Luke 17:3
Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him
God commands to our weakness and for the benefit of others. So when He tells us to, "Pay attention to ourselves," He is not telling us to do that thing we so naturally do anyways. He isn't saying, "Pay more attention to what you want or fixate more on those things you wish for yourself." He would not have to command us to do that. We were going to do that anyways. And in other places (Matthew 10:38, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27, John 12:25, Revelation 12:11), He clearly condemns that kind of paying attention to ourselves as sin the likes of which must be repented of if we are to enter into discipleship with Him.
So what does Jesus mean then by commanding us to, "pay attention to ourselves!" The command is to take hold of yourself, which implies one must attempt to observe one self. Do not simply assume the high ground. Be willing to be wrong and be willing to tell other people that they are wrong. The best way to be prepared to rebuke another is by being able to hear the rebukes you are receiving. Also, make sure you are not harboring unforgiveness or withholding reconciliation from one who is turning back towards you. Do not let your mood keep you from receiving their return.
Neither withhold rebuke or forgiveness from your brother. Neither hold on to secret sin or hostility towards those who would dare hurt you. Resist the temptation to be too soft to rebuke or too hard to forgive.
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
day no. 14,897: happy birthday dad and happy anniversary mom and dad!
Today, my dad, Teunis Van Voorst, turns 81. Congratulations! That is quite the accomplishment. And not only that, but it's a spry kind of 81. He is still out and about and riding horses and mowing lawns and all other kinds of recreational activities.
Today also marks the 42nd wedding anniversary of my parents, Teunis and Jacqueline Sue Van Voorst. That is quite the accomplishment as well.
Well done, family.
Today also marks the 42nd wedding anniversary of my parents, Teunis and Jacqueline Sue Van Voorst. That is quite the accomplishment as well.
Well done, family.
Monday, August 5, 2019
day no. 14,896: amateur hour and going pro
An amateur is someone who is interested in something, but not enough to pursue it whole-heartedly or put it into practice enough to develop experiential knowledge of having done something. An amateur wants to appear to be doing something without actually doing something about it. An amateur likes something enough to associate with it, but does not love it enough to do act upon it. An amateur will call this "like" by the name of "love," but it is more akin to "lust" which consumes, than "love" which constructs.
amateur (n.)
1784, "one who has a taste for some art, study, or pursuit, but does not practice it," from French amateur "one who loves, lover" (16c., restored from Old French ameour), from Latin amatorem (nominative amator) "lover, friend," agent noun from amatus, past participle of amare "to love." Meaning "one who cultivates and participates (in something) but does not pursue it professionally or with an eye to gain" (as opposed to professional) is from 1786
A professional is someone who puts into practice what they proclaim. They do what they say they want to do. They live their priorities, not just jot them down on post-its. Interest is not enough for the professional. Interest must express itself in action. A professional openly declares their affection and actively pursues it in demonstrable employment.
profess (v.)
early 14c., "to take a vow" (in a religious order), a back-formation from profession or else from Old French profes, from Medieval Latin professus "avowed," literally "having declared publicly," past participle of Latin profiteri "declare openly, testify voluntarily, acknowledge, make public statement of," from pro- "forth" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward") + fateri (past participle fassus) "acknowledge, confess," akin to fari "to speak," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say."
Men were made to go pro. They are called to serve, provide, protect and procreate.
In providing, they are called to work hard and pursue a profession that provides enough resources to nourish the man, but also enough leftover to provide nourishment to those around him: wife, children, neighbor, church, community, etc...
In protecting, they are called to be proactive in assuming enmity between their constructive endeavors and the destructive desires of the world, the flesh and the devil. A man cannot be ignorant to this enmity or merely wait and react to the danger when it arrives. The man's plan cannot be:
1. There is no fight.
2. There might come a time when we might have to fight.
3. It’s too soon to fight
4. It’s too late to fight
The mantra of the proactive man ought to be, "the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war." You protect what you love by proactively putting defensive measures into place.
In procreating, they are called to be prolific. (adj.) 1640s, from French prolifique (16c.), from Medieval Latin prolificus, from Latin proles "offspring" + combining form of facere "to make, to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Latin proles is contracted from *pro-oles, from PIE *pro-al-, from *pro- "forth" (see pro-) + root *al- (2) "to grow, nourish." Related: Prolifical (c. 1600).
