Matt W Cook

Every morning and evening I read a neat little devotional called Daily Light on the Daily Path. It’s neat because instead of reading a verse and a commentary this guy brings a bunch of different verses on the same subject together to form a little devotional. I’ve found it a refreshing way to start and end the day. I like the fact that it’s only Bible so I’m not meditating on someone’s comments on the Bible, but the Bible itself.

I was just reading it this evening and the compiler brought two verses together that, though they are from totally different contexts, fit together in an amazing way. Ephesians 3:3 and John 3:7 :

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. – Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

Why should we not marvel that Christ says to be born again? Why should we not marvel when Christ says you must leave everything you have ever thought valuable in order to follow him? Why should we not marvel that Christ bids a man to come and die? Why should we not marvel that every single part of our being must be made new before it can be acceptable to him? Because by nature we are children of wrath. Foolish, disobedient, slaves to passion, malice, envy, hate, lust, greed, gluttony, laziness, cowardice, jealousy, evil thoughts, lazy thoughts, ignorant thoughts, pride, superficiality, faithlessness, joylessness, restlessness. We should not marvel that we must be made new because of how totally screwed up we are when we start this journey!

I got a neat little bicycle. It’s one of those old-style 50s bikes that are popular here. I ride like a Pakistani. That means me, Joseph and mom all fit on it together. Don’t ask how, just believe it. My back wheel always gives me trouble, since the day I bought it. It kept on getting punctured and it screwed the bike up for a while. I used to just try to patch the hole when it blew, but it would always get another puncture a few days later. Eventually I realized that I had to go out and get a brand-new inner tube. Things are going better thus far. Maybe a screwy analogy, but we’re like a back wheel. When we come out of the store our inner-tube is kinda screwed to begin with, though not because the shopkeeper wanted to rip off the white guy buying the bike, but because the stuff we’re made out of was corrupted from the original batch of rubber. As a result of this we will never be able to be a useful wheel, even if we try to patch ourselves up every time we blow. Patches made out of morality, civility, legal codes and whatnot cannot help us. In fact, they change us into something different from what we were supposed to be. The only solution is to get a new inner-tube.

I think that some people imagine that joining up with Christianity is like hopping into a mold. Christians on TV, movies, books, and even often in real-life seem to have the exact same kind of personality and mannerisms. I think this is because sometimes we have a certain picture of what a Christian should be and we try to mold ourselves into that, instead of trying to passionately love Jesus. When we start trying to shape personality quirks to match the contemporary view of Christendom we are really just putting patches on the same, crappy inner-tube.

The New Birth is not a transformation into a quirky, cute, western sub-culture. The movie Saved! pointed out this nasty problem that we have. We figure out what a Christian is supposed to think, do, eat and say and we try to do. Problem is that Christ didn’t command “do” so much as he commanded “be”. He said “You must be born again.” Regeneration is not something you do. It’s something that is done to you. We’re so friggin’ screwed up that there is no way in heaven or hell that we could pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and do it ourselves. The church is so wrapped up in trying to have the right image and show people that we do the right thing that we are forgetting to be. Once we become passionate, radical, loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, self-controlled, hopeful, lovers of Christ, then the do will take care of itself.

So let’s throw ourselves into the path of his grace and beg it would roll all over us.

You know what I heard the other day? I heard that

All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass whithers,
and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.

Okay, everyone run to Google and type in the words “Aishwarya Rai”. Find yourself a picture of her face. She is, arguably (and according to my wife), the most beautiful girl in the word. Now think about what I heard the other day. What is the glory of the flesh? Beauty. Health. Endurance. Passion. Superficiality. All shall fade. Aishwarya is quite beautiful today, but how will she look in ten years? Or a hundred years? Just a blink of an eye and she will be an old, sagging woman and then a rotting corpse. Then what use will beauty be? Who will love her when her body fails? Soon she will go the way of all flesh, and what will remain? Only her precious, immortal soul. Perhaps before her you will feed the worms. What will you possess that will remain? Your family is gone. Your beauty corrupted. Your intellect wasted. Your toys given to another. Your words silenced. All that you tasted, saw, heard and touched are gone. All the things that seemed so important are gone in another plane of existence and totally irrelevant. What will remain? Only your immortal soul and the ever-living Word of God and the horrible questions, “What did you do with this Word? What did you do with my Son?”

