day no. 15,561: the blaze of the midday sun

"Faith is the sensibleness of what is real in the work of redemption... so the soul that believes doth entirely depend on God for all salvation... It is the delight of a believing soul to abase itself and exalt God alone." -- Jonathan Edwards, God Glorified in Man's Dependence from Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards edited by H. Norman Gardiner

Faith reinforces the factual reality of redemption. Faith infers the excellence of the object and the futility of the subject. When a man places his faith in Jesus alone, He is communicating, by necessity, that his salvation is from God, through God, for God and to God alone. It is itself a statement of abasement. To have faith in Jesus is to exalt Him to the exclusion of anything else.

Faith looks not to itself, but to Jesus alone. It excludes the seer in favor of what is seen. It ignores what is seen by sight and looks to what is seen by grace. It makes much of God's invisible qualities made visible and little of the Christian's visible qualities made invisible in His presence. Like a candle's flame swallowed up by the blaze of the midday sun, faith takes no credit for the light of day and adds nothing to it.

day no. 15,560: the price and the prize

Romans 11:36
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.

"All that we have is of God, and through Him, and in Him." -- Jonathan Edwards, God Glorified in Man's Dependence from Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards edited by H. Norman Gardiner

God is the price, the payor, the payee, and the prize. It is to God that payment must be made. It is God Himself who pays the fine. It is God Himself who is provided as the payment. It is God Himself who is the purchase of those redeemed. He is the price and the prize, the payor and the payee. He is our everything. The source and the sustenance, the cloud and the ocean, the ground and the treetop, the thirst and the slake, the hunger and the feast.

day no. 15,559: sing and swing

Psalm 149:6-9
Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the LORD! 

It is an honor and a privilege to sing God's praise and swing His swords. It is our glory to demolish demonic strongholds and take captive to Christ all powers, principalities and philosophies that dare to erect their edifices in opposition to His sovereign rule. May we see His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven where His enemies amount to a footstool before His throne and His people praise His name in spirit and in truth both now and forevermore.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

day no. 15,558: while looking for the fine print, don't forget the headline

Psalm 115:3

Our God is in the heavens:

He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.

Luke 12:54-56

And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?

(The following was originally written a few days before Easter 2020 when the corona-monium seemed to be accelerating with each new press release.)

It stands to reason that many are asking, "What's going on?" To that, I say,

What is going on is what is always going on... God is sovereign and commanding all creation to acknowledge His Son as the one, true, Savior King by turning from wickedness in repentance and turning toward righteousness in faith. It isn't wrong to try and read the times, but there are wrong ways to read the times as Jesus points out in Luke 13. The problem isn't trying to read, but not knowing how to read. The lessons we can clearly observe in these days are that God is in the heavens and does as He pleases and that He has provided His Son as an acceptable sacrifice for our sins so that whether we live or die, we may live forever in the joy of our Master.

So while trying to read the fine print, don't forget the headline.

Luke 13:1-5

There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

day no. 15,557: ish

"Sermonettes produce Christianettes."

Abbreviated sermons create abbreviated Christians.
If you merely preach the cliff notes, you will get Christians composed of cliff notes.
A miniature message makes miniature members.
Beliefs expressed briefly give birth to believers only briefly.

Doctrinish produces Christianish, and Christianish doesn't cut it.

Ish can't cut anything. 

Acts 2:36-37
"Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

day no. 15,556: words of affirmation

1 Chronicles 9:20
Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the chief officer over them in time past; the LORD was with him.

God stands with those who stand by Him. He graciously extends a word of approval to His servant, Phinehas. God is not ashamed to put in writing His allegiance to a man who demonstrated allegiance to Him. God goes out of His way to make mention of this and to honor His friend, Phinehas, by stating emphatically for everyone else to hear, "I'm with Phinehas. He is with Me and I am with him."

Hebrews 2:11
He is not ashamed to call them brothers

Jesus became a man in order to die for men and He gives His word of affirmation to those who have affirmed their love for Him in their actions. 

day no. 15,555: we fight from, with and for joy

Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Joy is a weapon. It is our ammunition. It is what we need in order to fight, how we fight and what we win when we fight.

It is like a battle over a bullet factory. You must first have bullets in order to engage in the battle. If you do not have any ammunition, you are at the mercy of your enemy. You need bullets in order to win the bullet factory. But beyond merely having ammunition, you must use it. Just having bullets is of no advantage if you don't fire them. You must aim them in the direction of your enemies if you are to hold them off or advance to claim their territory. And what you get when you win is a factory that produces bullets in abundance. You use bullets to gain more.

Proverbs 11:25
The liberal soul shall be made fat:
and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

So we fight from joy, with joy and for joy. We must be given joy from God to begin with. Then using that joy, we fight. We claim more territory for joy and find that the more we lean into the joy we have and spend it in the battles we face, the more joy we have. We use joy to gain joy.

It is also like muscle. You must have muscle if you want to move. If you don't have any muscle, you can't move a muscle. But if you have muscle, you must move it. You use muscle to move and the more you do, the more muscle you gain. You must have it and you must use it and your reward is more of it. God grants the energy, you invest it in His endeavors and find more muscle at the end of it. When we exhaust our energy, we discover more of it.

