Luke 13:1-5
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
What happened to the Galileans was truly terrible. Pilate had commanded their death and apparently it may have been while they were in the act of making sacrifices to Yahweh so that their blood ended up being spilled in the place where the blood of their sacrifices were in the process of being offered. This would be the equivalent of a SWAT team entering a church on a Sunday morning and executing a group of Christians who were in the middle of partaking of communion.
What happened to those eighteen in Siloam was also tragic. Apparently, a tower had tipped over and fell on all of them, crushing them beneath its weight and they perished in the disaster. This would have made local news headlines. What a tragedy!
Jesus here affirms the tragedy of both situations and punctuates His retelling by asking a very pointed question, "Did these particular horrible things happen to these people because they were particularly horrible?" He then answers His own question, "No." These things were not disproportionately tragic because the people involved were disproportionately wicked. In fact, Jesus says that what happened to these people is what ought to happen to any of us, if we do not repent. Anyone who does not repent deserves all the tragedy observed in these two anecdotes.
We often misread the likewise. We look at the horrible things that happened to those Galileans and those over in Siloam and say, "These things ought not to have happened." So we level the playing field by saying, "No one ought to endure such tragedy." It was unfortunate what happened to them and LIKEWISE, it would be unfortunate if something like that happened to me or someone I loved. We apply the likewise in the wrong direction. Jesus applies the likewise in the opposite direction. His logic holds that if that tragedy happened to ordinary people, that same kind of tragedy is awaiting all people. We are right to long for a world where misfortune is no more, but we are wrong to assume it can be obtained my mere longing. It is only escaped by repentance.
So we are right to look on and say, "God, that is just awful." But it is a sign intended to steer us to repentance lest something equally God-awful should happen to us.
In other words, everyone deserves tragedy. It is our wages. What we should get at the end of the day is the terror of what we have observed in these stories.
The point of the story is then abundantly clear. If you have ears to hear, repent while it is still called, "Today," lest you likewise become the object of tragedy.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
day no. 14,890: serve, provide, protect and procreate
Isaiah 8:189
I have often been in the habit of telling my children, in particular my boys, that God made them (men) strong so that they use their strength to serve, provide and protect. I recently came across a triad which did not utilize serve, but instead proposed provide, protect and procreate. Not only is it three "p's" but it it's three "pro's." As much as it would pain me to make a triad into a quad, I do think the procreate element is an important one that should not be neglected.
A man was made to be fruitful and to multiply. He was meant to multiply disciples of glory by means of procreation and discipleship. The original commission given to Adam was to conquer the world by filling it with the glory of God through child-rearing. The commission given by Jesus before His ascension was to conquer the world by filling it with the glory of God through disciple-making. Either way, a man should aim at reproduction. He should pursue God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength and do his part to ensure that as many others as possible do the very same.
Men were made to procreate. We were meant to produce fruit in keeping with the Kingdom of God.
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders
I have often been in the habit of telling my children, in particular my boys, that God made them (men) strong so that they use their strength to serve, provide and protect. I recently came across a triad which did not utilize serve, but instead proposed provide, protect and procreate. Not only is it three "p's" but it it's three "pro's." As much as it would pain me to make a triad into a quad, I do think the procreate element is an important one that should not be neglected.
A man was made to be fruitful and to multiply. He was meant to multiply disciples of glory by means of procreation and discipleship. The original commission given to Adam was to conquer the world by filling it with the glory of God through child-rearing. The commission given by Jesus before His ascension was to conquer the world by filling it with the glory of God through disciple-making. Either way, a man should aim at reproduction. He should pursue God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength and do his part to ensure that as many others as possible do the very same.
Men were made to procreate. We were meant to produce fruit in keeping with the Kingdom of God.
Hebrews 2:13-14
"Behold, I and the children God has given me." Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil
"Behold, I and the children God has given me." Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil
Monday, July 29, 2019
day no. 14,889: courage is the standing army of the soul
I read this in The Art of Manliness – Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues, by Brett and Kate McKay yesterday afternoon (June 25, 2019) while on lunch break.
Courage Is The Standing Army Of The Soul
"Manhood, Faith and Courage." - Henry Van Dyke (1906)
This is a sermon about courage – one of the simplest and most straightforward of the virtues; necessary, and therefore possible, for every true and noble human life.
It is a quality that we admire by instinct. We need no teacher to tell us that it is a fine thing to be brave. The lack of courage is universally recognized as a grave defect in character. If in our own hearts we feel the want of it, if we cannot find enough of it to enable us to face the dangers and meet the responsibilities and fight the battles of life, we are not only sorry, but secretly ashamed. The absence of courage is a fault that few are willing to confess. We naturally conceal it, and cover it up, and try to keep it secret even from ourselves. We invent favourable names for it, which are only unconscious excuses. We call it prudence, or respectability, or conservatism, or economy, or worldly wisdom, or the instinct of self-preservation. For in truth there is nothing that we are more reluctant to admit than cowardice; and there is no virtue which we would more gladly possess and prove than courage.
In the first place, it is an honourable virtue. Men have always loved and praised it. It lends a glory and a splendour to the life in which it dwells – lifts it up and ennobles it, and crowns it with light. The world delights in heroism, even in its rudest forms and lowest manifestations. Among the animals we create a sort of aristocracy on the basis of courage, and recognize, in the fearlessness of the game beasts and birds and fishes, a claim to rank above the timorous, furtive, spiritless members of creation.
And in man bravery is always fine. We salute it in our enemies. A daring foe is respected, and though we must fight against him we can still honour his courage, and almost forget the conflict in our admiration for his noble bearing. That is what Dr. Johnson meant in saying, “I love a good hater.” The enemy who slinks and plots and conceals – makes traps and ambuscades, seeks to lead his opponent into dangers which he himself would never dare to face – is despicable, serpentine, and contemptible. But he who stands up boldly against his antagonist in any conflict, physical, social, or spiritual, and deals fair blows, and uses honest arguments, and faces the issues of warfare, is a man to love even across the chasm of strife … A brave, frank, manly foe is infinitely better than a false, weak, timorous friend.
In the second place, courage is a serviceable virtue. There is hardly any place in which it is not useful. There is no type of character, no sphere of action, in which there is not room and need for it.
Genius is talent set on fire by courage. Fidelity is simply daring to be true in small things as well as great. As many as are the conflicts and perils and hardships of life, so many are the uses and the forms of courage.. It is necessary, indeed, as the protector and defender of all the other virtues.
Courage is the standing army of the soul which keeps it from conquest, pillage, and slavery.
Unless we are brave we can hardly be truthful, or generous, or just, or pure, or kind, or loyal. “Few persons,” says a wise observer, “have the courage to appear as good as they really are.” You must be brave in order to fulfill your own possibilities of virtue. Courage is essential to guard the best qualities of the soul, and to clear the way for their action, and make them move with freedom and vigour.
If we desire to be good, we must first of all desire to be brave, that against all opposition, scorn, and danger we may move straight onward to do the right.
In the third place, courage is a comfortable virtue. It fills the soul with inward peace and strength; in fact this is just what it is – courage is simply strength of heart. Subjection to fear is weakness, bondage, feverish unrest. To be afraid is to have no soul that we can call our own; it is to be at the beck and call of alien powers, to be chained and driven and tormented; it is to lose the life itself in the anxious care to keep it. Many people are so afraid to die that they have never begun to live. But courage emancipates us and gives us to ourselves, that we many give ourselves freely and without fear to God. How sweet and clear and steady is the life into which this virtue enters day by day, not merely in those great flashes of excitement which come in the moments of crisis, but in the presence of the hourly perils, the continual conflicts. Not to tremble at the shadows which surround us, not to shrink from the foes who threaten us, not to hesitate and falter and stand despairing still among the perplexities and trails of our life, but to move steadily onward without fear, if only we can keep ourselves without reproach – surely that is what the Psalmist meant by good courage and strength of heart, and it is a most comfortable, pleasant, peaceful, and happy virtue.
There is a sharp distinction between courage and recklessness. The reckless man is ignorant; he rushes into danger without hesitation, simply because he does not know what danger means. The brave man is intelligent; he faces danger because he understands it and is prepared to meet it. The drunkard who runs, in the delirium of intoxication, into a burning house is not brave; he is only stupid. But the clear-eyed hero who makes his way, with every sense alert and every nerve strung, into the hell of flames to rescue some little child, proves his courage.
Courage does not consist in the absence of fear, but in the conquest of it. Timidity is no more inconsistent with courage than doubt is inconsistent with faith. For as faith is simply the overriding and subjugating of doubt by believing where you cannot prove, so courage is simply the conquest and suppression of fear by going straight on in the path of duty and love.
