November 1, 2009
October 21, 2009
October 18, 2009
in the midst
a blurb from “Help! Mommydom leaves me no time for God“:
6. Practice God’s presence “in the midst” of your crazy days. He doesn’t leave because your life is hectic. He can minister grace to your heart as you comfort that child or chop veggies for dinner or sort dirty socks. Christ knew what it was like to wash dirty feet. He is not absent when we are surrounded by lots of them! Remember that the Lord had many moments when He sought to draw apart to seek the Father. Sometimes that happened, sometimes He was moved with compassion and returned to the multitudes. His heart was to do the will of His Father every moment of every day, but He didn’t live apart, He lived in the midst.
Rachael’s note: What is my ‘midst’? Busy heart, busy mind, lazy heart, lazy mind, morning moments of not wanting to get up, spiritual/character/love lack, grading, prepping, copying, waiting for the ferry, driving, food shopping, socializing, dishes, cooking, wishing, disappointed, sad, unsure, obsessing, anxious, …
I think Horatius Bonar wrote/said something like “It is with our sin that we go to God.”
And there’s that song “Come, Just As You Are”…
That’s how I should come to Him – as I am and in the midst. But with an openness to not remain as I am but become who He wants me to be in the midst.
October 14, 2009
October 11, 2009
Mr. Tweedle
Check out a post on the challies.com blog called Mr. Tweedle.
Perhaps we’re all a Mr. Tweedle to someone else, and, as Mr. Tweedle became for Challies, “a distant memory”…and how many Mr. Tweedles are in my life now. Several, I suppose. Perhaps including people I should appreciate more and invest in more.
In acquaintance one day, out the next.
Or in sight or acquaintance week to week, and then, one day…not.
September 25, 2009
Word Search: Steadfast Love (God’s)
Genesis 24:12-14 - an appeal
Genesis 39:20-22 - even in prison
Exodus 15:13 - in being led
Exodus 20:6 – shown to those who love Him and keep His commandments
Numbers 14:17-20 – Moses taking God up on His promise of who He is, Moses appealing to God’s steadfast love for forgiveness for the people
Psalm 6:4-5 - appeal to His steadfast love in asking for deliverance
Psalm 25:6 – its ‘from of old’
Psalm 25:7 – ‘remember me’ ; ‘Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions’
Psalm 26:3 - ‘before my eyes’
Psalm 31:7-8 - God sees and knows
Psalm 33:18 – God’s eye on people who hope in it
Psalm 36:5 – ‘extends to the heavens’
Psalm 40:11 - will preserve
Psalm 51:1 – appeal for mercy
Psalm 59:10 – God will meet me
Psalm 63:3 - ‘better than life’
Psalm 85:7 - ‘Show us’
Psalm 86:5 - to those who call upon Him
Psalm 90:14 – “Satisfy us” with it
Psalm 94:18 – “When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’ your steadfast love, O LORD,held me up.”
Psalm 103:4 – a crowning
Psalm 119:76 – may it be my comfort
Psalm 119:88 – “give me life”
Psalm 119:149 – “Hear my voice”
Psalm 136 – SLEF
Psalm 143:8 – “Let me hear” of it.
Psalm 147:11 – God pleasures “in those who hope in his steadfast love”
…references to the ESV version as found on BibleGateway.
September 17, 2009
“more for us than against us”
A little blurb from a little blurb by Richard Sibbes posted here:
“Let us not look so much at who our enemies are as at who our judge and captain is, nor at what they threaten, but at what he promises. We have more for us than against us.”
September 4, 2009
Behind the Scenes
Genesis 45:5-8 (ESV):
“And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
Genesis 50:20 (ESV):
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
August 27, 2009
Show Steadfast Love
Genesis 24:12-14 (ESV, boldness added):
And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’ — let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”
August 24, 2009
‘but our eyes are on you.’
2 Chronicles 20:12 (ESV):
O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.’
February 23, 2009
Daily Samaritan Acts
Here on the ungrind website is posted an exerpt from a book called The Marriage Turnaround: How Thinking Differently About Your Relationship Can Change Everything. Here is part of that excerpt:
I have to remember that it’s often the little, everyday, seemingly unheroic things that I do for Rhonda that cause her to respect me and want to be closer to me.
Cleaning up my mess on the kitchen table, putting up the laptop after I write, opening the door for her, sending flowers when she’s had a bad day, calling her from work. She doesn’t see me as a hero just because I do the big things like not forgetting birthdays or changing her flat tires. It’s my duty to do the “big” things like that. But it’s the little, daily, unexpected acts that I often have to make myself do that promote me to hero status in her mind.
Daily, little “Samaritan” actions are what build closeness, intimacy, and even more commitment in marriage.
I once asked an old blind preacher friend of mine, Brother Allen, what he felt was the key to success in marriage. He smiled at me, opened the back of his Bible, and pulled out a Braille sermon outline he had just preached the week before and held it in his hand.
From memory, he gave me the bottom line.
“Serve your wife like it’s the last day God has given you on earth. It might just be your last. Don’t waste it.”
I couldn’t have said it better.
So, Peter did say that…
Interesting. The last part of comment #12 here in response to a Challies.com post was:
I often think of Peter, how he bowed to Chrust, and said,”Depart from me Lord, I am a sinful man.” And from that point on Peter loved Jesus, and Jesus love him, even through Peter’s gravest sins, even though Peter cussed Jesus, and denied Him, Peter jumped in the water and swam to Jesus when he saw Him on the beach, and Jesus chatted with Peter in gentleness and genuine love, though rebuking Peter at the same time.
While I don’t know about Peter cussing Jesus (though he did start to rebuke him [Matt. 16:22]), wow, indeed, after the nets were let down, and an abundant amount of fish overwhelmed the nets and boats, Peter
fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:8b-11, ESV)
February 28, 2009
A couple of quotes
from the First Importance Blog:
“Everything is necessary that he sends. Nothing can be necessary that he withholds.”
- John Newton
And another one from the same blog:
“If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen— nothing else matters.”
—Among the last words of Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006)
And another one from the same blog:
“Faith, in all its degrees, still reads the inscription, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin;’ and if at times the eye is so dim that it cannot read these words, through blinding tears or bewildering mist, faith rests itself on the certain knowledge of the fact that the inscription is still there, or at least that the blood itself (of which these words remind us) remains, in all its power and suitableness, upon the altar unchanged and uneffaced.
God says that the believing man is justified: who are we, then, that we should say, ‘We believe, but we do not know whether we are justified?’ What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”
– Horatius Bonar, The Everlasting Righteousness; or, How Shall a Man be Just with God? (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth, 1874/1993), 23-4.
March 2, 2009
Blurry thoughts
1 Cor. 13:12 (ESV):
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
I’ve imagined the beginning of a story going something like this: the character waking up with her face buried in the sheets and her thoughts drifting to women whose heads are adorned with burkas…
We don’t see everything clearly now. I like the quote by Horatius Bonar that I recently posted, one that I found on “Of First Importance,” about faith reading the inscription that Jesus’ blood cleanses us from sin, and when “the eye is so dim that it cannot read these words, through blinding tears or bewildering mist, faith rests itself on the certain knowledge of the fact that the inscription is still there, or at least that the blood itself (of which these words remind us) remains, in all its power and suitableness, upon the altar unchanged and uneffaced.”
the inscription is still there… and it does not rest on feelings but on faith. Whether or not our names appear in the book of life does not hinge upon our feelings.
From the song ”Before the Throne of God Above“…
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
It’s easy to be overfocused on ourselves than on the One in whose image we’re made, than on the One whose Spirit we ought to reflect. In the article Mirror Image, Kelly Langner Sauer writes:
Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 13 that “now we see through a glass, darkly, but then, [at Christ's coming], face to face.” John tells us we don’t yet know what we will be, but then, we will see God as He is, and we will be like Him (1 John 3:2-3).
Too often, I focus on the image itself instead of on the One who created it. In my frustration with my reflection for its flaws, I forget that who I am is a reflection of Him.
We do not see all things clearly now, but we have access to the One who does. The curtain has been torn, and we can be in direct contact with the God who sees.
Horatius Bonar & The Veil
From Chapter 5, “The Rending of the Veil“, from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (boldness added by me):
The veil, then, has been rent in twain from the top to the bottom. The way is open, the blood is sprinkled, the mercy-seat is accessible to all, and the voice of the High Priest, seated on that mercy- seat, summons us to enter, and to enter without fear. Having, then, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,–by a new and living way which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having an High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in the full assurance of faith. The message is, Go in, go in. Let us respond to the message, and at once draw near. To stand afar off, or even upon the threshhold, is to deny and dishonour the provision made for our entrance, as well as to incur the awful peril of remaining outside the one place of safety or blessedness. To enter in is our only security and our only joy. But we must go in in a spirit and attitude becoming the provision made for us. If that provision has been insufficient, we must come hesitatingly, doubtingly, as men who can only venture on an uncertain hope of being welcomed. If the veil be not wholly rent, if the blood be not thoroughly sprinkled, or be in itself insufficient, if the mercy-seat be not wholly what its name implies,–a seat of mercy, a throne of grace; if the High Priest be not sufficiently compassionate and loving, or if there be not sufficient evidence that these things are so, the sinner may come doubtingly and uncertainly; but if the veil be fully rent, and the blood be of divine value and potency, and the mercy-seat be really the place of grace, and the High Priest full of love to the sinner, then every shadow of a reason for doubt is swept utterly away. Not to come with the boldness is the sin. Not to come in the full assurance of faith is the presumption. To draw near with an “evil conscience” is to declare our belief that the blood of the Lamb is not of itself enough to give the sinner a good conscience and a fearless access.
