stop until he had brought them home (as well as their kidnappers...). And to think... Christ has already done this for us!