day no. 15,653: a reality fixed, not mixed

In reading The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues by Brett McKay, I came across the following quote,

"What would life be without fighting, I should like to know? From the cradle to the grave, fighting, rightly understood, is the business, the real, highest, honestest business of every son of man. Every one who is worth his salt has his enemies, who must be beaten, be they evil thoughts and habits in himself or spiritual wickedness in high places, or Russians, or Border-ruffians, or Bill, Tom, or Harry, who will not let him live his life in quiet till he has thrashed them... The world might be a better world without fighting, for anything I know, but it wouldn't be our world; and therefore I am dead against crying peace when there is no peace, and isn't meant to be. I'm as sorry as any man to see folk fighting the wrong people and the wrong things, but I'd a deal sooner see them doing that, than that they should have no fight in them." -- Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days

The world is a place of enmity by the will of God.

He placed enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of Eve.

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her Seed;
it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise His heel.

There will be fighting.

It is inescapable.

You are fighting. Whether you like it or not, you're fitted out for a uniform. If you imagine you are not fighting, you are merely fighting for the wrong team. You've joined the enemy ranks and stand opposed to God and His people. No one fights for Christ by accident, but many fight against Him without knowing it. The enmity is there -- fixed, inexorable, immovable, indomitable.

Galatians 5:17

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Good and evil cannot mix. They push and push back respectively, but they do not mingle. Good men may go rogue and cross the line or God may convert and recruit evil men to cross over from death to life, but never do the salt shaker and the sugar bowl mix.

day no. 15,652: there is greater victory in falling in battle than failing to battle

In reading The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues by Brett McKay, I came across the following quote,

"I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory." -- General Douglas MacaArthur in Duty, Honor, Country

Men do not fight because they are assured of personal victory, but because they are sure that their fighting will secure victory. Men give their lives and die in the name of victory. They die, but their side survives. They fight not merely for their own well-being, but for the lives of their family, their people, their country. They lay down their lives so that what they lived for might survive. Faith fights and dies believing that there is greater victory in falling in battle than failing to battle.

Nehemiah 4:14
Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

day no. 15,651: Laurelai Rush is EI8HT!

Happy EIGHTH Birthday, Lolo!

You are growing up so much. Well, some of you is growing up so much. Other parts of you are staying about the same size. If you keep this up, your insides will one day be larger than your outsides. You are maturing in so many ways. I can see God at work in you giving you a love for others and an interest in other people's interests. You voluntarily give up your preferred seat in order to make room for someone else to enjoy it. You decide to clean something up so that someone else can enjoy the pleasure of a neat and tidy room. All that to say, you think about other people and are demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit that inspired the apostle Paul to write, "Do nothing out of a selfish ambition and vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself. Each of you should look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Php. 2:3-4)

You are always full of energy. You like doing parkour on me and having me help you jump as high as you can and then suspending yourself in mid-air. You run most places you go. You enjoy running. You delight in going as fast as you can. You are almost always smiling and can be counted on for the strongest, longest hugs a dad can have. 

You are super strong. Like, is she a secret superhero who spends her evenings stopping crime, strong. Every muscle you have is muscular. You are like a living stick of beef jerky, only cuter and more fun to find on the floor. 

You are a beautiful young lady. You have gorgeous hair and beautiful skin and the best part is that you don't seem too caught up in it. You are pretty and you like being pretty, but you don't spend much time fishing for compliments. You are content with who God made you to be and grateful for all that you are.

You are a fantastic artist. You are really developing a style of your own and I love seeing how God is giving you creative abilities to express yourself. I like the person you are and I love that I am getting to know you more as God gives you the ability to share your gifts with the rest of us.

You love to dance. Anytime a jam comes on, you are quick to retreat to your bedroom and reenter the room in your ballerina outfit ready to spin and jump. You make dance parties more dancey and parties more party-y. You are a blast to have around.

You still love sitting on my lap during Dad Time in the evenings. You like oddly satisfying videos and Jamie Grace. You like singing along with the songs you've come to know and performing new songs with your sister that you work on together,

You are still VERY ticklish. Like, super, really, very ticklish. Like, watch out, someone might lose an eye, ticklish. You laugh and kick and wiggle and convulse and then come back for more. In being tickled, all your best qualities coalesce into one: your muscles, your energy, and your joy. They combine to create a tornado of tickle-time fun.