“May I then draw near as I am, in virtue of the efficacy of the sprinkled blood?” Most certainly. In what other way or character do you propose to come? And may I be bold at once? Most certainly. For if not at once, then when and how? Let boldness come when it may, it will come to you from the sight of the blood upon the floor and mercy-seat, and from nothing else. It is bold coming that honours the blood. It is bold coming that glorifies the love of God and the grace of His throne. “Come boldly!” this is the message to the sinner. Come boldly now! Come in the full assurance of faith, not supposing it possible that that God who has provided such a mercy-seat can do anything but welcome you; that such a mercy-seat can be anything to you but the place of pardon, or that the gospel out of which every sinner that has believed it has extracted peace, can contain anything but peace to you.
The rent veil is liberty of access. Will you linger still? The sprinkled blood is boldness,– boldness for the sinner, for any sinner, for every sinner. Will you still hesitate, tampering and dallying with uncertainty and doubt, and an evil conscience? Oh, take that blood for what it is and gives, and go in. Take that rent veil for what it indicates, and go in. This only will make you a peaceful, happy, holy man. This only will enable you to work for God on earth, unfettered and unburdened; all over joyful, all over loving, and all over free. This will make your religion not that of one who has everything yet to settle between himself and God, and whose labours, and duties, and devotions are all undergone for the purpose of working out that momentous adjustment before life shall close, but the religion of one who, having at the very outset, and simply in believing, settled every question between himself and God over the blood of the Lamb, is serving the blessed One who has loved him and bought him, with all the undivided energy of his liberated and happy soul.
For every sinner, without exception, that veil has a voice, that blood a voice, that mercy-seat a voice. They say, “Come in.” They say, “Be reconciled to God.” They say, “Draw near.” They say, “Seek the Lord while He may be found.” To the wandering prodigal, the lover of pleasure, the drinker of earth’s maddening cup, the dreamer of earth’s vain dreams,–they say, there is bread enough in your Father’s house, and love enough in your Father’s heart, and to spare,–return, return. To each banished child of Adam, exiles from the paradise which their first father lost, these symbols, with united voice, proclaim the extinction of the fiery sword, the re- opening of the long-barred gate, with a free and abundant re-entrance, or rather, entrance into a more glorious paradise, a paradise that was never lost.
March 3, 2009
Hospitality
Here’s a blurb from Hospitality Tips Reposted, on The Purple Cellar blog (ht: challies.com):
3. Get fixed with food. Susie suggests having two fail-proof meals memorized, meals that can be thrown together in a hurry without needing to pull out measuring cups or read a recipe. Doubling or tripling recipes, such as lasagne or meatloaf, is great preparation for serving others. When Susie makes lasagne, she’ll make four pans: one for a family in need, one for her own family, one to keep in the freezer for a spontaneous evening with friends, and one to give away just for fun. In the freezer Susie also keeps homemade, ready-to-bake cookies. After making the dough, she freezes individual cookies on a cookie sheet, and once they are frozen, she transfers them to a baggie for freezer storage. When friends drop by, she pops a few in the oven.
4. Prioritize people. The food you throw together casually and quickly can and often does show more love than a gourmet meal. It’s all about your attitude. Is it more important to you to make your guests feel welcome and comfortable or to impress them with your cooking skills? A good way to sabotage the effects of hospitality is to apologize for your home–a messy room, a simple meal, the paper plates. In prioritizing people, Susie emphasizes that hospitality starts with our family. Are we showing hospitality to our husband and children? Do we stop what we are doing when our husband gets home from work to engage him? How about when our children come from school? Do we welcome them home, or is the first thing they hear, “How many times do I have to tell you to hang your coat up!” The hospitality we show to our children will radiate to our guests, and the hospitality we show to our guests will be communicated to our children, and it has a ripple effect outward.
The post also talks about spontaneous hospitality:
The second type is spontaneous hospitality, which is opening our home and heart to that drop-in neighbor or friend who calls at an inconvenient time. How we handle spontaneous hospitality is a matter of mindset, of putting others ahead of our personal comfort.
Click on the link to The Purple Cellar post to find out more ideas on how to cultivate a “hospitable heart”. Hospitable-ishness can be fun…when it’s convenient for me. But I want to grow into one of those older ladies with pleasant dispositions who will go above and beyond to share a hospitable heart.
I also want to put attention into the small touches. One thing I found I enjoy is having some fun dishes. I enjoy bringing food somewhere on dishes that I like. Maybe at times in the future I could be a little selective with some plates or mugs I bring out when guests come over…
It’s interesting to notice small touches in homes that whisper ‘Welcome!’, like cups in a bathroom, for example. Hospitality can also be shown in gracious touches outside the home. My mom has told me of a woman who once put thoughtful care into placing a clump of grapes on a serving dish. I think it’s the same woman my mom has talked of who would be careful in the way she treated the appearance of the communion table at the front of their church. Those small touches…
And as for the attitude arena…I want hospitableness to spill out of me when it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, and when I just plum don’t feel like it..maybe one day…
The gospels & salvation
Perhaps if you were to ask a handful of born again Christians what the jailer in Acts asked Paul and Silas: “What must I do to be saved?”, the answer might vary a bit from person to person. While perhaps the heart of each would be in agreement with Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are saved by grace through faith and not works, each person might emphasize a different aspect of faith in his or her response, tainting it to look more ‘worksy’ or ‘just believesy’.
So, I want to look at how salvation is reflected in Scripture, and to that end, here’s some stuff found in the gospels (in the ESV):
Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 18 - “what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus knew his heart, and that it wasn’t in the right place. Salvation is not through works, though this passage may make it appear as such, and it is impossible for men to be saved on their own power (19:26), “but with God all things are possible” (26).
In Luke 10: “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”, Jesus affirming that if you love God with everything and your neighbor as yourself that he would live.
Matthew 22 – the need to be clothed in ‘a wedding garment’ that is given to the chosen.
Matthew 25 – doing for ‘the least of these’ as you’d do for Christ. Again this is a work, but perhaps it is a fruit demonstrating the faith that saves.
Mark 12 – Jesus telling a scribe that he was “not far from the kingdom of God” after the scribe affirmed Jesus that indeed God is one and that loving God and loving one’s neighbor are indeed important.
Mark 16 – The Great Commission. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Luke 5 – Jesus (and I think disciples) dining with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus saying he’s “not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance”
Luke 7 – Jesus saying to a woman: “Your faith has saved you”
Luke 13 – “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish”
Luke 14 – narrow door, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” “any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 15 – rejoicing over repentance, Prodigal Son
Luke 19 – Zacchaeus, Jesus saying “to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 24 – the criminal on the cross: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” Jesus saying: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
John 1 – those who received and believed in Jesus became “children of God”, grace & truth vs. law, the Lamb of God who “takes away the sin of the world”,
John 3 – born again, “whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (vs. 15), ”whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life,”
John 4 – to Samaritan woman at the well: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
John 5 – “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”
John 6 – “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent”, bread of life, “everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life”,
John 8 – Jesus is “the light of the world”,
John 10 – Jesus is the “door of the sheep”, “the good shepherd”
John 11 – Jesus is “the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
John 12 – “whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness”
John 14 – Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 15 – the importance of abiding in Christ, the vine
March 5, 2009
The key to wisdom
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17)
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5-7)
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
March 6, 2009
Q & A with Jerry Bridges
Excerpt from Meet Jerry Bridges, by C.J. Mahaney:
Thanks for your time, Mr. Bridges! Please describe your morning devotions. What time do you wake up in the morning? How much time do you spend reading, meditating, praying, etc.? What are you presently reading?
On a normal day, I get up at 5:00 a.m.
I spend from 5:30 – 7:00 a.m. reading and meditating on Scripture and spending time in prayer. I begin with what I have tried to teach others to do, which is to preach the Gospel to myself. My usual practice is to read through the Bible simply starting with Genesis and going through Revelation.
I am currently in the book of Numbers. For my prayer time, I start with thanksgiving and move to petition. I always start with the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be Thy name.” Over a six-day period (Monday-Saturday), I pray for the progress of the Gospel around the world. I pray for my family, my organization and their leaders, and my own personal growth. I have about eight ongoing special prayer requests for friends who have acute needs.
What book(s) are you currently reading in these three categories: (a) for your soul, (b) for pastoral ministry, or (c) for personal enjoyment?
(a) The Existence and Attributes of God by the Puritan, Stephen Charnock. I’m actually not reading the entire two-volume set but am focusing on two chapters, “The Holiness of God” and “The Goodness of God.”
(b) For my ministry (not pastoral but The Navigators) I have just finished reading Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck because I need to keep up with all the “bad stuff” that students are apt to read.