2 Chronicles 20:20-22

And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,

“Give thanks to the Lord,

    for his steadfast love endures forever.”

And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.

Praising God in triumphal joy is our best weapon. It comes from Him. It slays its ten thousands. It wins the day and multiplies itself. Joy and praise sown into the darkness yields a bumper crop. It is increased in being relied upon and faith fires away!

day no. 15,554: using a highlighter to draw a crowd

"Samson killed a lion and said nothing about it. The Holy Spirit finds modesty so rare that He takes care to record it. Say much of what the Lord has done for you, but say little of what you have done for the Lord." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, quoted in The Shadow of the Broad Brim by Richard E. Day

We are called to call attention to what God has done, is doing, and promises to do; not to what we have done, are doing at the moment, and promise to do. 

We should draw a crowd to the largeness of the One source of worth instead of drawing ourselves so large in the hopes of drawing a crowd. We should highlight His grace in the hopes of drawing a crowd rather than highlighting our names. If we use a highlighter to draw ourselves on a blank page, we barely stand out; but if we use it to highlight His words already on the page, we increase attention to the details of His glory.

It isn't that we should never speak of what we're doing in light of what God has done, but that we should speak of it less than we do. It isn't that we should only speak of what God has done, but that we could stand to speak of it more. There is no ceiling that says, "too much" when it comes to drawing attention to God's good works. There is no baseboard that says, "too little" when it comes to politely refusing to draw any more attention to our own.

day no. 15,553 continued... a gentlemen's roughness

Just the other day, I heard Doug Wilson paraphrase an Oscar Wilde quote as, "a gentlemen is one who never insults someone else by accident."

I looked it up and the actual quote is, "A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally." -- Oscar Wilde

I actually prefer Wilson's paraphrase to Wilde's quote, but the sentiment is the same:  a gentlemen is not someone who never hurts someone else's feelings, it's someone who is careful enough not to do so haphazardly. A gentlemen never strikes lightly. He doesn't cause more pain by cutting timidly. He doesn't withhold a well-deserved blow.

Proverbs 27:5-6

Open rebuke is better than secret love.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

day no. 15,553: it is easier to build from scratch than to rebuild from ruins

As I was reading The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man by Brett McKay, I came across the following quote...

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." -- Fredrerick Douglas

This is a sentiment I have often thought of with regard to the high calling of Christian parenting. Much of the pastoral work being done today could have been avoided if parents had merely done their work. When parents ignore their duties, they merely make them someone else's duties later. When parents forego instructing their children, they end up needing instruction later. If parents withhold counsel, the children end up needing counseling later. One of the best things a Christian can do for the advancement of the Kingdom of God is to raise their own children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. This will train them in righteousness and grace through faith in Christ alone and help their future pastors to focus their energies on people who have no one and had no one to help them. By God's grace broken men can be repaired, but His plan A is that they would be built up rightly in the first place by their own parents rather than be put back together by someone else's.

Galatians 6:10
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

With, of course, the household you were born into taking precedent.

1 Timothy 5:8
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

day no. 15,552: child likes

Luke 9:46-48
An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, "Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great."

Jesus taught the disciples that they viewed themselves as kings while they were acting like children while they should have viewed themselves as children while acting like their King.

day no. 15,551 continued... one too little, two too many, and hundreds not enough

"Those that multiply gods multiply griefs to themselves; for, whoever thinks one God too little, will find two too many, and yet hundreds not enough." -- Mathew Henry, Commentary on Psalm 16

Many years ago, I was asked to preach on Psalm 16 at The Light ministry for post-college/pre-minivan people at Cornerstone Church of Ames by my friend, Jacob Varghese. I remember reading Matthew Henry's commentary and coming across the line above. It struck me then and came to mind this morning as I began reading Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live? and came across him capturing the same sentiment well...

"All their gods put together were not infinite... They (the Romans and the Greeks) did not have anything big enough or permanent enough to which to relate either their thinking or their living. Consequently, their value system was not strong enough to bear the strains of life, either individual or political. All their gods put together could not give them a sufficient base for life, morals, values, and final decisions."

day no. 15,551: refusing to associate with yourself

"It is tough to refuse to associate any longer with the person you are -- to set aside your own desires, ambitions, dreams, goals, and come empty-handed, broken, and contrite to Christ." 
-- John MacArthur, Humility: An Essential for Ministry; The John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership 

There are certain people we should refuse even to associate with and those who end their sentences with prepositions need not be numbered among them. The first person you should refuse to have further sympathetic dealings with is your former self. If you are a Christian, your former self is dead. Stop necromancing and begin communing with the living God. The time for being who you were is over. That is why you led that man to the cross and crucified him along with Christ. That is one tomb which should remain sealed. 