There is one more distinction that needs to be drawn – the distinction between courage and daring. This distinction is not in kind, but in degree. For daring is only a rare and exceptional kind of courage. It is for great occasions; the battle, the shipwreck, the conflagration. It is an inspiration; Emerson calls it “a flash of moral genius.” But courage in the broader sense is an every-day virtue. It includes the possibility of daring, if it be called for; but from hour to hour, in the long, steady run of life, courage manifests itself in quieter, humbler forms – in patience of suffering, in resistance of continual and familiar temptations, in hope and cheerfulness and activity and fidelity and truthfulness and kindness, and such sweet, homely virtues as may find a place in the narrowest and most uneventful life.
There is no duty so small, no trial so slight, that it does not afford room for courage. It has a meaning and value for every phase of existence; for the workshop and for the battlefield, for the thronged city and for the lonely desert, for the sick-room and for the market-place, for the study and for the counting-house, for the church and for the drawing-room. There is courage physical, and social, and moral, and intellectual – a soldier’s courage, a doctor’s courage, a lawyer’s courage, a preacher’s courage, a nurse’s courage, a merchant’s courage, a man’s courage, a woman’s courage – for courage is just strength of heart, and the strong heart makes itself felt everywhere, and lifts up the whole of life, and ennobles it, and makes it move directly to its chosen aim.
Courage Is The Standing Army Of The Soul
"Manhood, Faith and Courage." - Henry Van Dyke (1906)
This is a sermon about courage – one of the simplest and most straightforward of the virtues; necessary, and therefore possible, for every true and noble human life.
It is a quality that we admire by instinct. We need no teacher to tell us that it is a fine thing to be brave. The lack of courage is universally recognized as a grave defect in character. If in our own hearts we feel the want of it, if we cannot find enough of it to enable us to face the dangers and meet the responsibilities and fight the battles of life, we are not only sorry, but secretly ashamed. The absence of courage is a fault that few are willing to confess. We naturally conceal it, and cover it up, and try to keep it secret even from ourselves. We invent favourable names for it, which are only unconscious excuses. We call it prudence, or respectability, or conservatism, or economy, or worldly wisdom, or the instinct of self-preservation. For in truth there is nothing that we are more reluctant to admit than cowardice; and there is no virtue which we would more gladly possess and prove than courage.
In the first place, it is an honourable virtue. Men have always loved and praised it. It lends a glory and a splendour to the life in which it dwells – lifts it up and ennobles it, and crowns it with light. The world delights in heroism, even in its rudest forms and lowest manifestations. Among the animals we create a sort of aristocracy on the basis of courage, and recognize, in the fearlessness of the game beasts and birds and fishes, a claim to rank above the timorous, furtive, spiritless members of creation.
And in man bravery is always fine. We salute it in our enemies. A daring foe is respected, and though we must fight against him we can still honour his courage, and almost forget the conflict in our admiration for his noble bearing. That is what Dr. Johnson meant in saying, “I love a good hater.” The enemy who slinks and plots and conceals – makes traps and ambuscades, seeks to lead his opponent into dangers which he himself would never dare to face – is despicable, serpentine, and contemptible. But he who stands up boldly against his antagonist in any conflict, physical, social, or spiritual, and deals fair blows, and uses honest arguments, and faces the issues of warfare, is a man to love even across the chasm of strife … A brave, frank, manly foe is infinitely better than a false, weak, timorous friend.
In the second place, courage is a serviceable virtue. There is hardly any place in which it is not useful. There is no type of character, no sphere of action, in which there is not room and need for it.
Genius is talent set on fire by courage. Fidelity is simply daring to be true in small things as well as great. As many as are the conflicts and perils and hardships of life, so many are the uses and the forms of courage.. It is necessary, indeed, as the protector and defender of all the other virtues.
Courage is the standing army of the soul which keeps it from conquest, pillage, and slavery.
Unless we are brave we can hardly be truthful, or generous, or just, or pure, or kind, or loyal. “Few persons,” says a wise observer, “have the courage to appear as good as they really are.” You must be brave in order to fulfill your own possibilities of virtue. Courage is essential to guard the best qualities of the soul, and to clear the way for their action, and make them move with freedom and vigour.
If we desire to be good, we must first of all desire to be brave, that against all opposition, scorn, and danger we may move straight onward to do the right.
In the third place, courage is a comfortable virtue. It fills the soul with inward peace and strength; in fact this is just what it is – courage is simply strength of heart. Subjection to fear is weakness, bondage, feverish unrest. To be afraid is to have no soul that we can call our own; it is to be at the beck and call of alien powers, to be chained and driven and tormented; it is to lose the life itself in the anxious care to keep it. Many people are so afraid to die that they have never begun to live. But courage emancipates us and gives us to ourselves, that we many give ourselves freely and without fear to God. How sweet and clear and steady is the life into which this virtue enters day by day, not merely in those great flashes of excitement which come in the moments of crisis, but in the presence of the hourly perils, the continual conflicts. Not to tremble at the shadows which surround us, not to shrink from the foes who threaten us, not to hesitate and falter and stand despairing still among the perplexities and trails of our life, but to move steadily onward without fear, if only we can keep ourselves without reproach – surely that is what the Psalmist meant by good courage and strength of heart, and it is a most comfortable, pleasant, peaceful, and happy virtue.
There is a sharp distinction between courage and recklessness. The reckless man is ignorant; he rushes into danger without hesitation, simply because he does not know what danger means. The brave man is intelligent; he faces danger because he understands it and is prepared to meet it. The drunkard who runs, in the delirium of intoxication, into a burning house is not brave; he is only stupid. But the clear-eyed hero who makes his way, with every sense alert and every nerve strung, into the hell of flames to rescue some little child, proves his courage.
Courage does not consist in the absence of fear, but in the conquest of it. Timidity is no more inconsistent with courage than doubt is inconsistent with faith. For as faith is simply the overriding and subjugating of doubt by believing where you cannot prove, so courage is simply the conquest and suppression of fear by going straight on in the path of duty and love.
There is one more distinction that needs to be drawn – the distinction between courage and daring. This distinction is not in kind, but in degree. For daring is only a rare and exceptional kind of courage. It is for great occasions; the battle, the shipwreck, the conflagration. It is an inspiration; Emerson calls it “a flash of moral genius.” But courage in the broader sense is an every-day virtue. It includes the possibility of daring, if it be called for; but from hour to hour, in the long, steady run of life, courage manifests itself in quieter, humbler forms – in patience of suffering, in resistance of continual and familiar temptations, in hope and cheerfulness and activity and fidelity and truthfulness and kindness, and such sweet, homely virtues as may find a place in the narrowest and most uneventful life.
There is no duty so small, no trial so slight, that it does not afford room for courage. It has a meaning and value for every phase of existence; for the workshop and for the battlefield, for the thronged city and for the lonely desert, for the sick-room and for the market-place, for the study and for the counting-house, for the church and for the drawing-room. There is courage physical, and social, and moral, and intellectual – a soldier’s courage, a doctor’s courage, a lawyer’s courage, a preacher’s courage, a nurse’s courage, a merchant’s courage, a man’s courage, a woman’s courage – for courage is just strength of heart, and the strong heart makes itself felt everywhere, and lifts up the whole of life, and ennobles it, and makes it move directly to its chosen aim.
Sunday, July 28, 2019
day no. 14,888: Jesus' scorched earth policy
Luke 12:49, 51
I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! ...Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.
Jesus' ministry is rarely characterized as a scorched earth policy, but here He plainly states it as one of His mission objectives. And it's not a mission He goes about reluctantly. He is not being strong-armed into this by the will of His overbearing Old Testament Father. This is the desire of the Son.
I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! ...Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.
Jesus' ministry is rarely characterized as a scorched earth policy, but here He plainly states it as one of His mission objectives. And it's not a mission He goes about reluctantly. He is not being strong-armed into this by the will of His overbearing Old Testament Father. This is the desire of the Son.
Saturday, July 27, 2019
day no. 14,887: dressed for action and chomping at the bit
Luke 12:35
Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning
The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.
The time to dress for action is not once the action has begun. It is before the action begins. Jesus instructs His disciples to have their jerseys on and their heart rates ready to go. The time to limber up and stretch is not once the whistle blows, but before the game. Christians should be running warm ups drills everyday in order to be ready for action whenever the whistle is blown. We are not to let the fire dwindle, but to keep it stoked and glowing and growing so that it can provide light and heat when called upon.
Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning
The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.
The time to dress for action is not once the action has begun. It is before the action begins. Jesus instructs His disciples to have their jerseys on and their heart rates ready to go. The time to limber up and stretch is not once the whistle blows, but before the game. Christians should be running warm ups drills everyday in order to be ready for action whenever the whistle is blown. We are not to let the fire dwindle, but to keep it stoked and glowing and growing so that it can provide light and heat when called upon.
Friday, July 26, 2019
day no. 14,886: doctrine is not a dead thing
Titus 2:9-10
Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
God does not lower the bar on His standard of conduct when dealing with those in lower positions or those who have less privilege. Privilege and position come from God and no one can ascend or acquire without His permission.
Our temptation is to attempt to change our situation because we've already decided what and where would be best for us. We demonstrate our distrust by our insistence on refusing to accept where we've been placed. Furthermore, we punctuate the point by using ungodly measures like bullying and theft in order to change our position.
Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good
God's plan to produce change is through reformation, not revolution.
Revolution cries, "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!" Revolution cannot bear the difficulty another moment and justifies employing unlawful tactics in the meantime as a means to achieve better ends more quickly. But the revolutionary fails to consider that the tactics they use to acquire a different position become fair game for the other party to employ. For instance, If it is permissible for a servant to steal or cheat to improve their position, then why isn't it also permissible for the master to steal or cheat in order to secure his?
The world will not be overcome with good if evil means are used to overcome it.
Titus 2:10b
...the doctrine of God our Savior.
The doctrine of God our Savior is not a dead thing. Doctrine is not a beautifully arranged bunch of deadness like a board full of butterflies pinned immaculately in perfect rows with white labels containing long Latin names.
Doctrine is not an elegant lifelessness -- it is living and active and sharper than a double-edged sword.
The doctrine of God is about Him, the living God; and it belongs to Him, the Lord God. It is His doctrine. He owns it. And it is His doctrine. He is the main Subject. Doctrine is all about Him.
Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
God does not lower the bar on His standard of conduct when dealing with those in lower positions or those who have less privilege. Privilege and position come from God and no one can ascend or acquire without His permission.
Our temptation is to attempt to change our situation because we've already decided what and where would be best for us. We demonstrate our distrust by our insistence on refusing to accept where we've been placed. Furthermore, we punctuate the point by using ungodly measures like bullying and theft in order to change our position.
Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good
God's plan to produce change is through reformation, not revolution.
Revolution cries, "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!" Revolution cannot bear the difficulty another moment and justifies employing unlawful tactics in the meantime as a means to achieve better ends more quickly. But the revolutionary fails to consider that the tactics they use to acquire a different position become fair game for the other party to employ. For instance, If it is permissible for a servant to steal or cheat to improve their position, then why isn't it also permissible for the master to steal or cheat in order to secure his?
The world will not be overcome with good if evil means are used to overcome it.
Titus 2:10b
...the doctrine of God our Savior.
The doctrine of God our Savior is not a dead thing. Doctrine is not a beautifully arranged bunch of deadness like a board full of butterflies pinned immaculately in perfect rows with white labels containing long Latin names.
Doctrine is not an elegant lifelessness -- it is living and active and sharper than a double-edged sword.
The doctrine of God is about Him, the living God; and it belongs to Him, the Lord God. It is His doctrine. He owns it. And it is His doctrine. He is the main Subject. Doctrine is all about Him.
Thursday, July 25, 2019
day no. 14,885: the five aspects of manhood
Conqueror: God made men to conquer the world for His glory and the good of the world. When men fall short of the glory of God, they do not cease to attempt to conquer. They use strength for evil ends or use evil methods and shortcuts when trying to aim at noble ends. By God's grace, He has given us the Spirit of His Son, Who is a conqueror and gives us ability to even now conquer our demons and join His mission to conquer the world for His glory
Cultivator: God made men to cultivate the world for His glory and make things better, more productive, more fruitful. Men tend to be better, by default, at conquering things like challenges, women, jobs, problems, etc... but once they've conquered them, they don't know what to do with them. A man gets the girl, gets the job, gets the status, the money, the authority, the power, the car he always wanted and then it falls apart under his ownership. By God's grace, He makes all things new and the Gospel is one of productivity, 30, 60, 100 fold.
Savior: God made men to save others for God's glory by dying to themselves. When men seek to save their own lives, they lose them. But when they seek to lose their life for Jesus' sake, they find them. God gave men strength on loan in order to use it for the protection of others. Men will be strong. The question is will they use their strength for good or for evil? The world needs more good, strong men, because it will always have bad, strong men. Men gravitate towards strength and power and will associate with bad men if they are strong. That is why the call of the day is for good men to be strong. We need more good men who are good at being men.
Sage: God made men to teach and train others for God's glory and their good. (Ezra 7:10) When men spend their attentions on becoming wise in the ways of the world, they use their God-given creativity and obligation to protect information and wisdom to take advantage of others, scam them, play them, manipulate them, etc... But when men commit to knowing God, studying His Word and disciplining themselves through constant training, they learn to discern between good and evil and how to instruct others. The book of Proverbs is written as a Father to a Son, passing down wisdom in order to protect him. A man should have answers and should safeguard wisdom by meditation and the hard work of mental labor. We need to redeem study as a masculine discipline and not an effeminate avoidance of hard work and getting your hands dirty. There is a manly way to devote oneself to study, thinking, wisdom and counsel.
Glory-bearer: God made men in particular to bear His glory (1 Cor 11). Men were made to be Fathers and Sons. God introduces Himself to us as a Father and sends His one and only Son to us as our Lord and Savior. The Godhead introduces itself to us in terms of masculinity. Jesus instructed us to pray to God our Father. We baptize people in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Evidence of the Spirit's work in our lives is that we cry out, "Abba, Father" As men, we are called to embody, to the best of our abilities, the glory of God as a Father, as a Son, as a Brother. Every father on earth gets his name and authority from God, the Father (Eph 3:14)
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
day no. 14,884: the God tax
Titus 1:10-16
For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
There is more than one way to try an avoid God. The most obvious is to ignore Him and His laws altogether by pursuing what you perceive to be your best life now... like a Cretan. The more subtle way is to try to keep His laws in order to keep Him out of your hair.
You can avoid God through reckless rebellion or religious rebellion. The religious variety is less riotous and has less pepper spray and turned over flaming vehicles, but it is nevertheless attempting the same end goal... distance from God.
There is a way to run away from God while still hanging around Him. This is the sin of the older brother in the Prodigal Son parable. He stayed close to home, doing his chores, and minding his manners. He lived his life proximally near to his father, but relationally distant. This is the equivalent of going to church and reading your Bible in order to avoid any deeper relationship with God. It is paying the God-tax in order to avoid any additional interaction.
"What do you want from me? Church attendance? Small group attendance? Bible reading? Ok, check. We good? Then we're done here."
There is a way to use religious means to create relational distance.
For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
There is more than one way to try an avoid God. The most obvious is to ignore Him and His laws altogether by pursuing what you perceive to be your best life now... like a Cretan. The more subtle way is to try to keep His laws in order to keep Him out of your hair.
You can avoid God through reckless rebellion or religious rebellion. The religious variety is less riotous and has less pepper spray and turned over flaming vehicles, but it is nevertheless attempting the same end goal... distance from God.
There is a way to run away from God while still hanging around Him. This is the sin of the older brother in the Prodigal Son parable. He stayed close to home, doing his chores, and minding his manners. He lived his life proximally near to his father, but relationally distant. This is the equivalent of going to church and reading your Bible in order to avoid any deeper relationship with God. It is paying the God-tax in order to avoid any additional interaction.
"What do you want from me? Church attendance? Small group attendance? Bible reading? Ok, check. We good? Then we're done here."
There is a way to use religious means to create relational distance.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
day no. 14,883: to be better requires being ok with being bad... for now
“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” - G.K. Chesterton
This is great consolation for me regarding the vast number of endeavors I pursue passionately and inadequately. The distance between by taste and my talent is ever broadening it seems.But there is no other hope of becoming any better at something than to embrace being bad at it for the time being.
This is great consolation for me regarding the vast number of endeavors I pursue passionately and inadequately. The distance between by taste and my talent is ever broadening it seems.But there is no other hope of becoming any better at something than to embrace being bad at it for the time being.
Monday, July 22, 2019
day no. 14,882: atmosphere over attachments
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast." - Peter Drucker
Atmosphere produces more fruit than an attachment to an email. We cultivate more of what we celebrate. You cannot simply assert what you'd like to do without considering the world in which you propose to do it.
Good strategy cannot take root in bad society.
Galatians 6:7
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
You cannot sow discord and expect a spreadsheet to produce harmony.
You cannot sow low expectations and expect a text message to produce excellence
You cannot sow apathy and inactivity and expect a battle plan to produce inertia.
The way things have been done is often a more potent predictor of outcome than what is currently being proposed.
Soil is often a better predictor of fruitfulness than seeds.
Atmosphere produces more fruit than an attachment to an email. We cultivate more of what we celebrate. You cannot simply assert what you'd like to do without considering the world in which you propose to do it.
Good strategy cannot take root in bad society.
Galatians 6:7
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
You cannot sow discord and expect a spreadsheet to produce harmony.
You cannot sow low expectations and expect a text message to produce excellence
You cannot sow apathy and inactivity and expect a battle plan to produce inertia.
The way things have been done is often a more potent predictor of outcome than what is currently being proposed.
Soil is often a better predictor of fruitfulness than seeds.
Sunday, July 21, 2019
day no. 14,881: the goo in our goodness
Trying to be a good person in order to go to heaven is the Scriptural equivalent of "relying upon works of the law." In other words, trying to be a good person or believing that you are a good (or good enough) person to get into "a better place" when you die.
But look what the Bible says about playing that game...