(c) For personal enjoyment, I have been reading John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology. I have to confess when I’m really mentally tired I read a murder mystery by Agatha Christie.
Apart from Scripture, what book do you most frequently re-read and why?
The Apostles’ Doctrine of the Atonement by George Smeaton because it is the best book on the Gospel that I have ever read.
When you finish a book, what system have you developed in order to remember and reference that book in the future?
I don’t have a very good system but I note page numbers on the inside cover of the book with the key thought I want to go back to.
If you could study under any theologian in church history (excluding those men in Scripture), who would it be and why?
John Calvin, hands down, because he not only was a brilliant theologian but had a heart of devotion for God.
Peter Patter
Wow, who’s this teacher in my boat? Put your nets into the water. But we couldn’t catch anything last night. “But at your word I will let down the nets.” Oh wow, our nets are breaking. The fish are sinking the boat! Unbelievable! “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” “Do not be afraid.” “Follow me.”
I can hardly breathe. “Who was it that touched me?” Not me, not me, not me… “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” The healing touch of Jesus, yet again. Even my mother-in-law has received His healing. There was also that time I got to be one of few people Jesus let into the house to witness his returning life to a child.
If You’re there, make me come to You. COME. But the wind is so strong… “Lord, save me.” Thanks for your saving hand.
“This shall never happen.” “Get behind me, Satan!” “You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
How many times must I forgive my brother? “Seventy times seven.” Forgive as Christ has forgiven.
“Do you want to go away as well?” “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Jesus gets up from our last supper together and does the unthinkable – he washes our feet! Should it not be the other way around? “You shall never wash my feet.” “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”
“One of you will betray me.” Who could it be?? John, you’re leaning up against him; you ask him! “Lord, who is it?” Oh, wow. Judas? What’s going on?
“I will never fall away.” “I will lay down my life for you.” “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” “I will not deny you!”
Zzzzzzzzzzzz…. “Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” Emotional exhaustion. I can’t lift my eyelids. Zzzzzzzzzzzz…. “The hour has come.”
It’s time! Oh no it’s time! There’s Judas and some soldiers and officers in the garden. What’s going on? “I am he.” What? Why is Jesus so compliant? I meant what I said when I told him I’d die for him. Chop. Off comes the ear of the servant of the high priest. That’s the least I could do. “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” Why is Jesus just letting them arrest Him?!
This courtyard should be a safe place to sit and watch. Short uncomfortable verbal exchanges.
CROW. The look. I did it! Excuse me for a second. Bitter tears.
An angel on the tomb. Jesus is risen. “Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” The women flee. The others take the women’s words as “an idle tale,” but I run to see for myself, along with John, who gets there first, that speedster. The cloths are there, but, where is Jesus?
Lock the doors. You never know what the Jews will do. They might know we’re his disciples. “Peace be with you.” What? Yup, those are Jesus’ hands and side all right. “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Where is he sending us, and where is He going?
Again Jesus appears, this time by the Sea of Tiberias. Life goes on, I guess. We still gotta live. “I am going fishing.” We catch nothing, just like the night before Christ appeared in my life for the first time. Daybreak. “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” Okay, once again getting fishing advice from a stranger. What?! So many fish that we cannot pull up the net. 153, to be exact. Of course it is John who first notes that that stranger was none other than Christ Himself: “It is the Lord!” Déjà vu. Where’s my robe? Splash! I don’t think I’ve ever swum 100 yards so fast! Jesus is waiting on shore with a nice charcoal fire and fish and bread. What a treat! “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” I do just that, and we have a nice breakfast together. Jesus, I’m sorry. I saw your look. I know you know.
“Do you love me?” Yes! “Feed my lambs.” “Do you love me?” Why are you asking again? “Tend my sheep.” “Do you love me?” Heartbreak. “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” “Feed my sheep.” As if I’m not heartbroken enough, Jesus hints at my death. “Follow me.” Again, I’m commanded to follow Him. I must follow, but what about John? He has it all. He’s got to lean against Christ, he’s a fast runner, Jesus loves him… Can’t anything bad happen to him, too?! “Lord, what about this man?” “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” Okay, so, it’s up to God. I just know that I’ve gotta keep my eyes up, and not look to the winds, and put one step in front of the other in pursuit of my Lord…
Quotations from the ESV. Cf. Mark 1, Luke 5, Mark 5, Luke 8, Matt. 14, 16, Mark 8, Matt. 18, Colossians 3, Matthew 26, Mark 14, John 6, 13, 18, Luke 22, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20, 21
On Peter again
I just put up a post on Peter today, but, to think more about him & Jesus…
It’s fascinating that there was an interaction at both the beginning and end of the story that involved Jesus’ miracle of enabling so many fish to be caught. Perhaps after Jesus got taken up Peter continued to fish. Maybe he’d sometimes have flashbacks to those moments. An every day situation in which God’s miraculous grace had been demonstrated. A friend has these verses on her facebook profile:
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
Lamentations 3:19-24
Compassions new every morning. Peter experienced Jesus in a way that we never will, yet he demonstrated emotions and behaviors that are common to man. And I suppose his job of a fisherman wasn’t so uncommon. Perhaps his ‘average Joe-ness’ can help people today identify with Peter and be strengthened in their faith because of him.
Another compassion demonstrated by Jesus was when after the last miraculous catch he was on the shore with a fire going and fish and bread. Perhaps He’d prepared a meal for them before. It could have been a common compassion, an ordinary grace. He’s shown His servant heart before, of course by his death on the cross and miracles, but even in ordinary life, such as the time he washed the disciples’ feet, using it as a springboard for teachable moments. It seems like it could make for a special memory for those in the boat and Peter. And then Peter had the difficult conversation after the breakfast. What was the breakfast like? Was his head pounding with regret? Was the image of Jesus’ look after the rooster’s crow appearing and re-appearing in his mind? He was clearly excited to see Jesus as he “threw himself into the sea” when he heard it was Jesus there on the shore. So precious! Dear Peter!
March 7, 2009
Peter Patter breakdown
More on Peter…thinking about lessons that could be drawn from interactions with Peter, including parts of Peter Patter:
Wow, who’s this teacher in my boat? Put your nets into the water. But we couldn’t catch anything last night. “But at your word I will let down the nets.” Oh wow, our nets are breaking. The fish are sinking the boat! Unbelievable! “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” “Do not be afraid.” “Follow me.”
To Ponder:
Lesson 1:
Even when circumstances would have us believe that what God asks of us would yield no fruit, we should obey at His Word. But God, we just tried and didn’t get anything. No, it’s: But God can do the seemingly impossible. And perhaps what we catch will break our nets and sink our boats. Perhaps we would gain more than we could imagine. Or perhaps not. But at His Word…
Lesson 2:
Feeling unworthy so as to want to be separated from God. God still wanting us to follow Him, without fear, in spite of ourselves.
If You’re there, make me come to You. COME. But the wind is so strong… “Lord, save me.” Thanks for your saving hand.
Lesson:
Peter saying, “Command me to come to you on the water” (Matt. 14:28b). We could ask God to make us come to Him and follow his beckoning, take steps forward, and when the winds cause fear and doubt, cry out to God to save.
“This shall never happen.” “Get behind me, Satan!” “You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Lesson: Denying God’s Word is not good, and we should focus our minds on things of God.
More later…maybe…
March 9, 2009
New pages
I like this line from the article Rough Draft Life :
“The author of my salvation is also the author of my every day.”
It’s so easy to linger in the scribbles instead of simply turning the page to the one that God has erased, though.
March 10, 2009
Because of the Conductor / Life as a Rehearsal
I like this line from A Dissonant Life, by Suzanne Hadley:
“In the hands of an almighty, skilled Conductor, sour notes can be the beginning of a heavenly opus.”
A Boundless post went up regarding the above article, and the first commenter provided this Tozer quote in her response:
“Life is a short and fevered rehearsal for a concert we cannot stay to give.”
I like that…
America becoming less “Christian”?
According to a CNN article called “America becoming less Christian, survey finds“, “America is a less Christian nation than it was 20 years ago, and Christianity is not losing out to other religions, but primarily to a rejection of religion altogether,”…but in the same article it says:
The survey also found that “born-again” or “evangelical” Christianity is on the rise, while the percentage who belong to “mainline” congregations such as the Episcopal or Lutheran churches has fallen.
One in three Americans consider themselves evangelical, and the number of people associated with mega-churches has skyrocketed from less than 200,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million in the latest survey.
Watch CNN report on new study »
The rise in evangelical Christianity is contributing to the rejection of religion altogether by some Americans, said Mark Silk of Trinity College.
I wonder if, then, evangelical Christianity is becoming more prevalent, and if it’s just that nominal, associative Christianity is on the decline. If that’s the case, it doesn’t mean our nation is less Christian. Maybe it’s even more “Christian”, but really, how can a nation be “Christian” anyway? That’s really a big generalization.
March 11, 2009
Cockroach Guilt
I hate cockroaches, and would freak out when one would enter my living quarters in Japan. Even the thought that a particular spot in my apartment might be a cockroach was enough to induce fear.
