day no. 14,345: forests are felled

Psalm 29

We do not make God anything. He is what He is, that's His Name: YHWH. So when we ascribe value and honor to Him, we do not make Him exalted or praiseworthy by our words; He already is those things, we're just agreeing. Our voices merely enter the chorus of Heaven already chanting, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!"

God's voice, however, is powerful and creative. Where it is heard, it creates, and it makes. By merely His speaking, forests are felled and kingdoms are conquered. By His voice life is illuminated. So great is His might, in fact, He can rule the world from a seated position.

Agree with reality by ascribing value to God. Use your words to give glory to His Word -- not because His Word needs your support, but because you are supported entirely by His Word! -- not because He relies on your testimony, but because you rely completely on His.

day no. 14,344: hot nostrils

Exodus 11:8

And he (Moses) went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

Hubris is always hard to watch. The Hebrew here is literally, "hot nostrils." Moses was very angry. The kind of angry we get when we breath heavily and hotly through our noses with our jaws clenched tightly and blood pressure soaring. Moses was mad. Pharaoh would not listen. He was walking into a furnace insisting he was flame retardant.

day no. 14,343: deliberate distinction

Exodus 11:6-7

There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. 7 But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

This calamity will be without a doubt the worst thing that has ever happened to Egypt and God wants full credit for it. He wants everyone to watch and witness the distinction He makes between Israel and Egypt. Their stories will end differently and distinctly and this is not accidentally. Behold the God of the elect.

day no. 14,342: when God is the plague

Exodus 11:4-7

So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, 5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

When the previous plagues God sent became too much for you, you could appeal to Him to take them away, but what do you do now that God Himself is the plague? This last devastation is experiencing the presence of God without a Mediator, meeting God unprepared. When frogs filled the land, you cried out to God, but to whom do you cry when God fills the land? God rescued you from the locusts, but who can rescue you from God?

day no. 14,341: grace and mercy, strength and shield

Psalm 28

Mercy is not getting the bad you have earned. Grace is getting a good you have not earned. We cry for mercy and grace in order to be forgiven of our sins for which we have earned death and in order to receive God's righteousness which we could never earn.

Everyone gets a reward. Some choose the wages of this life which rewards in men's applause, wealth, comfort and ease, etc... but carries with it the eternal reward of death. Some choose the wages of Heaven in this life which rewards in men's criticism, poverty, difficulty and tribulation, but carries with it the eternal reward of life everlasting.

God is my strength and my shield, my righteousness and my sacrifice, my grace and my mercy.

day no. 14,340: right conclusion, wrong assumption

Exodus 10:28

Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” 29 Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.”

Pharaoh's threats of death assume a certain control of circumstances. This is particularly audacious in light of being completely outmatched at every turn by God's sovereignty. Yet Pharaoh stubbornly holds on to the faith that his will can be done merely by willing it. Moses turns Pharaoh's threat on its head by saying, "You are quite right! We will not see each other again. But it won't be because I'm too afraid to come back here, but rather because you'll be dead."

day no. 14,339: on the skin

Exodus 10:21

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.”

This line always strikes me. What a beautiful turn of phrase. We've all seen darkness, but feeling it is a sensory experience beyond mere vision. It goes deeper into your person than just not seeing. It is on the skin. It's darkness engulfing and enveloping everything without light's impediment. That is the darkness that God sent to Egypt by removing His light entirely. 

day no. 14,338: story time

Exodus 10:1-2

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

God wants us to tell our children and our grandchildren the stories of the mighty victories we have seen. He wants His heroic deeds retold, which means we must speak of the evils we've faced and the hardships we've endured in order to catapult the rescue we received into its appropriate crescendo. 

day no. 14,337: wait well

Psalm 27

It is difficult here to relate to David. I've never been involved in war, had actual weapons and missiles of various kind against me. I've never had my life on the line for the sake of the Gospel. It is good to be instructed here by one who has. There exists the ability to stay true to God though the world around you is collapsing. There is strength to persevere by grace through faith in fiery trial. And that is true regardless of the scale of the trial. I've shrunken back before less than David here stands firm. Those who wait on The Lord will renew their strength. Lord, give me greater reserves of patience to wait well, to be better in bad situations. Amen.

day no. 14,336: crocodile tears

Exodus 9:27

Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong."

