Today is Reformation Day!
October 31, 1517 is over 500 years in our rear view mirror, but in similar fashion, may appear closer than it is. There is never a point where we can kick up our heels and stop reforming ourselves in light of God's counsel. We are not reforming His Word, we are being reformed according to His standard. His Word never changes, but we must. We default to drift and if we do not continually swim upstream, we will be further downstream. Dead fish can swim downstream. But we, who have been born again and made alive in Christ, must swim upstream with all our might. We do not outgrow our need for careful examination of the Scripture and our lives in light of it.
semper reformanda
We do not seek revolution, but reformation. We don't want to overhaul the system, but change it back to what it ought to be.
By His Word,
we were formed
In our sin,
we were deformed
By His grace,
we are reformed
In His image,
we are conformed
Genesis 2:7
The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
God formed man.
Man was deformed by wanting to be God.
God informed Adam He would one day remedy this deformation.
God, in His mercy, sent His Son in the form of man.
Philippians 2:5-8
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
He was deformed for our sake.
Isaiah 52:14
As many were astonished at you— His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind
By His grace, we are reformed and conformed to image of Christ.
Romans 8:28-29
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
day no. 14,983: sometimes one must choose to do it afraid
"Courage is not the absence of fear; rather, it is the strength to overcome fear."
Courage is not acting like you're not scared, it is being scared and acting in faith anyways.
Faith is not pretending like things could not go poorly for you, it is believing that even if things should go poorly for you, they go well because of the value of what you are doing.
A brave man is not brave because he isn't scared, but because, being scared, he acts anyways.
If there is no fear, it does not require courage. Where there is danger and the natural fear of what could go wrong, faithful valor is required to believe that the risk of life and limb in fighting is better than the risk of livelihood in capitulating.
Courage is the act of seeking to assuage your fear by defeating its source.
Cowardice is the act of seeking to assuage your fear by retreating for the source.
"Sometimes fear does not subside and one must choose to do it afraid." - Elisabeth Elliot
Courage is not acting like you're not scared, it is being scared and acting in faith anyways.
Faith is not pretending like things could not go poorly for you, it is believing that even if things should go poorly for you, they go well because of the value of what you are doing.
A brave man is not brave because he isn't scared, but because, being scared, he acts anyways.
If there is no fear, it does not require courage. Where there is danger and the natural fear of what could go wrong, faithful valor is required to believe that the risk of life and limb in fighting is better than the risk of livelihood in capitulating.
Courage is the act of seeking to assuage your fear by defeating its source.
Cowardice is the act of seeking to assuage your fear by retreating for the source.
"Sometimes fear does not subside and one must choose to do it afraid." - Elisabeth Elliot
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
day no. 14,982: an old-fashioned newness
Acts 17:21
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
We should be using our God-given creativity to find new ways to state old truths, not finding ourselves in the old habit of creatively stating new truths about God.
Newness is not in itself a good thing. The goodness of the newness depends on what it declares to have replaced. New and improved are not synonymous no matter how often we hear them pronounced man and wife by the marketing department.
Preachers, God has given us the task of employing our time, talents, passions and personalities to convey His timeless, limitless, perfectly sufficient Gospel. Do not fall into the time-honored tradition of finding fault with His declaration and inventing new and improved, better news. No, we are called to declare the old-fashioned, Good News.
We are not filling in God's gaps. The old news is where the power lies, not, even necessarily, in a new way of saying it.
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
We should be using our God-given creativity to find new ways to state old truths, not finding ourselves in the old habit of creatively stating new truths about God.
Newness is not in itself a good thing. The goodness of the newness depends on what it declares to have replaced. New and improved are not synonymous no matter how often we hear them pronounced man and wife by the marketing department.
Preachers, God has given us the task of employing our time, talents, passions and personalities to convey His timeless, limitless, perfectly sufficient Gospel. Do not fall into the time-honored tradition of finding fault with His declaration and inventing new and improved, better news. No, we are called to declare the old-fashioned, Good News.
We are not filling in God's gaps. The old news is where the power lies, not, even necessarily, in a new way of saying it.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
day no. 14,981: the war within the war without
"Since war is an act of violence based on irreconcilable disagreement, it will invariably inflame and be shaped by human emotions."
There are things worth fighting for even if you don't feel like fighting in the moment. And there are things that are not worth fighting for no matter how much you feel they should be fought.
The difficulty is waging war for what's worth fighting even when you don't feel like it and withholding warfare over matters not worth fighting especially when you feel like it..
For an example of boots on the ground application, consider the war of of imposing your will upon your children, what is commonly called, "child-rearing," or "parenting"
“Your emotional state might feel like disciplining when you should not, or it might feel like not disciplining when you should, so you cannot base discipline on the state of your emotions. In order to teach obedience, your disciplining must be itself obedient and disciplined” - Douglas Wilson, Why Children Matter, p. 42
Every war without is attended by a war within.
There are things worth fighting for even if you don't feel like fighting in the moment. And there are things that are not worth fighting for no matter how much you feel they should be fought.
The difficulty is waging war for what's worth fighting even when you don't feel like it and withholding warfare over matters not worth fighting especially when you feel like it..
For an example of boots on the ground application, consider the war of of imposing your will upon your children, what is commonly called, "child-rearing," or "parenting"
“Your emotional state might feel like disciplining when you should not, or it might feel like not disciplining when you should, so you cannot base discipline on the state of your emotions. In order to teach obedience, your disciplining must be itself obedient and disciplined” - Douglas Wilson, Why Children Matter, p. 42
Every war without is attended by a war within.
Monday, October 28, 2019
day no. 14,980: domestic disturbances
War is a complex phenomenon. We have described war as essentially a clash between opposed wills. In reality, each belligerent is not a single, homogeneous will guided by a single intelligence.Instead, each belligerent is a complex system consisting of numerous individual parts. A division comprises regiments, a regiment comprises battalions, and so on all the way down to fire teams which are composed of individual Marines. Each element is part of a larger whole and must cooperate with other elements for the accomplishment of the common goal. At the same time, each has its own mission and must adapt to its own situation. Each must deal with friction, uncertainty, and disorder at its own level, and each may create friction, uncertainty, and disorder for others, friendly as well as enemy.
As a result, war is not governed by the actions or decisions of a single individual in any one place but emerges from the collective behavior of all the individual parts in the system interacting locally in response to local conditions and incomplete information. A military action is not the monolithic execution of a single decision by a single entity but necessarily involves near-countless independent but interrelated decisions and actions being taken simultaneously throughout the organization. Efforts to fully centralize military operations and to exert complete control by a single decision-maker are inconsistent with the intrinsically complex and distributed nature of war.
God's plan A is the local church. There is a capital "C" Church, but it is not governed by any one human institution. Jesus is the Chief Shepherd over His entire Church, but also over each and every individual local lower case "c" church.
Each local church will have its unique difficulties, strengths, challenges, congregants, leadership, etc... They will fall under generally defined parameters which define their inclusion in the "C" Church, but will retain their local features which make ministry in their specific midst defined by the parameters unique to their enrollment.
The war for the world must be fought at the local level. The global battle must be waged in neighborhoods.
"Think globally, act locally." - Douglas Wilson
To love our neighbors in every nation we must love our neighbors on our block. Continents are composed of countries. Countries composed of states or provinces. States composed of counties. Counties composed of cities or towns. The Church cannot succeed unless the church succeeds. However, the church cannot operate outside of the Church and remain a church.
