Daily Devotion

Isaiah 3:10-11
Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,             For they will eat the fruit of their actions. Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,             For what he deserves will be done to him. 

Salvation—being forgiven for your sins and welcomed into God's family forever—is a free gift. It was purchased for you by Jesus when He went to the cross for you.
You don't earn your salvation by being good enough. It's entirely dependent on what Jesus did, not what you do. You simply receive God's gift by faith. No wonder the Apostle Paul exclaims, "thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15).
But God is reminding us today that although salvation is a free gift, it does not mean that God doesn't care how we live after we're saved. Just the opposite—the terrible price Jesus had to pay for our forgiveness shows just how much God hates sin.
Today, Isaiah is telling us one of the basic truths about how God has set up this universe. Those who do what's right will ultimately be blessed for it and those who do what's wrong will experience negative consequences. Any actions that seem to have escaped their consequences in this life will find justice in the next. It's never a mistake to do what is right.

Faith and Films "The Social Network"

True Connection or False Validation is The Social Network's Question

DVD Release Date:  January 11, 2011
Theatrical Release Date:  October 1, 2010
Rating:  PG-13 (for sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and strong language)
Genre:  Drama
Run Time:  120 min.
Director:  David Fincher
Cast:  Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Rooney Mara, Joseph Mazzello



Last night Lily and I watched "Social Network". It was an interesting movie for me because I am a huge fan of Facebook and the networking it brings. Here are some thoughts I had on the movie.

Facebook  is a searing examination of the world's biggest social media Web site. To date, The Social Network is the most important film about American culture in the twenty-first century. 

Not that it's overtly about that.  On the surface, this is an exposé of Facebook's formation and its Ivy League founder Mark Zuckerberg.  Beneath the surface, what drives Zuckerberg—i.e. the need to define himself to the world—isn't too far removed from what drives millions of people to update their Facebook status ten times a day (or Twitter account—Facebook's obnoxiously-needy little brother). 

The parallel is clear (if not stated) and perceptive in disturbing ways.  Every status update is more than informational; it's defining.  It's about class and status, about being liked and affirmed and cheered and, well, "friended."  What are the implications of (and revelations found in) the need to post every precious thought that crosses our minds? The Social Network isn't just about Zuckerberg's narcissism; it's about ours.

To be fair, it's hard to discern how much of this scandalous retelling is actually true, and we should respect that personal reputations are on the line.  Still, fidelity to facts becomes moot as the fable told here unveils broader truths about our core impulses—individually and collectively—in ways that should, quite frankly, cause millions to reflect on their own motives and obsessions.  It's not so much a biography as it's "The Morality Tale of Our Times."

Based on Ben Mezrich's best-seller The Accidental Billionaires, The Social Network depicts a more debaucherous and cutthroat origin than one would ever expect.  What began innocently enough as a way to help Harvard students connect online steadily ballooned into a media empire—and at a rate that Zuckerberg couldn't handle, at least not morally.

Yes, he's a genius.  A computer-programming whiz with deft instincts about what people would respond to, Zuckerberg was born to birth this revolution.  But a cocktail of arrogance and insecurities sabotaged his working relationships—and friendships—until, billions of dollars later, Zuckerberg was sued by the people he burned.

That legal action is intercut throughout, providing context to events as they unfold at a blistering, exhilarating pace.  Zuckerberg—equal parts elitist and geek (and the worst sides of both)—takes advantage of the naïve while disposing of partners when they don't tow his line, and does so in a way that no one sees coming.

It's a trail highlighted by parties and littered with groupies; excess that grows with success (which gets a little redundant I must say)  Yet while Zuckerberg's crew is seduced by immoral trappings, the film's tone—from dark atmospheres to Trent Reznor's unnerving score—paints it as a destructive slippery slope.  (One soundtrack cue title defines it best: "The Gentle Hum of Anxiety.")

Facebook isn't just about the need to connect (though it is that), but more so the compulsion to control your identity; to create the best version of You.  It's how you want to be perceived; an illusion of who you fully are.  Many will walk away from this film judging Zuckerberg; instead, even if not guilty of the same sins, they should be chilled to the bone by recognizing the same impulses. 

Using Zuckerberg's compromised ascent to the "status" of Youngest Billionaire Ever as a parable, The Social Network asks a broader question of us about the Web site he founded: does Facebook offer true connection or false validation?  The answer lies, as with all things, not in the amoral device being used but rather in the souls that use it.




Here is what to look out for (Thanks to IMDb)

CAUTIONS:

• Drugs/Alcohol Content:  Party scenes where alcohol (both as drinks and shots) are consumed, as are drugs (from bongs to lines of coke).  More benign drinking occurs in bars.
• Language/Profanity:  Though not pervasive, most profanities are used—including one f-word.  Others include the usual suspects: a few variations of the a-word, b-word, and s-word, as well as a couple uses of the Lord's name in vain.   A lewd word for male genitals.
• Sexual Content/Nudity:  No nudity, but women strip down to their underwear at parties.  Two couples go to bathroom stalls, begin to strip, and then from outside the stalls sex is briefly heard/assumed.  Oral sex is implied off-frame but not literally seen.  Conversations that include discussions of sex and sexual dialogue.  Provocative dancing, kissing, and making out at parties, close physical intimacy.  A woman gets out of bed in her underwear.
• Violence/Other:  One person flips both middle fingers at someone. 
  