It is difficult to ghost people though. If you have any degree of sensitivity, you feel badly about cutting someone off so severely. And if it is that difficult to do with someone you must imagine, it is all the more difficult to do with the person who shares residence in your body. The old man is dead, but he sure makes a lot of noise. He haunts your house. But you must refuse to associate with your self. You must cut yourself off and stay strong. Don't go back to courting yourself. Don't return to that abusive relationship because it was better than the unknown or the fear of being alone. In Christ, you are not alone and you don't have to sympathize with yourself. You are free to follow Him knowing that He is looking out for you. You don't have to comfort yourself because He is your Comforter. You don't have to save yourself, He is your Savior.

day no. 15,550: the worst ice cream we will ever taste

1 Corinthians 2:9
But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"

I have cultivated the tradition of having ice cream on Friday nights after we eat pizza. While we enjoy it, I read Deuteronomy 6:1-15 and remind my children that the promised land was a land overflowing with milk and honey and that where you have dairy and sugar, you have ice cream! And where you have milk and honey, you have cows and bees and flowers and beauty and goodness in endless measure world without end and amen!

I also remind them then that if this is how good ice cream in a fallen world tastes, imagine how good ice cream in the new earth will be? How good will God's ice cream taste? I can't wait.

In other words, the ice cream we so enjoy on Friday nights is the worst ice cream we will ever taste. Where we're going it is only gets better.

Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

day no. 15,549 continued... bears, bears, they got no cares

Tonight, we watched the first episode of Leave it to Beaver, season 2 wherein Beaver was assigned to write a poem. Ward ended up writing the poem for him about a bear. The whole thing inspired me to render my own bear-inspired rhyme.

And it goes a lil sumptin' like this... hit it:

Some bears are brown 
While others are black 
None live in towns
Unless they be whack

Some bears eat cherries
While others eat fishes
All bears are hairy
But none uses dishes 

day no. 15,549: fair names to foul sins

"Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." - Psalm 51:14

"In this solemn confession, it is pleasing to observe that David plainly names his sin. He does not call it manslaughter, nor speak of it as an imprudence by which an unfortunate accident occurred to a worthy man, but he calls it by its true name, bloodguiltiness... Do not give fair names to foul sins; call them what you will, they will smell no sweeter."
 -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

People today are too busy having affairs to commit adultery or too caught up in getting something off their chest to spread malice. They're often too consumed with getting what they're owed to be envious or too empathetic to be effeminate.  When we call sins by fairer names, we reveal how serious we think sin is. Your senior prom was an affair. That thing your mom did with that other man was not. That was adultery. And yes that sounds harsh, but it better captures the seriousness of what took place. When we dilute the words we use for sin, we dull our sense of urgency in addressing them. We cheapen sin when we cheapen our vocabulary. The battle is always for the dictionary. No one wants to be bad or do evil, so the battle lines become the definitions of" bad" and "evil." The word "wickedness" is out of vogue. It sounds like a throwback to a time we don't want to remember, a world where sin was serious and consequences were severe.

But the bad news is even worse. Fair words for foul sins rarely create a sense of urgency in the offending party to seek reconciliation. After all, if it's just an affair, what's the big deal? If it's just getting what's mine, I may not feel the weight of my sin too heavily. In fact, I may even feel the opposite. I may feel a lightness of heart and a nobility in my spirit. I may consecrate my sins and count them to my credit. But that is the worst case scenario. Even in the best scenario, when it is acknowledged as sin, it is nevertheless reckoned only a minor offense as reflected by the minor words used to describe it. The most dangerous part of using wimpy words is that it produces wimpy salvation and wimpy sanctification. It produces no shocked faces to find that those who have been forgiven their "affairs" aren't exactly crushing it at the Christian life. Not because there is not forgiveness, but because the one who has been forgiven so little loves little. But the fact of the matter remains that the sin was more serious than the offender originally acknowledged. It's not that greater forgiveness and love were not available, but that they were available only in proportion to the degree that the sin was acknowledged.

All that to say, if you call your sins what Jesus calls them, they will sound like you're in greater trouble than if you used fairer words, but the good news is that you'll receive greater salvation and forgiveness than you ever imagined and the words for your deliverance will be grander and more pronounced in proportion.

day no. 15,548: joy and sorrow shared

While reading The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man by Brett McKay, I came across a great quote...

"Shared joy is double joy. Shared sorrow is half sorrow." -- Swedish proverb

Joy insists on being shared. Joy increases when it is offered to others. It is not a product of scarcity. It is the opposite. It is only scarce when it is horded. It grows when it is given away. Joy abounds in liberality. There is nothing stingy about it. Having someone to share the thing you love with only increases your love for the thing.

“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. . . . The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” ― C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms

As much as joy increases in having someone to share it with, sorrow decreases for the same reason. Having someone to help shoulder the burden of sorrow alleviates the weight of it. Sorrows can be shouldered by two that could not have been born by one. Just as joy desires to be shared in order to grow, sorrow desires to have assistance in order that it may evaporate. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

day no. 15,547: have scars, give wounds

While reading a biography about C.H. Spurgeon titled,  The Shadow of the Broad Brim by Richard Day I came across the following quote taken from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress where Mr. Valiant-for-Truth says...

"They have left upon me, as you see, some of the marks of their valor, and have also carried away with them some of mine."