1 Corinthians 11:16
If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
As a result, war is not governed by the actions or decisions of a single individual in any one place but emerges from the collective behavior of all the individual parts in the system interacting locally in response to local conditions and incomplete information. A military action is not the monolithic execution of a single decision by a single entity but necessarily involves near-countless independent but interrelated decisions and actions being taken simultaneously throughout the organization. Efforts to fully centralize military operations and to exert complete control by a single decision-maker are inconsistent with the intrinsically complex and distributed nature of war.
God's plan A is the local church. There is a capital "C" Church, but it is not governed by any one human institution. Jesus is the Chief Shepherd over His entire Church, but also over each and every individual local lower case "c" church.
Each local church will have its unique difficulties, strengths, challenges, congregants, leadership, etc... They will fall under generally defined parameters which define their inclusion in the "C" Church, but will retain their local features which make ministry in their specific midst defined by the parameters unique to their enrollment.
The war for the world must be fought at the local level. The global battle must be waged in neighborhoods.
"Think globally, act locally." - Douglas Wilson
To love our neighbors in every nation we must love our neighbors on our block. Continents are composed of countries. Countries composed of states or provinces. States composed of counties. Counties composed of cities or towns. The Church cannot succeed unless the church succeeds. However, the church cannot operate outside of the Church and remain a church.
1 Corinthians 11:16
If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
day no. 14,979: weaponizing disorder for order's sake
"In fact, we must not only be able to fight effectively in the face of disorder, we should seek to generate disorder and use it as a weapon against our opponent."
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Out of disorder and chaos, God brought order. He took the formless, void and dark and brought form, fulfillment and light.
1 Corinthians 14:33 (CSB)
God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
Where God goes, order follows Him.
Sin desires to unorder God's order. In doing so, it proposes an alternate ordering of things. It does not come straight through the front door and call its disorder what it is. Instead, it presents it as another brand of order. You cannot sell disorder, but you can if you brand it a new and improved way of ordering things.
It is into this "order" we ought to inject "disorder."
Disorder is the order of things without God. It is also the state of things immersed and influenced by sin. The human element of war ensures not only its continued existence until sin is eradicated, but also the state of its essence as long as it is being conducted. It is not just that sin creates conflict, but that it influences the way conflicts take place.
Sin attempts to disorder God's order and call it "order." Godly warfare seeks to undo this brand of "order" which comes in the form of righteous arson. Burning that kind of tower down is a victory for order since it topples and disorders chaos.
One might argue this is just wordsmithing in order to excuse disorderly conduct. But a simple thought experiment reveals that this is not just doing the same thing in a different direction.
If the system of this world were to succeed in "ordering" everything according to its designs, it would have us regressing all the way back to a formless, empty void. A process ironically they would "progress." No up or down, no boy or girl, no man or beast, no good or evil, just one level, bland, lifeless playing field where no one plays.
When the system of God succeeds in imposing it's will and purpose upon the current "order" of things, the resulting order is vibrant, diversified, defined, full of purpose and full of life. A process many, ironically, would call "regression."
In other words, godliness weaponizes disorder in order to produce order whereas ungodliness utilizes disorder to produce more of the same. It's end goal is the disorder it employs whereas godliness deconstructs the "order" of chaos like chemo destroys the structural integrity of cancerous cells in order to ultimately produce health and well-being. You know, that kind of order. Cancer marches in a predictable fashion laying waste to where it walks, but that kind of order is disorderly by nature.
To put a flesh on this skeleton, let me submit one final analogy.
If Hitler were to have attained victory, Europe would simply be Germany. But when the United States, France and England attained victory, Europe remained the diversified whole of independent countries retaining their local borders and bounty unique to their history, culture and contributions to the world.
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Out of disorder and chaos, God brought order. He took the formless, void and dark and brought form, fulfillment and light.
1 Corinthians 14:33 (CSB)
God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
Where God goes, order follows Him.
Sin desires to unorder God's order. In doing so, it proposes an alternate ordering of things. It does not come straight through the front door and call its disorder what it is. Instead, it presents it as another brand of order. You cannot sell disorder, but you can if you brand it a new and improved way of ordering things.
It is into this "order" we ought to inject "disorder."
Disorder is the order of things without God. It is also the state of things immersed and influenced by sin. The human element of war ensures not only its continued existence until sin is eradicated, but also the state of its essence as long as it is being conducted. It is not just that sin creates conflict, but that it influences the way conflicts take place.
Sin attempts to disorder God's order and call it "order." Godly warfare seeks to undo this brand of "order" which comes in the form of righteous arson. Burning that kind of tower down is a victory for order since it topples and disorders chaos.
One might argue this is just wordsmithing in order to excuse disorderly conduct. But a simple thought experiment reveals that this is not just doing the same thing in a different direction.
If the system of this world were to succeed in "ordering" everything according to its designs, it would have us regressing all the way back to a formless, empty void. A process ironically they would "progress." No up or down, no boy or girl, no man or beast, no good or evil, just one level, bland, lifeless playing field where no one plays.
When the system of God succeeds in imposing it's will and purpose upon the current "order" of things, the resulting order is vibrant, diversified, defined, full of purpose and full of life. A process many, ironically, would call "regression."
In other words, godliness weaponizes disorder in order to produce order whereas ungodliness utilizes disorder to produce more of the same. It's end goal is the disorder it employs whereas godliness deconstructs the "order" of chaos like chemo destroys the structural integrity of cancerous cells in order to ultimately produce health and well-being. You know, that kind of order. Cancer marches in a predictable fashion laying waste to where it walks, but that kind of order is disorderly by nature.
To put a flesh on this skeleton, let me submit one final analogy.
If Hitler were to have attained victory, Europe would simply be Germany. But when the United States, France and England attained victory, Europe remained the diversified whole of independent countries retaining their local borders and bounty unique to their history, culture and contributions to the world.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
day no. 14,977 continued... receive and believe (Finneas Haddon Foxe edition)
Finneas,
This morning while mom was away getting her hair cut and colored, you and I had a chat. You were holding three small army figures, one of which was Penelope's. She was asking to have hers back, but you kept denying her request. She was getting frustrated and you were digging your heels in more and more with each repeated request from your sister.
I intervened and asked you to return her toy to her. You began justifying your decision and that she was wrong to ask for her toy back. After talking it through, you gave Penelope back her toy and then put a cherry on top by throwing the two other army guys on the table and stomping away.
I called you back. You wanted to be done, but I wanted you dig in. I asked why when things get hard you often resist and hold out until you concede and then stomp off and refuse to participate. Rather than play with the two toys you do have, you quit because you can't have all three.
This led to a discussion about sin, selfishness, repentance, doing good and going to hell.
Having recently had a conversation with you that ended in your concession that you deserved to go to hell for your sin, but a refusal to repent today when you were hearing God's voice, I revisited that interaction and stated that today you could repent rather than delaying it any longer and remaining in peril.
You softened. Before my eyes, I saw your hard exterior soften as we discussed the reality of sin and hell and what would happen if you got what deserved from God. This led to discussing what God has done in sending His Son to do what you could not do and die for what you should not have done. He took what you deserved. Rather than you dying in your place for your own sin, He died in your place for your sin and can this day be received by those who call out to Him.
Your countenance changed. Rather than digging your heels in to resist, you leaned in to receive. You welcomed my pursuit. You agreed to my offer to pray for you and being led to receive Jesus' life, death and resurrection as your only hope in life and in death.
We prayed. You confessed your inability to save your self, your stubbornness in often attempting to justify yourself and Jesus death as the only thing that can justify you.
I watched you turn from death to life before my eyes. The atmosphere behind your eyes changed. The tone of your words transformed. Your presence felt light, as if you could fly away if your pants were not weighing you down.
