day no. 14,679: qualified and motivated

Galatians 6:1-2

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Parents often find their children caught in transgression and in need of discipline and restoration. But often we find ourselves not in the spirit of gentleness required to do so. And by the time we have simmered down, we often no longer find ourselves particularly motivated to address the transgression.

So when we are motivated (by anger) we are unqualified to address it and by the time we are qualified (having a spirit of gentleness) we are unmotivated to address it. In other words, when we are willing, we are unable and when we are able, we are often unwilling.

“When the parent is qualified to discipline, he probably does not feel like it, and when he feels like it, he is probably not qualified.”  ― Douglas Wilson, Standing on the Promises

This demonstrates that it is often not our love of our children and hatred of sin that drives us, but rather our own selfish preference and/or convenience. When we are mad at sin, we are quick to act; but once the anger has worn off, we no longer feel like acting. If we loved our children and hated sin more, we would work harder to qualify our anger into a spirit of gentleness in order to address our little ones caught in transgressions sooner. If we loved our children and hated sin more, we would work harder to motivate ourselves to address sin once we have calmed down if it takes a while to get ourselves qualified. This would go great lengths to demonstrate that it isn't merely our inconvenience that drives how, what and when we address transgression.

day no. 14,678: not a sneak attack

While reading through the book of James I saw a note I had written in the margins that read,

Feelings are reflections of what we have been thinking about.

In other words, the feels follow the facts. How you subjectively feel about things is the product of what you objectively think about. Feelings make better employees than supervisors, and they always require supervision.

Feelings are not as random as we often assume they are. We judge the sincerity of a feeling based on how spontaneously it appears - as though its genuineness were a product of its impulsivity. But feelings do not overtake us out of nowhere. They are products of mental activity. How we think about things and what we think about them stirs the pot of our emotional stew.

For more on this, click HERE.

day no. 14,677: preaching to rattle

Ezekiel 37:7
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

Preaching begins with God. 

He calls on men and calls them to cry out to others.

Preaching is preaching God's message.

He provides the prophesies He commands.

Preaching assumes the audience is dead.

Bones are about as dead as a person can get.

Preaching, therefore, acknowledges the impossibility of the task.

Preachers must not presume that wisdom and winsomeness alone can do anything for bones.

Preaching should rattle.

Preachers must speak in faith believing that God can use preaching to raise the dead.

Preaching does not settle for just any rattling.

Rearranging bones does not bring them to life. Archaeological digs fill museums, preachers fill churches.

day no. 14,676: the big idea of the book of Ezekiel

The phrase "know that I am the Lord" typically preceded by "then you shall..." occurs 62 times in book of Ezekiel (RSV translation).

When God says something, we should pay attention. When He repeats Himself, we should be pay particular attention. And when He repeats Himself 62 times, we should spend all our attention bucks on what He is pointing out.

God's clear goal behind what He is doing and what He is going to do is that everyone will know that He is the Lord. This knowledge comes through judgment and deliverance, wrath and mercy, justice and salvation. But the end game is the same regardless: that everyone would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is the Lord.

day no. 14,675: association and participation

Deuteronomy 1:39
At the time of Israel's disobedience in the wilderness, there were in their midst children who at that time did not have knowledge of good or evil. They were associated with the sins of their fathers, but had not participated in the sins of their fathers. They were ignorant to what was going on, but were along for the ride nevertheless.The good land would not tolerate those well acquainted with the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

day no. 14,674: history and highlights

Deuteronomy 1-3
Sometimes a quick recap of "how we got here" is helpful to make sure everyone is on the same page. It is easy to rewrite history in your head, especially when you have particular feelings about how things are playing out in the present. In other words, it is easy to highlight certain details only to discover the yellow bleeding through onto everything else. Before moving on, Moses wants to first make sure everyone remembers what has happened and what has been said.

day no. 14,673: for the love of peace, fight!