It is difficult to say whether Pharaoh believed himself sincere only later to come back to his former senses or whether he knew himself to be deceitful in this repentance, but either way, we understand that there exists a tendency in mankind to be compliant to God's commands only to the point that it benefits the man. True repentance is to the glory of God as the good of the man. False conversion assumes the good of man is the glory of God.

day no. 14,335: dust by daybreak

Psalm 26

I would rather be a speck of dust permitted to float in the daybreak light of the Lord's house than be a worldly man who is swept away by the vengeance of the Lord. Those who cast their lots with God stand firm while those who bank on themselves are bankrupt. May all this devotion not be for naught. May all my sin not prove too much to overlook. May mercy and justice reign. Grace to the humble, Law to the proud.

day no. 14,334: morning and evening

This morning in Spurgeon's Morning and Evening I read the following:

"And the evening and the morning were the first day." - Genesis 1:5

The evening was "darkness" and the morning was "light," and yet the two together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness.

I came across the same sentiment recently when listening to a Mark Driscoll sermon from the book of Colossians 1:1-2 where he established our identity as Christians is "Saint," because God said so. Sinner describes what we do sometimes, Saint describes who we are all the time. Our identity is not sinner or it would continue with us into eternity because our identity is static and unchanging. Who we are in Christ is saints. We may have darkness left in us, but we are called light. There may be still be nights, but we are called day. 

day no. 14,333: clarity, charity and authority in preaching

Three important areas of preaching ministry must be clarity, charity and authority.

The teaching component of preaching is most clearly articulated through careful, thoughtful, linear thinking. If you don't know how you got from A to B, odds are your hearers won't know either. The more work you can do in weaving a thread of continuity into your sermon, the better it will likely find its mark. Many great pearls fall to the floor without a thread to connect them. Our aim is a necklace, not a lot of loose gems. Think it through. You owe it to those who hear you to know what you're going to say and why you're saying it in that order.

The pastoral component of preaching is communicated by charitable compassion. If you don't show that you care about the reception of truth, many ears will be inclined to tell their hearts to ignore your wisdom. Granted, that is not entirely your problem as the preacher, but you can show mercy on distracted, hard-hearted sinners by removing obstacles for them by putting on a charitable disposition that pleads with your people as one who cares about the outcome, not just the information.

Lastly, the sacramental component of preaching is demonstrated by authoritative distribution as a herald on behalf of the great King. Preachers must command their hearers to respond by proclaiming the indicative truth of what God has done and the imperative need to believe His Word. It is the preacher's mission to proclaim what God has done in the indicative tone and then demand that His deeds be believed in the imperative tone. Preachers do not have authority because they are well read or well spoken, although those are certainly desirable attributes. Authority comes from the Author. Do not rob from God's authoritative Word by apologizing for the message or by insisting on sentiments outside the scope of His message.

day no. 14,332: set apart

Exodus 8:22-23

But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. 23 Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.

This is the theme of Exodus, "set apart." God is actively setting apart Israel from Egypt and he wants Egypt and Israel to know it. He doesn't want anyone mistaking this for coincidence or happenstance. This is intentional. There is a reason. Israel will not experience what Egypt will and He's telling everyone ahead of time so that when it happens anyone can explain what will clearly be seen. There will be division. There will be a difference. When it comes to God, "mine and yours" are categorically different with zero overlap. "Mine and yours" are distinct, separate, and set apart as though a great chasm has been fixed by one greater than the chasm itself.

day no. 14,331: counterfeit confidence

Exodus 8:18-19

The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. 19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Jannes and Jambres finally met their match. Pharaoh, however, had not yet met his. Pharaoh liked that the magicians were able to match what they saw Moses doing, but that wasn't his confidence. Otherwise, he'd stood in awe and confessed along with his magi, "God is at work here!" Instead, he revealed here that the reason he for his hold out was not based on counterfeit miracles, but on genuine hubris.