However, I never thought of my guilt being compared to a cockroach before coming across Cockroaches, Guilt and the Gospel, a post that went up on The Blazing Center blog…
I have, though, I think thought about the comparison between bugs and humans and the tininess of humans to God, and how God doesn’t smush us as freely as we might kill a bug. I think Jonathan Edwards might have written something related to that…
I’m a little teapot…
I’m a little teapot, short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my spout. When I get all steamed up, hear me shout, ‘Tip me over and pour me out.’
This teapot once belonged to my grandmother. It goes about its business very quietly. No whistle, no scream when the teapot is ‘ready’ to be poured out. Even though my grandma lived just a mile and a half down the road from me for much of my life, I never got to know the inner depth of her soul. She’s been gone now for over 2 years. But what I’m left with is an impression of her quiet, enduring spirit.
Peter describes a beautiful heart as one that is gentle and quiet: “but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”(1 Peter 3:4, ESV)
Maybe thinking about a quiet teapot and others’ exemplary lives can remind us that when we get all steamed up, what’s in our hearts is what comes out. I want to radiate the beauty that is found in a gentle and quiet spirit.
March 16, 2009
To have the ear of a child…
***********************************************************************************************
”Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell plays incognito for commuters in a D.C. Metro station.” Here is the clip with this description.
And here is an interesting blurb from the Washington Post article Pearls Before Breakfast, related to the performance:
There was no ethnic or demographic pattern to distinguish the people who stayed to watch Bell, or the ones who gave money, from that vast majority who hurried on past, unheeding. Whites, blacks and Asians, young and old, men and women, were represented in all three groups. But the behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away.
To have the ear of a child…the mind of a child, the heart of a child, the faith of a child…
Just this past Sunday my husband preached at the local church here on the island. It is not our regular church, and I suspect few are genuine born again believers. My thought is that at least one attendee may be born again.
After the service some people gathered together to discuss the sermon. It was quite interesting. One woman shared how when she was 8 or 9, she was thrilled by the idea of heaven, I think saying she wanted to die in anticipation. Does she have this idea anymore? I don’t know, though she doesn’t fear death. One man was saying something about a Polyanna perspective of heaven. I don’t remember exactly all he said, but my impression is that he may not be sure of heaven or that he may feel it may exist for people already living in it?
Anyway…
What happens to adult minds? Why do we try to rationalize and think too hard? O to have the faith of a child. To have the ear of a child. To have the heart of a child…
Does that mean we throw reason out the door? No, we should not fear reason or the intellect. But a child’s heart is precious. I hope to one day have a child(ren) and I look forward to learning from them, and hope to catch glimpses of life through their wondrous eyes…
March 19, 2009
“Begging for care”
“One in five Afghan children die before their 5th b-day despite billions of dolllars in aid. CNN’s Paula Newton reports.”
March 22, 2009
Hope Connections
Hope as cause:
In prayer:
Desire expressed for guidance and learning – Psalm 25
As hope for protection – Psalm 25
For what?:
Deliverance, again – 2 Corinthians 1
Future grace - 1 Peter 1
Effects:
The Lord’s eyes – Psalm 33
Strengthened – Isaiah 40
Boldness – 2 Corinthians 3
Faith & Love – Colossians 1
Because of God’s power:
Reason:
God’s love, never-failing compassions, God’s faithfulness – Lamentations 3
Of what:
Glory of God – Romans 5
Why hope doesn’t ‘disappoint’ or ‘put us to shame’ (depending on translation):
Because of God’s love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit – Romans 5
How?:
Through endurance and the encouragement of the Bible – Romans 15
Through the power of the Holy Spirit – Romans 15
picture taken by my brother
March 28, 2009
“The grave is overwhelmed.”
Listen to Chris Tomlin talk about his song “I will Rise” here. I recommend this song.
March 29, 2009
Help My Unbelief
So today I visited my ex-church before picking up Husband from the airport. One of the songs was “Help My Unbelief.” Wow! It was written by John Newton. I didn’t know he wrote such a song. The music and chorus is by Clint Wells, and the copyright looks like it’s of RedMountain Music. I went to the RedMountain website and found a sample of the song. And here is a link to the chords. Enjoy 
(Oh wow, it looks like Isaac Watts also wrote a song about unbelief….called “O Help My Unbelief“….)
March 31, 2009
Various verses from the OT
Selected verses (ESV) from Joel to Malachi:
Joel 2:12-13: ” ‘Yet even now,’ declares the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”
Joel 2:21: ” ‘Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things!”
Joel 2:25-27: “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. ‘You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.”
Joel 3:16- “The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.”
from Micah 4:2 – ” ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ “
Micah 6:5 – “O my people, remember [...] that you may know the saving acts of the LORD.’ “
Micah 6:8 – “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Micah 7:7 – “But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”
Micah 7:18-19 – “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? he does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. he will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
Nahum 1:7 – “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.”
Habakkuk 3:17-19 – “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. [...]“
Haggai 1:5-9 – “Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house,, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.”
Zech. 1:3 – “Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.”
Zech. 3:4 – “And the angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ And to him he said, ‘Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.’ “
Zech. 3:9b – “I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.”
Zech. 4:6 – “Then he said to me, ‘This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my
Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.”
Malachi 2:17 – “You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ By saying, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.’ Or by asking, ‘Where is the God of justice?’ “
Malachi 3:6a – ” ‘For I the LORD do not change;’ “
Malachi 3:7b – “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ “
Malachi 4:2 – “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”
April 3, 2009
To Calvary, I Return
Why, my friend, is thy face long?
‘Tis complex; need I respond?
Will a shy smile suffice?
I hardly stand to think twice.
Heavy sin I cannot bear;
But I fail to declare.
All is quite well must I say,
Go along your merry way.
Left I the room, frown in tow.
Went out to the hill fresh mowed.
A soft gray blanket I saw
Above gray lies blue, I thought.
Leaning against the damp grass
Like the clouds my dark thoughts passed
Lingering they one by one
Disabled my mind to shun
As I rose, out the tears poured
Flooding my face score by score.
This rain I cannot explain.
This or that cannot be named.
It is the burden of sin
That so weighs me down within.
The true reason for my frown
Is the thorn on my Lord’s brow
That thorn was placed there by me
But my Lord’s pain I don’t see
My sin veils my blurred eyes
That I cannot glimpse the prize
That at Jesus’ death did come
As God forsook His son
He the price for my sin paid
And was in the grave down laid
But that’s not the story’s end
The veil you cannot mend
Once and for all it is torn
Granting access to our Lord
Victory death could not scream
As two days later it seemed.
But on the third day He rose
Defeating death’s threatful pose
His life is the real gift
In His death do I then live
I live to die so He’ll rise
To conquer death’s stinging eyes
My eyes still moist with sin’s dew
My shame’s death still will not move
In its stench I linger still
Though it’s been left on the hill
To Calvary I return
In the cross’s shadow lurk
Looking to my Savior’s face
And resurrection embrace
Reality hits; I squirm
Wet grass causes me to yearn
For shelter, Jesus, my rock
But even there the wind mocks
Chasing the wind and the wet
Will lead me nowhere and yet
I do so to no avail
To Christ only must I hail
Setting up shelter in Him
Will not keep me from all sin
Though the wet and wind follow
His life holds my tomorrow
April 8, 2009
Looking to Christ
April 12, 2009
April 17, 2009
Ladder Light
At my back’s small
A gentle nudge
Straightens me tall
Powerless budge
My eyes I raise
The ladder’s top
In the breeze sways
No way, I thought.
The whisper came.
“One rung, one rung.”
It’s not the way!
Babel turned dung.
I cannot climb
My steps are rags
“On you God shined.”
I see but bags
I can’t carry
Quivering feet
Here I tarry
Make me your feat.
“Lift your eyes high.
What do you see?”
Can’t see but bright -
Blinding light flee!
It causes fear
“But man you are.”
Doesn’t He care?
“That’s where you start.”
Look to the light
All else fades dim
Not by my might
The power’s his.
Light He provides
Blinds me secure
I can’t confide
In my steps sure
Ah! Who are they?
Angels abound!
Are they to save?
Numberless count!
God’s servants came!
Look where they fly -
The ladder’s strength
Will be your might
The connector,
Our Lord Jesus
Intercessor,
Sees and hears us!
The servants left
Done with their tasks
Ladder remained
I’m left unmasked.
Still the light shone
Lowered my eyes
Sight I found in
Refracted light.
Then, face to face .
Now, ladder light.
April 22, 2009
No other good
Psalm 16:2 (ESV)
“I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”
April 24, 2009
“A Walk Across the Water”
Check out the article A Walk Across the Water, by Rachel Starr Thomson. Here is a blurb from that article:
Then we know, oh we know, that life isn’t all about these things. Not about the water crashing all around us. Not about successes and failures and busywork. Not even about the suffering, the ashes.
Life, finally, is not about this world at all.
and another blurb:
Transcendence. So often I grow comfortable here, distracted in my busyness, secure in my surroundings. I forget that life is a vapor in the wind — that I am walking, not on solid ground, but on water.
and it ends with this:
And when pain and suffering poke their way through the carefully woven fabric of my life, I stop, and I let their incongruity speak. I take the hand of Jesus and let Him walk me across the water in the reality that matters most: the reality of God’s presence, my redemption, and the coming day when I will see with my eyes that my redeemer lives.