One weekend up in Des Moines visiting Paige's parents, the kids were playing in the basement. They were playing until they were fighting. Inevitably somebody wanted to play with something someone else was playing with and the traditional matter of ownership and authority manifested itself in fisticuffs.

In addressing the incident, I appealed to the Bible's emphasis on peacemaking.

Romans 12:18

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

You cannot force people to live at peace with you by being peaceful, but you must begin there. This principle was answered by a frustrated child who said, "How am I supposed to grow up to fight and protect people AND be a peacemaker!"

Great question. And the Bible addresses this as well:

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 8
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Living peaceably with people requires you first to fight the temptation to fight about lesser things. Being peaceable means fighting your desire to insist upon your rights at every turn. Being peaceable means not looking to pick fights, but to love peace.

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." - G.K. Chesterton

Peacemakers are so ferociously committed to being peaceable, that they are willing to endure all kinds of difficulties that could have been avoided by flexing. But peacemakers are also so courageously committed to living in peace, that they are willing to fight and stop those committed to making trouble. Peacemakers don't make trouble, they diffuse it. They do so first and foremost by controlling themselves and choosing what to let go of, but secondly they engage oncoming troublemakers when peace itself is at stake.

Matthew 5:9

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

James 3:18
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

There are things worth fighting about. Peace is worth fighting for and peace in a fallen world is only produced by the faithful who are willing to fight over the things worth fighting for, willing to let go of things that aren't worth fighting over and the wisdom and discernment and faith in Christ to know the difference and live in light of it.

1 Timothy 6:11-12

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

The end goal must be peace. The man of God must love peace and be willing to fight the world, the flesh and the devil inside and out in order to secure it.

day no. 14,672: men do not make excuses, they take responsibility

Men do not make excuses, they take responsibility.

The left fielder drops a routine pop fly, but... 

"the sun was in my eyes"
"the sunglasses you bought me kept slipping off my ears"
"someone honked their horn in the parking lot"
"my shoe laces came undone because you never taught me how"
"I was tired because you woke me up early this morning"

instead of,

"I dropped the ball. It was my responsibility to catch pop flies that came into left field."

Saving face is a sin that goes all the way back to Adam. "The woman You gave me," is our default rather than, "It was my responsibility to radah and kabash, and I dropped the ball."

day no. 14,671: hot take... Psalm 2 edition

on this Psalm in general...

This psalm is a messianic psalm, pointing to Jesus and the fulfillment of the great commission in the nations being given to Jesus, God's appointed King. Psalm 24 is messianic by pointing to the resurrected Jesus leading a train of disciples into the gates of Heaven b/c of all He did in our place for our sin and for our righteousness. Psalm 2 is messianic pointing to the Christ's final return and judgment of those who refuse Him and His grace and mercy for those who are eagerly waiting for Him.

Hebrews 9:27-28
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.

on to the Psalm in particular...

The Psalm begins by making an observation: the nations are raging and the peoples of earth are plotting against God. The kings and rulers of this world (those of importance politically, socially, famously, etc...) are all on the same team. Politics makes strange bedfellows. 

The Psalmist then asks the question, "Why?" We all see it happening, but WHY is it happening?

The Psalmist answers his own question in vs 3, they recognize that THE KING has asserted Himself and that makes them want to get out from under Him. They don't like being UNDER authority; they want to BE AUTHORITIES to themselves.

The whole Psalm is really political: a matter of AUTHORITY and RULE. The question isn't will someone rule; the question is WHO will rule?

This Psalm begins by stating that many go to great lengths to try to undo or slip out from under the authority of the one true, high and great King. They have devised many plans to help them escape. 

But God looks down and laughs. He is ON HIS HEAVENLY throne looking down on people who are asserting that He shouldn't be sitting there and that if He doesn't get off of it, they are going to come up there and do something about it.

No wonder He laughs. "WHAT?!?!? You are going to come up here? How? You and what army?" They reply, "Look at the minions of people on our team. Our army possesses MORE people than yours does. The world is on our side and all you have is a rag tag group of disciples holding out in local churches." 