I love you, my son. We discussed, in keeping with orthodox Christianity and this being Reformation month, that Luther's first of the 95 theses emphasized that the entire Christian life is one of repentance. It is not a one and down proposition. It is believing and receiving every day. I reminded you how desperately and daily your dad needs Jesus. I gave my life to Him years ago and give it back to Him everyday. I sin and repent. I sin less in some ways than I used to, but I do not need Him any less. I could see that you understood.
I am so proud of you, Finneas. I am excited to help you repent again today and every day for the rest of our days together here on God's green earth. May this be not the only time you repent, but the first of as many days you live that you depend upon Him, confessing your lack and His fullness by grace through faith offered to you.
We capped it off by listening to "By His Grace" by the Dispatch. A song you used to request ALL THE TIME. The words are fitting for the occasion.
"By His Grace"
The Dispatch
We were dead in our path
We were sinful sons of wrath
Following a crooked road
We were lost and wandering souls
We couldn't choose righteousness
We couldn't save ourselves from death
But the God of grace, rich in love
Gave his life with Jesus
By His grace, by His grace, we are saved
Not by works, or by words, but by faith
In Jesus' name
We have peace in Jesus Christ
He has brought us to His side
He raised us up, gave us life
And seated us with Him on high
The perfect king, the God of love
Adopted us through His own Son
He brought us in, gave us faith
He made us sons and daughters
By His grace, by His grace, we are saved
Not by works, or by words, but by faith
In Jesus' name
By His grace, by His grace, we are saved
Not by works, or by words, but by faith
In Jesus' name
Jesus died to give us life
Brought from dark into the light
Righteous in the Father's sight
By the grace of Christ
By His grace, by His grace, we are saved
Not by works, or by words, but by faith
In Jesus' name
By His grace, by His grace, we are saved
Not by works, or by words, but by faith
In Jesus' name
Songwriters: Augustus M. Toplady / Brian Rogers / Richard Redhead
day no. 14,978: faith is flexible, rigor is rigid
"Success depends in large part on the ability to adapt—to proactively shape changing events to our advantage as well as to react quickly to constantly changing conditions. It is physically impossible to sustain a high tempo of activity indefinitely, although clearly there will be times when it is advantageous to push personnel and equipment to the limit. The tempo of war will fluctuate from periods of intense combat to periods in which activity is limited to information gathering, replenishment, or redeployment."
Adapting to the ever changing lay of the land at the hand and will of God is our key to success. We must be proactive in determining the shape of the clay that is handed to us as well as maintaining a flexibility in reacting to whatever changes are made to the clay as we are attempting to mold it.
Rigidity ends in destruction. A rigid plan which cannot account for change will fail under the pressure of the twists and turns reality ends up taking.
A paperclip does not break after being bent back and forth because it gets too soft. It breaks because it becomes too rigid. The term is work-hardening. The metal is becoming more and more tense and stiff as a result of being worked which results in it becoming more and more rigid which ultimately results, under continued bending, to breakage. The paper clip cannot sustain that much change. It's ever increasing rigidity is its undoing. And it will be ours as well if we do not proactively account for God and react to His will quickly, not pausing to be shocked that our carefully calculated plans could have turned out other than how we planned them.
Adapting to the ever changing lay of the land at the hand and will of God is our key to success. We must be proactive in determining the shape of the clay that is handed to us as well as maintaining a flexibility in reacting to whatever changes are made to the clay as we are attempting to mold it.
Rigidity ends in destruction. A rigid plan which cannot account for change will fail under the pressure of the twists and turns reality ends up taking.
A paperclip does not break after being bent back and forth because it gets too soft. It breaks because it becomes too rigid. The term is work-hardening. The metal is becoming more and more tense and stiff as a result of being worked which results in it becoming more and more rigid which ultimately results, under continued bending, to breakage. The paper clip cannot sustain that much change. It's ever increasing rigidity is its undoing. And it will be ours as well if we do not proactively account for God and react to His will quickly, not pausing to be shocked that our carefully calculated plans could have turned out other than how we planned them.
Friday, October 25, 2019
day no. 14,977: sovereignty is only an obstacle to those who fail to plan for it
Consequently, we must view chance not only as a threat but also as an opportunity which we must be ever ready to exploit.
Proverbs 16:98
The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps.
A man must plan what he wants to do and how he plans to accomplish it. He must account for every foreseeable obstacle and arrange for every foreseeable opportunity to impose his will upon his surroundings. He must know what he wants to do, why he wants to do it, and how he wants to accomplish it.
Additionally, he must be ready, at any given moment, to throw his plans aside. He must do all the hard work of thinking through everything and then commit to the hard work of seeing all his plans abbreviated and edited by outliers and unforeseen, unpredictable, uncontrollable circumstances.
"Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
The man of God must account for God's ability to superintend or upend all of his plans. But the man of God must still plan. He must take responsibility for the tasks and purposes to which his God has called him and execute the details with a ready willingness to re-acclimate to the atmosphere only God can control.
This variable, the reality and sovereignty of God, must be accounted for as one plans and be seen, not as an interruption, but an opportunity. The enemy, not accounting for the reality of God, has nothing but their plans to depend upon. The strength of their campaign depends entirely upon their ability to account for every variable. But therein lies their downfall. Where they fail to take God into account, we make room, and find opportunity to disrupt their plans when the unplanned intervention of God overhauls everyone's plans.
Where our enemy finds exasperation, we discover exploitation. Their inability to foresee God's sovereignty is our opportunity to see the rate of their downfall accelerated.
Proverbs 16:98
The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps.
A man must plan what he wants to do and how he plans to accomplish it. He must account for every foreseeable obstacle and arrange for every foreseeable opportunity to impose his will upon his surroundings. He must know what he wants to do, why he wants to do it, and how he wants to accomplish it.
Additionally, he must be ready, at any given moment, to throw his plans aside. He must do all the hard work of thinking through everything and then commit to the hard work of seeing all his plans abbreviated and edited by outliers and unforeseen, unpredictable, uncontrollable circumstances.
"Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
The man of God must account for God's ability to superintend or upend all of his plans. But the man of God must still plan. He must take responsibility for the tasks and purposes to which his God has called him and execute the details with a ready willingness to re-acclimate to the atmosphere only God can control.
This variable, the reality and sovereignty of God, must be accounted for as one plans and be seen, not as an interruption, but an opportunity. The enemy, not accounting for the reality of God, has nothing but their plans to depend upon. The strength of their campaign depends entirely upon their ability to account for every variable. But therein lies their downfall. Where they fail to take God into account, we make room, and find opportunity to disrupt their plans when the unplanned intervention of God overhauls everyone's plans.
Where our enemy finds exasperation, we discover exploitation. Their inability to foresee God's sovereignty is our opportunity to see the rate of their downfall accelerated.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
day no. 14,976: the best of times, the worst of times
Ephesians 5:15-17
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Today, I begin my 42nd march around the sun. 41 years ago today, I was at this exact place in the universe. I occupied the same floating space on the black highway the earth annually travels. Today, I pass by my "I was here" scratches on the bathroom stall of this world.
In other words, today, it is my 41st birthday. 41 years ago on this day, I entered for the first time into the atmosphere of the world outside of my mother's womb. I was 2 weeks overdue which means by the math I have found available on-line, my conception date was likely somewhere around January 15 - January 25. The due date would have been calculated to be around October 10, 1978, but in going overdue, I was born on this day, October 24, 1978.
The precise date of my actual conception and beginning of my life here on earth may then be a mystery to me, but the point and purpose of my life here on earth this very day is not.
Today is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. I've had a good time with the time God has given me, but I'm not living for a good time, I'm living for a godly legacy.
Anyone can blow through a bank account's worth of cash without blinking. But only a wise man can invest it, spend it wisely and see a growing account as a result.