Christians are called to have scars and to give wounds. Simple courage gives and receives wounds. If no one is swinging at you, you're living too far away from the front line. Valor expects push back and pushes ahead anyways. Valor inflicts damage while enduring damages. It bleeds and draws blood. It does not fight because it insists that it cannot be defeated, but because it insists on giving its life, whether in victory or defeat, to fighting the good fight before it. Wounds are not the signs of failure, but of success. 

Some of Valiant-for Truth's last words before entering into eternity according to Bunyan were,

"I am going to my Father's; and though with great difficulty I am got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who now will be my rewarder."

Galatians 6:16-17
And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

Walking according to the rule of peace means putting yourself in a place where you get scars and deliver some as well. The way of peace winds near the violence. Peacemakers wield swords; peacekeepers, idle words.

day no. 15,546 continued... the caddy's prayer

When stuck between a rock and a hard place, the entrepreneurial create their own way, but what about those not equipped to blaze new trails? When they find themselves without a path, what can they do? What if you like to caddy and are more equipped for carrying the gear than for swinging the machete or better at giving advice than at taking the initiative? What can you do but pray for a man of Issachar to make his way to you? Until then, you must wait in the clubhouse and admire those out in the fray and pray for the day that you might join them. A cutter can make a go of it without a caddy, but a caddy can't make a go of it without a cutter to accompany.

day no. 15,546: eye to eye, shoulder to shoulder

While reading The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man by Brett McKay, I came across a great quote...

"There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends." -- Homer

What a blessing to have a marriage with common enemies and common friends. Where the union of the two only solidifies the frontlines in a common war. God made the world to be at war. He placed enmity between the seed of Eve and the seed of Satan. As such, the world is a place of friend or foe.

By God's grace, He has made us His allies and in His grace we are advised to extend covenant only to those fighting for the same team. When grace is engaged, the kingdom produces marriages of one team with one dream fighting the same fight on the same side and delighting in the same friends. May each one of my children experience the joy of having the same for themselves: union with Christ by grace through faith and union to a spouse who has the same.

Being equally yoked is first and foremost a matter of what is seen as first and foremost. But it extends beyond merely sharing a top priority. This much should go without saying. Why would you want to yoke yourself to someone going a different direction? — especially if you both really enjoy the directions you are respectively going? The inevitable stress on the yoke and the two sets of shoulders underneath it is not difficult to forecast. No shocked faces should be required.

But beyond that, there is a matter of speed, pace, purpose, priority, etc... in pulling. Just because you're going the same direction doesn't mean you're going at the same pace, or desire to end in going the same distance. When two people see eye to eye and plow shoulder to shoulder, it is a great blessing to their home and a great curse to their enemies.

day no. 15,545: pleased by petty things

Psalm 145:19
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.

The God who created thirst, created water. The God who made hunger, made food. God completes what He puts into motion. He fulfills where He designs emptiness. He provides a key where He has made a lock. He gives a bow where He has tuned the string.

Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Grace teaches our hearts to fear and grace our fears relieves. Without His grace, we would not know how to want righteousness. We would be too easily pleased by lesser things. But in His mercy, He does not treat us as our desires deserve. He does not let us obtain our petty hopes and dreams. He instead interferes and interrupts our originally scheduled programming. He reveals the evil in what we've settled for and provides a better vision, an object of desire that can actually satisfy not momentary longings, but eternal destinies.

Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

When we seek first things first, we get secondary things thrown in. If we seek secondary things first, we get nothing, not even the secondary thing we made top priority. 

day no. 15,544 continued... liberty v. license: should freedom be defined by for or from?

I'm currently reading Slaying Leviathan: Limited Government and Resistance in the Christian Tradition by Glenn S. Sunshine (available HERE) and came across this helpful distinction today,

"Positive freedom, that is, freedom to or freedom for rather than freedom from. Specifically, liberty referred to the freedom to pursue good ends of your own choice within the bounds of natural and divine law. Liberty thus included a moral imperative: the only legitimate ends had to be virtuous themselves and had to be pursued by virtuous means...

The alternative to liberty is license. License is a negative freedom, that is, freedom from restraint. Licentious people pursue their desires without regard for any rules or restrictions on their behavior. Freedom to them means that no one can tell them what to do or tell them that what they are doing is wrong.

No political thinker in the centuries leading up to the Founders believed that we had a natural right to license, only liberty. And yet today, freedom is overwhelmingly understood as negative freedom, as license."

The Bible affirms the virtue of liberty, highlighting its generation from the life of God; and the vice of license, highlighting its manifestation in the lives of the unregenerate.

2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

Galatians 5:19-21

Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Jude 1:4

For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

day no. 15,544: victory through His grace

"Be courageous concerning this, O Christian! be not dispirited, as though your spiritual enemies could never be destroyed. You are able to overcome them--not in your own strength--the weakest of them would be too much for you in that; but you can and shall overcome them through the blood of the Lamb. Do not ask, 'How shall I dispossess them, for they are greater and mightier than I?' but go to the strong for strength, wait humbly upon God, and the mighty God of Jacob will surely come to the rescue, and you shall sing of victory through his grace." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

By His grace, we shall overcome. We can expect to see the enemy pushed back inside us and around us. By faith we will see the enemy's forces retreating within and without. Our enemies will not overcome us with their evil, but we, by the blood of the conquering Lamb, shall overcome.