Galatians 3:10-13
All who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”
If you make "being a good person" the standard, then you are under a curse. You are under a curse because anyone who says, "I'm good" has to comply perfectly with every standard and measurement of goodness. To be out of alignment on any one standard is to be out of complete alignment, ergo, "not good."
The Bad News is that we are all cursed because we aren't good enough.
The Good News is that Jesus took the curse we deserved onto Himself.
And that is the ONLY way to be saved and find eternal life now in your remaining days on earth and into eternity where you will spend forever.
Galatians 3:21-22
If a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Total depravity (Scripture imprisoning everything under sin) guarantees that we can't achieve life by doing works of the law. In other words, if it weren't for sin, we could live the life God put us on mission to live. But because of sin, we fall short of what we were created for and fall short of our intended target every time, in many ways.
Which is why salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. There is no other way to be good or hear, "well done" from God the Father. If there was any other way to achieve eternal success, Jesus came and died for nothing. His death has excessive. In that scenario, the world just needed a pep talk and a can-do attitude.
Galatians 2:20-21
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
But look what the Bible says about playing that game...
Galatians 3:10-13
All who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”
If you make "being a good person" the standard, then you are under a curse. You are under a curse because anyone who says, "I'm good" has to comply perfectly with every standard and measurement of goodness. To be out of alignment on any one standard is to be out of complete alignment, ergo, "not good."
The Bad News is that we are all cursed because we aren't good enough.
The Good News is that Jesus took the curse we deserved onto Himself.
And that is the ONLY way to be saved and find eternal life now in your remaining days on earth and into eternity where you will spend forever.
Galatians 3:21-22
If a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Total depravity (Scripture imprisoning everything under sin) guarantees that we can't achieve life by doing works of the law. In other words, if it weren't for sin, we could live the life God put us on mission to live. But because of sin, we fall short of what we were created for and fall short of our intended target every time, in many ways.
Which is why salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. There is no other way to be good or hear, "well done" from God the Father. If there was any other way to achieve eternal success, Jesus came and died for nothing. His death has excessive. In that scenario, the world just needed a pep talk and a can-do attitude.
Galatians 2:20-21
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Saturday, July 20, 2019
day no. 14,880: would you like to see your current balance?
Mark 12:41
And He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.
Can you imagine just hanging out with Jesus by the offering box watching what people are putting in?
It may shock some to realize that Jesus sometimes just hangs out watching the offering box. It seems rather rude. Giving is personal and how much I give is carefully folded up and placed into the slot so that no one else can see. It is rude to stand by and peer at those giving to God. Isn't it? It would be for you or me, since our neighbor's beeswax is not a business we should be about. But for God, it is different.
God watches what you give, how much, when you give you it, why you give it, and what you give it to. He is watching your wallet. He knows your real budget. You may have a piece of paper or a spreadsheet that says where you'd like your money to go, but God knows where it is actually going. He watches it enter into your pocket and is there observing when you take it back out to spend.
And He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.
Can you imagine just hanging out with Jesus by the offering box watching what people are putting in?
It may shock some to realize that Jesus sometimes just hangs out watching the offering box. It seems rather rude. Giving is personal and how much I give is carefully folded up and placed into the slot so that no one else can see. It is rude to stand by and peer at those giving to God. Isn't it? It would be for you or me, since our neighbor's beeswax is not a business we should be about. But for God, it is different.
God watches what you give, how much, when you give you it, why you give it, and what you give it to. He is watching your wallet. He knows your real budget. You may have a piece of paper or a spreadsheet that says where you'd like your money to go, but God knows where it is actually going. He watches it enter into your pocket and is there observing when you take it back out to spend.
Friday, July 19, 2019
day no. 14,879: it's a dogma eat dogma world
The world will never be content to be tolerated. They demand to be celebrated. They do not want to merely be allowed to exist. They insist that their existence be welcomed with all the accouterments and party favors of a congratulatory soiree. It isn't enough to let them throw the party or have access to a meeting room to put up banners. They insist that you attend the party. They insist that you clap at the right moment and remain silent in solemnity when appropriate. Totalitolerance is the end game. The long, slow march through the institutions does not intend to stop at mere tolerance, but at acceptance in the form of applause, adoption, normalization, domination and monotheistic assiduity under the Head of the Spirit of their Age.
All belief systems aim to bring everything under one Head. It is inescapable. It is not a question of whether we will have a dogma, but which a question of which one we will have. It is not a matter of asking if dogmas seek to devour everything, but how they try to consume their adversaries. The trajectory of all human history is absorption and consumption. The question is not if this will happen, but rather into what and by Whom will we be absorbed and consumed?
Ephesians 1:8-10
The mystery of His will, according to his purpose, which He set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
The difference between Christianity and the Spirit of the Age is that Christians understand that they are clearly on a mission of world conquest and confess openly that their intention is to see every knee bow and tongue confess Christ as Lord through repentance before they are forced to do so by regret.
Philippians 2:8-10
At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As per usual, Chesterton in prophetic voice, envisioned this 100 years ago when he observed...
"The special mark of the modern world is not that it is sceptical, but that it is dogmatic without knowing it. It says, in mockery of the old devotees,that they believed without knowing why they believed. But the moderns believe without knowing what they believe- and without even knowing that they do believe it. Their freedom consists in first freely assuming a creed, and then freely forgetting that they are assuming it. In short, they always have an unconscious dogma; and an unconscious dogma is the definition of a prejudice. They are the dullest and deadest of ritualists who merely recite their creed in their subconsciousness, as if they repeated their creed in their sleep. A man who is awake should know what he is saying, and why he is saying it- that is, he should have a fixed creed and relate it to a first principle. This is what most moderns will never consent to do. Their thoughts will work out to most interesting conclusions; but they can never tell you anything about their beginnings. They have always taken away the number they first thought of. They have always forgotten the very fact or fancy on which their whole theory depends." - G.K. Chesterton (1919)
All belief systems aim to bring everything under one Head. It is inescapable. It is not a question of whether we will have a dogma, but which a question of which one we will have. It is not a matter of asking if dogmas seek to devour everything, but how they try to consume their adversaries. The trajectory of all human history is absorption and consumption. The question is not if this will happen, but rather into what and by Whom will we be absorbed and consumed?
Ephesians 1:8-10
The mystery of His will, according to his purpose, which He set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
The difference between Christianity and the Spirit of the Age is that Christians understand that they are clearly on a mission of world conquest and confess openly that their intention is to see every knee bow and tongue confess Christ as Lord through repentance before they are forced to do so by regret.
Philippians 2:8-10
At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As per usual, Chesterton in prophetic voice, envisioned this 100 years ago when he observed...
"The special mark of the modern world is not that it is sceptical, but that it is dogmatic without knowing it. It says, in mockery of the old devotees,that they believed without knowing why they believed. But the moderns believe without knowing what they believe- and without even knowing that they do believe it. Their freedom consists in first freely assuming a creed, and then freely forgetting that they are assuming it. In short, they always have an unconscious dogma; and an unconscious dogma is the definition of a prejudice. They are the dullest and deadest of ritualists who merely recite their creed in their subconsciousness, as if they repeated their creed in their sleep. A man who is awake should know what he is saying, and why he is saying it- that is, he should have a fixed creed and relate it to a first principle. This is what most moderns will never consent to do. Their thoughts will work out to most interesting conclusions; but they can never tell you anything about their beginnings. They have always taken away the number they first thought of. They have always forgotten the very fact or fancy on which their whole theory depends." - G.K. Chesterton (1919)
Thursday, July 18, 2019
day no. 14,878: the heart of a father for his people and a prince for his own
I was reading Foxe's Book of Martyrs the other morning and read the account of the Prince of Orange during the persecution of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.
The Prince of Orange was assassinated for his reformed Protestant faith and was reported to have had "one of the grandest funerals ever seen in the Low Countries and perhaps the sorrow for his death, the most sincere, as he left behind him the character he honestly deserved, viz., that of a father of his people." - John Foxe, Foxe's Book of Martyrs
There is hardly a higher compliment I can imagine than to be honored as having been a father to your people. Many abdicate their God-given role as father to those He has given them. They, at times, choose to give their fatherly attention to boyish pursuits, hobbies or the corporate ladder. They give the first and best of themselves to vain glory. Others do not give any fatherly attention to anything, refusing to grow up or take responsibility for anything or anyone... even themselves.
The heart of fatherhood is sacrificial responsibility. It is in keeping with what has rightly been defined as the heart of masculinity...
"the glad assumption of the sacrificial responsibilities that God assigned to men" - Doug Wilson
God is a Father and those in whom He dwells should have the same family resemblance. They should have a heart in keeping with fatherhood that seeks to serve, provide and protect His flock. Those you have been given by grace are yours to keep by responsibility.