day no. 14,330: more like secret farts

Exodus 8:7

But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

Jannes and Jambres are at it again, sticking it to Moses by sticking it to themselves. You don't need secret arts to do what is already happening, you just need to sit back and watch it happen. That's like me saying that I make the sun rise from the east each morning by my secret arts. 

day no. 14,329: shame chaser

Psalm 25

No one likes feeling ashamed... so everyone tries to deal with it. Some try by eliminating the stigma associated with shameful behaviors. They call sin by safer names like "normal," or "instinct," or "personal preference." Others do so by acknowledging their sins and seeking salvation. I can chase away shame by trying to convince myself that I was not sinful in my youth or I can acknowledge the full weight of my youthful sin by seeking the face of a gracious God by faith. In Christ I see my guilt as greater than I did before, but I also see my God as more gracious than I ever imagined.

day no. 14,328: my everything and my anything

“What he thought about everything was secretly present in what he said about anything.” - Owen Barfield, reflecting upon time with his friend, C. S. Lewis

I want to be like that. I want a presence of mind to be so saturated in Gospel and wisdom as to permeate anything I do. I want my everything to accompany my anything.

day no. 14,327 continued... abbrev's

I know I can't be the first person to have asked this, but...

Why is the word "abbreviations" soooo long?

day no. 14,327: take that!

Exodus 7:22

But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

God is making a mockery of Pharaoh and his magicians by convincing them to curse themselves in order to stick it to Moses. Why didn't Pharaoh's magicians turn the blood back into water? Wouldn't that have been more impressive? If Moses kicks you in the groin and the way you get back at him is to kick yourself in the groin, you aren't getting it – and your groin really hurts! No wonder Paul had this to say about these magicians' "success" in fighting against Moses and Aaron.

2 Timothy 3:9b

…just like Jannes and Jambres, their folly will be plain to everyone 

day no. 14,326 continued... between here and there

"I know I shall die, and I shall die on time. Therefore, I must make the most of the moments between here and there. And the way I can make most of these moments is to live them in terms of that which I know to be absolutely true and unchanging. I will not be swayed from this conviction though my moments be short, though my moments be long.” — St. Boniface

For some reason, Callista's arrival has got me thinking a lot lately* about my departure. This quote comes to me at a time when I'm ready and needing to hear it. I will die when I am supposed to, not a second sooner or later, but right on time. All I can do is trust and obey between now and then. There is a certain relief in realizing I can't make a single hair grow on my head or add a single second to my life.

“I yearn to go forth where the dangers are, not because I particular enjoy those dangers, but because I know it is there that the battle rages for the soul of men and nations. God set me before the front lines. Let me not end my days in comfort and complacency.” — St. Boniface

*written 7/6/17

day no. 14,326: alphabetical areas of interest

THE PRINCIPLE: Interested people are interesting people

THE QUESTION: What are you interested in at the moment?

On a recent episode of the White Horse Inn podcast they interviewed Jim Gilmore, author of "Look: A Practical Guide to Improving Your Observation Skills," and they made mention of creating a culture of curiosity and fanning into flame areas of interest. He suggested/challenged the listeners to create an alphabetical list of areas of interest or intrigue, things you want to know more about or are currently engaged in learning. Hence... 

Antifragility (essence/application)
Apostles' Creed (timeless and timely)
Boundaries (essence/application)
Chrestomathy (building body of "go to's")
Chesterton (currently reading Orthodoxy)
Doug Wilson (discipleship)
Differentiated Leadership (essence/apply)
Elephant Room (watch rest of videos)
Family Table (apply)
Finances (save, plan)
Family Planning (plan, discuss)
Grit (essence/apply)
Hamartiology (study of sin - Greek)
Hymnody (study, discover new/old songs)
Inconsistency at CG (attendance fluctuation)
Jesus Storybook Bible (in queue for kids)
Kreeft (excited to reread 3 Philosophies of Life)
Liturgy (timeless and timely)
Masculinity (Art of Manliness)
Nicene Creed (learn)
Our Last Night (music)
Proverbs (study)
Plodcast (podcast)
Quality/Quantity Time (learning/teaching)
Regulative Principle (essence/application)
Salt Company Students (dating, discipleship)
Shakespeare (sonnets - procreation)
Staff hires (Anthem Church future)
Teleology (study of purpose, design)
The Biggest Story (reading with kids)
Underwriting (why adj often make switch)
Van (need larger vehicle for larger fam)
Vacation (relates to van)
White Horse Inn (podcast)
Wisdom (growing bank of wisdom)
Xtra Cash (saving for larger expenses)
Yes (making our home less, "No")
Zwingli (study life and work)