We are born with a bank account of days credited to our account. Every day we spend one. We cannot save yesterday and have two tomorrows as a result. We must spend our day, each and every day. We cannot buy more at the end or subtract those from behind. Each and every day must be spent somehow, somewhere, on someone or something.
Our days are either being blown through or invested. They are either evaporating or pooling up into something. You can spill by accident, but you pour on purpose.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Today, I begin my 42nd march around the sun. 41 years ago today, I was at this exact place in the universe. I occupied the same floating space on the black highway the earth annually travels. Today, I pass by my "I was here" scratches on the bathroom stall of this world.
In other words, today, it is my 41st birthday. 41 years ago on this day, I entered for the first time into the atmosphere of the world outside of my mother's womb. I was 2 weeks overdue which means by the math I have found available on-line, my conception date was likely somewhere around January 15 - January 25. The due date would have been calculated to be around October 10, 1978, but in going overdue, I was born on this day, October 24, 1978.
The precise date of my actual conception and beginning of my life here on earth may then be a mystery to me, but the point and purpose of my life here on earth this very day is not.
Today is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. I've had a good time with the time God has given me, but I'm not living for a good time, I'm living for a godly legacy.
Anyone can blow through a bank account's worth of cash without blinking. But only a wise man can invest it, spend it wisely and see a growing account as a result.
We are born with a bank account of days credited to our account. Every day we spend one. We cannot save yesterday and have two tomorrows as a result. We must spend our day, each and every day. We cannot buy more at the end or subtract those from behind. Each and every day must be spent somehow, somewhere, on someone or something.
Our days are either being blown through or invested. They are either evaporating or pooling up into something. You can spill by accident, but you pour on purpose.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
day no. 14,975: the moms that made me
1 Corinthians 11:11-12
In the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.
I am the man the Lord made by means of my mom. Today is her 80th birthday!!! If it weren't for her, it would not be for me.
I am the man that is married to the woman the Lord made by means of my mother-in-law. Today is her birthday. If it weren't for her, it would not be currently for me.
My life would not look the same today if it were not for these two women and their commitment be mothers.
There are few things more uniquely feminine than motherhood. Praise God for women being women and the life He has allowed them to carry, nurture and release.
In the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.
I am the man the Lord made by means of my mom. Today is her 80th birthday!!! If it weren't for her, it would not be for me.
I am the man that is married to the woman the Lord made by means of my mother-in-law. Today is her birthday. If it weren't for her, it would not be currently for me.
My life would not look the same today if it were not for these two women and their commitment be mothers.
There are few things more uniquely feminine than motherhood. Praise God for women being women and the life He has allowed them to carry, nurture and release.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
day no. 14,974: opportunity costs
Risk is inherent in war and is involved in every mission. Risk is equally common to action and inaction. Risk may be related to gain; greater potential gain often requires greater risk. The practice of concentrating combat power toward the main effort necessitates the willingness to accept prudent risk elsewhere. However, we should clearly understand that the acceptance of risk does not equate to the imprudent willingness to gamble the entire likelihood of success on a single improbable event.
Risk is inescapable. There will be risk. There is always either the risk of doing it or the risk of not doing it. The opportunity missed by not taking a risk and the opportunities for disaster taking a risk invites. But our enemy's attempts to destroy us are also an opportunity for us to inflict damage upon them.
Christianity is not merely defense. It is not just holding the line with a goal line defense to keep the ball in front of us while giving up as little yardage as possible. When the enemy runs a play against us, they are attempting to inflict damage, advance their agenda, impose their will and come out ahead. But they are taking a risk in doing so. In hiking the ball, they are opening themselves up to losing yardage they have already gained. The quarterback steps back before he can step forward, the ball is observed to be losing yardage before it can gain.
Instead of merely sitting back on our heels attempting to hold their ball from advancing, we could send the house on a hunt for snot bubbles. We could blitz and advance our agenda. Their attempt to injure us contains within itself an opportunity for us to injure them.
Risk is involved either way and for both sides. In order for them to advance, they must risk losing ground. Our defense can gain us ground. We must see their risk and take advantage of it by taking one ourselves and say, along with our sister Esther, "If I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16).
"Sometimes standing against evil is more important than defeating it. The greatest heroes stand because it is right to do so, not because they believe they'll walk away with their lives. Such selfless courage is a victory in itself.” ― N.D. Wilson, Dandelion Fire
We must risk our lives without knowing the outcomes, yet knowing the how come. We know the why behind what we're doing - God's glory and our neighbor's good. We don't blitz because we know it's going to work out, we send the house because it is an opportunity to advance our agenda, impose our will and see the kingdom advanced in the direction of our end zone and end goal... everything subdued to Jesus.
Hebrews 2:8-9
Now in putting everything in subjection to him (Jesus), He (God) left nothing outside His control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him. 9 But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Risk is inescapable. There will be risk. There is always either the risk of doing it or the risk of not doing it. The opportunity missed by not taking a risk and the opportunities for disaster taking a risk invites. But our enemy's attempts to destroy us are also an opportunity for us to inflict damage upon them.
Christianity is not merely defense. It is not just holding the line with a goal line defense to keep the ball in front of us while giving up as little yardage as possible. When the enemy runs a play against us, they are attempting to inflict damage, advance their agenda, impose their will and come out ahead. But they are taking a risk in doing so. In hiking the ball, they are opening themselves up to losing yardage they have already gained. The quarterback steps back before he can step forward, the ball is observed to be losing yardage before it can gain.
Instead of merely sitting back on our heels attempting to hold their ball from advancing, we could send the house on a hunt for snot bubbles. We could blitz and advance our agenda. Their attempt to injure us contains within itself an opportunity for us to injure them.
Risk is involved either way and for both sides. In order for them to advance, they must risk losing ground. Our defense can gain us ground. We must see their risk and take advantage of it by taking one ourselves and say, along with our sister Esther, "If I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16).
"Sometimes standing against evil is more important than defeating it. The greatest heroes stand because it is right to do so, not because they believe they'll walk away with their lives. Such selfless courage is a victory in itself.” ― N.D. Wilson, Dandelion Fire
We must risk our lives without knowing the outcomes, yet knowing the how come. We know the why behind what we're doing - God's glory and our neighbor's good. We don't blitz because we know it's going to work out, we send the house because it is an opportunity to advance our agenda, impose our will and see the kingdom advanced in the direction of our end zone and end goal... everything subdued to Jesus.
Hebrews 2:8-9
Now in putting everything in subjection to him (Jesus), He (God) left nothing outside His control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him. 9 But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Monday, October 21, 2019
day no. 14,973: friction as a friend
One essential means to overcome friction is the will; we prevail over friction through persistent strength of mind and spirit. While striving ourselves to overcome the effects of friction, we must attempt at the same time to raise our enemy’s friction to a level that weakens their ability to fight.
While embracing the reality of friction is essential to developing a plan for fighting through it, it is not enough to merely have a plan for when, not if, friction should show up at your front door. While the man who does not realize or pretends not to know if friction is coming is ill-equipped to deal with friction when it does come, the man who has a plan still has a problem: he sits and waits and reacts to friction as it comes to him.
But the battle plan is not simply enduring the enemy's bullets or surviving their bombs. It is to go out and shoot at them and blow up their strongholds.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ
We are not looking only to defend our home base, but to debilitate the safe spaces of our enemies. We do not merely want to endure their attacks, but reduce them by castrating their ability to produce more problems for us. While friction is a given, the amount of friction is our mission. We are to reduce the amount of friction on our doormats by causing more friction for our foes.
We are not simply called to put out the fires the enemy lights in our territory, but to illuminate our enemy's landscape with fires we sparked in theirs. We should not be overwhelmed by the fires being set to our priorities and responsibilities, but rather should overwhelm our enemy by setting fire to theirs.