"First a man must choose his love, and then he must love his choice" - Henry Smith
The Prince of Orange was assassinated for his reformed Protestant faith and was reported to have had "one of the grandest funerals ever seen in the Low Countries and perhaps the sorrow for his death, the most sincere, as he left behind him the character he honestly deserved, viz., that of a father of his people." - John Foxe, Foxe's Book of Martyrs
There is hardly a higher compliment I can imagine than to be honored as having been a father to your people. Many abdicate their God-given role as father to those He has given them. They, at times, choose to give their fatherly attention to boyish pursuits, hobbies or the corporate ladder. They give the first and best of themselves to vain glory. Others do not give any fatherly attention to anything, refusing to grow up or take responsibility for anything or anyone... even themselves.
The heart of fatherhood is sacrificial responsibility. It is in keeping with what has rightly been defined as the heart of masculinity...
"the glad assumption of the sacrificial responsibilities that God assigned to men" - Doug Wilson
God is a Father and those in whom He dwells should have the same family resemblance. They should have a heart in keeping with fatherhood that seeks to serve, provide and protect His flock. Those you have been given by grace are yours to keep by responsibility.
"First a man must choose his love, and then he must love his choice" - Henry Smith
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
day no. 14,877: lay leaders do it for free
2 Thessalonians 3:6-12
Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
Lay leaders lead for free. They work hard in order to provide their services without a fee. This is an example laid down for us at the foundation of all church planting. The church needs more men to serve God for free - to use their time to build, produce, sell and provide for themselves in order to give their free time to serve their God and their local church for free. More men need to devote themselves to providing for first things: their wife, their children, and their neighbors. And after that, they could then use the left over gas in the tank to serve their local church in a lay capacity. Few and far between should be those employed entirely for the Gospel. That said, there should be provision made for those who make their entire living by the Gospel, but theirs should be the rare breed of those gifted to equip others to serve. The Scriptural pre-requisite for being paid to "do ministry" is being good at getting others in the game and equipping them for acts of service. The goal is that everyone would be involved in ministry, not just those on salary.
Ephesians 4:11-12
And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ
Too many see "doing ministry" as an "all or nothing" vocational proposition. Either you get paid to do it and devote your life to it or you don't get paid to do it and leave most of the heavy lifting to the "professionals."
Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
Lay leaders lead for free. They work hard in order to provide their services without a fee. This is an example laid down for us at the foundation of all church planting. The church needs more men to serve God for free - to use their time to build, produce, sell and provide for themselves in order to give their free time to serve their God and their local church for free. More men need to devote themselves to providing for first things: their wife, their children, and their neighbors. And after that, they could then use the left over gas in the tank to serve their local church in a lay capacity. Few and far between should be those employed entirely for the Gospel. That said, there should be provision made for those who make their entire living by the Gospel, but theirs should be the rare breed of those gifted to equip others to serve. The Scriptural pre-requisite for being paid to "do ministry" is being good at getting others in the game and equipping them for acts of service. The goal is that everyone would be involved in ministry, not just those on salary.
Ephesians 4:11-12
And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ
Too many see "doing ministry" as an "all or nothing" vocational proposition. Either you get paid to do it and devote your life to it or you don't get paid to do it and leave most of the heavy lifting to the "professionals."
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
day no. 14,876: staring contest
2 Thessalonians 3:5
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
The love of the Father and the steadfastness of the Son deserve our constant attention and affection. But we cannot stay focused on either without the aid of God. We need direction. We default to drift.
Hebrews 2:1
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
By God's grace, He directs our hearts to His love and His steadfastness, both of which provide surety of our future security, strength for our present circumstances and solace for our past mistakes.
We need to stare our hearts more on God's love and Christ's perseverance. In dwelling on those, we find an eternal source of life, breath and everything else.
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
The love of the Father and the steadfastness of the Son deserve our constant attention and affection. But we cannot stay focused on either without the aid of God. We need direction. We default to drift.
Hebrews 2:1
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
By God's grace, He directs our hearts to His love and His steadfastness, both of which provide surety of our future security, strength for our present circumstances and solace for our past mistakes.
We need to stare our hearts more on God's love and Christ's perseverance. In dwelling on those, we find an eternal source of life, breath and everything else.
Monday, July 15, 2019
day no. 14,875: paying attention to your affections
2 Thessalonians 2:9-10
The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
The core issue of unbelief is not loving the truth. Knowing the truth is necessary because you cannot love what you do not know, but it is not enough to merely know it. You must love it. The indictment against unbelief is that it refuses to give its affections to what is true. It may know the truth but still prefer the lies of idolatry it has grown accustomed to.
The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
The core issue of unbelief is not loving the truth. Knowing the truth is necessary because you cannot love what you do not know, but it is not enough to merely know it. You must love it. The indictment against unbelief is that it refuses to give its affections to what is true. It may know the truth but still prefer the lies of idolatry it has grown accustomed to.
Sunday, July 14, 2019
day no. 14,874: be readers of the word, not just readers
1 Thessalonians 5:27
I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
If you had the opportunity to hear 1 Thessalonians read, you were obligated to read it to others. Having read this encouragement and exhortation all the way to the end, you discover that you now owe the next person the opportunity to be encouraged and exhorted. If you are a disciple, it is in your job description to make disciples. Paul obligates his hearers to be speakers. Under the force of an oath, he lays the weight of passing the baton upon those who've just had it placed into their hands.
If you have read, you must now go and read.
I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
If you had the opportunity to hear 1 Thessalonians read, you were obligated to read it to others. Having read this encouragement and exhortation all the way to the end, you discover that you now owe the next person the opportunity to be encouraged and exhorted. If you are a disciple, it is in your job description to make disciples. Paul obligates his hearers to be speakers. Under the force of an oath, he lays the weight of passing the baton upon those who've just had it placed into their hands.
If you have read, you must now go and read.
Saturday, July 13, 2019
day no. 14,873: everything you're regenerated heart has ever longed for... fulfilled
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.
The One who calls us to complete sanctity and blamelessness is faithful to produce in us that which He has required. If He didn't, we couldn't. But God will surely do what He has promised because He is faithful.
Philippians 2:13
For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
And this work is not something He does regrettably or begrudgingly. It is His good pleasure. Come, enter into the joy of our Master.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.
The One who calls us to complete sanctity and blamelessness is faithful to produce in us that which He has required. If He didn't, we couldn't. But God will surely do what He has promised because He is faithful.
Philippians 2:13
For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
And this work is not something He does regrettably or begrudgingly. It is His good pleasure. Come, enter into the joy of our Master.
Friday, July 12, 2019
day no. 14,872: everyone inherits his father's house
Matthew 25:32-34, 43
Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'
41 Then he will say to those on his left,
‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'
Those who have been adopted as children of God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone will inherit the world He died to leave them in His will. This plan was completed in the course of time in our world, but was concocted and committed to before the beginning of all time or our world even existing.
Those who have not been grafted in to the family of God will be sent to the eternal fire which was originally prepared for the devil and his demons - the third of the host of heaven who followed him in his rebellion.
Everyone inherits his father's house. The children of God, the world and everything in it; the children of the devil, fire and darkness and the utter absence of goodness.
To whom do you belong? Whose household are you in?
Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'
41 Then he will say to those on his left,
‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'
Those who have been adopted as children of God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone will inherit the world He died to leave them in His will. This plan was completed in the course of time in our world, but was concocted and committed to before the beginning of all time or our world even existing.
Those who have not been grafted in to the family of God will be sent to the eternal fire which was originally prepared for the devil and his demons - the third of the host of heaven who followed him in his rebellion.
Everyone inherits his father's house. The children of God, the world and everything in it; the children of the devil, fire and darkness and the utter absence of goodness.
To whom do you belong? Whose household are you in?
Thursday, July 11, 2019
day no. 14,871: america's got talents
Matthew 25:15
To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.
God chooses to bestow privilege in varying degrees to people. Some get five, some get one, but both get no explanation. The Scripture does indicate that the ability of the receiver is taken into account, but even that ability is itself a gift from God apparently given in varying proportions.
Also evident here is that God does not aim at equality of distribution or outcome. He doesn't give less to those more industrious in order to "rig" the system so that all end up at the finish line at the same time. He gives differing amounts to different people. The distribution end of the spectrum is not one founded on equal distribution. He doesn't give just 1 talent to the more industrious knowing that they will turn it into 5 and then give 5 talents to the lazy, good-for-nothing, knowing they will live up their reputation and end where they began, with 5. In other words, God doesn't work to secure an end score of 5 to 5 where everybody ties and everybody gets a participation award for being born. He also doesn't give everyone 5 right out of the gate. Some get more, some get less. What makes His standard and measure of justice equal is that they all are judged according to their particular situation by the same measure: did you invest what you had and produce more a result? You are not judged by what you were never given. You are critiqued in accordance with what you have and what you did with it. Fruitfulness is the measuring rod. So in that regard, those who produce a crop of 30 fold have nothing to fear in light of those who produce a crop of 100 fold. Team 30 fold are not second or third rate citizens in the kingdom of God. They did what they were supposed to with what they were given. The goal is not equality of outcome, but fruitfulness in proportion to what they've been given. And that is the equalizer, not a tie score with no overtime.