You love being one of the last ones to say, "Goodbye," anytime I leave the house. You love your daddy and I love you too. I love knowing that when you think of the word, "dad," you think happy thoughts. It will serve you well as you come to know and love your Heavenly Father more and more as you get older and older. 

You may not be getting much bigger, but you are definitely growing older. You are a happy, fun, respectful, thoughtful, young lady and I love being your dad. I can't believe God has given me the fun of getting to spend my days with you. 

Happy birthday Laurelai! May you grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God and with others and may you give and receive honor as your name implies, in every way, for all your days.

I like you and I love you,

Always have, always will,

No matter what,

Forever and ever,

Amen.

Love,

Dad

day no. 15,650: the call of duty

In reading The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues by Brett McKay, I came across the following quote,

"Duty... makes you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid." -- General Douglas MacArthur from Duty, Honor, Country

Duty calls out cowardice and draws out courage.

Duty reveals your weakness. It is a duty because you were not going to just do it anyways. You had to be told. You needed the weight of responsibility to press upon your will.

Oswald Chambers is on point in saying, "Unguarded strength is double weakness." Strength in the wrong direction is weakness in every direction. Duty shows you your weakness so that you can be strong in acknowledging it. Acknowledged weakness is a strength. Duty shows you your weakness so that you can be stronger in having seen it. 

Duty also creates courage. It gives you a reason to face yourself down when you’re tempted to face down. When you are tempted to step aside or look away, your duty calls you to step up and to look your fears in the face. Duty brings boldness out of cowardice. Duty beckons bravery out of brooding.

Duty requires you to be on guard where you've been sleeping, to be enough where you know you aren't, and to become more by confessing you're less.

day no. 15,649: mediating for millennia

"The book of Hebrews has much to say about the Lord Jesus Christ as our great high priest, buy only in John 17 do we have a sample of that mediating intercessory ministry. This is the only example in Scripture of what He has been doing in heaven incessantly since His ascension... The cross was accomplished in hours, the resurrection in days, but several thousand years have already passed in the course of Jesus' intercessory work. We read in Hebrews 7:25, 'He always lives to make intercession for them.' For 2,000 years, Jesus has been praying us into heaven against the force of sin that assails us." -- John MacArthur, The Lord's Greatest Prayer, Part 2 in The John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership

Jesus lived roughly 33 years and spent around 3 of those in public ministry. He spent hours on the cross and days in grave and weeks in His resurrected state among men. Every day prior to His incarnation, He existed in perfect, eternal divinity as the second member of the Trinity and every day since His ascension, He has been seated at the right hand of the Father in perfect, eternal divinity making intercession for those His Father has given to Him: those elected before the foundation of the world and enrolled in the Lamb's Book of Life before life on earth began. 

Jesus has been mediating and interceding on behalf of His people for millennia. At this very moment, He is there and He is praying for those who are His right here and right now, and He will continue to do so until the time He stands up in order to descend and visit His earth again in person.

Hebrews 9:28
Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

day no. 15,648: morality is a daring conspiracy

A friend of mine asked me to read over Chesterton's A Defense of Detective Stories paying particular attention to the final paragraph. A friend of his had sent him a snippet from this implying that Chesterton was opposed to morality and that social justice could cure temptation to sin.

"There is, however, another good work that is done by detective stories. While it is the constant tendency of the Old Adam to rebel against so universal and automatic a thing as civilization, to preach departure and rebellion, the romance of police activity keeps in some sense before the mind the fact that civilization itself is the most sensational of departures and the most romantic of rebellions. By dealing with the unsleeping sentinels who guard the outposts of society, it tends to remind us that we live in an armed camp, making war with a chaotic world, and that the criminals, the children of chaos, are nothing but the traitors within our gates. When the detective in a police romance stands alone, and somewhat fatuously fearless amid the knives and fists of a thieves’ kitchen, it does certainly serve to make us remember that it is the agent of social justice who is the original and poetic figure; while the burglars and footpads are merely placid old cosmic conservatives, happy in the immemorial respectability of apes and wolves. The romance of the police force is thus the whole romance of man. It is based on the fact that morality is the most dark and daring of conspiracies. It reminds us that the whole noiseless and unnoticeable police management by which we are ruled and protected is only a successful knight-errantry.
 -- G.K. Chesterton, A Defence of Detective Stories