But they fail to recognize one key difference: God is the TRUE KING. It doesn't and wouldn't matter if the ENTIRE world joined forces against Him, they could not defeat Him. He IS the KING and it's NOT an ELECTION season. 

That's not how THIS works.

It doesn't matter what trends or ideologies or fads are running for office. The seat is not vacant. There is no election taking place. It is a settled matter. Jesus IS KING of KINGS and LORDS of LORDS.... game over. 

So serve the Son. Serve the KING. Joyfully live as citizens of His Kingdom b/c His Kingdom has no end and it will be filled with peoples from every tribe, nation and tongue who have bent their knee and pledged their allegiance to Him alone.

day no. 14,670: the Gospel according to... CLOTHES

The Bible contains motifs and symbols that help to tell the story and to remember the story.

Today, I want to look at: CLOTHES

You can use clothes to tell the story of God.

In the beginning, Adam was naked. Eve was naked. They were both naked and they were unashamed about it (Gen 2:25). But the first thing Adam and Eve did after sinning was sow together fig leaves in order to make clothes for themselves (Gen 3:7). Their instinct was to cover sin up. But God provided a better covering and sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden (Gen 3:21).

As a result, nakedness no longer was shameless: to be exposed was now a shameful experienced (Gen 9:22-23). To be naked was now to be laid bare. Clothes were required to cover our shame, becoming an outward symbol of an inward reality: we need a covering (Ex 20:26). Nakedness was now synonymous with helplessness. To be reduced to absolutely humility (Job 1:21).

Repentance became synonymous with tearing one's clothes (Gen 44:13). Rending one's garments physically displayed what was spiritually true: your shame was made manifest and you were laid bare before God (Heb 4:13).

Yet God provided coverings and garments meant to cover our nakedness and to cover our sinful shame (Ex 28:2). Our sins were likened to filthy rags, but His righteousness was likened to white linens (Zech 3:3-5). What we wore before Him was dirty, but what He provided was fresh and clean.

The principle remained: sin required a covering. Jesus told a story of a wedding feast where the filthy and poor were invited. When one refused to change into the appropriate garments, he was cast out of the wedding and out into utter darkness (Matt 22:11-13). What covers you matters. And when our sinfulness is exposed to God's holiness, we run for cover (Luke 23:30). Sin requires a covering, but not just any covering will do.

Our nakedness before a holy God can only be covered by finding ourselves clothed in Christ (Gal 3:27). His life covers our death. His death covers our lives. In Him, clothed in His righteousness, we are made right with God (Rom 4:7). We are encouraged as Christians to put off our sins like dirty old digs and put on Christ like fresh, new clothes (Eph 4:22-24, Col 3:10).

In the end, those who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone will be granted the privilege of wearing white just like a bride on her wedding day (Rev 19:8). What we wear matters and how we try to cover ourselves counts for something. We all instinctually know that our sins require a covering. That's why we lie about them or hide them or provide cover stories for why what we're being accused of is not really what we did (Pr 28:13). But only Christ covers sins in God's sight. In Him, they are covered completely.

There is more, of course, but that is a Cook's Tour of the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to: CLOTHES

day no. 14,669: the Gospel according to... WATER

The Bible contains motifs and symbols that help to tell the story and to remember the story.

Today, I want to look at: WATER

You can use water to tell the story of God.

In the beginning, God made water (Gen 1:2). But God didn't want only water. From the beginning, we see God's desire to create distinction and categories even in the way He made and organized water. First, He separated the water and placed some above and some below (Gen 1:6-7).  He then again desired to separate the water left below by creating land (Gen 1:9). So from the very beginning, what we learn even from looking just at water is that God likes distinctions. He likes things organized and creates categories out of chaos and distinctions out of disorder (Isaiah 5:20)

When the people God made plunged themselves into sin, He promised to plunge that unrepentant world back under water (Gen 6:17). God used a flood to wash away the world with the exception of Noah and those he assembled onto God's ark (gen 7:7).