We should not only be dealing with our own fires, we should become someone else's fire with which they must deal. We should be flaming arrows shot into the darkness forcing the night to fight against the growing glow around them.
In other words, we should not seek an end to friction altogether. We should be seeking an increase in friction for our enemies, making it more difficult for them to accomplish their designs and less likely that their will and purpose would be imposed upon us.
We can ignore friction and wish it away... or we can embrace and employ it for our purposes.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
- Dylan Thomas
While embracing the reality of friction is essential to developing a plan for fighting through it, it is not enough to merely have a plan for when, not if, friction should show up at your front door. While the man who does not realize or pretends not to know if friction is coming is ill-equipped to deal with friction when it does come, the man who has a plan still has a problem: he sits and waits and reacts to friction as it comes to him.
But the battle plan is not simply enduring the enemy's bullets or surviving their bombs. It is to go out and shoot at them and blow up their strongholds.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ
We are not looking only to defend our home base, but to debilitate the safe spaces of our enemies. We do not merely want to endure their attacks, but reduce them by castrating their ability to produce more problems for us. While friction is a given, the amount of friction is our mission. We are to reduce the amount of friction on our doormats by causing more friction for our foes.
We are not simply called to put out the fires the enemy lights in our territory, but to illuminate our enemy's landscape with fires we sparked in theirs. We should not be overwhelmed by the fires being set to our priorities and responsibilities, but rather should overwhelm our enemy by setting fire to theirs.
We should not only be dealing with our own fires, we should become someone else's fire with which they must deal. We should be flaming arrows shot into the darkness forcing the night to fight against the growing glow around them.
In other words, we should not seek an end to friction altogether. We should be seeking an increase in friction for our enemies, making it more difficult for them to accomplish their designs and less likely that their will and purpose would be imposed upon us.
We can ignore friction and wish it away... or we can embrace and employ it for our purposes.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
- Dylan Thomas
Sunday, October 20, 2019
day no. 14,972 continued... between two thieves
Laurelai,
Today, before Sunday afternoon naps it came to light that you had been stealing your siblings toys and hiding them in your backpack. As we chatted before nap, we discussed that stealing was breaking God's Law and that someone who steals is a thief. We talked about how thieves deserve to go to hell and that when Jesus died He was hung between two thieves. They were being killed for what they had done.
You felt the weight of your sin and believed that God was just in His handling of sinners, particularly thieves. Knowing yourself to be one, you understandably began crying and begging not to be separated from your daddy and to be sent to hell.
Then, I shared the Good News with you. Jesus was perfect and went to the cross for the sins of thieves. He was separated from the love of His Father on the cross so that we do not have to be separated from it. Jesus died for sinners so that they would not have to die for their sins or be separated from the love of the Father for them.
In sharing this Good News with you, I asked you if you wanted to put your faith in Jesus, repent of your sins and follow Him to receive His sacrifice to be for your sins. You said, "yes, but you didn't know how." I led you in praying to God for forgiveness, gratitude for His provision and commitment to walk by the power of His Spirit.
Today, before Sunday afternoon naps it came to light that you had been stealing your siblings toys and hiding them in your backpack. As we chatted before nap, we discussed that stealing was breaking God's Law and that someone who steals is a thief. We talked about how thieves deserve to go to hell and that when Jesus died He was hung between two thieves. They were being killed for what they had done.
You felt the weight of your sin and believed that God was just in His handling of sinners, particularly thieves. Knowing yourself to be one, you understandably began crying and begging not to be separated from your daddy and to be sent to hell.
Then, I shared the Good News with you. Jesus was perfect and went to the cross for the sins of thieves. He was separated from the love of His Father on the cross so that we do not have to be separated from it. Jesus died for sinners so that they would not have to die for their sins or be separated from the love of the Father for them.
In sharing this Good News with you, I asked you if you wanted to put your faith in Jesus, repent of your sins and follow Him to receive His sacrifice to be for your sins. You said, "yes, but you didn't know how." I led you in praying to God for forgiveness, gratitude for His provision and commitment to walk by the power of His Spirit.
You went to nap a comforted girl and woke up with new life. I could sense even a change in your countenance and a proactive looking to the needs and interests of others almost immediately. I noticed a change and a softness when it came to responding to commands and requests from your mother or me. You are a new creation, a sister in Christ, not just a daughter I adore.
Before bed, after family movie night, you asked to take a picture with me to document the day. Attached is a picture of us in the hallway before bed celebrating all that God is doing in our hearts and under our roof.
Praise God for His tender mercy and for saving us and making us family twice over, by blood and by grace.
I love you, Lolo! So excited to watch you grow in wisdom, stature and favor with God and others.
Your Daddy
Before bed, after family movie night, you asked to take a picture with me to document the day. Attached is a picture of us in the hallway before bed celebrating all that God is doing in our hearts and under our roof.
Praise God for His tender mercy and for saving us and making us family twice over, by blood and by grace.
I love you, Lolo! So excited to watch you grow in wisdom, stature and favor with God and others.
Your Daddy
day no. 14,972: frictional characters
"Friction is the force that makes the apparently easy so difficult.” - Carl von Clausewitz
Friction is the force that resists all action and saps energy. It makes the simple difficult and the difficult seemingly impossible. The very essence of war as a clash between opposed wills creates friction. In this dynamic environment of interacting forces, friction abounds.
Friction may be mental, as in indecision over a course of action. It may be physical, as in effective enemy fire or a terrain obstacle that must be overcome. Friction may be external, imposed by enemy action, the terrain, weather, or mere chance. Friction may be self-induced, caused by such factors as lack of a clearly defined goal, lack of coordination, unclear or complicated plans, complex task organizations or command relationships, or complicated technologies. Whatever form it takes, because war is a human enterprise, friction will always have a psychological as well as a physical impact.
While we should attempt to minimize self-induced friction, the greater requirement is to fight effectively despite the existence of friction.
Proverbs 14:4
Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.
Everything has problems. Opposing wills produce friction. Oxen produce manure.
It is not difficult to understand that oxen are useful for plowing fields and that oxen help you produce a greater harvest than if you had to do their work by your own power. It is also not difficult to understand that in order to keep oxen, you must feed them and take care of them. It is easy to see how feeding them and housing them will lead to you being responsible to clean up after them and all of the crap that comes with that. Quite literally, shoveling their shit.
As easy as all of that is, it is difficult sometimes to bring yourself to endure the smell, the sweat, the work, the effort of keeping oxen. As easy as it is in one sense is as difficult as it is in another.
Friction is what makes apparently easy things difficult. Something should slide one way easily enough, but friction makes the force required to move it greater. It takes something simple and make it more complicated. Such is life.
Such is war.
In the world as God has willed it, enmity, war and friction are hard-wired into the system. It is the way it is. It is a problem, but it is the problem we are to contend with, resign ourselves to and overcome. It is not our mission to end the friction, but to account for it and fight in spite of it by faith that overcomes obstacles without discounting that they really were difficult to get over or around.
Because God has designed us to be whole, the strain of this is felt in the form of physical, mental and spiritual exhaustion. The costs are real and accounting for them does not pay them for you. While we must account for the problems, the accounting does not solve them. It only enables you to avoid creating another problem - that of overlooking the obvious.
The requirement of the Christian is to fight effectively despite the friction, in light of the friction and in the hopes that by God's grace the friction we face now in the form of thorns and thistles will one day be the problems of our pasts as we embrace the new problems of glorifying God without encumbrance.
Friction is the force that resists all action and saps energy. It makes the simple difficult and the difficult seemingly impossible. The very essence of war as a clash between opposed wills creates friction. In this dynamic environment of interacting forces, friction abounds.