April 27, 2009
Open Passage
The following selection is from ‘Shortcomings’ in The Valley of Vision:
“Help me to see that although I am in the wilderness it is not all briars and barrenness. I have bread from heaven, streams from the rock, light by day, fire by night, thy dwelling place and thy mercy seat. I am sometimes discouraged by the way, but though winding and trying it is safe and short; Death dismays me, but my high priest stands in its waters, and will open me a passage, and beyond is a better country. While I live let my life be exemplary, When I die may my end be peace.”
Photo by falas
May 3, 2009
Trust and Obey
My behaviors, thoughts, and feelings reveal a lack of obedience to God. But, I think even if my heart were “better” at this point in time, I would still experience hardship. What follows is some of my commentary on a couple stanzas of the hymn Trust and Obey :
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
But…shadows and clouds do seem to arise, and even if pain isn’t always quickly driven away, there is something to be said about waiting on God. In the midst of tears and fears obedience and trust should still be sought.
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.
But…this life is not promised to be burden-free or exempt from sorrow and loss. We are told to come to Christ. And for the believer suffering cannot rob the future joy that will at least be experienced when entering the presence of God.
He gives and takes away.
Blessed be the Name.
May 11, 2009
“Staying Put”
Here is an excerpt from the article “Staying Put,” by Amy Storms:
Christ’s followers must be transients. God calls me to move to three houses: a relationship with Him, a new identity, and the promise of His eternal presence in heaven. Yet, with each move, there is really only one address: Jesus Christ. “Remain in me,” said Jesus, “and I will remain in you” (John 15:4).
“To Do You Good In The End”
The post “To Do You Good In The End“ on The Blazing Center blog opens with these verses:
Who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end (DT 8.15-16).
May 13, 2009
Bad enough to crucify?
Jesus died for sins of the past, present, and future. For those He has redeemed, sin’s cost has been paid. And I’m a sinner, so, my sin is among the sin that nailed Him to the cross. But the thought ”I killed Christ” on the surface seems too drastic for me to put myself in the place of the “I”.
Yet, if I had been witnessing Pilate’s decision, would I have been among the crowd crying out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” (John 19) ? Even if I truly had believed at that moment that He was the Savior, perhaps at best I would have kept quiet. I likely would not have been of enough faith or bravery to shout out pleas to release Jesus instead of Barabbas. Maybe I would have even cried out with the crowd, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas” (Luke 23), if I had not yet come to a saving faith in Christ. And if so, I could have very well played a part in, crucifying Christ.
It’s interesting that Peter directly placed responsibility for Christ’s crucifixion on people in his very presence. In Acts 2:36 he says, “this Jesus whom you crucified” and in the next chapter “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.” (3:14-15)
In those days, people were becoming Christians like crazy, perhaps including many of the very crowd who once demanded Barabbas’ release and Jesus’ death. And if I were in the crowd, perhaps I would have asked for the same…
May 14, 2009
“Death is Not Dying”
From http://deathisnotdying.com/:
Rachel’s story is not unlike what thousands of women around the world have experienced. A diagnosis that changes a woman’s life and inevitably takes from her what we consider to be most precious.
After four and a half years of vigilantly fighting breast cancer, the 37 year old wife and mother of two was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
But for Rachel the essence of life is found in her relationship with God through Jesus. And that’s why Rachel is convinced that death is not dying.
Click on the website listed above to hear or watch Rachel share her thoughts.
May 18, 2009
May 19, 2009
The Lord looketh on the heart…
On the back of this picture of this lady is written 1 Sam 16:7b: “Man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart.” Did she write this verse on the picture? Was she not satisfied with her appearance? Was this the only picture of her that she ever owned? Is this woman now long gone and forgotten?
Interesting…life sure is but a breath, and the Word of God stands forever…
May 20, 2009
Life Purpose
I really like Acts 20:22-24 (ESV):
“And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
Paul here addresses an unknown future that is sure to include imprisonment and afflictions. But his desire is to finish his course and ministry to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
I don’t know what my future holds, but I know that with every step there will be some kind of adversity.
Dear God, please forgive me of my sins. Please teach me deeply the gospel of Your grace and cause me to shine that out to others. Please open my eyes to the ‘ministry’ or service for You that I should be doing in my time alone and in my relationships and circumstances, and please make me serve You. Please help me through this course and please focus my eyes on You. Thank you….
May 22, 2009
May 23, 2009
“Come messy”
Here’s a link to a quote by Paul Miller. The idea of coming messy reminds me of Horatius Bonar, who wrote something like “it is with our sins that we go to God.” I guess a more modern day version would be something like the song that contains the lyrics: “Come, just as you are”…
May 24, 2009
Voice of Truth
From Casting Crowns’ “Voice of Truth”:
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, “Do not be afraid!”
The voice of truth says, “This is for My glory”
May 31, 2009
“with these we will be content”
1 Timothy 6:6-8:
“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”
June 3, 2009
The Scapegoat
Photo uploaded by BrianMorley
Leviticus 16: 21-22 (ESV):
And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
June 7, 2009
However ________ Seems to Be
“[...], and Kanga said very kindly, ‘Well, look in my cupboard, Tigger dear, and see what you’d like.’ Because she knew at once that, however big Tigger seemed to be, he wanted as much kindness as Roo.”
- A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
June 15, 2009
While he was scrubbing the floor…
A quote from Paul Miller’s A Praying Life…I don’t know about the God wanting him to be depressed part, but it makes sense that his “minidepression” could have been part of God’s plan in drawing him (the person) closer to Himself (God)…
June 16, 2009
I just might have found it!
A while back I’d heard a song, or part of one, on the radio where the singer was expressing a desire to be continuously saved or to be saved in the present….and this just might be it!
“Savior, please“, by Josh Wilson. And here someone posted a youtube video that uses this song.
Yes!
June 18, 2009
Living Water
In Numbers 5, if the man is jealous of his wife, whether or not she has participated in adultery, then the couple was to go to the priest with “a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance” (vs. 15). Then the woman was to be “set [...] before the LORD” (16, 18). Her hair was to be unbound, and she was to hold the offering of jealousy while the priest was to hold “the water of bitterness that brings the curse” (18). If she was innocent, then she would “be free from this water” (19). But if she was guilty, then she was to be cursed. The curses were to be written in a book, and the woman was to drink the cursed water, which would bring “bitter pain” to her life (24). Then the priest would burn a part of the grain offering on the altar and afterwards “make the woman drink the water” (26). If she drank the water and was guilty, she would reap bitter consequences. If she was innocent, she would be free and able to conceive children (28).
I don’t know if the innocent women would still have to drink the water. Possibly so, if only God knew whether or not she was indeed innocent. In any case, it seems that even if the woman was innocent but the husband was jealous (maybe suspecting adultery), they were supposed to come before the priest with an offering of jealousy and have this little ceremony. They had to deal with this issue before God with the priest.
Our priest is now Jesus, as the book of Hebrews clearly shows. This High Priest (a Jew) once spoke to a promiscuous Samaritan woman at a well (see John 4). He told her of His living water that leads to eternal life rather than of the water of bitterness. The woman then requested this living water from Him. Perhaps she was at first a little skeptical as she seemed to think He meant it would replace the need for physical water. The conversation led into Jesus revealing His knowledge of her sin and His identity as the Messiah. His revelation of His knowledge her life caused her to share about Him with other Samaritans who then believed and came to Him.
Jesus’ living water at work. He is the High Priest, our bridge to God. We don’t need to drink the cursed water of bitterness. God knows us, our sin. He offers living water to all who drink. The water that washes our sin away and leads to eternal life.
(HT to this post for pointing out a connection between jealousy and a portion of Numbers 5…)
June 19, 2009
Focusing on Minutiae
From The House at Sugar Beach, by Helene Cooper:
“It was the same thing I would do for the rest of my life when something bad happens: I focus on something else. I concentrate on minutiae. It’s the only way to keep going when the world has ended.” – p.187
Not always the ideal approach, but perhaps an overfocus on the little things when bigger issues are at hand is a common response…
2 Corinthians 13:9 (ESV)
“For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for.”
June 20, 2009
“Christian Contentment Described”
The first chapter of The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, by Jeremiah Burroughs, is discussed in this post on the challies.com blog. People are invited to read and reflect upon this book, sharing their insights in response to this post and the forthcoming weekly posts.
Here are some thoughts and quotes pulled from this first chapter, called “Christian Contentment Described”:
1) Contentment is a disposition; it is not lastingly dependent upon external pick-me-ups and isolated happy times:
But when a Christian is content in the right way, the quiet comes more from the temper and disposition of his own heart than from any external argument or from the possession of anything in the world.
Burroughs points out that external contentment, like the warming of clothes by the fire, is only temporary. More lasting warmth comes from within, from one’s one’s body heat.
Contentment is not an occasional good mood, but rather a constant tempering of the heart:
Contentment is not merely one act, just a flash in a good mood. You find many men and women who, if they are in a good mood, will be very quiet. But this will not hold. It is not a constant course. It is not the constant tenor of their spirits to be holy and gracious under affliction.