God uses water to bring life and an agrarian society routinely felt the weight of being without life-giving water. God withheld the water above from the world below (1 Kings 17:1). The separation of waters left those below thirsty.

Jesus said that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness would be satisfied (Matt 5:6). Only those who recognize that they are dry beg for water from above. Those who know that know well exists deep down inside are positioned best to beg for free water to rain down from above.  

Jesus declared Himself to be a well of living water (John 4:10, 7:37-39) He promised that He possessed in Himself an eternal stream of life that would fill up those who confess their thirst without Him. And the living water was led to the deathly hill after sweating profusely the night before (Luke 22:44). His cross was covered in sweat, blood and tears (Matt 27:46) and after He gave up His spirit after completing the work God gave Him to do, His lifeless body poured forth water (John 19:34) The water and the blood give witness that Jesus Christ was God's accepted sacrificed on our behalf (1 John 5:6).

And those who confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead, immerse themselves in Him and symbolically show this internal immersion by being physically immersed in water (Matt 28:18-20). They go down into the water and come up out of the water (Acts 8:39) just as Jesus went up on to the cross, went down into the grave and rose up from it on the third day. But some, wash their hands of Jesus altogether (Matt 27:24). How we respond to Jesus' life is described in terms of water: immersion into Him by means of it and separation from Him by means of it.

And in the end, a river of life will feed and flow through the new earth providing life and livelihood to all who profess that life is found only in the person and work of God's only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. (Rev 22:1-2)

There is more, of course, but that is a Cook's Tour of the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to: WATER

day no. 14,668: the Gospel according to... TREES

The Bible contains motifs and symbols that help to tell the story and to remember the story.

Today, I want to look at: TREES

You can use trees to tell the story of God.

In the beginning, God made many trees (Gen 1:11). Two exceptional trees existed: one a tree of life (Gen 2:9) and the other a tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17). In a world full of, "Yes!" God gave one, "No." Do NOT eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for on the day that you do, you will surely die. The serpent deceived Eve and both her and her husband partook of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:6) and died to God that day and their bodies began the process of entropy. And when God came looking for Adam and Eve, they hid themselves in the trees (Gen. 3:8)

Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit (Matt 7:16-20). Apples trees are apple trees because they produce apples. Seeing the apples on the branches is proof  that the roots are those of an apple producer. In other words, we see evil on our fingertips because our hearts are rooted in evil. John the Baptist threatened the Pharisees by saying that the axe was laid to the root and ready to cut down unfruitful trees. Apples trees should have apples accompanying their leaves, not other accouterments. A banner declaring "Apples for sale!" does not an apple tree maketh. The best and simplest test is to check for apples. No apples, not an apple tree (Matt 7:20)

But Jesus produced fruit because He did not have a wicked root. He did works that brought glory to God and good to His brothers. And after completing a fruitful life of faithful harvest, He was nailed to a cursed tree in order to become a curse for us (Gal 3:13). He took upon Himself the curse of Eden by hanging on a cursed tree. The death we earned was charged to His account. And while He was lifted up on that tree, His fruit fell down for us: our sin on His tree, His righteousness in our baskets.

In the end, God plans to make a new earth. And lo and behold the tree of life will be back (Rev 22:2). This highlights the Biblical motif of beginning, end, beginning. Things end up where they started and are better for having been through the middle part. Somehow, in some way, the earth is going to be better off for having been through everything. God knows how to make apple juice out of apples and the tree of life will be with us forever on the new earth with a river of life running through it. It will produce fruit on which we will feast and delight in freedom and forgiveness forever.

There is more, of course, but that is a Cook's Tour of the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to: TREES

day no. 14,667: take root downward and bear fruit upward

2 Kings 19:30 
And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 

The remnant of God is always characterized by taking root downward and bearing fruit upward: never the one without the other and never the last before the first. 

No root, no fruit.