Friction may be mental, as in indecision over a course of action. It may be physical, as in effective enemy fire or a terrain obstacle that must be overcome. Friction may be external, imposed by enemy action, the terrain, weather, or mere chance. Friction may be self-induced, caused by such factors as lack of a clearly defined goal, lack of coordination, unclear or complicated plans, complex task organizations or command relationships, or complicated technologies. Whatever form it takes, because war is a human enterprise, friction will always have a psychological as well as a physical impact.
While we should attempt to minimize self-induced friction, the greater requirement is to fight effectively despite the existence of friction.
Proverbs 14:4
Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.
Everything has problems. Opposing wills produce friction. Oxen produce manure.
It is not difficult to understand that oxen are useful for plowing fields and that oxen help you produce a greater harvest than if you had to do their work by your own power. It is also not difficult to understand that in order to keep oxen, you must feed them and take care of them. It is easy to see how feeding them and housing them will lead to you being responsible to clean up after them and all of the crap that comes with that. Quite literally, shoveling their shit.
As easy as all of that is, it is difficult sometimes to bring yourself to endure the smell, the sweat, the work, the effort of keeping oxen. As easy as it is in one sense is as difficult as it is in another.
Friction is what makes apparently easy things difficult. Something should slide one way easily enough, but friction makes the force required to move it greater. It takes something simple and make it more complicated. Such is life.
Such is war.
In the world as God has willed it, enmity, war and friction are hard-wired into the system. It is the way it is. It is a problem, but it is the problem we are to contend with, resign ourselves to and overcome. It is not our mission to end the friction, but to account for it and fight in spite of it by faith that overcomes obstacles without discounting that they really were difficult to get over or around.
Because God has designed us to be whole, the strain of this is felt in the form of physical, mental and spiritual exhaustion. The costs are real and accounting for them does not pay them for you. While we must account for the problems, the accounting does not solve them. It only enables you to avoid creating another problem - that of overlooking the obvious.
The requirement of the Christian is to fight effectively despite the friction, in light of the friction and in the hopes that by God's grace the friction we face now in the form of thorns and thistles will one day be the problems of our pasts as we embrace the new problems of glorifying God without encumbrance.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
day no. 14,971: imposing our will on the enemy
The essence of war is a violent struggle between two hostile, independent, and irreconcilable wills, each trying to impose itself on the other. War is fundamentally an interactive social process. Clausewitz called it a Zweikampf (literally a “two-struggle”) and suggested the image of a pair of wrestlers locked in a hold, each exerting force and counterforce to try to throw the other.
War is thus a process of continuous mutual adaptation, of give and take, move and counter move. It is critical to keep in mind that the enemy is not an inanimate object to be acted upon but an independent and animate force with its own objectives and plans. While we try to impose our will on the enemy, they resist us and seek to impose their own will on us. Appreciating this dynamic interplay between opposing human wills is essential to understanding the fundamental nature of war...
The object in war is to impose our will on our enemy. - MCDP 1, 1-4
War is an inescapable concept. It is not a question of if there will be war, but which wars will there be, which uniform will you wear, how will you fight and ultimately, who will win?
Enmity is part of our world by God's desire and declaration. Enmity has been placed between light and darkness, good and evil, the offspring of Eve and the offspring of the Serpent.
Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise His heel.
The enmity between light and dark is put there by God.
The imposition of wills is inescapable. It is not a question of if one will and purpose will be imposed upon another, but rather, which will and purpose will be imposed upon which and again, whose will win?
The end goal of opposing forces is to impose its own will and purpose upon its enemy. In the meantime, until one is subdued by the other, there will be friction. Friction and tension are a result of opposing forces pulling away from or bumping into one another, but being unable to escape the other as long as it exists.
This is the world as God has ordained as a result of sin. Sin and righteousness will be at war until sin, Satan and death are finally overcome, subdued, and overwhelmed by the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! His will and purpose will ultimately be imposed upon the earth and those who dwell therein as it is now Heaven.
Isaiah 2:4
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
By God's grace, a day is coming where war will be no more. Enmity and opposition will be subdued entirely. But that day is not today. Until then, we carry swords and spears. To lay down our arms before that day is to surrender. The enmity will NOT go away until He returns. To seek to end the enmity in any other way is to betray our hope in His appearing. To lay down our arms before He returns is to join the enemy. The enemy will not stop warring. They have believed God's promise and will not stop trying to impose its will upon us. They have taken the enmity seriously.
Have we?
Jeremiah 6:14
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
To seek peace where there is no peace is to ensure more casualties in the war. The war will continue whether we like it or not. To shake hands with evil is to have been overcome by evil. To make a peace treaty with darkness it to have the will and purpose of darkness imposed upon us.
"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."
- George Washington
War is thus a process of continuous mutual adaptation, of give and take, move and counter move. It is critical to keep in mind that the enemy is not an inanimate object to be acted upon but an independent and animate force with its own objectives and plans. While we try to impose our will on the enemy, they resist us and seek to impose their own will on us. Appreciating this dynamic interplay between opposing human wills is essential to understanding the fundamental nature of war...
The object in war is to impose our will on our enemy. - MCDP 1, 1-4
War is an inescapable concept. It is not a question of if there will be war, but which wars will there be, which uniform will you wear, how will you fight and ultimately, who will win?
Enmity is part of our world by God's desire and declaration. Enmity has been placed between light and darkness, good and evil, the offspring of Eve and the offspring of the Serpent.
Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise His heel.
The enmity between light and dark is put there by God.
The imposition of wills is inescapable. It is not a question of if one will and purpose will be imposed upon another, but rather, which will and purpose will be imposed upon which and again, whose will win?
The end goal of opposing forces is to impose its own will and purpose upon its enemy. In the meantime, until one is subdued by the other, there will be friction. Friction and tension are a result of opposing forces pulling away from or bumping into one another, but being unable to escape the other as long as it exists.
This is the world as God has ordained as a result of sin. Sin and righteousness will be at war until sin, Satan and death are finally overcome, subdued, and overwhelmed by the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! His will and purpose will ultimately be imposed upon the earth and those who dwell therein as it is now Heaven.
Isaiah 2:4
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
By God's grace, a day is coming where war will be no more. Enmity and opposition will be subdued entirely. But that day is not today. Until then, we carry swords and spears. To lay down our arms before that day is to surrender. The enmity will NOT go away until He returns. To seek to end the enmity in any other way is to betray our hope in His appearing. To lay down our arms before He returns is to join the enemy. The enemy will not stop warring. They have believed God's promise and will not stop trying to impose its will upon us. They have taken the enmity seriously.
Have we?
Jeremiah 6:14
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
To seek peace where there is no peace is to ensure more casualties in the war. The war will continue whether we like it or not. To shake hands with evil is to have been overcome by evil. To make a peace treaty with darkness it to have the will and purpose of darkness imposed upon us.
"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."
- George Washington
Friday, October 18, 2019
day no. 14,970: principles cannot remain hidden
This morning (9/4/19) while having coffee with my friend, Josiah, he reference the MCDP (available HERE). This is a published, public document detailing how the Marines tactically and philosophically approach war and warfighting.
This prompted me to ponder the fact that our military's principles are published in the public domain which led me to my next thought... The difference is not knowledge of the principles, but application of them. The manual may be available to all, but only a few will actually apply them. This is what makes the document possible to publish without it becoming a liability.
Principles cannot remain hidden. If they can, they are not principles. Principles can be abandoned, ignored, abused, applied, embraced, but they cannot remain hidden. If they could be hidden indefinitely, they could not be definite principles. Principles are axioms that guide everything whether you like it... or not; whether you notice... or not; whether you employ them... or don't.