Here was my response:

I think Chesterton is saying the opposite of what your friend wants him to be saying in his "defense of detective stories" essay. From what I can tell, and taking into account what I've read in Chesterton's other writings, I believe he is turning things on their heads (in typical Chesteronian fashion) to make a larger point. He is employing the terms in the opposite way we're accustomed to them being used. In other words, he's saying that we think of the world as "moral" and the outlaws as "immoral," so criminals are the "abnormal" and police forces the enforcers of "normal." But he's saying the world since the Fall of Adam is in actuality predicated on sin and immorality as "normal." Thus, criminals are the "norm." No sin has overtaken them which is not common to all men (1 Cor 10:13), and so the police officer is the "rebel," the "outlier," the one imposing this foreign thing called order and reason and morality. He is picturing the detective as the renegade because morality is abnormal in our world where sin and darkness are the norm. Morality is a conspiracy to overtake the immoral ruling elite. Law and order are a plot to assassinate the presiding darkness which casts itself in certain lights as the enlightened.

In other words, morality (in this scenario the detective/police) is the conspiracy against the immoral ruling elites. We experience the detective story confused and in the dark; we sit back in awe of the criminal who pulled it off, but the detective knows something we don't and proves to be wiser than either the criminal's or our own ideas of reality.

day no. 15,647: best if used by

2 Chronicles 24:2
And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

This would be encouraging if it read that Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of his life.  But it doesn't and it isn't. Joash's righteousness was only best if used by a particular date. It was contingent on something other than eternal God. 

Joash's faithfulness lived as long as Jehoiada. His obedience was right as long as Jehoiada was alive. But this is bad news for Joash's faithfulness since Jehoiada was just a man and could not live forever.

2 Chronicles 24:15-22
But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died. And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house. Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear. And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it.

When Jehoiada died, Joash's allegiance to the Lord died with him. Joash left the house of the Lord God. His walk with the Lord turned out to be as temporary as Jehoiada. He left the constrictive house of God for the open groves of idolatry. He punctuated his apostasy by slaying the son of his former friend, Jehoiada. Zechariah confronted Joash in the spirit of his father and in the name of his God and Joash's response demonstrated his blasphemy by abandoning both.

Be careful lest your faith rest too heavily on the faith of someone else. Be careful lest the faith of your friends depend too much upon you and not the Object of your faith.

Father, may our faith rest in You and be built upon You alone. May we never attempt to build on another man's foundation. Give us humility to learn from others and to be dependable for others, but may we seek the more of You our teachers already have and seek to give the more of You to those You've given to be our students. Amen.

day no. 15,646: every man, weapon in hand

2 Chronicles 23:7-10
And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and whosoever else cometh into the house, he shall be put to death: but be ye with the king when he cometh in, and when he goeth out. So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took every man his men that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go out on the sabbath: for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses. Moreover Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David's, which were in the house of God. And he set all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about.

Every man, weapon in hand.

Every man was expected to have his own weapon in his own hand. Every man was expected to possess a weapon and know how to use it.

Every man, weapon in hand.

In order to obey the king's command, you had to own a weapon and know how to use it.

Every man, weapon in hand.

day no. 15,645: men make hay

1 Corinthians 14:20
Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

Both men and children see the world in terms of sacrifice. The difference is that children expect sacrifices to be made to them and for them whereas men understand that sacrifices are required of them and for others. This is the world that God made and the way He requires us to live in it. We should understand this and conform ourselves to it.

Malice is the way of the fallen world and one with which we should not be acquainted. We should not have PhDs in worldly wisdom. When it comes to that, we shouldn't be ignorant of it, but we shouldn't be experts in it.

Boys resent responsibility. Men take it.
Boys make excuses. Men make hay.

day no. 15,644: only that which dies to itself will rise again

Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 16:26, Luke 9:25
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself,

The man who wants the world all to himself won't have a self left to enjoy it, but on the contrary, the man who looks to the Lord by dying to himself will be given himself back and the world along with it.