We cannot grow unless we are rooted in God; and the more rooted we are, the more fruitful we become. 

day no. 14,666: not just any death will do

Hebrews 10:14
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified 

I had a thought the other night while listening to Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible while running on the treadmill: Jesus' death is the only one that can fully satisfy the wrath of God. 

That may not sound completely novel, but it hit me in a new way the other night. Death is a result of sin. And now the soul that sins shall die. Because of sin, someone has to die. But your death cannot satisfy the wrath of God for your sin. That's why when you die, your bill with God is not square. Hell exists as an everlasting death. It must last forever because sin is that serious and that costly. So Jesus' suffering and death in a few days accomplished what could never in any other way, given any amount of time, ever accomplish. His death was fully able to absorb the wrath of God and it satisfies the wrath of God. So much so that any who are in Him by grace through faith are fully free from death. It has no claim on them because it's cost has been fully paid. Only in Jesus can that debt be paid. No amount of time could ever do what He did in 33 years of life and 3 days in the grave.

day no. 14,665: a foundational principle

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw- 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

BIG IDEA: if Jesus is not the foundation of your life, nothing else you do matters, but if Jesus is your foundation, then everything you do matters.

Jesus as the only foundation (Matt 7:21-29)

All honest work can be for God's glory and our neighbor's good (1 Th 4:11-12)

day no. 14,664: pure unblushing decoration

Another gem from Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley"

"I cultivate [my] beard not for the usual reasons of skin trouble or pain of shaving, nor for the secret purpose of covering a weak chin, but as pure unblushing decoration, much as a peacock finds pleasure in his tail.  And finally, in our time a beard is the one thing a woman cannot do better than a man, or if she can her success is assured only in a circus."

day no. 14,663: the greatest sin

I am reading through "Think on These Things" a daily devotional by Ray Comfort and the other day he pointed out something I had not connected before. 

Matthew 22:34-40
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

If "love God with all your heart, soul and mind" is the greatest commandment, then to not do that is the greatest sin. There is nothing more sinful than not loving God with everything you have and all sins are essentially some variance of that core sin.

day no. 14,662: salvation belongs to the Lord

i listened to THIS the other night while on the treadmill.

I think Jonah 2 provides a great opportunity to exploit and unpack the "Sign of Jonah" motif borrowed from Jesus' own words regarding the 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth (predicting His sacrificial death).

Jesus is the better Jonah. Jonah's sin led to the storm at sea. But the mariners were also sinners and idolaters. They were calling out to their false gods for help. Sin was going to break their boat apart and kill all of them. The idolaters deserved God's punishment and the apostate prophet deserved His wrath. They were all, so to speak, in the same boat. Sin had all of them dead to rights... But a sacrifice could save all of them. The moment Jonah went overboard, the sailors were saved. They responded to the sacrificial death of Jonah by repenting and turning to the one, true God and offering to Him, in turn, the sacrifices of their lives and allegiance.

Jesus died not for His own sin, but for ours. The storm of sin was hanging over all of us idolaters and apostates alike. Those who don't know Him and those who know better are all under the same stormy seas of sin that threaten to tear our lives and eternities apart. That is, until Jesus was thrown into the sea and plunged into our sin on our behalf. Then, the very moment He went under, the raging seas of sin subsided, quieted and calmed -- we were safe. The only right response is repentance, worship and the sacrifice of our lives and livelihoods in allegiance to Him.

But there is another parallel to Jesus. Jonah prays while descending into the sea and God provides a great fish to save Jonah. Jonah is three days and nights in the heart of the sea, just as Jesus is three days and nights in the heart of the earth. The great fish saves Jonah. Just like the Ark of Noah, the fish rescues Jonah from the sea. The waters that were sent to wipe away sin in the days of Noah were overcome by God's boat and those who were IN it were saved. Jonah was surrounded by the sea of sin and was only saved by being IN the great fish. We are saved by being IN Christ. So Jesus is like Jonah in that He went into 3 days of darkness, but He is also like the great fish. He is the rescuer that descended into the depths of our sin in order to swallow us and wrap us IN Him so that we could be saved. We can ONLY be saved IN Him.