Revelation 12:10-11
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

day no. 15, 543 continued... fundamental laws of politics

Doug Wilson's weekly Cluster Muster led me to THIS.

Below are gathered some useful “fundamental laws of politics”.

Adams’s Law: “A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”

Conquest’s Three Laws:

1) Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.

2) Any organization not explicitly and constitutionally right-wing will sooner or later become left-wing.

3)The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.

Goldstein’s Law: “Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle, and the Low. They have been subdivided in many ways, they have borne countless different names, and their relative numbers, as well as their attitude towards one another, have varied from age to age: but the essential structure of society has never altered.”

Hanlon’s Razor: Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity. [This is almost certainly a corruption of Robert A. Heinlein’s phrase: “You have attributed to villainy conditions which merely result from stupidity” (Logic of Empire, 1941). See also the link for similar aphorisms.]  See however Clark’s Law: “Sufficiently advanced incompetence is functionally indistinguishable from malice.”

Samuel Johnson’s Law: “[W]hen a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” NCT’s corollary: the best check on preening narcissistic moralizing is exposing a man to the consequences of his own prepositions when implemented.

Lincoln’s Law [apocryphal]: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

McArdle’s Law [unsourced]: “The party in power is insufferable. The party out of power is insane.”

Michels’ Law: All forms of organization, regardless of how democratic or autocratic they may be at the start, will eventually and inevitably develop into oligarchies.

Muggeridge’s Law: Satire can never compete with real life for its sheer absurdity.

Pournelle’s Iron Law: “[I]n any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative[s] who work to protect any teacher, including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.”

Reagan’s Observation: “Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.” (Remarks at a business conference in Los Angeles, March 2, 1977)

Sowell’s Law: In human problems, there are no solutions, only trade-offs.

Sumner’s Law: The type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C’s interests, are entirely overlooked. […A and B] ignore entirely the source from which they must draw all the energy which they employ in their remedies, and they ignore all the effects on other members of society than the ones they have in view. […T]he State cannot get a cent for any man without taking it from some other man, and this latter must be a man [C] who has produced and saved it. This latter is the Forgotten Man. [The title of Amity Shlaes’ book about the Great Depression and the New Deal pays homage to Sumner.]

Thatcher’s Law: The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.

Three Laws of Sociodynamics [an anonymous cynical physicist’s parody on the Three Laws of Thermodynamics]:

1) Law of conservation of misery

2) Every spontaneous bureaucratic process strives for the maximum degree of idiocy

3) The absolute moral nadir cannot be reached in a finite number of steps (i.e., no matter how low people have gotten, they can always get lower).

ADDENDUM:

Antonov’s Observation on Santayana’s Law: “There is a mistaken proverb which tells us that those who are ignorant of the past are condemned to repeat it. In fact, they’re lucky if they’re allowed to repeat it. More probably, they’re condemned to something even worse than the past. This is doubly true of those who believe that their ignorance somehow makes them morally superior to those who don’t share it.” (Spoken by the fictional admiral Ivan Antonov in David Weber and Steve White, “In death ground“.)

Heinlein’s Dichotomy: “Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.” (From “The notebooks of Lazarus Long”.)

Niven’s Law: No cause is so noble that it won’t attract fuggheads. (From “Fallen Angels”)

day no. 15,543: will soon sore true

Psalm 127:3-5
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

"Now, we know that sticks are not by nature arrows; they do not grow so, but they are made so; by nature they are knotty and rugged, but by art they are made smooth and handsome. So children by nature are rugged and untoward, but by education are refined and reformed, made pliable to the divine will and pleasure." -- George Swinnock, 1627-1673

By grace through faith God makes the crooked straight and we believe our begotten though bent will soon sore true. By grace and by grit, we shape them for the string and aim them at the glory of God. While we all fall short of our intended ends, in Christ we are restored to our intended aims.

day no, 15,542: to wield and for war

Psalm 144:1
Blessed be the LORD, my rock, 
who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle

God equips what He calls and forms fingers for His intentions. When He placed enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, He also placed competency into the hands of His people. God gives what He requires. He provides what He demands. He does not throw us into the battle without throwing us weapons and the ability to wield them. 

How tragic it would be to have hands trained for war only for them to whittle the days away. How disappointing to have fingers trained for battle engaged only in online warfare. God made our hands for war and our fingers for battle. Our theology comes out our fingertips and they were formed for fighting the good fight for God's glory and the good of our neighbor.

day no. 15,541 continued... the goodly fere

Joe Boot introduced me to the following poem, Ballad of the Goodly Fere by Ezra Pound on Saturday, May 1 at the Fight Laugh Feast Rally in Rapid City, SD when he referred to it in a talk titled, Jesus is the King of Tyrants.

Ballad of the Goodly Fere

- Ezra Pound - 1885-1972

***Simon Zelotes speaking after the Crucifixion. Fere = Mate, Companion

Ha' we lost the goodliest fere o' all

For the priests and the gallows tree?