Matthew 5:5
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

The one who wants the world more than anything won't gain any of it and will lose himself in the process. The one who wants God more than anything retains his soul and gains the world. In order to inherit something, someone who loves you has to die. In order to inherit the world, like our Lord, we must die to it. Christianity is built on the foundation of resurrection. Only that which dies to itself will rise again.

day no. 15,643: very good

"Here finish'd Hee, and all that He had made view'd, and behold all was entirely good.” -- John Milton, Paradise Lost

Genesis 1:31
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

Each and every single thing that God made was and is good and the sum total of all that He made was and is very good. In that good world there was a tree whose fruit was deadly, yet it was good for that tree to exist. And not merely good, but very good. God defines goodness. We may very well ask, "How could it be good to even have a tree like that around?" because by our definition of good, God would have some explaining to do. But if we begin by assuming that God controls the definitions, then this world containing that tree is very good because He said so. There are, of course, details to be worked out in response to this fact, but the fact of it simultaneously being there and being very good cannot be questioned. It must be believed.

Hebrews 11:3

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

day no. 15,642: appetites governed, mischief managed

"Govern well thy appetite, lest sin surprise thee." -- John Milton, Paradise Lost

There is no reason to be surprised by appetite. It's onset is predictable and avoidable. A steady diet prevents pangs. Governed appetites cannot be surprised by desires. A full stomach is not enticed by forbidden niceties.

In a world full of fruit trees, Adam and Eve were placed within reach and commanded to refrain from one tree's fruit in particular.  If the goal was to obey, never allowing yourself to be hungry and within the proximity of that tree would have been an effective strategy and an easy way to help yourself obey. On the contrary, wandering near that forbidden tree on an empty stomach as a result of neglecting your regular meals, would be a good way to make eating that fruit more likely.

Proverbs 27:7
The full soul loatheth an honeycomb;
but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

Stay full, stay safe. The satisfied soul can say, "No" even to honey; whereas the hungry soul is in danger. The dissatisfied soul cannot say, "No" even to bitterness. The famished soul reasons that tasting death is better than starving. Pangs make poison appear more appetizing. Hunger may be the best pickle in making everything taste better, but that unfortunately includes even that which is bitter. 

All that to say, appetites must be governed. They will not monitor themselves. They will master you if left unmastered. They are quick to obey when managed, yet slow to stand down when promoted.

day no. 15,641: responsibility knows, privilege grows, and authority flows

"Greater privileges grow out of larger responsibilities, and the latter justifies the former... the man who is concerned most of all with his responsibilities will be fretted least about the matter of his privileges, and that his exercise of any rightful privilege will not be resented by his subordinates, because they are conscious of his merit." — The Armed Forces Officer, U.S. Department of Defense (1950)

Mark 9:35
And (Jesus) sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

Luke 12:48
Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more.

Authority flows to those who take responsibility; and those who take greater responsibility will have a greater authority and the privileges uniquely required in order to wield it. Authority is accompanied by particular privileges without which it could not retain its sway. But these privileges are appendages to the authority which is rightfully obtained uniquely through the glad assumption of great responsibility. Pursuing the privileges of authority without pursuing the responsibilities of authority is wickedness. Wanting the fruit of obedience without obeying is evil. It is a sin to expect to receive the rewards of submission without accepting the responsibilities of submission.

Responsibility knows, privilege grows, and authority flows.

day no. 15,640: goodness follows

Psalm 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Goodness follows.

If we put first things first, second things will come second. If we pursue goodness, we do not find it, but if we pursue God, we find goodness following us.

Goodness follows.

Goodness follows me as I follow God. Just as I am commanded to follow Him, He has commanded goodness to follow me. Just as I am committed to keeping after Him, so goodness and mercy are committed to keeping up with me.

Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Seek God first and goodness will follow; enough, in fact, to last for all the days of your life. Rest assured, if you are running hard after God, goodness is running hard after you. It can keep up, but it won't be your pacecar. It won't lead. It can't. 

Goodness follows.

day no. 15,639: celebrating two weeks of years

Today, Paige and I celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary. My wedding day was a coronation where I was crowned husband and head of my household (Pr 12:4). On this day I inherited glory (1 Cor 11:7). I was given a personal glory to pronounce to the world that God is good and withholds no good thing from those who love Him. That was two weeks of years ago on this very day.