Jesus is the better Jonah. Jesus is the better great Fish.

"Salvation belongs to the Lord."

Jesus is our salvation and the Gospel's fingerprints are all over this tiny OT book.

day no. 14,661: brothers dwelling in unity

Psalms 133
Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.

I led my family through this Psalm the other day at the dinner table. After another session of griping and groaning over "who had it first?" or "stop looking at me!" (who can remember?) I declared a cease fire.

I opened up this simple Psalm and from the text explained how great the privilege is to bless a home, a community, a church, a land by simply fighting on the same team. How blessed everyone, including the brothers themselves, is when they dwell in unity.

The key words are "dwell" and "unity."

Dwell means to live with, to be with, to walk along side, to live among. It is sometimes easier to produce unity by separation. If you go to your room and I go to my garage, we have unity. We aren't fighting because we aren't together. We are on the same page because we aren't in the same room. That is NOT what the Psalm is exalting as a target.

Unity means together, unification, collaboration, togetherness, knitted or woven into one. True unity is accomplished by being in the same room and being on the same team. To dwell together in unity is the goal and our challenge from Scripture is to live together. Not just live in the same house or under the same roof, but to live and move and have our being in the context of others who are also living and moving and having their being. This means we will bump into each other on occasion. There will be accidents and smashed fingers and bruised foreheads and sore hips. There will also be intentional tackles and harsh words launched like rockets. But to dwell in unity is to forgive much as we've been forgiven much.

There is more at stake than personal preference. The blessing of the land around us and our testimony is at stake. Our hospitality can be leveraged for the Gospel when those who are welcomed see a family genuinely loving each other. To see forgiveness and repentance and charity at work under a roof with so much opportunity for chaos, bitterness and revenge will produce an impression on guests.

God has commanded a blessing of life forevermore to follow such obedience. Blessing MUST come and it MUST come in the capacity of life forevermore. So blessing is not hit or miss and it is not "meets" or "somewhat exceeds," it is assured and excellent. It is a guarantee and it is garish. It is going to be over the top and should be completely expected to exceed our imaginations.

So let us DWELL together in UNITY and watch God BLESS us and our neighbors for His glory, our growth and our neighbor's good. Amen!

day no. 14,660: such a sweet trap

My wife sent me the following quotes from "Travels With Charley In Search of America" - John Steinbeck

"It happens to many men, and I think doctors have memorized the litany.  It had happened to so many of my friends.  The lecture ends, "Slow down. You're not as young as you once were." And I had seen so many begin to pack their lives in cotton wool, smother their impulses, hood their passions, and gradually retire from their manhood into a kind of spiritual and physical semi-invalidism.  In this they are encouraged by wives and relatives, and it's such a sweet trap."

"Who doesn't like to be a center for concern?  A kind of second childhood falls on so many men.  They trade their violence for the promise of a small increase of life span.   In effect, the head of the house becomes the youngest child. And I have searched myself for this possibility with a kind of horror.  For I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness.  I've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment.  I did not want to surrender fierceness for a small gain in yardage.  My wife married a man; I saw no reason why she should inherit a baby... And in my own life I am not willing to trade quality for quantity.  If this projected journey should prove too much then it was time to go anyway.  I see too many men delay their exits with a sickly, slow reluctance to leave the stage.  It's bad theater as well as bad living.  I am very fortunate in having a wife who likes being a woman, which means she likes men, not elderly babies."

Judges 8:21
As the man is, so is his strength

Philippians 3:12-14

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

day no. 14,659: a letter to a young man

Lamentations 3:27

It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

I sent this verse to you the other day to take a look at. I preface what I'm about to say by pointing to the truth contained here that it is good for a man to feel the weight of being a man - particularly when he is young. In other words, This is not to be taken too lightly. 