And what will he say to us? Will he say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant! Come and enter into the joy of your Lord!”? Or shall he say, “Who are you?”? Eternal joy or misery is at stake, don’t screw it up because of toys destined for the fire.

Food for thought.

ps – Yay for Todd! ;-)
pps – I have nothing against Aishwarya Rai. I think think she is a lovely, talented woman who is a fine actor. I only used her as an object lesson.

I got two groups of pictures for you.

1) A picture made from words from a shepherd who has influenced my life in many ways. I think if I had not encountered his ministry I might be a rich, healthy dude living in a big house, going off to the cottage every long weekend, married to a pretty blonde and completely miserable. Read his encouraging words here.

2) Some pictures of my dear son and our new pet:

Something neat happened a few weeks ago at the church in Sanghar. Ruth happened to be there that weekend. Among the Christians in Pakistan there are two main groups. The middle-class Punjabis and the lower-class Marwari folk. It’s easy to tell them apart by their dress and accent. The church in Sanghar has been historically Punjabi, even though the pastor (my father-in-law) is a Marwari. Usually it’s tough for the tribal folk to get to church on a Sunday. Many of them live a few hours away and they are too poor to afford the twenty cent ride into town. This is why when a dozen new Marwaris showed up it created quite an interest. In Pakistan most Punjabis are Muslim, and those who aren’t are Christians. Most Marwaris are Hindu, and those who aren’t are Christian. The Marwaris that showed up were Hindus, but they had been drawn in for some reason or another and were looking for a life change. My father-in-law called them to the front at the end of the meeting. They explained that they wanted release from the demons and evil spirits that were tormenting them. Devraj explained to them that forgiveness and freedom is only found in Jesus and His sacrifice and he commanded them to take off their charms and turn from the other gods and rest only with Jesus. They obeyed. It took about five minutes to get all the charms off. They were so excited! They threw the charms to the ground and stomped on them, praising Jesus for his provision and sacrifice. Needless to say, Ruth was very eager to talk to them after the meeting. And so she did. She sat with them for a long time, answering their questions and encouraging in their new walk. As she sat there a Punjabi lady walked by and with a look of distain said “Huh. Looks like you have some new friends, eh?”

You see, most people in this country will come right out and say, “I hate Marwaris.” Ruth, by virtue of her education and husband, is largely, though not completely, exempt from this discrimination. The Muslims hate them because they are Hindu and dirty. The Christians distain them because they are dirty and were Hindu. It shocked Ruth that someone who claims to follow Christ would express anything but joy at the prospect of new people turning from idols to Jesus. What an incredible mismanagement of priorities! Don’t they understand what’s eternally important? Don’t they grasp how we are all dust and completely equal in the sight of God? Don’t they see that God doesn’t give a rip if you speak Urdu, Punjabi, Marwari or English? Why don’t they get it?

The real shame is that my dear people group is no different. We express our screwed-up-ness in a very different way, but we are just as screwed, if not more so. I sometimes think that this racism thing is really just a massively sinful misunderstanding of what’s important. And we do the same thing in the West. How? We work for fifty hours a week to provide ourselves with all the modern crap and convenience we can find and devote two hours (if we can spare them) to a pretense of spiritual duty. We say it’s very important to love one another fervently and rejoice in the Lord and preach the gospel, but really we find good food and company far more vital. We have this idiotic idea in our head that HERE and NOW is all there is! But there is important news for us all. The universe existed before me and it will continue after the grass is growing over my grave. I’m here for ninety years, tops. What am I doing wasting my time with work and projects and all these silly little things that God will not ask me about?

