Monday, March 18, 2024

day no. 16,583: justification and accusation as inescapable concepts

"The sinful heart can repent, but it can also recoil. When it recoils from God’s holiness, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, the fundamental motion that the soul is making is that of preferring to accuse God than to accuse self. If a man has repented, if he has received John’s baptism, then what he does is justify God (Luke 7:29)." — Douglas Wilson, All the Condemnation in the World

Justification and accusation are inescapable. The only question is who will be justified? and how? and who will be accused? and for what?

The man who justifies God accuses himself. He agrees with God as to his guilt and justifies the wrath of God. He finds forgiveness when he then goes on to agree with God's propitiation provided in Christ alone. 

The man who justifies himself accuses God. He disagrees with God as to his guilt and justifies his wrath with God. He doesn't seek forgiveness from God, he expects an apology from Him.

1 John 1:8-10
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

We either call God a liar or confess that we are. We either call God a murdered or confess that we are. We either call God a blasphemer or confess that we are. When His Word is in us, we confess our sins in order to justify Him. When His Word is far from us, we accuse Him in order to justify our sins.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

day no. 16,582: pure country

"Patriotism has then, many faces. Those who would reject it entirely do not seem to have considered what will certainly step—has already begun to step—into its place. For a long time yet, or perhaps forever, nations will live in danger. Rulers must somehow nerve their subjects to defend them or at least to prepare for their defence. Where the sentiment of patriotism has been destroyed this can be done only by presenting every international conflict in a purely ethical light. If people will spend neither sweat nor blood for ‘their country’ they must be made to feel that they are spending them for justice, or civilisation, or humanity. This is a step down, not up. Patriotic sentiment did not of course need to disregard ethics. Good men needed to be convinced that their country’s cause was just; but it was still their country’s cause, not the cause of justice as such. The difference seems to me important. I may without self-righteousness or hypocrisy think it just to defend my house by force against a burglar; but if I start pretending that I blacked his eye purely on moral grounds—wholly indifferent to the fact that the house in question was mine—I become insufferable. The pretence that when England’s cause is just we are on England’s side—as some neutral Don Quixote might be—for that reason alone, is equally spurious. And nonsense draws evil after it. If our country’s cause is the cause of God, wars must be wars of annihilation. A false transcendence is given to things which are very much of this world.” — C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

We honor or fathers by honoring our fatherland. We do not honor our fathers by pretending they were perfect, but by refusing to publish every flaw we have observed. We do not need to make our fathers into something they weren't in order to honor them in their office, but we also don't need everyone else to know exactly what they were at their worst. Our fatherlands are not perfect. They do not merit our respect based on their resume per se, but based on their home base. We belong, in some form or fashion, to the soil from which sprung. We may take issue with our homeland and in fact, in some circumstances we must, but not because we hate it, but because we don't.

“No one doubts that an ordinary man can get on with this world: but we demand not strength enough to get on with it, but strength enough to get it on. Can he hate it enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing? Can he look up at its colossal good without once feeling acquiescence? Can he look up at its colossal evil without once feeling despair? Can he, in short, be at once not only a pessimist and an optimist, but a fanatical pessimist and a fanatical optimist? Is he enough of a pagan to die for the world, and enough of a Christian to die to it? In this combination, I maintain, it is the rational optimist who fails, the irrational optimist who succeeds. He is ready to smash the whole universe for the sake of itself.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

The true patriot, like the true solider, fights not for the hate in front of him, but for the love behind him. He may even fight against his own country, but not because he hates it, but because he dearly loves it. The good Pharisee agrees with God and wishes better for it than what it was reduced to. The good Samaritan agrees with God and wishes his actions weren't so shocking. 

"'My country, right or wrong,' is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, 'My mother, drunk or sober.'” ― G.K. Chesterton, The Defendant

Citizens of heaven have a higher allegiance than boundary and time assigns, but not a lesser one. They do not disciple the nations by insisting on the dissolution of nations. They do not preach detachment to those with addresses. We love our country, right or wrong, as we love our spouses, right or wrong, but we do not pretend like the rightness or wrongness doesn't matter, for that would be to hate our country or our spouse. Discipline and instruction accompany objects of affection, not abomination.