Believing Scripture wholeheartedly and loving you as a friend and disciple, I know that this might feel kind of heavy.  I recognize the weightiness of what I'm about to say. But I don't want to spare you the weight of it, seeing as how the Bible promises that a little weight makes men out of boys.

So enough already. Let's get to it. 

One concern I have after meeting with you for several weeks is your inability to shoulder the burden of responsibilities appropriate for a man your age. You have frequently expressed feelings of being overwhelmed and exhaustion or exasperation with your current load. As an example, you told me even this last week that you were wanting to pull out of Sunday morning worship because it was too much for you at this moment. 

You are - all things considered -  a healthy, young Christian man. You work a part-time job, spend time making music, go to the gym, go out on dates and are involved in the college ministry as a participant in a weekly connection group and on the worship team on Thursday nights. Here's my concern: if this current pace of life is TOO MUCH for you, how do you expect to ADD the weight of engagement and marriage to it? Having a vision for manhood and manly responsibilities - like being married - is a good and godly target, but it is unwise to pursue them before you're ready to shoulder the weight that comes with them.  I'd like to see you bear up under your current weight more reliably, more manfully, more resolvedly before you seek to add more weight. Proverbs 24:10 says, "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small." Anyone can do great things under ideal conditions. In other words, it is easy to be or look strong when there is nothing hard to do. But you discover the size of your strength by seeing how much weight you can handle when the weights are actually heavy. You lift literal weights at the gym. You get how this works. You can't simply just pile plates on the bar and expect to lift a heavier weight tomorrow if you can't even lift what's on the bar today.

I do not doubt that you feel the heaviness of your current life at times. I do not disbelieve that you feel overwhelmed by what's on your plate at certain moments. So the next logical step would be to ask, "if you are overwhelmed by this pace of life, what makes you believe that having to run even faster, harder and longer (by getting engaged and married) is going to feel LESS overwhelming?" 

As Jeremiah 12:5 says, "If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?"

I say this because I believe you can lift heavier weights than you are now lifting. I believe you can do it because I believe God has made men to be strong and for the purpose of carrying heavy weight. Proverbs 20:29 says, "The glory of young men is their strength" and 1 John 2:14 says, "I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one." I believe you can overcome this by placing yourself under the authority of Scripture and under the weight of responsibility He has called you to carry as a man. 

But to return to our weight room analogy, you can't rush ahead to bigger weights until you've developed the muscle and endurance to patiently remain under the current weight of living. In keeping with the sermon from a few weeks back at church over Galatians 6:1-5, simply put: you need to learn how to carry your own load. You need to mature in your ability to reliably endure the regular life stuff of being a man of God which includes, but is not limited to, working hard and keeping commitments when it's hard. It is a noble desire to want to take on a wife and to help others with their burdens. But it is unwise and ultimately unhelpful to attempt to help someone with their load when you are struggling to carry the current weight God has assigned to you FIRST. Proverbs 24:27 says, "Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and AFTER THAT build your house." Don't rush ahead and attempt to carry the weight of an entire family and the title of "Head of Household" before you are regularly carrying the weight of being the head of your own daily responsibilities. 

A man must carry himself well so that he can carry others as well.

I would like to help you bulk up in order to be the kind of man who could take on additional weight - like engagement and marriage. But I can't lift your load for you. Galatians 6 makes it clear that every man must carry his own load. I want to help you learn to lift your load better, more reliably, more faithfully, more resolvedly so that your shoulders will be ready to be yoked to the weight of a young lady someday.

I want to return to the opening verse from Lamentations in closing. Under the current circumstances, you are struggling to carry the weight of your individual yoke. By grace through faith in Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, I believe you can bulk up and develop the maturity and grit necessary to carry that yoke with His divine help (Matt 11:28-30). Once you do that, you will be stable enough to consider taking on the yoke of dating and marriage.

We are off this following week, but think on these things in the meantime. Ponder them. Pray about them. And let's discuss this the next time we meet.

day no. 14,658: walk by the light of your fire

Donald Grey Barnhouse made an interesting point the other night on a podcast I was listening to while running on the treadmill.