You could discover a principle and then attempt to keep it hidden, but if it is truly a principle, you cannot truly withhold it from being discovered by another. You could keep your mouth shut, but the principle would still be available to your enemy if they looked hard enough.
Principles reveal themselves. They are self-evident and authenticating. They are there. Always there. That is what makes them principles and not mere preferences. They may be fashionable, but they do not go the way of fashions. They may be en vogue in one season and out of vogue in another, but they do not cease to be principles based on whether or not they are applied. They remain: constant, faithful, dependable, reliable.
They weather every storm whether or not we do.
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” ― G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World
Christianity is not a secret. It is in plain sight and obvious. It is not for lack of availability that it often goes unemployed. It is for lack of appreciation and application.
This prompted me to ponder the fact that our military's principles are published in the public domain which led me to my next thought... The difference is not knowledge of the principles, but application of them. The manual may be available to all, but only a few will actually apply them. This is what makes the document possible to publish without it becoming a liability.
Principles cannot remain hidden. If they can, they are not principles. Principles can be abandoned, ignored, abused, applied, embraced, but they cannot remain hidden. If they could be hidden indefinitely, they could not be definite principles. Principles are axioms that guide everything whether you like it... or not; whether you notice... or not; whether you employ them... or don't.
You could discover a principle and then attempt to keep it hidden, but if it is truly a principle, you cannot truly withhold it from being discovered by another. You could keep your mouth shut, but the principle would still be available to your enemy if they looked hard enough.
Principles reveal themselves. They are self-evident and authenticating. They are there. Always there. That is what makes them principles and not mere preferences. They may be fashionable, but they do not go the way of fashions. They may be en vogue in one season and out of vogue in another, but they do not cease to be principles based on whether or not they are applied. They remain: constant, faithful, dependable, reliable.
They weather every storm whether or not we do.
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” ― G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World
Christianity is not a secret. It is in plain sight and obvious. It is not for lack of availability that it often goes unemployed. It is for lack of appreciation and application.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
day no. 14,969: we are becoming permanently the persons we meant to be only for the moment
Jeremiah 13:23
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.
Our habits are hardening us into a particular mold. What we are accustomed to doing is a product of who we are becoming and is simultaneously making us more into who we've decided over and over again to become.
"Consider what power we have over our lives. We shape them to a large extent as we choose, and then, through habit, they tend to harden into the shape that we have given them, as the plaster hardens into the shape which the artist has chosen....
We think that we are acting always from our own choice, that it is no matter what we do now, because another time, whenever we wish, we can do differently. But all the while a certain habit is forming and hardening, until at last we find ourselves almost helpless. Thus, even our tastes, our amusements, our selection of books, the tendency even of our most secret thoughts, are becoming fixed, and we are becoming permanently the persons we meant to be only for the moment.
If the artist takes such pains with the plaster that he is forming, so that it may harden into a shape of beauty, what care should we take of the habits which are to effect so strongly and permanently our bodies, our minds and our hearts." - Charles Carroll Everett, Ethics For Young People
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.
Our habits are hardening us into a particular mold. What we are accustomed to doing is a product of who we are becoming and is simultaneously making us more into who we've decided over and over again to become.
"Consider what power we have over our lives. We shape them to a large extent as we choose, and then, through habit, they tend to harden into the shape that we have given them, as the plaster hardens into the shape which the artist has chosen....
We think that we are acting always from our own choice, that it is no matter what we do now, because another time, whenever we wish, we can do differently. But all the while a certain habit is forming and hardening, until at last we find ourselves almost helpless. Thus, even our tastes, our amusements, our selection of books, the tendency even of our most secret thoughts, are becoming fixed, and we are becoming permanently the persons we meant to be only for the moment.
If the artist takes such pains with the plaster that he is forming, so that it may harden into a shape of beauty, what care should we take of the habits which are to effect so strongly and permanently our bodies, our minds and our hearts." - Charles Carroll Everett, Ethics For Young People
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
day no. 14,968: we cannot resist our natures
"The stone which by nature moves downwards cannot be habituated to move upwards, not even if one tries to train it by throwing it up ten thousand times" - Aristotle, Nicomachaen Ethics
Like a rock, we are not, by nature, not falling upwards. And we cannot, even by great rigor reverse our natures. We do not, by nature, desire to change our natures and even if we did, we couldn't.
Ezekiel 11:19
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh
If our rock-hard hearts could have been trained to be softer, there would have been no need for a new heart. If old hearts could learn new tricks, transplants would be unnecessary.
Ezekiel 36:26-27
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Our old hearts could not resist their natures. They move downwards and only downwards. Even if we, by great zeal and devotion, we to chuck our hearts upwards ten thousand times, they would, by nature, return to their downward movement. If is where they always end up going.
For us to be saved, we need new natures. We cannot rouse our old natures to new heights without watching them fall to new depths. We don't need better rocks, smoother rocks, warmer rocks... we need to be done with rocks.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Like a rock, we are not, by nature, not falling upwards. And we cannot, even by great rigor reverse our natures. We do not, by nature, desire to change our natures and even if we did, we couldn't.
Ezekiel 11:19
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh
If our rock-hard hearts could have been trained to be softer, there would have been no need for a new heart. If old hearts could learn new tricks, transplants would be unnecessary.
Ezekiel 36:26-27
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Our old hearts could not resist their natures. They move downwards and only downwards. Even if we, by great zeal and devotion, we to chuck our hearts upwards ten thousand times, they would, by nature, return to their downward movement. If is where they always end up going.
For us to be saved, we need new natures. We cannot rouse our old natures to new heights without watching them fall to new depths. We don't need better rocks, smoother rocks, warmer rocks... we need to be done with rocks.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
day no. 14,967: untrained principles are prisoners of war in waiting
"Principle untrained may sometimes give way to a temptation which habit would withstand"
- Charles Carroll Everett, Ethics For Young People
Hebrews 5:14
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
An untested principle, untrained by regular exercise, may fall victim to temptation. Our habits are shaping who we are becoming... for better or for worse. A principled man in theory may become a disappointed man in reality if he does not, by habit, reinforce his principles by regular, habitual exercise.
"The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war."
Practice is a living application of actual principles. Preparation is principle embodied.
Proverbs 24:10
If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
If your principles cannot hold under pressure, they are not your principles.
- Charles Carroll Everett, Ethics For Young People
Hebrews 5:14
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
An untested principle, untrained by regular exercise, may fall victim to temptation. Our habits are shaping who we are becoming... for better or for worse. A principled man in theory may become a disappointed man in reality if he does not, by habit, reinforce his principles by regular, habitual exercise.
"The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war."
Practice is a living application of actual principles. Preparation is principle embodied.
Proverbs 24:10
If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
If your principles cannot hold under pressure, they are not your principles.
Monday, October 14, 2019
day no. 14,966: a priori ties
Matthew 3:8
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
The tips of your fingers and the tip of your tongue are the points at which your real priorities are revealed. What you do and say is more indicative of what you actually believe than what you say you actually believe.
Everyone is living their actual priorities.
You can use a pencil to write down what's important to you, but what comes out your fingertips is a better measure of your priorities than what comes off the tip of the pencil.
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
The tips of your fingers and the tip of your tongue are the points at which your real priorities are revealed. What you do and say is more indicative of what you actually believe than what you say you actually believe.
Everyone is living their actual priorities.
You can use a pencil to write down what's important to you, but what comes out your fingertips is a better measure of your priorities than what comes off the tip of the pencil.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
day no. 14,965: God did not give Adam a mom
Genesis 2:18
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
1 Corinthians 11:8-9
For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
When Adam needed a helper, God provided for him a wife. Not a pet. Not another man. Not a brother. Not a father. Not two women. Not a sister. Not a mom. God made Adam a wife.