Q: What are you interested in? What do you wish you were interested in?

Force yourself to complete an alphabetical list to stimulate and document your growing curiosities.

day no. 14,325: not the way we've pictured it

Exodus 7:7

Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Movies, cartoons and kids' Bibles have largely influenced the fact that we imagine Moses and Aaron as young-to-middle aged men who courageously approach the throne of Pharaoh. But in actuality, they were 80 and 83 respectively. Unless we make the mental effort to change the picture in our heads, we prove that we prefer the images we've already grown accustomed to over the truth of what we have read.

day no. 14,324: what hope do unclean hands have?

Psalm 24
Just to be clear, there is one God who created everything and everyone. He has made it exactly the way He wanted. It goes as far as He commands, yet no further than He allows. He sets the parameters.

Q: Who can ascend the hill of that God? Who can stand in His presence?
A: The one He chooses by the way He has commanded.

God requires perfection in action and motivation, the hands and the heart. He requires perfect allegiance and testimony. The person who does that will earn a place in His presence. That one will receive blessing and honor. That one will be given righteousness. Although that one lives righteously, he will receive a righteousness from God, an alien righteousness.

Q: But who could do that? If righteousness is only given to those who are righteous, what hope do the sinful have? It is God's world and He establishes the rules and regulations, but who can pass that test?

A: God Himself will pass the test and pass through the gate. He will climb the hill, our sins on His perfect shoulders, our forgiveness on His lips, our burden on His pure heart. The King of glory will stoop. He will bend down to lift others up.

God doesn't lower the bar to get people beyond His perfect expectations, He lowers Himself to give His perfection to the lowly.

day no. 14,323: now that's what i call funeral music vol. 1

Psalm 23
Of all David's songs, this is probably his most beloved, the greatest hit of all. It is interesting that this Psalm is so beloved. It compares us to sheep and confirms that our Shepherd leads us through dark valleys as well as still waters. Those are true, but unpopular ideas to think about, let alone celebrate. It makes sense that this Psalm is a favorite for funerals. It's sobriety finds a friend in the eternal considerations that typically accompany them. The sovereignty of God is either our rest or our wrestling.  We either sleep better or worse knowing He is in complete control. Faith rests.

day no. 14,322: private turmoil, public mockery and global proclamation

Psalm 22

This song highlights the private turmoil of the suffering saint, the public mockery of the onlooking masses and the global proclamation of the Good News.

PRIVATE TURMOIL:
No one knows the suffering of the soul that is struggling to believe in God when every circumstance seems to be denouncing Him. No one, except God who sees and sympathizes with His saints. He hears their cries and as Exodus 2 beautifully reassures, "God knew."

PUBLIC MOCKERY:
But God was not content to merely know this from afar. He was not willing to end with empathy. He experienced it first hand when Jesus endured this inner turmoil. Now God knew from experience. Those watching His struggle observed and said, "iI that is what God does for the man who believes in Him, I don't want that," or in our modern tongue, "With friends like God, who needs enemies? If your God is so great, why are you suffering so greatly?"

WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS:
Works righteousness is the default understanding of human nature. The math should add up. If we do good, we should experience good. If we're on the right team, the right outcomes should take place. So if we're suffering, it's because we're on the wrong team or because we're not as right as we think we are. This logic makes sense, but it doesn't make room for God's grace and sovereign supremacy. Jesus endured mockery and opposition at every turn and in His most vulnerable moments experienced some of the most vicious slander imaginable.