Now I say that contentment is a quiet frame of spirit and by that I mean that you should find men and women in a good mood not only at this or that time, but as the constant tenor and temper of their hearts. A Christian who, in the constant tenor and temper of his heart, can carry himself quietly with constancy has learned this lesson of contentment.
I think the tempering principle could be applied to other good characteristics as well. Generosity. Service. Love. While these things can be shown in isolated instances, they should be states of the heart and natural outpourings of the Spirit.
This is a stretch, but, think about the thermometer. The average temperature of the body should be around 98.6 degrees. An isolated instance of a ’sick symptom’ may not mean we are actually sick if we maintain our healthy temperature. (Not so) Similarly, even if we do some kind of isolated act of ‘goodness’, it does not necessarily mean we are exhibiting that fruit of the Spirit consistently. We should not measure our heart temperature by isolated events.
2) The need to praise God in times of affliction
For if a man is to be free from discontent and worry it is not enough merely not to murmur but you must be active in sanctifying God’s name in the affliction.
And, he wrote, “You must say, ‘Good is the hand of the Lord.’” God is good.
3) The importance of looking to God:
He does not look down at the instruments and means, so as to say that such a man did it, that it was the unreasonableness of such and such instruments, and similar barbarous usage by such and such; but he looks up to God.
4) God sees what I don’t. He knows what’s best:
The Lord sees further than I do; I only see things at present but the Lord sees a great while from now.
5) The need for contentment in MY affliction, and not just keep it as a general idealistic mindset:
‘Would you not submit to God’s disposal, in whatever condition he might place you?’, you would say, ‘God forbid that it should be otherwise!’ But we have a saying, There is a great deal of deceit in general statements. In general, you would submit to anything; but what if it is in this or that particular case which crosses you most?-Then, anything but that! We are usually apt to think that any condition is better than that condition in which God has placed us. Now, this is not contentment; it should be not only to any condition in general, but for the kind of affliction, including that which most crosses you. God, it may be, strikes you in your child.-’Oh, if it had been in my possessions’ you say, ‘I would be content!’ Perhaps he strikes you in your marriage. ‘Oh,’ you say, ‘I would rather have been stricken in my health.’ And if he had struck you in your health-’Oh, then, if it had been in my trading, I would not have cared.’ But we must not be our own carvers. Whatever particular afflictions God may place us in, we must be content in them.
June 23, 2009
June 24, 2009
Epitaph
It would be neat if something like this (the content, maybe not the actual wording) could be said of someone on their gravestone or at their funeral:
Here within lied a [woman] who yearned to grow in the grace of God and inspired others to do the same. [She] loved the words of the great hymn “I need Thee every hour” and looked to God frequently to save [her] in the moment.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” – 2 Peter 3:18
“The Mystery of Contentment”
Quotes from and comments on The Mystery of Contentment, from The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, by Jeremiah Burroughs:
1) Looking to the Giver and not just to the gifts:
“But suppose you have the peace of God. Will that not quiet you? No, I must have the God of peace; as the peace of God so the God of peace.”
2) Lower those expectations, lower the heart:
“But though a man cannot bring his circumstances to be as great as his heart, yet if he can bring his heart to be as little as his circumstances, to make them even, this is the way to contentment. The world is infinitely deceived in thinking that contentment lies in having more than we already have.”
3) Decreasing Desire:
“Even the heathen philosophers had a little glimpse of this: they could say that the best riches is poverty of desires-those are the words of a heathen. That is, if a man or woman have their desires cut short, and have no large desires, that man or woman is rich. So this is the art of contentment: not to seek to add to our circumstances, but to subtract form our desires. Another author has said, The way to be rich is not by increasing wealth, but by diminishing our desires. Certainly that man or woman is rich, who have their desires satisfied. Now a contented man has his desires satisfied, God satisfies them, that is, all considered, he is satisfied that his circumstances are for the present the best circumstances.”
4) Consider the burden of sin:
“But you are deceived; for if you can get your heart to be more burdened with your sin, you will be less burdened with your afflictions.”
5) Psalm 51:17 (ESV)- “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
“But have you ever tried this way, husband and wife? Have you ever got alone and said, ‘Come, Oh let us go and humble our souls before God together, let us go into our chamber and humble our souls before God for our sin, by which we have abused those mercies that God has taken away from us, and we have provoked God against us. Oh let us charge ourselves with our sin, and be humbled before the Lord together.’? Have you tried such a way as this? Oh you would find that the cloud would be taken away, and the sun would shine in upon you, and you would have a great deal more contentment than ever you had. If a man’s estate is broken, either by plunderers, or any other way; how shall this man have contentment? How? By the breaking of his heart. God has broken your estate; Oh seek to him for the breaking of your heart likewise. Indeed, a broken estate and a whole heart, a hard heart, will not join together; there will be no contentment. But a broken estate and a broken heart will so suit one another, as that there will be more contentment than there was before.”
6) ‘Bloom where you’re planted’ type of philosophy:
“You should rather think, ‘What does God require of me in the circumstances I am now brought into?’ You should labor to bring your heart to quiet and contentment by setting your soul to work in the duties of your present condition. And the truth is, I know nothing more effective for quieting a Christian soul and getting contentment than this, setting your heart to work in the duties of the immediate circumstances that you are now in, and taking heed of your thoughts about other conditions as a mere temptation.”
7) The cloud is not always closer to the other hill…
“I cannot better compare the folly of those men and women who think they will get contentment by musing about other circumstances than to the way of children: perhaps they have climbed a hill and look a good way off and see another hill, and they think if they were on the top of that, they would be able to touch the clouds with their fingers; but when they are on the top of that hill, alas, they are as far from the clouds as they were before. So it is with many who think, If I were in such circumstances, then I should have contentment; and perhaps they get into circumstances, and they are as far from contentment as before. But then they think that if they were in other circumstances, they would be contented, but when they have got into those circumstances, they are still as far from contentment as before. No, no, let me consider what is the duty of my present circumstances, and content my heart with this, and say, ‘Well, though I am in a low position, yet I am serving the counsels of God in those circumstances where I am; it is the counsel of God that has brought me into these circumstances that I am in, and I desire to serve the counsel of God in these circumstances.”
8) Potential Epitaph:
“So I shall have my heart quieted for the present, and shall live and die peaceably and comfortably, if I am careful to serve God’s counsel.”
9) For God’s glory:
“It is by this that a gracious heart gets contentment; he melts his will into God’s, for he says, ‘If God has glory, I have glory; God’s glory is my glory, and therefore God’s will is mine; if God has riches, then I have riches; if God is magnified, then I am magnified; if God is satisfied, then I am satisfied; God’s wisdom and holiness is mine, and therefore his will must needs be mine, and my will must needs be his.’ “
10) A spoonful of medicine won’t remove the bursting appendix:
“It is just the same with men of the world: Oh such a mercy added to this mercy, then it would be sweet; but even if God should put a spoonful or two of sugar in, it would still be bitter. The way to contentment is to purge out your lusts and bitter humours.”
11) Consider the grasshopper:
“A grasshopper does not live on the grass as other things do; you do not know what it feeds on. Other things though as little as grasshoppers, feed upon seeds or little flies and such things, but as for the grasshopper, you do not know what it feeds upon. In the same way a Christian can get food that the world does not know of; he is fed in a secret way by the dew of the blessing of God. “
12) The love of God:
“The ways of God, the ways of affliction, as well as the ways of prosperity, are mercy and love to him. Grace gives a man an eye, a piercing eye to pierce the counsel of God, those eternal counsels of God for good to him, even in his afflictions; he can see the love of God in every affliction as well as in prosperity.”
13) Jesus has gone before us…
“Have you ever tried this way of getting contentment, to act your faith on all the pains and sufferings that Jesus Christ suffered: this would be the way of contentment, and a Christian gets contentment when under pains, in this way. Sometimes one who is very godly and gracious, may be found bearing grievous pains and extremities very cheerfully, and you wonder at it. He gets it by acting his faith upon what pains Jesus Christ suffered. You are afraid of death-the way to get contentment is by exercising your faith on the death of Jesus Christ. It may be that you have inward troubles in your soul, and God withdraws himself from you; still your faith is to be exercised upon the sufferings that Jesus Christ endured in his soul. He poured forth his soul before God, and when he sweat drops of water and blood, he was in an agony in his very spirit, and he found even God himself about to forsake him. Now thus to act your faith on Jesus Christ brings contentment, and is not this a mystery to carnal hearts?”
14) Looking to Him for strength:
“But a Christian finds satisfaction in every circumstance by getting strength from another, by going out of himself to Jesus Christ, by his faith acting upon Christ, and bringing the strength of Jesus Christ into his own soul, he is thereby enabled to bear whatever God lays on him, by the strength that he finds from Jesus Christ. Of his fullness do we receive grace for grace; there is strength in Christ not only to sanctify and save us, but strength to support us under all our burdens and afflictions, and Christ expects that when we are under any burden, we should act our faith upon him to draw virtue and strength from him. Faith is the great grace that is to be acted under afflictions. It is true that other graces should be acted, but the grace of faith draws strength from Christ, in looking on him who has the fullness of all strength conveyed into the hearts of all believers.”