Adam did not need a fur baby to help him. He didn't need a bro to high five him. He didn't need a brother to understand or a dad to instruct him. He didn't need multiple women either for different uses or because his appetite was more than one could satisfy. He didn't need a sister to look after or a mom to look after him. If Adam was going to fulfill his role and God's purpose for his life, Adam needed a wife.
A wife was the only thing that would do to help Adam do the only thing he was called to do: be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth with the image of God, conquer and cultivate it, subdue it and bring it under the headship of its Lord.
We must recapture the Christian vision of world conquest and that begins with husbands and wives, together reformatting the landscape and the atmosphere around them.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
1 Corinthians 11:8-9
For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
When Adam needed a helper, God provided for him a wife. Not a pet. Not another man. Not a brother. Not a father. Not two women. Not a sister. Not a mom. God made Adam a wife.
Adam did not need a fur baby to help him. He didn't need a bro to high five him. He didn't need a brother to understand or a dad to instruct him. He didn't need multiple women either for different uses or because his appetite was more than one could satisfy. He didn't need a sister to look after or a mom to look after him. If Adam was going to fulfill his role and God's purpose for his life, Adam needed a wife.
A wife was the only thing that would do to help Adam do the only thing he was called to do: be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth with the image of God, conquer and cultivate it, subdue it and bring it under the headship of its Lord.
We must recapture the Christian vision of world conquest and that begins with husbands and wives, together reformatting the landscape and the atmosphere around them.
Saturday, October 12, 2019
day no. 14,964: when God says, "let's go!!!"
Isaiah 42:13
The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war He stirs up His zeal; He cries out, He shouts aloud, He shows Himself mighty against His foes.
God goes out like a gladiator. He is like a warrior: pumped up, adrenaline pumping, pupils dilated, muscles tensed, heart racing, senses sharpened, swords sharper. He lifts up His voice and shouts and shows up. And when God decides to make an entrance, no one is left standing against Him. Even those who are for Him take a knee. No one is left upright when the Upright One descends and enters the octagon.
The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war He stirs up His zeal; He cries out, He shouts aloud, He shows Himself mighty against His foes.
God goes out like a gladiator. He is like a warrior: pumped up, adrenaline pumping, pupils dilated, muscles tensed, heart racing, senses sharpened, swords sharper. He lifts up His voice and shouts and shows up. And when God decides to make an entrance, no one is left standing against Him. Even those who are for Him take a knee. No one is left upright when the Upright One descends and enters the octagon.
Friday, October 11, 2019
day no. 14,963: if you have grapes, but want wine, you're going to have to wait
"You cannot make or break a habit in a moment" - William George Jordan
Habits cannot be accomplished in a fit of inspiration. They can only be achieved by the slow, steady grind of discipline and self control.
What do we want? Discipline!
When do we want it? Now!
But it doesn't work that way.
Good habits take time to develop.
Bad habits take time to destroy.
Bad habits can take root in a moment.
Good habits can fall apart in a heartbeat.
But good, hard work takes a good, long time while bad, easy work can be done by accident.
It reminds me of one of my favorite Chesterton lines...
"You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion.” - G.K. Chesterton
If you have grapes, but want wine, you're going to have to wait.
Habits cannot be accomplished in a fit of inspiration. They can only be achieved by the slow, steady grind of discipline and self control.
What do we want? Discipline!
When do we want it? Now!
But it doesn't work that way.
Good habits take time to develop.
Bad habits take time to destroy.
Bad habits can take root in a moment.
Good habits can fall apart in a heartbeat.
But good, hard work takes a good, long time while bad, easy work can be done by accident.
It reminds me of one of my favorite Chesterton lines...
"You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion.” - G.K. Chesterton
If you have grapes, but want wine, you're going to have to wait.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
day no. 14,962: God gives us bite
Isaiah 41:14-16
14 Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16 you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
God makes weapons out of worms. He can take a miserable tool and make him into a majestic instrument. And the upgrade is not just one from underfoot to in hand, it is from boneless, slimy and underground to firm, sharp and in broad daylight. God takes mere men and fashions them into feared blades, new, sharp, and having teeth. God gives us bite. He doesn't just charge us to devour the darkness, He gives us the means to do it... and the teeth He gives are not cut rate, bargain bin, Craigslist finds. He provides sharp, rigid, dangerous jaws to chew through all that resists Him.
14 Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16 you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
God makes weapons out of worms. He can take a miserable tool and make him into a majestic instrument. And the upgrade is not just one from underfoot to in hand, it is from boneless, slimy and underground to firm, sharp and in broad daylight. God takes mere men and fashions them into feared blades, new, sharp, and having teeth. God gives us bite. He doesn't just charge us to devour the darkness, He gives us the means to do it... and the teeth He gives are not cut rate, bargain bin, Craigslist finds. He provides sharp, rigid, dangerous jaws to chew through all that resists Him.
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
day no. 14,961: tongue deaf
James 1:19
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger
"Listen! Or your tongue will make you deaf.". - Native American Proverb
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
day no. 14,960: bad magic tries to produce good ends by bad means
I read THIS the other day (Saturday, August 3, 2019 to be precise)
"Consider two other realities of the Christian life—the blessings that come from obedience and the obedience itself. These are joined together in Christ and only in Christ. The temptation to separate them (by various means) is always the attempt to obtain the blessings of obedience without the obedience itself. The name of this sin is—at the foundation—sorcery." - Douglas Wilson
1 Samuel 15:23
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king
One of the differences between "good magic" and "bad magic" is what one is attempting to do with it. Trying to get the blessings of obedience by disobedience is for all intents and purposes, "bad magic." It is desiring an end which only something else can achieve, but doing your level best to discover a work around. It is acknowledging the "goodness" of the end of obedience without trusting the goodness of the means to obtain it. It agrees with God at one point, but refuses to agree with Him on another. It is appreciating an orgasm, but not covenant love; it is enjoying a warm, fresh-baked cookie, but despising the hard work of sowing seeds, tending gardens, pulling weeds, harvesting wheat, mixing ingredients, baking them, and doing the dishes when it's over; it is appreciating a kind word and neglecting the charity and attentiveness required of the other person to deliver it. "Good magic" if there is such a thing is not interested in shortcuts to accomplishing long gains. It is not an attempt to turn the blessing machine of God on its head in order to dump out the goods without needing to go about it in a good manner.
"Consider two other realities of the Christian life—the blessings that come from obedience and the obedience itself. These are joined together in Christ and only in Christ. The temptation to separate them (by various means) is always the attempt to obtain the blessings of obedience without the obedience itself. The name of this sin is—at the foundation—sorcery." - Douglas Wilson
1 Samuel 15:23
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king
One of the differences between "good magic" and "bad magic" is what one is attempting to do with it. Trying to get the blessings of obedience by disobedience is for all intents and purposes, "bad magic." It is desiring an end which only something else can achieve, but doing your level best to discover a work around. It is acknowledging the "goodness" of the end of obedience without trusting the goodness of the means to obtain it. It agrees with God at one point, but refuses to agree with Him on another. It is appreciating an orgasm, but not covenant love; it is enjoying a warm, fresh-baked cookie, but despising the hard work of sowing seeds, tending gardens, pulling weeds, harvesting wheat, mixing ingredients, baking them, and doing the dishes when it's over; it is appreciating a kind word and neglecting the charity and attentiveness required of the other person to deliver it. "Good magic" if there is such a thing is not interested in shortcuts to accomplishing long gains. It is not an attempt to turn the blessing machine of God on its head in order to dump out the goods without needing to go about it in a good manner.
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