GLOBAL PROCLAMATION:
The final victory and deliverance will be broadcast for all to see that the Lord is God and He is good. The shock of Jesus' public murder was only eclipsed by that of His public appearance after His resurrection. His victory was seen in His nail-scarred hands eating fish and bread. This news continues to be the headline for those who call upon the Name of the Lord. This is Good News.

day no. 14,321: waiting well

I took a chance and introduced my kids to sermon jams. It was a success. Atticus loves Matt Chandler (who could blame him?) Our first family sermon jam was Chandler on "Waiting on the Lord" (see link below)




It was a good challenge for me personally to wait better than I often do. I get impatient wanting results more quickly. The part of me that loves efficiency is a little put off by how long things sometime take and the consternation of wondering if you'll ever get there in the meantime. This was a good reminder to wait well and that God provides what He requires in His timing for His glory and for my good. This sermon snippet provided refreshment and fuel for continuing the fight within myself when my head and my heart are at odds.

I looked up the full context of the famous Isaiah 40:31 verse after contemplating it and found even more grace. 

Isaiah 40:27-31
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

God alone is everlasting, relentless and indomitable. He shares His power with the weak and His strength with those who can't go on another moment on their own. I have 6 small children and can attest that their seemingly endless overflow of energy eventually hits a wall... eventually. Even youth cannot go on forever on their own power. But God gives grace to those who wait, who wrestle well in the meantime and find a wellspring of fresh strength from Him. Power and strength and resilience are not found by looking deeper within ourselves, they are received by looking outside of ourselves and to the One who alone never wears out.

day no. 14,320: face value

Psalm 21
God is a treasury of justice and mercy. He gives merciful blessing to those who call upon Him and He gives just desserts to those resist and defy Him. God aims His love at the faces of those who behold Him just as He aims His arrows at the faces of those who oppose Him. God is not blessing the world in general or cursing the nations in general. God does not use buckshot. He is a sniper and He never mistakes His mark. Grace on the face of the humble, opposition for the face of the proud.

day no. 14,319: today was a good day, didn't even have to use my 401k

Psalm 20
This song is for us by us. 

This song is not something you would pray for those who do not love Jesus. I remember being part of a men's group where one man in particular would often pray for the people he knew to "have a good day." I remember also thinking, "I don't want everyone to have a good day." For example, I would not pray, "Lord, please help radical Islamists to have a good day." A good day for them may be finally getting a confessing Christian to recant their beliefs after torturing them. I DO NOT hope that they have a good day. I hope and pray that they, by their own standards, have bad days. I used to pray the same way for Shane and Rita. They were two Jehovah's Witnesses who came to my apartment door one day and with whom my wife and I engaged in conversation over the course of a few weeks. I knew that they were not just spending time in my living room and would actively pray that their door to door efforts to convince others to follow the Watchtower Organization would be frustrated and impotent, producing no fruit for their efforts, in other words, I was praying that they would always be having a bad day.

Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, some trust in GPAs, some trust in 401ks, some trust in know how and some trust in how they know, but we trust in the Name of the Lord our God. That is my team. That is our heritage. They are the people who write songs like this and pray prayers like this for one another. May God richly and abundantly deliver us from those who trust in lesser gods.

day no. 14,318: shouts and whispers

Psalm 19
God has given us two books. The book of nature is available to all people and speaks every language in every culture that has ever existed. There is no one who doesn't hear this general revelation. Anyone who watches the sun has the opportunity to contemplate its bold, faithful march across our shared sky. But God also has made His Word available to us. This is less available than nature, but it is more specific than nature. So nature may communicate that God is powerful, but the law communicates that God alone is all-powerful. While nature may communicate that the invisible God is big and creative, the revealed Word communicates that He became visible in the form of a small creature. God's two books are infallible in their witness, but the law (the book) is sweeter than honey (nature) because it gives explanation to what we all see. Nature tells a story and the Bible reveals its meaning. God shouts from stars and whispers from pages. 