This also means that I have now lived 1/3 of my life as a married man. My first 14 years were spent growing a goatee. The next set of 14 found my abandoning the micro-beard and embracing Jesus. These last 14 have been defined by two covenants: my commitment to Christ and my commitment to my wife. God has used both to produce fruit. I've grown by His grace in wisdom, stature and favor over the years and have had the privilege of helping others do so as well. And in my home, He has provided me with a week of children to teach about their two dads: the one in Heaven by the blood of His Son and the one across the hall by the blood of their DNA. And if that weren’t enough, He is adding another to our numbers due this December.

So today, I celebrate the covenants that have made me and redefined my life. The first provided the foundation for the other and is the reason why 14 years into it, our house is full and beautiful rather than falling apart and ramshackle. 

Happy Vanniversary, Paige. Here's to the 14 chapters already in the books and the fun we’re surely to have writing the remainder of our story together. I love you!

day no. 15,638: firearms, firebreathing and firestarters

"Your revolver in your hand, a prayer on your lips, your mind fixed on Maleldil." 
-- C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

This pre-game pep talk from Ransom is simple, but epic. Keep your gun at hand, your hope at heart and your Lord in mind. Keep your firearm close, your fire closer and the Fire closest. 

2 Timothy 1:6

I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God

Do not neglect your spark.

Remember who put it there.

Steward it.

Fan it.

Burn bright.

Bring heat.

Remember God.

Revelation 11:5
And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.

Firearms. Firebreathing. Firestarter.

day no. 15,637: anapestic postmillennial poetry

In completing A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking by Douglas Wilson, I read that he enjoys anapestic poetry. I went to public school, so I had to look that up.

That led me HERE, where I learned this:

Anapest is a poetic device defined as a metrical foot in a line of a poem that contains three syllables wherein the first two syllables are short and unstressed, followed by a third syllable that is long and stressed.

And the first example used was The Destruction of Sennacherib by Lord Byron based on this:

2 Kings 19:32-37

Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

The Destruction of Sennacherib

BY LORD BYRON (GEORGE GORDON)

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;

And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,

When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,

That host with their banners at sunset were seen:

Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,

That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,

And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;

And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,

And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,

But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;

And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,

With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:

And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,

The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,

And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;

And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,

Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

Byron has written this poem in anapestic tetrameter pattern, which consists of four anapests in each line. The entire poem has the same pattern, where the first two syllables are unstressed, followed by a third stressed syllable.

day no. 15,636: we seek where we offer

"We seek praise from the place where we offer praise." -- Douglas Wilson, A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking

While the Bible reveals the axiomatic truth that we become like what we worship, it also reveals that we seek to receive honor from the same place we give honor.

2 Corinthians 10:17-18
But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

The one who wants men to admire him will first pay his dues by flattering others. If the end goal is to hear, "Well done" from men or a particular set of men, rest assured it will begin with genuflection to men or a particular set of men. We seek to get the most from where we give the most. And if our hearts are consumed with getting respect from men, we will seek it by offering our respects.

John 5:44
How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

If you are seeking honor from God, you won't receive flattery from men. You can accept a kind word, but you don't require it from them. We expect the sacrifice of praise from those we've sacrificed in order to praise. We overlooked obvious flaws in order to flatter and expect the same be reciprocated for us. And when we get nice words said about us, we have our reward and should expect nothing more.

day no. 15,635: then happy I

Then happy I, that love and am belov'd,
Where I may not remove nor be remov'd. (XXV)
-- William Shakespeare, The Sonnets

O what joy there is in loving and being loved in return and what hope there is in not moving nor being able to be moved.

1 John 4:10
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Hebrews 6:19
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil

Then happy I indeed. Blessed beyond measure.

day no. 15,634: conquest

Jesus' tremendous name
Puts all our foes to flight:
Jesus, the meek, the angry Lamb,
A Lion is in fight.
By all hell's host withstood;
We all hell's host o'erthrow;
And conquering them, through Jesus' blood
We still to conquer go.
-- Charles Wesley via Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Christianity is a religion of world conquest. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus; to Him every knee shall bow and to His Lordship every tongue will confess. Every enemy of His will be made either into a child of God by rebirth and adoption or into a footstool for His authority to rest until every last enemy, the very last being death, will be defeated. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the advance of God's Kingdom. His Kingdom shall come and His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. The leaven works its way through the entire lump and the small seed surrendered to death and burial sprouts up to be the largest of all shrubs. 