Aye lover he was of brawny men,

O' ships and the open sea.

When they came wi' a host to take Our Man

His smile was good to see,

"First let these go!" quo' our Goodly Fere,

"Or I'll see ye damned," says he.

Aye he sent us out through the crossed high spears

And the scorn of his laugh rang free,

"Why took ye not me when I walked about

Alone in the town?" says he.

Oh we drank his "Hale" in the good red wine

When we last made company,

No capon priest was the Goodly Fere

But a man o' men was he.

I ha' seen him drive a hundred men

Wi' a bundle o' cords swung free,

That they took the high and holy house

For their pawn and treasury.

They'll no' get him a' in a book I think

Though they write it cunningly;

No mouse of the scrolls was the Goodly Fere

But aye loved the open sea.

If they think they ha' snared our Goodly Fere

They are fools to the last degree.

"I'll go to the feast," quo' our Goodly Fere,

"Though I go to the gallows tree."

"Ye ha' seen me heal the lame and blind,

And wake the dead," says he,

"Ye shall see one thing to master all:

'Tis how a brave man dies on the tree."

A son of God was the Goodly Fere

That bade us his brothers be.

I ha' seen him cow a thousand men.

I have seen him upon the tree.

He cried no cry when they drave the nails

And the blood gushed hot and free,

The hounds of the crimson sky gave tongue

But never a cry cried he.

I ha' seen him cow a thousand men

On the hills o' Galilee,

They whined as he walked out calm between,

Wi' his eyes like the grey o' the sea,

Like the sea that brooks no voyaging

With the winds unleashed and free,

Like the sea that he cowed at Genseret

Wi' twey words spoke' suddently.

A master of men was the Goodly Fere,

A mate of the wind and sea,

If they think they ha' slain our Goodly Fere

They are fools eternally.

I ha' seen him eat o' the honey-comb

Sin' they nailed him to the tree.

day no. 15,541: vocation and location

On April 2, 2020, while reading a biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon titled The Shadow of the Broad Brim by Richard E. Day, I came across a quote from The Puritan of Gramercy Park,

"When a man surrenders himself, he surrenders his job, and the geography of it!"

I was struck by this comment in thinking of my own vocation and location. I work at Shelter because I live in Columbia, MO. I live in Columbia because God called me to join a team called to plant Anthem Church. I was called to plant Anthem Church because I was at Candeo Church in Cedar Falls and they set out to plant a church in Columbia, MO. I was at Candeo Church in Cedar Falls working for the Department of Education because God called me to Cedar Falls from Story City in order to plant Candeo Church. In Story City, I worked in Des Moines in insurance because I moved to Ames a decade before to be in a band. God led me to Ames to save me and since then He has been leading me vocationally and locationally.  I am where I am, doing what I am doing, because God has led me. When a man surrenders himself to God, he certainly does surrender what he'll be doing and where, but he knows whatever he does and wherever he ends up doing it, he does it all for the glory of God.

da no. 15,540 continued... of vice and men

To want to be a man is not to be one.

Two things I daily see more clearly:

(1) what a man is and

(2) that I am not.

God have mercy.

Father, forgive my timidity, risk aversion, cowardice, effeminacy, and insecurity.

I am not what I ought.

day no. 15,540: enthusiasm

On April 2, 2020, I was introduced to the meaning of the word enthusiasm while reading a sermon transcript of Alex Montoya's "Preaching as a Dying Man to Dying Men" contained in The John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership. 

He defined enthusiasm as being rooted in two Greek words that mean, "to be in God," or "God to be in you." 

I came across the word again later that same day when reading a biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon titled The Shadow of the Broad Brim by Richard E. Day.

Enthusiasm is commonly used as a short-hand way of saying inspired or energized, but the word presupposes more than a mere rush of emotion. It implies that animation requires God. It declares that energy comes from another source and not from within. Inspiration is poured into us, not mined out from us. God in us is our energy. To be enthusiastic about something is to be infused with Theos. To have God in you is to be alive and enlivened. And the more your external efforts are aimed at God, the more enthusiastic you become. The energy He provides is meant to be given back to Him, so the more you pour it out for His glory, the more enthusiastic you become. To be enthused is to have God in you and having yourself in Him.

day no. 15,539: soft hitting

In reading The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man by Brett and Kate McKay, I came across the following quote in a chapter on being a hero,

"The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly." -- Theodore Roosevelt

This reminds me of a quote that has stuck with me from the movie, Luther (2003), "If you decide to fight, you also have to decide to win." 

A soft hit is a lack of assiduity enfleshed.

If you know why you are doing something, then do it with all your might. If you don't know why you're doing it, don't do it at all. Soft hitting has enough conviction to do something, but not enough to do anything of consequence. If you believe something seriously, act in accordance with assiduity. If something is not to be taken seriously, don't get sucked into acting half-heartedly. Either hit as hard as you can or don't hit.

day no. 15,538: error looms

There will be a legacy. The question is not IF, but WHICH or WHAT KIND?

