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.
Monday, October 14, 2019
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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