Men must be looking to reproduce and make disciples that make disciples. They must be pouring into other men, raising up future leaders, rearing their own children, and reproducing more men to fruitfully and faithfully fill the earth with God's image for God's glory and the good of their neighbors.
amateur (n.)
1784, "one who has a taste for some art, study, or pursuit, but does not practice it," from French amateur "one who loves, lover" (16c., restored from Old French ameour), from Latin amatorem (nominative amator) "lover, friend," agent noun from amatus, past participle of amare "to love." Meaning "one who cultivates and participates (in something) but does not pursue it professionally or with an eye to gain" (as opposed to professional) is from 1786
A professional is someone who puts into practice what they proclaim. They do what they say they want to do. They live their priorities, not just jot them down on post-its. Interest is not enough for the professional. Interest must express itself in action. A professional openly declares their affection and actively pursues it in demonstrable employment.
profess (v.)
early 14c., "to take a vow" (in a religious order), a back-formation from profession or else from Old French profes, from Medieval Latin professus "avowed," literally "having declared publicly," past participle of Latin profiteri "declare openly, testify voluntarily, acknowledge, make public statement of," from pro- "forth" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward") + fateri (past participle fassus) "acknowledge, confess," akin to fari "to speak," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say."
Men were made to go pro. They are called to serve, provide, protect and procreate.
In providing, they are called to work hard and pursue a profession that provides enough resources to nourish the man, but also enough leftover to provide nourishment to those around him: wife, children, neighbor, church, community, etc...
In protecting, they are called to be proactive in assuming enmity between their constructive endeavors and the destructive desires of the world, the flesh and the devil. A man cannot be ignorant to this enmity or merely wait and react to the danger when it arrives. The man's plan cannot be:
1. There is no fight.
2. There might come a time when we might have to fight.
3. It’s too soon to fight
4. It’s too late to fight
The mantra of the proactive man ought to be, "the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war." You protect what you love by proactively putting defensive measures into place.
In procreating, they are called to be prolific. (adj.) 1640s, from French prolifique (16c.), from Medieval Latin prolificus, from Latin proles "offspring" + combining form of facere "to make, to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Latin proles is contracted from *pro-oles, from PIE *pro-al-, from *pro- "forth" (see pro-) + root *al- (2) "to grow, nourish." Related: Prolifical (c. 1600).
Men must be looking to reproduce and make disciples that make disciples. They must be pouring into other men, raising up future leaders, rearing their own children, and reproducing more men to fruitfully and faithfully fill the earth with God's image for God's glory and the good of their neighbors.
Sunday, August 4, 2019
day no. 14,895: sickness multiplies by corruption; soundness by reproduction.
Titus 1:16-2:1
They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
Sickness multiplies by corruption; soundness by reproduction.
Everything increases. Either you get more sickness or more soundness. The difference, however, is that as sickness increases, it consumes more and more of what it needs in order to spread, eventually consuming the host entirely.
In other words, that which cannot go on forever, won't
But soundness increases by reproduction. It is making more of something. It turns oneness into thirty and sixty and even one hundred-foldness.
When it comes to marriage, oneness beats multiplication.
Oneness is more fruitful than multiplying spouses.
But when it comes to discipleship, multiplication beats division.
A husband and wife united will multiply disciples and see many raised up from within their walls and many reached from beyond their walls through hospitality and intentionality.
Saturday, August 3, 2019
day no. 14,894: false manliness flatters women, but it does not respect them.
Ephesians 5:25-27
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
The following is from “True Manliness” from James Freeman Clarke's “Every-day Religion” (1886)
True manliness differs from the false manliness in its attitude to woman. Its knightly feeling makes it wish to defend her rights, to maintain her claims, to be her protector and advocate. False manliness wishes to show its superiority by treating women as inferiors. It flatters them, but it does not respect them
False manliness flatters women, but it does not respect them.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
The following is from “True Manliness” from James Freeman Clarke's “Every-day Religion” (1886)
True manliness differs from the false manliness in its attitude to woman. Its knightly feeling makes it wish to defend her rights, to maintain her claims, to be her protector and advocate. False manliness wishes to show its superiority by treating women as inferiors. It flatters them, but it does not respect them
False manliness flatters women, but it does not respect them.