You know me. I’m a hypocrite because I’m sitting here at a nice computer drinking a nice coffee while a few meters away there is a man sitting in the cold who has never heard a true thing about Jesus. Maybe I should go talk to him. Maybe I should figure out what’s important. Of course, we all KNOW what’s important. Maybe I should go DO what’s important. Maybe I should stop saying what I should do and just do and be it.

Pray for me,
Cook

PS, here’s a few photos. The first ones are the nice tribal ladies who came to Christ.

Matt with his kewl new style and kewl new lizard.

Matt’s kewl new lizard. 50 rupees to anyone who can identify it for me.

What update would be complete without pics of the kid?

Paul had been arrested by the Jews and thrown in prison for a couple years. Must have been difficult. After a few years the governor died and a new guy, Felix, took over. Felix left him in jail for a while until Paul was brought before him to present his case. At this point Paul appealed to the Supreme Court of Caesar. Felix seemed interested in him because when his buddies Agrippa and Bernice visited he got Paul to talk before them too. Agrippa also seemed very interested. Paul was then sent off to the Supreme Court in Rome. Agrippa then told Felix that had Paul not applied to the court in Rome he would have been set free! We know according to history that Paul was eventually killed in Rome! What an amazing unfortunate slip of judgment Paul made, eh? Though perhaps not. I wonder if Paul ever regretted appealing to Caesar. I wonder if he was ever kicking himself while he sat in prison thinking about how much wonderful ministry he could have accomplished had he just kept his mouth shut. So what was God doing? Why did he allow his star Apostle to slip up like that and miss out on so much ministry potential? He might have made it to Spain like his dream always was had he gotten out of jail. What was God thinking? Perhaps God was thinking that jail was good for Paul. God has priorities that are way different from ours. God is not always concerned with our ministry goals or strategies. He’s concerned with the hearts of his children. While in prison Paul was put through a refining fire. He was tried and tested and found worthy. God said, ‘If prison will help Paul grew in the grace and knowledge of Christ, then to prison Paul will go.’

A few thousand years earlier David was in a tough spot. His new boss was constantly insulting him and trying to kill him even while David was trying to serve nicely. While on the run David knew that the kingdom would eventually come to him, but not yet. Time and time again David was put in a position to remove his stresses and take the kingdom for himself. Think of the amazing possibilities! He could usher in a new ear of godliness and bring the people back to heart-felt worship to the living God! All he had to do was stretch out his hand and take out the godless man standing in his way. One problem. The godless man was God’s anointed. God put Saul where he was and David could not imagine doing harm to a vessel of God. So he decided to hang out in his cave and wait until God took Saul out himself and gave the kingdom to David. So Dave sat in the cave and was refined. Eventually Saul was put to open shame and David was given the kingdom, a cleaner heart and a pure conscience.

I’m having a very difficult week, maybe I’ll tell you why later. These two stories remind me of a few important truths that if I actually grabbed onto with my whole heart I might be given peace:
– God’s goals, though not always fun, are always good for me and will always come to pass.
– My dreams, however nice and noble and godly they may be, are not always the will of God, neither are they always a good idea.
– The difficult people and situations in my life will always tend for my good so long as I love God.
– It is not for me to take matters into my own hands; I’m not nearly smart or righteous enough to do that.
– The hardest times in life are the most sanctifying. Paul wrote his best letters and David penned some of his best songs while in the furnace.
– The crap can last a long time. Dave and Paul were in the fire for years before release. And Paul’s release came in the form of a sword.
– Joy comes in the morning.

Pray for me.

-=Disclaimer=-
As this post was written last week the stresses herein are tamed down to normal, but pray for us anyway, can’t get enough of that stuff!

I’m back.

Warning: This post written many moons ago:

The power went out just a little while ago. I rubbed a bit of mosquito cream on my hands and feet and went up to the roof. Looking up into the sky I saw the stars. Since the entire city was without electricity I saw them clearer than ever before. I could make out the planet Mars. I saw the arm of the Milky Way. I even say a satellite makes its slow journey across the sky. It was an amazing sight to see. Just as I was getting into it the power came back on and in a flash half of the stars disappeared. The things of Earth got in the way.