day no. 15,633: vertebrates and crustaceans

In reading The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues by Brett McKay, I came across the following quote,

"Brave men are vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle.  But these modern cowards are all crustaceans; their hardness is all on the cover and their softness is inside." -- G.K. Chesterton

There is a world of difference between those playing the man and those playing at manhood. Those who play the man resolve in their depths to do what a man would do because the situation demands it from them. Those who play at manhood resolve to look like a man would on the surface because others are watching. Those playing the man have cold, hard steel in their spines, but kindness in their eyes whereas those playing at manhood have steel in their gaze, but warm, soft niceness in their bones. The brave are reliable because they are firm in their center and soft at their fingertips. Cowards are unreliable because they are soft in their center and rigid in their fingertips. A coward is inflexible where he ought to be soft and flexible were he ought to be hard.

day no. 15,632: death before endurance

In reading The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues by Brett McKay, I came across the following quote,

"To die rather than endure manfully the pressure of poverty, or the stings of love, or any other cruel suffering, is the part of the coward." -- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

A coward would rather die than endure.

It takes faith to stay.

It requires courage to outlast the adversary. 

day no. 15,631: genius is the gift of God plus grit

In reading The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues by Brett McKay, I came across the following quote,

"Genius is talent set on fire by courage." -- Henry Van Dyke in Manhood, Faith and Courage

There are many talented people who never achieve genius. God is more generous than we are courageous. He has given men more talent than we have given effort. Without courage, talent cannot achieve greatness. It can still accomplish many things, but it cannot pioneer. Likewise, if it is too lazy to push, it cannot be genius. It can get by with half the effort of the untalented so it sustains itself by talent rather than effort and never falls behind. But it never plows ahead. Genius is gained only by grit. Grit is tenacious courage that has faith to push when it gets hard and follow through to keep pushing where others give up. 

Genius is the gift of God plus grit.

day no. 15,630: a be in your bonnet and in the sonnets

My wife read Shakespeare's sonnets for the first time within the last few years and I remember discussing them as she read them. She routinely observed and reported to me that the theme of fruit-bearing and progeny were pronouncedly present. When one thinks of Shakespeare and thinks about sonnets, one assumes that they are going to be walking into a pink menagerie of sickly-sweet sentimentality, but what one actually discovers is a poetic polemic urging young love to consider something so practical as reproducing. For example:

But if thou live, remember'd not to be,
Die single and thine image dies with thee. (III)

Be not self-will'd, for thou art much too fair
To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir. (VI)

So thou, thyself outgoing in thy noon:
Unlook'd, on diest unless thou get a son. (VII)

If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say 'This poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'
So should my papers, yellow'd with their age,
Be scorn'd, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
     But were some child of yours alive that time,
     You should live twice,--in it, and in my rhyme. (XVII)

day no. 15,629: from Cana of Galilee to the Cross of Golgotha

John 2:11
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him

John 19:28-30
After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

The beginning of Jesus' miracles was turning water into wine whereas the last of His miracles was that of changing blood into wine. The beginning of Jesus' glory was saving a wedding whereas the fulfillment of His glory was saving a funeral.

What began at Cana in Galilee ended at the cross in Golgotha.

day no. 15,628 continued... major league

You ever get the feeling that we in America are currently living out the plot line of the movie Major League? Hear me out. 

Our managers for some reason, unbeknownst to us, want to lose. They have something to gain by our losing so it seems. In other words, in their estimation, when we lose, they win. They cannot get what they want without us losing. There is no way for them to achieve their end goal without us coming to an end. So it seems then as if they are setting us up to fail and doing everything in their power to make it difficult for us to succeed. This then begs the obvious question...

Eddie Harris: What if we DON'T finish last?

Lou Brown: She'll REPLACE you with somebody who WILL. After this season, you'll be sent back to the minors or given your outright release.

Jake Taylor: Well then I guess there's only one thing left to do.

Roger Dorn: What's that?

Jake Taylor: Win the whole f*cking thing.

The only hope of the world is Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end. The long, strenuous, trek up the mountain may mean descending into certain valleys only accessible at higher altitudes, but rest assured, the whole thing is going onward and upward and ends with the knowledge of the Lord covering His world as the water already covers His sea.