Hebrews 11:16
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

The patriot loves his country by desiring a better country. He loves its warts by investing in wart remover. He loves its crooked smile by paying for braces. The citizen of heaven is the kingdom of God with a home address. He pays the utility bill in the place where he follows Eden's blueprints. God has prepared a country for people who care about their current one and expect others to do the same with theirs. We honor our fathers by encouraging others to honor theirs. We do not honor our father for the sake of dishonoring others, but encourage everyone to love the land of their birth by honoring their Father who art in Heaven.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

day no. 16,581: the roar of God shall rouse the realm

Hosea 11:10
They shall walk after the Lord: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.

The Lion of the tribe of Judah will call out to His elect and they will come from wherever they are. They will come before their God and King. His heralds will not fail to make His Name and fame known throughout the entire world. He shall roar and they will rally. He will terrify the world and His own will come trembling before Him. All will bow, but some will rise. All will confess, but some will with gladness. We shall walk in step with our Lord and Savior by following His lead. His roar will rouse the realm and all the dead shall rise, some to everlasting life and others to everlasting destruction (Dan. 12:2). His entire Kingdom will hear His call and all will appear before Him. All will respond in one way... or the other.

Friday, March 15, 2024

day no. 16,580: eating the fruit of our lies

Hosea 10:12-13
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

When we rely entirely on our experts, we should expect to be fed lies. Faith in fallen men produces poisonous fruit. The forbidden fruit of the garden of Eden was not deadly in itself, but in its prohibition. The sin of partaking in it produced the poison, not the flesh of the fruit. But that sin sowed the seeds of poisonous plants to grow. Believing in a lie led to eating that fruit, but the fruit of that sin was seeds sown in deceit. So much so, that trusting in the strength of men to fix the weakness of men is now one our greatest weaknesses.

So, we must repent. We must cast off the idea of drawing ourselves up out of the well we are drowning in. We must break up the fallow ground and seek the Lord. Unless He rain righteousness upon us, there will be no fruit of righteousness. Unless He come, we will not go to Him. If He does not descend, we will never arrive.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

day no. 16,579: your standard is your god

Matthew 7:2
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

It is always necessary to ask, "By what standard?" because your standard is your God. Whatever you measure yourself by is your Gospel. However you determine progress from regress is your goal. It provides your categories of falling short and the abundant life. Whatever court you appeal to for justification and apply toward accusing others is your religion. Everyone has a standard. If they insist on having no standards, that is their standard and they demonstrate their allegiance to it in their persecution of all standards that come against it. But no one can stand under their own standard. No one can raise a banner for their beliefs and faithfully walk underneath. No one can keep their own convictions. We are inconsistent and condemned by our own mouths.

Romans 2:1
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

day no. 16,578: feasting in faith and fervency

Ecclesiastes 9:7
Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works

Feast in faith for our fervency is not in vain. Our labors in the Lord are sowing sure reward. By grace through faith in Christ, our efforts are acknowledged by God for His glory, our good, and the good of our neighbor.

Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might.

The will of God guides the faithful hand. He directs it to the plow, sustains it in the plowing, and provides by it in the reaping. The faithful hand has discretion. It doesn't find some activities because it finds them unappealing. The love of the Lord guides the grit to better works and provides a distaste for lesser things. That is why it can throw its back into whatever it does without worry. You cannot overdo that which is done by grace upon grace.

Colossians 3:23-24
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

We do not work hard in order to be accepted; we work hard because we are. We are not trying to win entry into His presence, but getting to glory in it. Ours is enthusiasm, not skepticism. We are not elbowing others out, but ushering many in.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

day no. 16,577: like people, like priest

Hosea 4:9-10
And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.

As goes the shepherd, so goes the flock. Culture reflects its cultus. Worldviews are our worship. 

"The pulpit leads the world.” — Herman Melville

We all walk by faith, only for some, their sight is their faith and their pulpit is their private opinion. But someone's preaching is present everywhere. There is no escape from exegesis. Everywhere we look, the world is reading and remonstrating against something.

Convictions drive our considerations and we do what we believe. We are pragmatists at heart. He act in keeping with our priorities. Our theology is manifested in the things we do. Our worship leaks into everything we own. Our private worlds are all watered by our worship which then floods the public sphere. Everything is soaked in worship. The flood of faith has never receded like Noah's. It covers the world and one day, Christ the King will be the only wet the world will know.

Habakkuk 2:14
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Those who have not heeded to the Lord will be barren in their bedrooms and starve to death in their hording. For all their sex, they are childless and for all their gorging, they are still hungry. They never get any the one or enough of the other. Their perversions cannot produce life and their decadence cannot create livelihood. Those who worship their bellies go hungry and those who worship their orgasms go without descendants. The one endures a famine of satisfaction and the other drowns in a flood of futility.