15) Do I believe it or not? Do I have access to Christ’s strength or not?
“Though you cannot tell how to bear it with your own strength, yet how can you tell what you will do with the strength of Jesus Christ? You say you cannot bear it? So you think that Christ could not bear it? But if Christ could bear it why may you not come to bear it? You will say, Can I have the strength of Christ? Yes, it is made over to you by faith: the Scripture says that the Lord is our strength, God himself is our strength, and Christ is our strength. There are many Scriptures to that effect, that Christ’s strength is yours, made over to you, so that you may be able to bear whatever lies upon you, and therefore we find such a strange expression in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians, praying for the saints: ‘That they might be strengthened with all might according unto his glorious power’, unto what? ‘Unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness’-strengthened with all might, according to the power of God, the glorious power of God, unto all patience, and longsuffering with joyfulness. You must not therefore be content with a little strength, so that you are able to bear what a man might bear by the strength of reason and nature, but you should be strengthened with all might, according to the glorious power of God, unto all patience, and to all longsuffering.”
16) All in all:
“God is his all in all, while he lives; I say it is God who is his all in all. ‘Am not I to thee’ said Elkanah to Hannah, ‘instead of ten children?’ So says God to a gracious heart: ‘You lack this, your estate is plundered-Why? Am not I to you instead of ten homes, and ten shops, I am to you instead of all; and not only instead of all, but come to me, and you shall have all again in me.’ “
17) God as portion
“It was a remarkable saying of one, ‘He has all things who has him that has all things’. Surely you have all things, because you have him for your portion who has all things: God has all things in himself, and you have God for your portion, and in that you have all, and this is the mystery of contentment.”
18) There is no condition God cannot rescue His own from:
“There is no condition that a godly man or woman can be in, but there is some promise or other in the Scripture to help him in that condition. And that is the way of his contentment, to go to the promises, and get from the promise, that which may supply.”
19) We’re in eternal life now:
“There is a Heaven within the souls of the saints-that is a certain truth; no soul shall ever come to Heaven, but the soul which has Heaven come to it first. When you die, you hope you will go to Heaven; but if you will go to Heaven when you die, Heaven will come to you before you die.”
20) His promises are for me, too!
“Therefore when you look into the book of God and find any promise there, you may make it your own; just as an heir who rides over a lot of fields and meadows says, This meadow is my inheritance, and this corn field is my inheritance, and then he sees a fine house, and says, This fine house is my inheritance. He looks at them with a different eye from a stranger who rides over those fields. A carnal heart reads the promises, and reads them merely as stories, not that he has any great interest in them. But every time a godly man reads the Scriptures (remember this when you are reading the Scripture) and there meets with a promise, he ought to lay his hand upon it and say, This is part of my inheritance, it is mine, and I am to live upon it.”
June 25, 2009
June 26, 2009
The Language of Love
[ In my first few months of island life I was involved with the community a bit ...My life's [at least right now] not the same as it was some time ago, but anyway here you go…]
***
The Simple Rose: a type of winning move named in honor of Rose, one of the mah-jong group’s core members. Esmeralda: the name of the invisible player we need for part of the game when there are just three of us rather than the standard four. And there’s the lucky tile that comes during the tile distribution part. Mah-jong doesn’t require one to be skilled in verbosity. Yet our group has had a bit of fun with our insider vocabulary.
It didn’t take me a long to be a mah-jong insider, or something close. The local ladies graciously accepted me into their group. Though I’m generally not a fan of small talk, it’s okay with me that the mah-jong conversations are often limited because we share a common interest in the game.
Since I moved to my small island community several months ago, shallow conversations have seemed to dominate many of the interactions. I’m not an ‘insider’ where I’ve learned the vocabulary that would ignite the spiritual heart core of all of my acquaintances.
But love is not limited to an insider’s knowledge of one’s heart vocabulary. I am where I am for a purpose. And though my idea of an especially meaningful time with a friend would be sharing life experiences and deep thoughts or discussing a Bible passage over a cup of tea or coffee, I realize it can take a series of shared experiences over time to reach a point of deep heart exchange, a point which some friendships will never reach.
I want to grow in my appreciation of and role in interactions that seem to lack some depth.
Though a sense of connection is special, it isn’t everything. Character and love run deeper and are perhaps more important than a verbal exchange. I want to grow in noticing and living love through the little things.
The Little Things
Love can be lived in small ways in friendships of presence. Offering to help in the kitchen. Helping someone move. Showing up to a wedding. These presents are all acts of presence that can be remembered and appreciated by the recipient and practically forgotten by the giver.
Greeting someone is a way of reaching out that can be accomplished in a matter of seconds. During my first stint in Japan, an elderly lady who worked in the small bakery near my apartment would greet me with a friendly nod or wave as I walked by. It meant something to me.
Hospitality and caring for others’ physical needs is a common, but important, way of expressing care. Jesus demonstrates care for people on multiple occasions. One of these times appears in John 21, when after His resurrection, Jesus waited for some disciples on the beach with a charcoal fire, fish, and bread. Paul affirms the value of caring for other’s physical needs as he points out in Romans 15:27b (ESV) that “if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.”
I, too, can attend to others’ physical needs even through something simple as providing or helping serve a meal.
Humility
Jesus was the ultimate example of a humble servant. One of his acts of service happened when he washed his disciples’ feet. It’s a clear model for us as he said in John 13:14-15 (ESV): “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”
My husband’s foot massages with lotion are to me a reflection of this. It’s a humble act of service that I and my feet very much appreciate.
While we won’t necessarily go around washing or massaging the feet of our friends, perhaps we can seek to remember the top two commandments – love God, love others – and think ‘foot care’ as we wash dishes, prepare a meal, or engage in a conversation that is of a subject of which we have little interest or knowledge.
Phillipians 2:3-4 (ESV) tells us to “Do nothing from […] conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Looking to the interests of others doesn’t have to involve words.
Reminders
My husband and I have a few objects that remind us of sacrificial giving.
Soon before getting married, my husband presented me with a widow’s mite necklace, which to us is symbolic of one of the coins that the poor widow gave as an offering. Jesus commended her action, saying, “she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:44b, ESV). My husband had purchased a widow’s mite for his future wife (me) and one for himself years before he met me.
Sacrifice is also reflected in a piece of artwork now hanging on our bedroom wall. It is a colorful watercolor painting that looks like abstract piece of modern art if you didn’t know a young child had painted it. After receiving a gift from my husband, the young boy wanted to give my husband a gift. Together with his mom, he carefully laid out several pieces of his art that they’d saved. After pointing to the one he wanted to give, his mom, knowing how special that painting was, questioned his decision to make sure that was what he wanted to do. Indeed it was. He gave his best.
Ultimately our gifts to others are gifts to God. What we do for the “least of these” (Matthew 25) is what we do for God.
It is up to God to decide whether or not our gifts are of worth. What is a valuable gift to one might seem like a waste to another. John 12 talks of Mary pouring expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. It was pointed out that that perfume could have been sold for the poor, but Jesus stuck up for Mary, who was giving Jesus her best. Perfume was her language of love.
The language of love varies. It may be a foot massage. It may be a handmade gift. It may be a wave. It may be in small talk.
But whatever it is, we can be insiders of this language because God spoke it first[1].
[1] “We love because he first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19 (ESV)
What do I know…
A snippet from Addison Road’s song “What Do I Know Of Holy”:
I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees
June 27, 2009
In God’s Timing
Philippians 3:13b-16 (ESV):
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
From Matthew Henry:
2. That this is a good reason why Christians who differ in smaller matters should yet bear with one another, because they are agreed in the main matter: “If in any thing you be otherwise minded—if you differ from one another, and are not of the same judgment as to meats and days, and other matters of the Jewish law—yet you must not judge one another, while you all meet now in Christ as your centre, and hope to meet shortly in heaven as your home. As for other matters of difference, lay no great stress upon them, God shall reveal even this unto you. Whatever it is wherein you differ, you must wait till God give you a better understanding, which he will do in his due time. In the mean time, as far as you have attained, you must go together in the ways of God, join together in all the great things in which you are agreed, and wait for further light in the minor things wherein you differ.”
“How Christ Teaches Contentment” (I)
Quotes from How Christ Teaches Contentment, from The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, by Jeremiah Burroughs:
1) Deserving nothing but hell…
I deserve nothing. I am nothing, and I deserve nothing. Suppose I lack this and that thing which others have? I am sure that I deserve nothing except it be Hell
2) How little we are…
Do but consider of what use you are in the world, and if you consider what little need God has of you, and what little use you are, you will not be much discontented. if you have learned this lesson of self-denial, though God cuts you short of certain comforts, yet you will say, ‘Since I do but little, why should I have much’: this thought will bring down a man’s spirit as much as anything.
3) Without God we are nothing…
You think other men and women have memory and gifts and abilities and you would fain have them-but suppose God should give you these, and then leave you, you would utterly spoil them.
and:
I can do nothing. Christ says, ‘Without me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5).