I was trying to figure out a way that I could look at the stars without being hindered by the man-made distractions and flashy lights. I suppose I could get a telescope, and that would help me see things better. I could make a point to try to see the stars during the wee hours of the morning before the world’s lights go on. I suppose there are a few ways that I could run after a vision of the stars with fewer distractions than I have now. But, realistically, there is no way to fully escape the distracting influences of the world. I suppose I could move out to the desert where there are no people to distract, but then who would I tell about the stars? Half the joy of seeing the stars is telling others about them. Even the dust and ozone in the atmosphere serves as a veil between me and the stars. The only way I could see them perfectly clearly would be to join them.

And what a wonderful day that will be! When I can see the Morning Star and the Sun of Righteousness without the distractions of lesser lights of the contaminants of dusty viewers. We long to fly out of this earthly tent and get out where the things of Earth grow strangely dim in the Light of the universe.

I trust you’ve gathered that I’m not really talking about astronomy. But astronomy leads us to so much! I see in the vastness of the study of the universe a picture of the infinite vastness of God. Also the infinite distance that separates us. The nearest star is about 32 000 000 000 kilometers away from us. With our fastest rockets (going at about 4 000kph) we might make it there in about 900 years. And that’s our closest of about ten gajillion neighbours. All these starry neighbours of ours hang out in a town called the Milky Way. Not an especially large galaxy, compared to the other ones, but still more than impressive with a diameter of 9 500 000 000 000 000 000 kilometers. And then we can also remember that the Milky Way is one of about ten gajillion other galaxies dancing around the vast universe that we cannot even picture in our minds.

And if the painting is so cool, I wonder what the artist is like.

Piper made a neat point in an article I read the other day. People often ask why God made such a big universe only for us. He made it so we could look at its near-infinite bigness and coolness and say, “Wow. God is great.” The Universe is like a resume from God. What is God like? Well check out what He did. Wow.

So the next time you bask in the sun, think about how its surface temperature is around 16 000 000 degrees centigrade and it is fueled by a crazy-go-nuts nuclear explosion perpetually going on in its center and say to yourself, “Wow. God is great.” And think about that one day when the things of earth, the solar system, the little Milky Way and all the rest of it will grow strangely dim in the massive, awesome light of His glory and grace.

You shall not take he name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Have you ever noticed how so many cultures use religious words when they want to express great emotion? The French say “Mon Dieu!”, Muslims say “Ya Allah!”, Hindus says “Oh Baghvan!” and us English folk say the exact same thing in English. Except, of course, for us pious Christians, because that’s blasphemy.

Is it really?

I’ve always understood blasphemy as saying something untrue and bad about someone, specifically God. Saying the word ‘god’ at an inappropriate time doesn’t seem to count as blasphemy. Okay, then we don’t say it because it’s taking the Lord’s name in vain.

Is it really?

For years I’ve wondered what it actually means to take the Lord’s name in vain. I’ve never really been comfortable with the interpretation that we shouldn’t say the word ‘god’ unless we’re actually talking about God. It seems like a bit of a stretch when the original says “you shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain.” It doesn’t say “you shall not say Yahweh or God in vain.”

I was thinking the other day, what does it mean to take the name of Yahweh? To take the name of God? My first thought is not regarding speech, but identification. Kinda like “Take this oath” or “Take this badge.” We who claim to be of Christ have taken the name of Yahweh upon us, haven’t we? We are called by his name and we identify ourselves with him. To me, this seems to be what it means to take the name of Yahweh my God.