  
  It is a good watch. It's interesting and well acted. But I wasn't too impressed with the Content of the movie. 
  My Rating B-

Daily Devotion

Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD, Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.

No matter how guilty or dirty you feel, God can bring you total forgiveness and make you totally clean!

When it comes to removing stains, it seems like red is the hardest color to get out, isn't it? Red clay, red wine, red blood, red lipstick. So when God wants to communicate to your heart how completely He can cleanse you, what color does He talk about? Red!
Even if your sins are "as scarlet"; even if they are "red like crimson". Do you ever feel that way about your sins? Maybe you've done something so terrible that you feel you don't deserve forgiveness and that God would never forgive you. Or maybe your sin isn't so huge, but you keep coming back to that same sin again and again and you think that God must be completely fed up with you. Even if your sin is red like that, God's promising you today that He will forgive you and cleanse you.

And when God cleanses and forgives you, there's not even any pinkness left! "White as snow…like wool"—do you know what that means? Complete forgiveness and total cleansing! "Come now", and ask God for that inner cleansing today.

The Best Quotes of 2010

“I am on the toilet thinking about writing a third book.” – former baseball player, Jose Canseco

”It is not a sweatshop. You go in this place and it’s a factory but, my gosh, they’ve got restaurants and movie theaters and hospitals and swimming pools. For a factory, it’s pretty nice.” – Steve Jobs

“Its a official dat i am leavin skool and enterin draft. … i aint doin anotha yr.” – Oklahoma point guard Tommy Mason-Griffin declaring his career choice via Facebook (via ESPN)

“The internet’s completely over. … The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.” - Prince

“I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don’t care, but that is not the case with BP. We care about the small people.” – BP Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg

“I thought it was gum.” — Paris Hilton, denying responsibility for packet of cocaine Las Vegas police found in her bag.

“I didn’t have the balls. This is not my thing.” — Christian Hernandez, 22-year-old Mexican matador arrested for breach of contract when he dropped his cape and fled from a bull midfight.

“Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model.” — Robert Hintze, founder of dating site BeautifulPeople.com, which dropped 5,000 members who appeared in photos to have gained weight over the holidays.

“I need a vacation spot for my lice…Beards: Uggs for your face.” – Bryan Allain

I learned that it takes precisely 6.5 weeks to be able to laugh about a bombed performance in front of 13,000 people. – Tyler Stanton

Daily Devotion

Isaiah 1:3

An ox knows its owner,
And a donkey its master's manger,
But Israel does not know,
My people do not understand.

Going your own way instead of God's way is just plain stupid!

Even an ox knows that the one who owns it has the right to tell it where to turn and what to do. Even a donkey knows that it gets the food it needs from its master's feeding trough. Yet, how easily we forget these most basic truths in our desire to be our own masters.
How frustrated God must get when we ignore the fact that He is our Maker and Lord. How ridiculous it must seem to Him when we think that our own feeding trough is better than His—that life will be better when we go our own way than it is in the path of His blessing—the path of obedience.
Think of how good your inner life is when you choose God's way over your own way. And think of the stresses and frustrations you bring on yourself when you choose to ignore God. He wants us to enjoy being His people, but sometimes we choose to live in disobedience.

God's message to you today? Don't be foolish, but be wise in bringing your life back under His total leadership. His way is the only way worth living.



Daily Devotion

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Making time for spiritual things is more important than focusing on material things!

Paul says that the "things which are not seen" (spiritual things) are more important than the "things which are seen" (material things) because spiritual things are eternal.
Are you focusing your life on things that will have no value after your eulogy is read? Or are you focusing your life — your time, your energy, your abilities, your money, your relationships and your thoughts — on things that will last forever? Things that bring God glory, things that lead other people to faith in Christ, things that encourage others in their spiritual growth.
A focus on self always leads your life in the direction of things that do not last. A focus on God always leads your life in the direction of things that really matter. What is the focus of your life?

Ask God to `open your eyes' to what really matters

Daily Devotion

Exodus 3:9-12
"Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" And He said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you:  when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain."

Moses was deeply concerned for the plight of his people in Egypt. He'd been chased out of Egypt for standing up for them. He must have been so glad to hear God say that He was going to respond to the prayers of His people.
But it caught Moses by surprise when God told Moses he'd be a key player in the process. It's one thing to be concerned and pray for someone from outside their circumstances; it's another thing altogether to get involved in those circumstances as part of the answer.

When you pray, God wants you to have an attitude of availability if He calls you to get involved.