He referred to the popular wisdom of, "let your conscience be your guide," and systematically revealed the shallow tomfoolery of believing and advocating such a mantra, particularly in light of what we know from Scripture.

We imagine our consciences are like sun dials. We assume it is calibrated correctly and situated in such a way as to work properly. We believe it can gauge the situations around us accurately and make sense of what comes at it. It's shadows, in other words, are accurate representations.

But this analogy is missing one very important detail. According to Scripture, we are born in darkness, not light. A sun dial does not work in utter darkness. Whatever benefits can be gained from it in daylight are lost completely in darkness. It casts no shadows in a world consumed by shadow. The minds of the lost are too dark to shed light on the conscience or provide it opportunity to process.

Furthermore, in addition to being completely without the sun, those in darkness have a fancy for producing artificial lights. These flashlights may be pointed at the sun dial to produce shadows, but since the source is subjective to where it is held, the shadows produced thereby are equally as subjective. Since there is no fixed sun to shine, the artificial lights produce results in keeping with the desires of the one holding the torch. We quickly realize we can manipulate the shadows by changing the angle from where we stand.

All that to say, our consciences without Christ shed zero light on the moral quagmires of life and we frequently fall headlong into them. The most devastating indictment here is not that we have no light, (while that in itself is quite horrendous) but that we, living in darkness, feel like we can see just as rightly with our candles as we could have with the sun. We fail to realize that the sun dial says 12 because we're standing at 6. Or worse yet, we know we  the sun dial says 12 because we're standing at 6, yet acting as though 12 were true objectively true outside of our influence.

Isaiah 50:10-11

Who among you fears the Lord

    and obeys the voice of his servant?

Let him who walks in darkness

    and has no light

trust in the name of the Lord

    and rely on his God.

11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,

    who equip yourselves with burning torches!

Walk by the light of your fire,

    and by the torches that you have kindled!

This you have from my hand:

    you shall lie down in torment.

day no. 14,657: bait and snitch

The Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible podcast titled, "The Reprobate Mind" provided me the following insights while running on the treadmill.

Romans 1:29
They were filled with... deceit

The Greek word here translated as "deceit" is dolos which literally means "bait." This is insightful and helps us understand the nature of deceit. It is like a shiny hook made to look attractive and resembling something otherwise desirable. But it is in all actuality a snare designed to entrap. It is ugly and something altogether undesirable. Deceit knows its target. It has studied it and applied itself to the work of luring its prey. It is more than merely lies, it is more deadly than a simple mirage. It is not just over-promising and under-delivering, it is bidding and begging one otherwise disinterested to engage for the sole purpose of abducting and imprisoning.

It reminds me of a word I added to my vocabulary as a result of a word-of-the-day calendar Amy Duvick got me for Christmas one year, "meretricious." It means deceptively attractive, gussying up with intention of assuaging guilt. It is worse than an average looking lady applying make-up to look nicer or adding sugar to a bland morsel to make it sweeter. It is the idea of dusting powdered sugar over poison to conceal its deadliness or painting blush on cheeks incapable of blushing.

Romans 1:29
They are gossips

The Greek word here translated as "gossips" is psithuristés which is fashioned from onomatopoeia for the sound a secret slander makes, "pssstttt..." Whisperers secretly slander and sabotage others by tickling the ears of their hearers with the sound of a snake, "pssssttttt." They spew poison from their tongues and hook their hearers with their fangs.

day no. 14,656: the empty wagon

"It is the empty wagon that rattles." - Donald Grey Barnhouse

A wagon without a load groans and gripes at every bump in the road, but a wagon weighed down by a load rolls along without a word.

It is the young man with nothing to do that often finds himself in trouble.

Lamentations 3:27
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

Broad shoulders without a load will often gripe and groan at every bump and pebble in the road, but a boy with responsibility quickly becomes a man quietly contented.

The weight of responsibility produces the gravity of manhood.

A young man with nothing to do will find for himself plenty of trouble.