Friday, August 2, 2019
day no. 14,893: audacity is the mere ape of true manhood
Proverbs 28:1 (KJV)
The wicked flee when no man pursueth:
but the righteous are bold as a lion.
The following is from “The Character of True Courage” - Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
We betray our weakness, not only when we fear things really not formidable, but when we are affected in an undue degree, or at an improper time, by objects of real danger. A brave man avoids such errors, and, estimating things by their real worth, prefers the grace and beauty of habitual fortitude to the delusive security of deformed cowardice.
Audacity... is the mere ape of true manhood.
What the brave man is, the rash and audacious man wishes to appear.
He courts and provokes unnecessary dangers, but fails in the hour of trial; and is, for the most part, a blustering bully, who, under a semblance of pretended courage, conceals no inconsiderable portion of cowardice.
True courage never provokes danger, but is always ready to meet even death in an honorable cause. But to die, rather than endure manfully the pressure of poverty, or the stings of love, or any other cruel suffering, is the part of a coward; who basely flies from an enemy that he has not spirit to encounter; and ignominiously quits the field, where he might have sustained a strenuous and honorable conflict.
The wicked flee when no man pursueth:
but the righteous are bold as a lion.
The following is from “The Character of True Courage” - Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
We betray our weakness, not only when we fear things really not formidable, but when we are affected in an undue degree, or at an improper time, by objects of real danger. A brave man avoids such errors, and, estimating things by their real worth, prefers the grace and beauty of habitual fortitude to the delusive security of deformed cowardice.
Audacity... is the mere ape of true manhood.
What the brave man is, the rash and audacious man wishes to appear.
He courts and provokes unnecessary dangers, but fails in the hour of trial; and is, for the most part, a blustering bully, who, under a semblance of pretended courage, conceals no inconsiderable portion of cowardice.
True courage never provokes danger, but is always ready to meet even death in an honorable cause. But to die, rather than endure manfully the pressure of poverty, or the stings of love, or any other cruel suffering, is the part of a coward; who basely flies from an enemy that he has not spirit to encounter; and ignominiously quits the field, where he might have sustained a strenuous and honorable conflict.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
day no. 14,892: do not fish with mercy
Luke 16:27-31
And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
Until someone hears the Law, they will not receive the Gospel. Until someone believes the bad news, they cannot embrace the Good News. The Good News is only good if that bad news is actually true. If everyone goes to a better place when they die, the Good News that Jesus living the life you should have led in your place for your righteousness and dying the death you should have died in your place for your sins is rendered unnecessary at best, overkill at worst.
If someone will not listen to the Law of Moses or the prophecies of the Prophets, which are all bad news for sinful people (God has standards... and you haven't kept them; Only God can judge you... and He's most definitely going to) then they will not receive the Good News of the resurrection. The resurrection's appeal is that someone had to die for sin. If you don't agree that you deserve to die, the Good News that someone else died for you is meaningless.
Do not lead with grace.
Do not fish with mercy.
Grace and mercy only make sense if they feel the sting of the Law hooking their lip.
And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
Until someone hears the Law, they will not receive the Gospel. Until someone believes the bad news, they cannot embrace the Good News. The Good News is only good if that bad news is actually true. If everyone goes to a better place when they die, the Good News that Jesus living the life you should have led in your place for your righteousness and dying the death you should have died in your place for your sins is rendered unnecessary at best, overkill at worst.
If someone will not listen to the Law of Moses or the prophecies of the Prophets, which are all bad news for sinful people (God has standards... and you haven't kept them; Only God can judge you... and He's most definitely going to) then they will not receive the Good News of the resurrection. The resurrection's appeal is that someone had to die for sin. If you don't agree that you deserve to die, the Good News that someone else died for you is meaningless.
Do not lead with grace.
Do not fish with mercy.
Grace and mercy only make sense if they feel the sting of the Law hooking their lip.
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