4) Poison-filled pitchers…
We are worse than nothing. By sin we become a great deal worse than nothing. Sin makes us more vile than nothing, and contrary to all good. It is a great deal worse to have a contrariety to all that is good, than merely to have an emptiness of all that is good. We are not empty pitchers in respect of good, but we are like pitchers filled with poison, and is it much for such as we are to be cut short of outward comforts?
5) Our affliction matches our view of our size…
Christ teaches the soul this, so that, as in the presence of God on a real sight of itself, it can say: ‘Lord, I am nothing, Lord, I deserve nothing, Lord, I can do nothing, I can receive nothing, and can make use of nothing, I am worse than nothing, and if I come to nothing and perish I will be no loss at all and therefore is it such a great thing for me to be cut short here?’ A man who is little in his own eyes will account every affliction as little, and every mercy as great. Consider Saul: There was a time, the Scripture says, when he was little in his own eyes, and then his afflictions were but little to him: when some would not have had him to be King but spoke contemptuously of him, he held his peace; but when Saul began to be big in his own eyes, then the affliction began to be great to him.
6) Things don’t provide ultimate satisfaction in and of themselves.
Well, have you got them? do you find your hearts satisfied as having the happiness that is suitable to you? No, no, it is not here, but you think it is because you lack such and such things. O poor deluded man! it is not because you have not got enough of it, but because it is not the thing that is proportionable to the immortal soul that God has given you.
July 5, 2009
“How Christ Teaches Contentment” (II)
More from “How Christ Teaches Contentment“, from The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, by Jeremiah Burroughs:
1) If a heart is taken up with eternity, the momentary stuff won’t get to it as much:
So it is with the heart: when the heart of a man has nothing to do, but to be busy about creature-comforts, every little thing troubles him; but when the heart is taken up with the weighty things of eternity, with the great things of eternal life, the things of here below that disquieted it before are things now of no consequence to him in comparison with the other-how things fall out here is not much regarded by him, if the one thing that is necessary is provided for.
2) Just passing by…
While I live in the world my condition is to be but a pilgrim, a stranger, a traveler, and a soldier. Now rightly to understand this, not only being taught it by rote, so that I can speak the words over, but when my soul is possessed with the consideration of this truth, that God has set me in this world, not as in my home but as a mere stranger and a pilgrim who is travelling to another home, and that I am here a soldier in my warfare, I say, a right understanding of this is a mighty help to contentment in whatever befalls one.
3) Just a traveller, what I have is not my own
For instance, when a man is at home, if things are not according to his desire he will find fault and is not content; but if a man travels, perhaps he does not meet with conveniences as he desires-the servants in the house are not at his beck or are not as diligent as his own servants were, and his diet is not as at home, and his bed not as at home-yet this thought may moderate his spirit: I am a traveler and I must not be finding fault, I am in another man’s house, and it would be bad manners to find fault in someone else’s house, even though things are not as much to my liking as at home.
4) In whatever condition…
This is the work that God calls me to now, and I must consider God to be most honored when I do the work that he calls me to; he set me to work in my prosperous estate to honor him at that time in that condition, and now he sets me to work to honor him at this time in this condition. God is most honored when I can turn from one condition to another, according as he calls me to it.
5) In the condition of suffering…
In the same way you were in a prosperous estate, and there God was calling you to some service that you took pleasure in; but suppose God said: ‘I will use you in a suffering condition, and I will have you to honor me in that way.’? This is how you honor God, that you can turn this way or that way, as God calls you to it.
July 6, 2009
“How Christ Teaches Contentment” (III)
More from “How Christ Teaches Contentment“, from The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, by Jeremiah Burroughs:
1) Things are not always as they seem:
The consideration of the trouble that is in a prosperous condition, I have many times thought of, and I cannot think of anything better to compare it with than to travelling in some open country, where round about is very fair and sandy ground, and you see a town a great way off in a valley and you thin, Oh how well situated that town is; but when you come and ride into the town, you ride through a dirty lane and through a lot of fearfully dirty holes. You could not see the dirty lane and holes when you were two or three miles off. In the same way, sometimes we look upon the prosperity of men and think, this man lives well and comfortably, but if we only knew what troubles he has in his family, in his possessions, in his dealings with men, we would not think his position so happy. A man may have a very fine new shoe, but nobody knows where it pinches him except the one who has it on; so you think certain men are happy, but they may have many troubles that you little think of.
2) Consider the clock wheels:
We, indeed, look at things by pieces, we look at one detail and do not consider the relation that one thing has to another, but God looks at all things at once, and sees the relation that one thing has to another. When a child looks at a clock, it looks first at one wheel, and then at another wheel: he does not look at them all together or the dependence that one has upon another; but the workman has his eyes on them all together and sees the dependence of all, one upon another: so it is in God’s providence. Now notice how this works to contentment: when a certain passage of providence befalls me, that is one wheel, and it may be that if this wheel were stopped, a thousand other things might come to be stopped by this. In a clock, stop but one wheel and you stop every wheel, because they are dependant upon one another. So when God has ordered a thing for the present to be thus and thus, how do you know how many things depend upon this thing? God may have some work to do twenty years hence that depends on this passage of providence that falls out this day or this week.
Waiting…
In May I posted a blurb about Rachel, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and a link to a website where one could hear or watch Rachel express some thoughts.
Well, the update is that she passed away on July 2nd…
Her waiting is over…
Here is a blurb from her thoughts expressed on June 1:
“Does it feel like you’re dying?,” some have asked. The answer is yes.
And I am finding that my greatest challenge and what occupies my thoughts most these days is how to finish well. All the little things that I battle daily seem to loom larger in the waiting of each day and moment as my impatience and selfish tendencies rush to the forefront of every thought and activity.
So my challenge is to finish well. And it seems I am to do this by waiting. Appropriately, I found this verse in Lamentations:
“It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
Waiting. Quietly. It is a good thing apparently.
I have added it to my To Do list…
July 8, 2009
July 20, 2009
The Excellence of Contentment
Blurbs from “The Excellence of Contentment“, from The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs:
1) Contentment with crumbs & subjection to God:
It may be that some of you have not your table spread as others have, but God gives you crumbs; now, says the poor woman, dogs have crumbs, and when you can find your hearts thus submitting to God, to be but as a dog, and can be contented and bless God for any crumb, I say this is a great worship of God.
You worship God more by this than when you come to hear a sermon, or spend half an hour, or an hour, in prayer, or when you come to receive a sacrament. These are the acts of God’s worship, but they are only external acts of worship, to hear and pray and receive sacraments. But this is the soul’s worship, to subject itself thus to God.
2) Strong grace like that of an eagle:
I remember it is reported of the eagle that it is not like other fowls: when other fowls are hungry they make a noise; but the eagle is never heard to make noise though it lacks food. Now it is from the magnitude of its spirit that it will not make such complaints as other fowls do when they lack food, because it is above hunger, and above thirst. Similarly it is an argument of a gracious magnitude of spirit, that whatsoever befalls it, yet it is not always whining and complaining as others do, but it goes on in its way and course, and blesses God, and keeps in a constant tenor whatever befalls it. Such things as cause others to be dejected and fretted and vexed, and take away all the comfort of their lives make no alteration at all in the spirits of these men and women. This, I say, is a sign of a great deal of strength of grace.
July 29, 2009
August 3, 2009
August 5, 2009
August 10, 2009
The Object of Our Faith
From All of Grace, by Spurgeon (a modernized version):
“Think more of Him to whom you look than of the look itself. You must look away even from your own looking and see nothing but Jesus and the grace of God revealed in Him” (p.58).
“You may not make a christ out of your repentance, but you must look to Christ for repentance. The Holy Spirit, by turning us to Christ, turns us from sin. Look away, then, from the effect to the cause, from your own repenting to the Lord Jesus, who is exalted on high to give repentance” (p.94).
August 17, 2009
August 18, 2009
Warning Lights
Blurbs from Love is a Decision, by Gary Smalley with John Trent:
Envy, jealousy, comparison. I used to struggle with these emotions constantly, but rarely any more. Why? Because I’m learning how to take these very negative emotions and turn them into a flashing light that illuminates lasting fulfillment. (p.180)
Many people feel tremendously guilty when they experience anger, fear, worry, or hurt feelings. I’ve learned to use them in a positive way. These emotions are actually red lights flashing telling us our focus is in the wrong spot. We’re expecting life from the wrong source! (p.181)
You see, there’s a fundamental problem with expecting fulfillment from people, places, and things. These are the gifts of life, not the source of life. Any time we expect the gifts of life to give us what only God can, we’re asking for our cups to be drained of energy and life itself. (p.181)
Now, when fearful thoughts come into my life, I don’t degrade myself for feeling them. I simply say, ‘Thank You, Lord, for reminding me that you’re the only One who can give life.’ Instead of resenting negative emotions, I can be thankful for their warning-light reminder that I’m looking for something other than the Lord to fill my cup. (p.182)
It’s a spiritual sensor that is saying, “Smalley, you’re expecting fulfillment from people, places, and things – not from the Lord.” I’m focusing on the gifts of life and expecting them to be the Source of life. (p. 182)
August 21, 2009
If ‘according to his will’—
1 John 5:14-15 (ESV):
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