Is it a sin to be given 5? No. Is it a sin to be given only 1? No. Is either a statement about the person per se? Maybe. But both have the ability to work with what they have been given to the glory of God and the good of their neighbor. Some have less ability, some have more. Some are given less talents, some more. But all have the opportunity to do good with what they've been given. The amount of good they can do is in proportion to the amount of good they've been given.
The Master does not punish the man with 1 for being given 1, He punishes him for having just the 1 at the end of it all. He judges him for sitting on what he was given or spending his time being envious and complaining about those who have been given 2 or 5 instead of investing his 1 in order to produce more. If you spend your 1 all worked up about the fact that others have 2 and some even 5, you will find yourself wasting your 1, condemned as wicked and left with 0 as you watch your 1 be given to the man who turned 5 into 10.
Matthew 25:26, 28
You wicked and slothful servant! ...Take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.
God chooses to bestow privilege in varying degrees to people. Some get five, some get one, but both get no explanation. The Scripture does indicate that the ability of the receiver is taken into account, but even that ability is itself a gift from God apparently given in varying proportions.
Also evident here is that God does not aim at equality of distribution or outcome. He doesn't give less to those more industrious in order to "rig" the system so that all end up at the finish line at the same time. He gives differing amounts to different people. The distribution end of the spectrum is not one founded on equal distribution. He doesn't give just 1 talent to the more industrious knowing that they will turn it into 5 and then give 5 talents to the lazy, good-for-nothing, knowing they will live up their reputation and end where they began, with 5. In other words, God doesn't work to secure an end score of 5 to 5 where everybody ties and everybody gets a participation award for being born. He also doesn't give everyone 5 right out of the gate. Some get more, some get less. What makes His standard and measure of justice equal is that they all are judged according to their particular situation by the same measure: did you invest what you had and produce more a result? You are not judged by what you were never given. You are critiqued in accordance with what you have and what you did with it. Fruitfulness is the measuring rod. So in that regard, those who produce a crop of 30 fold have nothing to fear in light of those who produce a crop of 100 fold. Team 30 fold are not second or third rate citizens in the kingdom of God. They did what they were supposed to with what they were given. The goal is not equality of outcome, but fruitfulness in proportion to what they've been given. And that is the equalizer, not a tie score with no overtime.
Is it a sin to be given 5? No. Is it a sin to be given only 1? No. Is either a statement about the person per se? Maybe. But both have the ability to work with what they have been given to the glory of God and the good of their neighbor. Some have less ability, some have more. Some are given less talents, some more. But all have the opportunity to do good with what they've been given. The amount of good they can do is in proportion to the amount of good they've been given.
The Master does not punish the man with 1 for being given 1, He punishes him for having just the 1 at the end of it all. He judges him for sitting on what he was given or spending his time being envious and complaining about those who have been given 2 or 5 instead of investing his 1 in order to produce more. If you spend your 1 all worked up about the fact that others have 2 and some even 5, you will find yourself wasting your 1, condemned as wicked and left with 0 as you watch your 1 be given to the man who turned 5 into 10.
Matthew 25:26, 28
You wicked and slothful servant! ...Take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
day no. 14,870: indebted
Matthew 18:24
When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
Some would probably wonder, "Why would a King allow someone to accrue so much debt? At some point, isn't the King to blame for allowing this kind of loose living to go on for so long as to allow the accumulation of this great a debt? Isn't the King a bit of a participant in this decadence? Isn't the King an enabling influence in this scenario?" In other words, the King could have stopped this kind of debt from accumulating by sending the servant to prison sooner. But if you are the servant, is that really your complaint? You let me live freely too long? You should have killed me or imprisoned me sooner?
We are the kind of people who accrue debts. Even the servant finds someone who owes him. We are a tribe of debtors, indebted to God and indebted to each other, owing God honor and glory that we cannot pay and owing each other love and respect that we're unable to muster. And the debt grows. And it assembles in mass until it is insurmountable, a debt so large that it could never be repaid.
Matthew 18:27
And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
And even in this sad state of affairs, as before, mercy is available. The same mercy that allowed you to live long enough to accrue the debt is the same mercy that can clear it out forever and wipe the slate completely clean.
Matthew 18:32-35
‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
But those who have been forgiven, must themselves forgive. Those who beg for mercy, must be about mercy in general, and not just when it conveniently applies to them. Evidence of mercy being adopted as an orientation will be observed in gratitude to God and graciousness to one's neighbor.
When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
Some would probably wonder, "Why would a King allow someone to accrue so much debt? At some point, isn't the King to blame for allowing this kind of loose living to go on for so long as to allow the accumulation of this great a debt? Isn't the King a bit of a participant in this decadence? Isn't the King an enabling influence in this scenario?" In other words, the King could have stopped this kind of debt from accumulating by sending the servant to prison sooner. But if you are the servant, is that really your complaint? You let me live freely too long? You should have killed me or imprisoned me sooner?
We are the kind of people who accrue debts. Even the servant finds someone who owes him. We are a tribe of debtors, indebted to God and indebted to each other, owing God honor and glory that we cannot pay and owing each other love and respect that we're unable to muster. And the debt grows. And it assembles in mass until it is insurmountable, a debt so large that it could never be repaid.
Matthew 18:27
And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
And even in this sad state of affairs, as before, mercy is available. The same mercy that allowed you to live long enough to accrue the debt is the same mercy that can clear it out forever and wipe the slate completely clean.
Matthew 18:32-35
‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
But those who have been forgiven, must themselves forgive. Those who beg for mercy, must be about mercy in general, and not just when it conveniently applies to them. Evidence of mercy being adopted as an orientation will be observed in gratitude to God and graciousness to one's neighbor.
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
day no. 14,869: new gold in the old mine
Matthew 13:51-52
“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
The master of a house stores up old treasures and acquires new ones as often as possible. So it is with the scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven. They continue to produce new insights into old wisdom, finding new gold in the old mine.
“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
The master of a house stores up old treasures and acquires new ones as often as possible. So it is with the scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven. They continue to produce new insights into old wisdom, finding new gold in the old mine.
Monday, July 8, 2019
day no. 14,868: for God's sake, grow up!
"For God's sake, we have to grow up. Quite literally, not the tongue in cheek version. Quite literally, for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of Jesus, we in the church have to grow up, we have to mature" - Adam Mabry
I recently came across this sermon after initially searching for sermons on Titus 2:1-10. I listened to that sermon and then saw that this was the most recent sermon posted on Aletheia Church's YouTube channel.
I recently came across this sermon after initially searching for sermons on Titus 2:1-10. I listened to that sermon and then saw that this was the most recent sermon posted on Aletheia Church's YouTube channel.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
day no. 14,867: live up or let down
"If I look to them to make me happy and give me joy, one of two things will happen: (1) they will try... and hate me for it or (2) they will fail me... and I will hate them for it."- Adam Mabry
There is no better way to guarantee disappointment and frustration than to assign divine qualities to anything other than God.
When we treat others as though they were our god, they will either try to live up to our lofty expectations and end up hating us for the constant pressure it puts upon them or they will resist our insistence and we will end up hating them for letting us down.
There is no better way to guarantee disappointment and frustration than to assign divine qualities to anything other than God.
When we treat others as though they were our god, they will either try to live up to our lofty expectations and end up hating us for the constant pressure it puts upon them or they will resist our insistence and we will end up hating them for letting us down.
Saturday, July 6, 2019
day no. 14,866: that which lasts
Psalm 90:16-17
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
All of us are by nature children of wrath. When God by grace through the gift of faith made us His children and adopted us into His family bearing His Son's image and having His last name, He made manifest to us His work on our behalf. He revealed to us what He had been working in previously unbeknownst to us. His Spirit unveiled our eyes to see what was already true: God had been at work all along.
This revelation is not for our eyes only, but for our children. The power of God is observed by our children when we work out what God has worked in. His power and presence in our present tense gives hope for our children's futures.
All of our hard work in raising and releasing our children can only be established by the favor and grace of God.
If He does not establish it, how could it last?
If He establishes it, how could it ever fail?
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
All of us are by nature children of wrath. When God by grace through the gift of faith made us His children and adopted us into His family bearing His Son's image and having His last name, He made manifest to us His work on our behalf. He revealed to us what He had been working in previously unbeknownst to us. His Spirit unveiled our eyes to see what was already true: God had been at work all along.
This revelation is not for our eyes only, but for our children. The power of God is observed by our children when we work out what God has worked in. His power and presence in our present tense gives hope for our children's futures.
All of our hard work in raising and releasing our children can only be established by the favor and grace of God.
If He does not establish it, how could it last?
If He establishes it, how could it ever fail?
Friday, July 5, 2019
day no. 14,865: animals eat, men feast
“Animals feed themselves; men eat; but only wise men know the art of eating.”- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Paige sent me this quote via text the other day (6/13/19). It led me to think about God's command to Noah.