In light of God's gracious revelations, it is only natural that the reaction should be one of repentance and confession. God is in control of all and has commanded all He has made to be a certain way. His actions imply necessary reactions. He initiates and we are commanded to respond a particular way. May the God who knows and sees all forgive all that He knows and sees in me. Amen.

day no. 14,317: finally

Psalm 18
This song is an end zone dance. David is celebrating the victory over Saul that God provided. David trusted in God's selection of His king. David believed he was next in line, but he also refused to end Saul's reign until God ended it. David passed up opportunity after opportunity to take matters into his own hands. He did not act against God's anointed, expecting God's sovereign choice to be respected. This song is a celebration of deliverance and initiation. Saul's threats were done, David's head bore the crown. God faithfully saves His elect and destroys His enemies.

day no. 14,316: part and entire

"if Christ be anything, He must be everything." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

If you want Jesus, you will get all of Jesus. He doesn't want to be part of our lives, He wants our entire lives. Don't offer Him a guestroom, offer Him the entire house. Don't offer Him a sacrifice, offer Him your entire life.

day no. 14,315 continued... reading list from 2017

This year I spent a lot of time in Proverbs and Psalms in my Bible reading and began work on my Cook's Tour of the Bible chapter by chapter beginning with the Old Testament. I reread some gold and found a few new favorites. My goal is to reread more gold this year, read the entire Bible this calendar year, continue my Cook's Tour of chapter by chapter observations of the OT, and complete a couple new devotionals.

1.   Genesis-Numbers, Proverbs, Psalms - Holy Spirit

2.   My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers

3.   Morning and Evening - C.H. Spurgeon

4.   The Biggest Story - Kevin DeYoung

5.   Dangerous Journey - John Bunyan

6.   The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein

7.   Callista - John Henry Newman

8.   Shepherding a Child’s Heart - Tedd Tripp

9.   Crazy Busy - Kevin DeYoung

10. A Light in the Attic - Shel Silverstein

11. Where the Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein

12. Saint George and the Dragon - Margaret Hodges

13. Strong: As A Man is, So Is His Strength - Matthew Pennock

14. Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die - John Piper

15. The Jesus Storybook Bible - Sally Lloyd-Jones

16. Wise Words - Peter J. Leithart

17. Biblical Eldership - Alexander Strauch

18. Proverbs: Wisdom that Works - Ray Ortlund, Jr.

19. Just Do Something - Kevin DeYoung

20. Future Men - Doug Wilson

21. The Action Bible: New Testament - Sergio Cariello

22. The Plan of Salvation - B.B. Warfield

23. Here We Stand: A 31-Day Journey with Heroes of the Reformation - Desiring God

24. Good News of Great Joy - John Piper

day no. 14,315: obey and have fun

Psalm 40:8
I delight to do Your will, O my God; 
Your law is within my heart. 

Whenever Paige and I leave the kiddos with babysitters we leave them with two rules: 
(1) obey and (2) have fun.

If they obey, but don't have fun, no one has fun. Children are a blessing and what they add to our lives is not mere compliance, but liveliness and joy from the wellspring of childlike faith. 

If they have fun, but don't obey, no one else has fun. Children remind us that they're a blessing when they frolic in the pasture between the fence posts. 

Obey comes first, but having fun is mandatory. 

It's like when Jesus was asked which law was most important and replied, "Love God and love you neighbor." He was not unclear that love God comes first, but it is inseparable from what comes next: love your neighbor. How can you say you love God Whom you can't see if you don't love your neighbor whom you do?

In similar fashion, obedience is the first rule for the kiddos when mommy and daddy head out on a date, but it is inseparable from the command to have fun. When children obey, it makes it more fun for the babysitters. When they disobey, no one has fun.

Obedience brings about the opportunity for delight and the goal of the two rules is to keep "obey" as the driver of the train, but insisting that "have fun" not be left at the station. Obedience by itself is a good start, but it's an incomplete picture.

"The chief aim of order is to give room for good things to run wild." - G.K. Chesterton