So what does it mean to take it in vain? I think the commandment is re-iterated in the New Testament positively. “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling by which you have been called.” I think we take the name of the Lord in vain, not when we swear (though it’s rarely a good idea to swear), but when we fail to walk in a manner worthy of him. When we have taken his name upon us and refused to also take the lifestyle and worldview of Christ, we have taken Yahweh’s name vainly. When you called yourself by his name and use the word ‘Christian’ but fail to live as he lived, the name ‘Christian’ is a vain one. And God will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain, because his name is precious to him. When he puts his name on someone he means for that individual to respect and lift up his name, not allow it to wallow in the grime of sin and crap. Faith without works is dead. The name “Christian” without Christ in it is useless.

So maybe that’s a bit of an unorthodox interpretation, and I’m certainly not advising you to go around swearing now. But I do believe that the third commandment is much more serious and difficult (or impossible) to obey than simply to refrain from saying a certain word when you stub your toe.

We’ve moved to Kunri now. Got a cute little apartment that you’ll have to come and visit sometime soon. We’re just around the corner from our old place, so we know the neighbourhood pretty well.

Typing here at the in-laws place. We probably won’t be getting any Internet solution in Kunri this year, but I’ll be here once a month and I’ll try to use cafes in Kunri. I’ll do my best to make sure this pretty blog doesn’t falter much.

Because of your patience I’ve decided to show you some lovely pictures:

Joe’s joining the Pakistani cricket team. Yay.

He loves that bird.

Ruth and Joe, hanging in the kitchen with the bird.

I can’t think of a caption for this one.

I think I have a beard.

Joseph certainly takes up a lot of pictures, eh? I guess he’s the cutest in the family.

Here’s a cute nephew named Peter.

And lastly, a group of tribal ladies who recently turned from idolatry. Pray for them lots.

Hope to blog soon, pray for us all!
The Cook

Scenario 1:
You’re having a wonderful day. Everything seems to be going your way. When you woke up this morning the sun was shining brightly through your window. Your mother or spouse surprised you by making your favorite breakfast, which you gobbled down with glee. Work or school called in the morning and said that it was cancelled for the day, leaving you free to do whatever you want. Yippee! You do just that, too. Maybe you play some games or go for a walk. Whatever you choose to do you have fun for hours until lunchtime. Lunchtime you come home. For some reason some family member or friend meets you at the door. Something he or she says offends you. Bang. Good day wrecked. You take whatever was said to heart and you’re miserable for the rest of the day, even after you’ve forgotten what was said. The good things of the day are gone; all that remains is your melancholy.

Scenario 2:
You’re having a bad day. Why? Who knows? When you woke up this morning the sun was shining right in your eyes, disturbing your sleep. Your mother or spouse made you breakfast, but something was probably wrong with it. On top of all that, work called and cancelled your shift today! Just when you needed the money, too! This left you idle and bored to death. You waste some time playing games or going for a walk. Around lunchtime you come home and some friend of yours is there and tries to say something nice to cheer you up. It doesn’t work and you’re made even more miserable. What a crappy day.

Have you ever noticed how good moods often seem like glass houses when bad moods are like rock-hard fortresses? When you are happy, it only takes a wrong word or accident to make everything fall apart. But when you’re in a bad mood all the good things in the world don’t seem to be able to cheer you up. It’s a shame that things don’t work out the other way around. It’s funny how we refuse to let go of our bad moods, even when our brain should be telling us that everything is going well for us. Even the bright attitudes of friends and family we take as insults or annoyances. Sometimes I think we like be miserable.

It’s neat to re-read familiar passages. I read this recently:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

You know what part I just noticed? Guard. It doesn’t say that prayer will give you peace. It says that through prayer and thanksgiving the peace of God will become a guard for your hearts and minds. When we fall on God for our every need and see our lostness and impotence without him and cry out for help his peace will guard our affections. We will find our personalities to change and maybe we won’t live in fragile, glass-house moods, our temperaments will be made more consistent. We’ll start to see and hear clearly. We won’t interpret the greeting of a friend as a veiled insult. We won’t be easily annoyed by the screaming kid while you’re trying to work. You won’t let insults and adversity wet your spirit. So much is great when you fall on God, isn’t it?

Moving back to Kunri soon. Pray that He will send all that should come to us. On we go.