Genesis 9:3-6
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
Animals often kill their prey BY eating it. Men are prohibited from this activity. Men are not mere animals. They are not the latest and greatest permutation on the evolutionary conveyor belt. Man is made in the image of God. Man was not meant to merely eat, but to feast. To kill dinner on purpose. To take that dead animal and prepare it for a meal. Mankind was not meant merely to eat. Food is not simply fuel. It is an opportunity to feast, to partake of providence and fill a belly that is connected to a heart already full of, "Thank You!"
Paige sent me this quote via text the other day (6/13/19). It led me to think about God's command to Noah.
Genesis 9:3-6
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
Animals often kill their prey BY eating it. Men are prohibited from this activity. Men are not mere animals. They are not the latest and greatest permutation on the evolutionary conveyor belt. Man is made in the image of God. Man was not meant to merely eat, but to feast. To kill dinner on purpose. To take that dead animal and prepare it for a meal. Mankind was not meant merely to eat. Food is not simply fuel. It is an opportunity to feast, to partake of providence and fill a belly that is connected to a heart already full of, "Thank You!"
Thursday, July 4, 2019
day no. 14,864: effeminacy ends in slackness or softness
Jeremiah 48:10
Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.
This is a great verse for men in general and men in ministry in particular
Slackers and snowflakes ought to beware: cursed are the lazy and the limp-wristed, those who refuse to lift a finger and those who refuse to lift their swords.
Whether effeminacy ends in a man who cannot lift his sword due to slackness or will not lift his sword due to softness, the result is the same: a curse proclaimed by Christ, the man of God, who diligently brandishes the sword of the Lord in the form of His opposing pronouncement.
Effeminacy dulls the edges of the sword by first atrophying the edges of the man. His hands are not capable or committed to doing the work of God. He can no longer lift his sword nor would he want to if he could.
Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.
This is a great verse for men in general and men in ministry in particular
Slackers and snowflakes ought to beware: cursed are the lazy and the limp-wristed, those who refuse to lift a finger and those who refuse to lift their swords.
Whether effeminacy ends in a man who cannot lift his sword due to slackness or will not lift his sword due to softness, the result is the same: a curse proclaimed by Christ, the man of God, who diligently brandishes the sword of the Lord in the form of His opposing pronouncement.
Effeminacy dulls the edges of the sword by first atrophying the edges of the man. His hands are not capable or committed to doing the work of God. He can no longer lift his sword nor would he want to if he could.
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
day no. 14,863: like really real
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” - Phillip K. Dick
The world is built on real, solid, objective truth. Truth so true that it would be true whether or not you were ever born. Truth so true that it will remain even after you expire. Truth so true is doesn't need you to validate it. Truth so true that you could be wrong about it. That is the world that God made and that is reality.
It is real regardless of what you think about it. It is real whether or not you feel like it is.
Matthew 7:24-29
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
A life built on all the feels has all the stability and authority of the trembling lips upon which it stands. The feels fall and the floods of tears come. People will speak against you and push into you, and when they do, you will fall. And that fall will be extraordinary because it won't be like falling forever into an abyss, it will be like a crashing flat into the hard surface of reality.
The world is built on real, solid, objective truth. Truth so true that it would be true whether or not you were ever born. Truth so true that it will remain even after you expire. Truth so true is doesn't need you to validate it. Truth so true that you could be wrong about it. That is the world that God made and that is reality.
It is real regardless of what you think about it. It is real whether or not you feel like it is.
Matthew 7:24-29
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
A life built on all the feels has all the stability and authority of the trembling lips upon which it stands. The feels fall and the floods of tears come. People will speak against you and push into you, and when they do, you will fall. And that fall will be extraordinary because it won't be like falling forever into an abyss, it will be like a crashing flat into the hard surface of reality.
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
day no. 14,862: a total solar eclipse
Matthew 5:17-20
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
The fact that the Pharisee's righteousness could be exceeded would have been news to many... especially the Pharisees. But, in fact, there is a righteous that exceeds the Pharisees' and it is an alien righteousness received by grace through faith in Christ alone.
Philippians 3:8-9
For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
There is something more righteous than a Pharisee and that is a sinner saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. They are as righteous as Jesus was righteous, which is righteousness with a capital "R," the source of all subsequent rigtheousnesses rightly identified.
How can you eclipse a Pharisee? Trust the Son.
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
The fact that the Pharisee's righteousness could be exceeded would have been news to many... especially the Pharisees. But, in fact, there is a righteous that exceeds the Pharisees' and it is an alien righteousness received by grace through faith in Christ alone.
Philippians 3:8-9
For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
There is something more righteous than a Pharisee and that is a sinner saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. They are as righteous as Jesus was righteous, which is righteousness with a capital "R," the source of all subsequent rigtheousnesses rightly identified.
How can you eclipse a Pharisee? Trust the Son.
Monday, July 1, 2019
day no. 14,861 continued... alphabetical areas of interest list July 2019
be interested... stay interesting.
And All Todd's Children Said (new Twitter account to document stuff my kids say)
Anniversary (12 years of marriage coming up on August 17)
Anthem Church (been thinking through strengths/weaknesses)
Ask Doug (continue to love these YouTube videos of Doug Wilson)
BB gun (get for boys for Christmas?)
Beautiful Eulogy (recently discovered at suggestion of Owen Strachan)
Benediction (read in "Gaining By Losing" about more intentional send off to close service)
Beth Moore (crazy how Mother's Day brought out the best/worst in complementarianism)
Bible Reading Challenge (on pace to read the NT in 3 months - Same Page Summer)
Blood on Three! (family rally cry adopted from ND Wilson's Grace Agenda talk)
Beowulf (excited to read new copy I got for Father's Day!)
The Bookening (enjoying listening to Christians talk about classic literature)
British Castles (watching show on Netflix with family at night about British Castles)
Callista (been a fun season of getting to know her better)
Chesterton (cannot get enough of his potent quotables)
Chronicles of Narnia (were meant to be read in order written, NOT chronological!!!)
Cold Showers (still enjoying cold showers after workouts)
Connection Group (enjoying break over summer and tooling up for Fall)
CG (got schedule completed for Fall other day, co-leading more with Brock/Josiah)
C.R. Wiley (enjoying getting to know him, excited to read his books on households!)
Cupboards (excited to read 100 cupboards series I got for Father's Day with kids)
Date nights (about time to begin getting these more regularly on schedule)
Discipleship (Jeremy got new job, Josiah is in Marines, schedule clear for next wave)
Evening Hate (music video by band, Red, been enjoying with boys - theatrical version)
Explorer (praying it sells soon so we can replenish bank account)
Family Table (still love weekly calendar coordination with my wife)
Fasting (been intermittent fasting since January and recently upped ante with warrior diet)
Feast Days (4th of July - looking fwd to celebrating founding of our Christian nation)
Fire (had fun breathing fire and getting slow mo video of it from Toby)
Genesis (gearing up for pt. 2 this Fall at Anthem - excited to see assigned texts)
Habits (reading 7 Habits by Covey and enjoying insights)
Homeschool (considering how to be more involved going fwd and for boys in teen years)
If You Want Blood (AC/DC song grafted in to our new family rally cry!)
Insurance Industry Courses (passed my AINS21, begin studying for AINS22 soon)
Jacob Mentzel (pastor in Bloomington, IN with 7 kids)
Jocko (recently began listening to his podcasts, great stuff on leadership)
Juniper (sleeping so well, she is sucking her thumb lately - so stinkin' cute!)
Kraken (the affectionate name we have for our new 15 pass mega-van)
Legacy (thinking through what my kids will think it means to have been born a Van Voorst)
Lego Movie 2 (I want to see this, loved the first one)
Liturgy/Tradition (continuing to introduce elements into family life - blood on three!, etc...)
Lord of the Rings (once Narnia Club is completed, thinking of reading these w/ family)
Manliness (reading Art of Manliness manual/devotional, enjoying insights)
Narnia Club (instituted this as nightly tradition - just finished Magician's Nephew last night)
ND Wilson (excited to read my first ND Wilson books, 100 Cupboard series soon!)
New clothes (lost enough weight that need to rethink some of my wardrobe)
Once For All Delivered (had a flurry of blogpost ideas lately, scheduled out months!)
Patriarch (recovering what has become a "dirty" word to some)
Pilgrim's Progress (just finished kids version "Little Pilgrim's Progress" - they loved it!)
Power clap (always fun to do with family, ready? ready! 1...2... CLAP!)
Preaching (preach Ruth 1 on 7/28, then schedule is blank going fwd... hoping for MORE!)
Podcast (had several people lately suggest I should look more into this possibility)
Producing (been challenged by Ben Merkle talk about producing vocationally)
Quit biting right index and pinky nail (made deal with Penelope to make effort recently)
Raising up leaders (elder/leadership group, encouraging guys to fill slots, instead of me)
The Riot and The Dance 2: Water (seeing teasers, can't wait for cinematic release)
Ruth (studying for upcoming sermon on Ruth 1, good stuff, fun to study)
Saturday Dadurday (still look fwd to spending days wisely to make memories)
Scale (172.0 this past Sunday after being 193.6 at end of 2018 - so grateful!!!)