We witnessed before that Hezekiah's house was ordered incorrectly. It was oriented around his present comfort rather than his legacy's future fruitfulness. He took comfort in the prophecy of his earthly belongings and heritage being ransacked after his departure. His concern was not that it would endure, but that he would not have to endure the loss of it.

Not surprisingly, this attitude had an effect on his household. The lives that are raised in a household are shaped by its walls. The order of Hezekiah's household formed his sons and when they grew older they did not depart from the way they were trained to go.

2 Kings 21:1-7
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem will I put my name." And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever."

Manasseh took the hand off from his father and ran further down the field than Hezekiah ever got. His disdain for legacy and progeny is evidenced in his forsaking of his ancestors' faith and his indifference to his descendants' fate. He flung aside the God of his fathers and flung into the fire the sons of his family. He destroyed the altars he inherited and laid on the altar those who stood to inherit from him. He burned the bridges to the past and burned the hope of the future. He lived in the moment and for himself without respect for the past or hope in the future.

But by God's grace, one of his sons survived, yet the seed contained all the defects of the tree from which it fell.

2 Kings 21:19-24
Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done. He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them. He abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD. And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

Amon abandoned his forefathers and walked in the ways of his bent fathers. So we see downstream how Hezekiah's mindset manifested. He passed down a reluctance to look ahead and a proclivity to live for the moment and one's own good. Not shockingly, his son and his grandson took that baton and ran with it. 

Yet by God's grace, He extends the curse of disobedience only so far in order that His greater promise of blessing may prevail. From this disordered family, God raised up godly Josiah outside the influence of his fathers and refreshed the vision for respecting better ancestors and living for better descendants by grace through faith in God alone in one's present.

day no. 15,537: the way the anvil breaks its hammerers

"The anvil breaks a host of hammers by quietly bearing their blows."
-- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Anvils overcome hammers by enduring them. 

When you feel like you're taking a beating, remember you are breaking the enemy down by your endurance. Christ is the Rock and He outlasted His persecutors. They punched themselves out and He rose again. He took all they had to give and endured. In Him, we will see our enemies exhausted and ourselves established like an anvil, solid, resolute and blessed though buffeted. 

Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If we are in Christ, we will, like the anvil, endure many blows, but like the anvil, we will remain and our abusers will be broken.  The anvil strikes the hammer by insisting on remaining still. 

Psalm 46:8-10
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how He has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
He burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”

day no. 15,536: one step sideways

"The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways." -- Gene Hackman

A man puts himself between the danger and his beloved. A step sideways removes him as the barrier. Courage rushes to breach the gap and resolves to stay there until the danger is either  destroyed or deterred. Cowardice steps aside instead of stepping up. It does not love anyone else enough to protect them at the expense of putting itself in danger.

John 18:4
Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to Him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.”

Love steps up.
Love steps between.

day no. 15,535: intellect before affect

"We are to invite people with truth that affects the emotions, not emotional appeals through which we hope to give them the truth." -- Rick Holland, The Art of Crafting a Life-Changing Sermon, The John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership

Affection must follow intentions, by necessity and in that order.

Intentions left unexpressed fall flat. Information without manifestation is meaningless. Affections must materialize in order to justify the intention. However, you cannot begin with affection in order to get to intentions. You cannot use emotion to lead to the notion. Just as potions never produce long-lasting effects, emotions never lead to transformation that takes. Additionally, in employing emotions on the front end, you teach people to see the world through the subjectivity of their feelings instead of training them to see the world objectively as it truthfully is.

God's declarations are to be understood, believed and loved. You cannot love what you don't understand. You cannot love what you don't believe. But if you begin with loving feelings, what you know or how you understand will forever be clouded by them and what you believe will have no basis other than how you feel about it. You cannot create love out of lovely sentiments. All that to say, what you know must come before how you feel about what you know. How you feel is subject to change and cannot, therefore, support anything being built upon it. But what you know should produce affections which can flourish inside the protection of the walls built for it by solid intentions and reliable information.

day no. 15,534: counting years by thousands or tens

Before we get started, May the Voorst be with you. 

2 Kings 20:1
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.'"

God called Hezekiah to put his house in order so that the future would be set up for success. He was to look beyond his own lifetime so as to get what was in front of him prepared for those who would go beyond him. His house was currently out of that kind of order and needed to be placed into it. Hezekiah's house was in an order, but not the kind of order that God required. His house was ordered around something other than what God commands.

But instead of looking ahead, Hezekiah looked to himself. He cried out to God for healing and to go forward into the future in person rather than in planning. He did not look to the work of getting his house in order, rather he devoted his efforts into securing more of his own personal future. He did not have his progeny in mind, but only his own livelihood. He was not concerned with his legacy, but was very interested in his vitality.

And God surprisingly responded to Hezekiah's prayers by granting him his request. This answer to prayer proved to delight Hezekiah, but may have been more an evidence of God's discipline and displeasure than of favor being bestowed upon Hezekiah. Sometimes getting what we want is God's way of issuing discipline, not reward.