Screwtape Letters (found audio of John Clees reading on YouTube)
Side hustle (trying to think through extra ways to make money - preferably producing)
Sleep (been trying to get to bed earlier [11-11:30] in this season in order to get up earlier)
Sunday Funday (love our liturgy, oatmeal, church, out to eat, naps, cereal, movie)
Teaching Schedule (recently scheduled out Anthem/TSC til 2021)
Three Hundred (showed kids short clip of battle scene recently and they reenacted it!)
Tim Bayly (getting to know him through podcasts, wanting to get a few of his books)
Toby Sumpter (enjoy his blog, sermons, speaking engagements and Cross Politic)
Treadmill (considering getting a new one, old one barely works, Paige could use if new)
Twitter - (been using it more lately, refined reading list, began tweeting more)
Underwriting (appreciating ability to do other stuff, dreading field trip)
Vacation (excited for August and spending annual week in Custer with my family!!!)
Van (the Kraken has been a blessing, praying it holds up on trip to SD)
Warhorn Media (particularly podcasts)
Warrior Diet (developed fasting habit of eating only in 4 hr window, discovered had a name)
Walking to work (still walking to work, jogging home from it)
Week nights (making time to talk to Paige before running on treadmill)
The World We Made (podcast on Homosexuality-season 1 and Fatherhood-season 2)
Work (trying to think of ways to find work which I can bring boys along with me)
Xample (being a disciple who is making disciples and teaching others to do likewise)
You Who? (Rachel Jankovic book want to have ladies in group read together???)
Zach Fleer (he has been praying for me lately on regular basis by email requests)
And All Todd's Children Said (new Twitter account to document stuff my kids say)
Anniversary (12 years of marriage coming up on August 17)
Anthem Church (been thinking through strengths/weaknesses)
Ask Doug (continue to love these YouTube videos of Doug Wilson)
BB gun (get for boys for Christmas?)
Beautiful Eulogy (recently discovered at suggestion of Owen Strachan)
Benediction (read in "Gaining By Losing" about more intentional send off to close service)
Beth Moore (crazy how Mother's Day brought out the best/worst in complementarianism)
Bible Reading Challenge (on pace to read the NT in 3 months - Same Page Summer)
Blood on Three! (family rally cry adopted from ND Wilson's Grace Agenda talk)
Beowulf (excited to read new copy I got for Father's Day!)
The Bookening (enjoying listening to Christians talk about classic literature)
British Castles (watching show on Netflix with family at night about British Castles)
Callista (been a fun season of getting to know her better)
Chesterton (cannot get enough of his potent quotables)
Chronicles of Narnia (were meant to be read in order written, NOT chronological!!!)
Cold Showers (still enjoying cold showers after workouts)
Connection Group (enjoying break over summer and tooling up for Fall)
CG (got schedule completed for Fall other day, co-leading more with Brock/Josiah)
C.R. Wiley (enjoying getting to know him, excited to read his books on households!)
Cupboards (excited to read 100 cupboards series I got for Father's Day with kids)
Date nights (about time to begin getting these more regularly on schedule)
Discipleship (Jeremy got new job, Josiah is in Marines, schedule clear for next wave)
Evening Hate (music video by band, Red, been enjoying with boys - theatrical version)
Explorer (praying it sells soon so we can replenish bank account)
Family Table (still love weekly calendar coordination with my wife)
Fasting (been intermittent fasting since January and recently upped ante with warrior diet)
Feast Days (4th of July - looking fwd to celebrating founding of our Christian nation)
Fire (had fun breathing fire and getting slow mo video of it from Toby)
Genesis (gearing up for pt. 2 this Fall at Anthem - excited to see assigned texts)
Habits (reading 7 Habits by Covey and enjoying insights)
Homeschool (considering how to be more involved going fwd and for boys in teen years)
If You Want Blood (AC/DC song grafted in to our new family rally cry!)
Insurance Industry Courses (passed my AINS21, begin studying for AINS22 soon)
Jacob Mentzel (pastor in Bloomington, IN with 7 kids)
Jocko (recently began listening to his podcasts, great stuff on leadership)
Juniper (sleeping so well, she is sucking her thumb lately - so stinkin' cute!)
Kraken (the affectionate name we have for our new 15 pass mega-van)
Legacy (thinking through what my kids will think it means to have been born a Van Voorst)
Lego Movie 2 (I want to see this, loved the first one)
Liturgy/Tradition (continuing to introduce elements into family life - blood on three!, etc...)
Lord of the Rings (once Narnia Club is completed, thinking of reading these w/ family)
Manliness (reading Art of Manliness manual/devotional, enjoying insights)
Narnia Club (instituted this as nightly tradition - just finished Magician's Nephew last night)
ND Wilson (excited to read my first ND Wilson books, 100 Cupboard series soon!)
New clothes (lost enough weight that need to rethink some of my wardrobe)
Once For All Delivered (had a flurry of blogpost ideas lately, scheduled out months!)
Patriarch (recovering what has become a "dirty" word to some)
Pilgrim's Progress (just finished kids version "Little Pilgrim's Progress" - they loved it!)
Power clap (always fun to do with family, ready? ready! 1...2... CLAP!)
Preaching (preach Ruth 1 on 7/28, then schedule is blank going fwd... hoping for MORE!)
Podcast (had several people lately suggest I should look more into this possibility)
Producing (been challenged by Ben Merkle talk about producing vocationally)
Quit biting right index and pinky nail (made deal with Penelope to make effort recently)
Raising up leaders (elder/leadership group, encouraging guys to fill slots, instead of me)
The Riot and The Dance 2: Water (seeing teasers, can't wait for cinematic release)
Ruth (studying for upcoming sermon on Ruth 1, good stuff, fun to study)
Saturday Dadurday (still look fwd to spending days wisely to make memories)
Scale (172.0 this past Sunday after being 193.6 at end of 2018 - so grateful!!!)
Screwtape Letters (found audio of John Clees reading on YouTube)
Side hustle (trying to think through extra ways to make money - preferably producing)
Sleep (been trying to get to bed earlier [11-11:30] in this season in order to get up earlier)
Sunday Funday (love our liturgy, oatmeal, church, out to eat, naps, cereal, movie)
Teaching Schedule (recently scheduled out Anthem/TSC til 2021)
Three Hundred (showed kids short clip of battle scene recently and they reenacted it!)
Tim Bayly (getting to know him through podcasts, wanting to get a few of his books)
Toby Sumpter (enjoy his blog, sermons, speaking engagements and Cross Politic)
Treadmill (considering getting a new one, old one barely works, Paige could use if new)
Twitter - (been using it more lately, refined reading list, began tweeting more)
Underwriting (appreciating ability to do other stuff, dreading field trip)
Vacation (excited for August and spending annual week in Custer with my family!!!)
Van (the Kraken has been a blessing, praying it holds up on trip to SD)
Warhorn Media (particularly podcasts)
Warrior Diet (developed fasting habit of eating only in 4 hr window, discovered had a name)
Walking to work (still walking to work, jogging home from it)
Week nights (making time to talk to Paige before running on treadmill)
The World We Made (podcast on Homosexuality-season 1 and Fatherhood-season 2)
Work (trying to think of ways to find work which I can bring boys along with me)
Xample (being a disciple who is making disciples and teaching others to do likewise)
You Who? (Rachel Jankovic book want to have ladies in group read together???)
Zach Fleer (he has been praying for me lately on regular basis by email requests)
day no. 14,861: truly or falsely?
Matthew 5:11-12
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The key word here is, "falsely." If we are living our lives as though Jesus were our King, it will inspire some to talk smack about us. It is inevitable. The key here is that this smack be false. That the problem others have with you is nothing of which God would require you to repent.
Too many live foolishly and then attribute their persecution to godliness because they happen to be a Christian when the shade being thrown at them is in no way related to their devotion to Jesus, but rather entirely a result of their own sinful pride or arrogance.
Do not rejoice or be glad if you are being reviled because of your sin. If that is you, repent and be free. Rejoice and be glad that forgiveness is offered to sinners who repent. And then live a life of godliness in Christ and then when you are persecuted, remember that it's a blessing to be so associated with Jesus as to be criticized and persecuted as others did Him.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The key word here is, "falsely." If we are living our lives as though Jesus were our King, it will inspire some to talk smack about us. It is inevitable. The key here is that this smack be false. That the problem others have with you is nothing of which God would require you to repent.
Too many live foolishly and then attribute their persecution to godliness because they happen to be a Christian when the shade being thrown at them is in no way related to their devotion to Jesus, but rather entirely a result of their own sinful pride or arrogance.
Do not rejoice or be glad if you are being reviled because of your sin. If that is you, repent and be free. Rejoice and be glad that forgiveness is offered to sinners who repent. And then live a life of godliness in Christ and then when you are persecuted, remember that it's a blessing to be so associated with Jesus as to be criticized and persecuted as others did Him.
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