2 Kings 20:8-11

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?" And Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?" And Hezekiah answered, "It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps." And Isaiah the prophet called to the LORD, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Isaiah gave Hezekiah the option of seeing a sign that would guarantee that God's word of healing would certainly take place. His options were to see into the future or into the past. In keeping with his resistance to legacy, he chose to see the clock moved back. Time, if left alone, marches on either way and the dial inevitably goes forward, but only God could move the dial backwards. As far as logic goes, Hezekiah's logic was solid. The dial going backward is certainly more impressive in one sense, but it also highlights Hezekiah's insistence on reliving the past by staying alive rather than dying well in order to provide a legacy to those who would live beyond him into the future.

So Hezekiah was healed and returned to living for his own livelihood. He flourished and wanted to enjoy the good things that he had and show others how well off he was. So when foreign dignitaries arrived requesting an audience, he saw fit to provide them not only with the pleasure of his presence, but also with an audience to everything he had been able to retain by surviving his episode of illness.

2 Kings 20:16-19
And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, from Babylon." He said, "What have they seen in your house?" And Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them."

Hezekiah's treasure was contained in his house and storehouses. His heart was where his treasure was... which happened to be right in front of him. He lacked vision for the future and heart for his legacy. He did not see his riches as someone else's inheritance. He saw them as his own.

2 Kings 20:16-19

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?"

Hezekiah, in the end, reveals in words what has been true from the beginning in essence. His concern is not for the future or for his legacy, but only for his lifetime. He did not see years by the millennia, but by the decade. He counted time in tens instead of thousands. He did not see generations, but geriatrics. He was not concerned with seeing his people live, his concern was on his life going on. It wasn't about putting his house in order to look ahead for the sake of someone else tomorrow, but for showing his house off for the sake of looking like someone today. And in the end, he thought himself blessed for receiving a hall pass from the future calamity his decisions would bring. 

day no. 15,533: character and charisma

2 Kings 19:30-31
And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this.

God saves us in symmetry. He gives us roots that grow downward in order to anchor us deeply and nourish us lavishly, but He also gives us fruit that grows upward in order to put flesh on what is happening down below. The top matches the bottom. The inside matches the outside. God gives rich soil and sweet fruit. He drives us deeper than we could go and produces more through us than we ever could on our own.  The zeal of the Lord will do this: zeal... not an apathetic acquiescence, but a vibrant, committed, excited, assertive, intentional action. God wants to do this. He throws His heart and soul into it. He provides the anchor and the wind, He makes the seed and the blossom, the quality and the quantity, the character and the charisma.

day no. 15,532: hendiadys

While reading The John Macarthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership yesterday (March 31, 2020) I came across a new word, hendiadys. It was used in a sermon by Tom Pennington on 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 referring to "of the Spirit and of power."

hen·di·a·dys /henˈdīədəs/
noun
the expression of a single idea by two words connected with “and,” e.g., nice and warm, when one could be used to modify the other, as in nicely warm.

from Wikipedia... a Latinized form of the Greek phrase ἓν διὰ δυοῖν, hèn dià duoîn, "one through two" is a figure of speech used for emphasis—"The substitution of a conjunction for a subordination". The basic idea is to use two words linked by the conjunction "and" instead of the one modifying the other. English names for hendiadys include "two for one" and "figure of twins." The term hendiaduo may also be used. The 17th century English Biblical commentator Matthew Poole referred to "hendiaduos" in his comments on Genesis 3:16, Proverbs 1:6 and Isaiah 19:20.

It is fascinating to discover a term for something you were aware of, but didn't know. We use terms like, "good and ready," "sick and tired," "heart and soul," "nice and easy," "the long and short of it," etc... all the time. But I wasn't aware that those were "a thing" until it was pointed out to me. And upon becoming aware of its "thing-ness" you immediately discover it is a thing you already knew It is the delight C.S. Lewis called, "of course."

day no. 15,531: uxorious

Yesterday (March 31, 2020) I learned a new word while reading Milton's Paradise Lost

That uxorious king,

whose heart, though large,
Beguil'd by fair idolatresses,

fell to idols foul.

I had never heard of the word, "uxorious," before and had to look it up. That is one of the joys of reading. I love new words and this one is a good one. 

ux·o·ri·ous

/əkˈsôrēəs,ˌəɡˈzôrēəs/

adjective

having or showing an excessive or submissive fondness for one's wife

Milton uses the word to refer to Solomon who in doting on and showing excessive interest in his wives was led astray into their idolatry. Milton is in one sense saying that Solomon was already committing idolatry in his wives before he entered into the idolatry of his wives. He was idolizing his wives by being submissive to them even before he submitted himself to the idols they submitted to.

Adam plunged world into sin by the same kind of concession. His inability to say, "No," to his wife led him to lead the world into sin through his unwillingness to lead her. Since he was her head, he could not help but lead, but since he insisted on following her lead, he lead the whole world into sin, something Eve did not possess the authority to pull off even if she had desired to.

So abdication is the essence of the very first sin. By setting aside his assignment to lead, he still led, but led poorly and into devastation. Man is the head, there is no way around it. When he cuts his head off by refusing to lead, he does not escape leadership, he merely leads the rest of the body into death.