Habakkuk 2:14

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Therefore, don’t lose heart. Hang in there and let’s run like people trying to win.

1 Corinthians 9:24

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

Galatians 6:9-10

Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

day no. 15,628: my sine qua non

Ephesians 3:14-15
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named

On this day in 1938 my father was born and on this day in 1977 my parents were married. This day in many ways is the day that made me. God used this day to bring about the one who would bring about me roughly 40 years after that fact. God brought my dad into the world on this day and he brought my mom and dad together on this day.

This day is my sine qua non.

If not for today, I would not be.

day no. 15,627: God ends His sentences with Jesus

Revelation 3:14

And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: "The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness"

2 Corinthians 1:20

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

Jesus is the Amen. He is the, "Let it be," and the "Certainly so." He is the end of the matter and the assurance of its assertion. We say, "Amen," in Jesus' Name because He is the Amen. All the promises of God find their fulfillment in Him. Jesus is God's, "Yes." God ends His sentences with Jesus.

day no. 15,626: Jesus was rent, His tunic was not

"When Jesus died, the sacrifices were all finished, because all were fulfilled in him, and therefore the place of their presentation was marked with an evident token of decay. That rent also revealed all the hidden things of the old dispensation: the mercy-seat could now be seen, and the glory of God gleamed forth above it. By the death of our Lord Jesus we have a clear revelation of God, for he was "not as Moses, who put a veil over his face." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Moses had to veil his face to keep the echo of the glory of God from frightening His people. Jesus' veil was removed and kept in one piece, while the veil on the temple was ripped in two, revealing the mercy seat for all to see. The full glory of God in the finished work of Christ on the cross was revealed so that His people might rejoice in the fully disclosed, unveiled majesty of the mercy seat, the propitiation, on display for all who would receive and believe in Him.

The priest's robes were rent.

Matthew 26:65
Then the high priest tore his robes

The temple's curtain was rent.

Matthew 27:51
The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

But Jesus' tunic was kept in one piece.

John 19:23-24
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.”

Jesus was rent, His tunic was not.

Jesus was ripped apart for our transgressions, but His righteousness remained in perfect oneness. In Him, our sins are ripped from us and by Him we are clothed and covered without gap. In Christ our sins are torn apart and their power obliterated and in Him our righteousness is provided in perfect, powerful covering. Just as the mercy seat was covered completely, so we are covered. Jesus is our mercy seat and He is our curtain. He clothes and contains all the majesty and might of the Lord God and hides us in Him by opening the way to all that He is through the torn veil of His body to His shed blood.

day no. 15,625 p.s. facts-ination

Coined this bad boy today, freshly minted:

Facts-Ination

A small, controlled, concocted version of the truth aimed at preventing you from catching the real thing.

Science. Knowledge is the new ignorance.

day no. 15,625 continued... hurricane season

Last Friday I had the following thought.

Each year, we have hurricane season. It comes predictably every year. Some years the activity is worse than others, but every year it comes. The Weather Channel predicts where and when the storm cells will grow and strike and sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. When they do, they impact those living the areas where hurricanes frequent, disproportionately so. Living in the Midwest, I see the annual weather-porn about the growing fury ready to wreak havoc on the coastlines. But as a Midwesterner, I do not worry about my days being disrupted by the hurricane. Since I work in insurance, my life could potentially be impacted more than most Midwesterners, but even then, it's not much. It's impacted downstream and a tertiary impact, but not directly like those living on the East Coast or near the Gulf of Mexico. So it's safe to say that MOST people are NOT directly, negatively impacted by hurricane season. 

Now imagine if the predictions of a particular hurricane season were rather dire. Now imagine they were so dire that they recommended all local residents evacuating for let's say fifteen days to let the dust settle and to save lives. Now imagine it's so dire that the government stepped in to force people to evacuate. Now imagine it's so dire that the same government forbid travel for people for whom the hurricanes could not possibly impact, like myself in the Midwest. Now imagine the the National Weather Service said the science says everyone needs to board up their windows and that no one should attempt travel of any kind to anywhere. Now imagine The Weather Channel because the sole proprietor of climate related truth and that the National Weather Service became the new de facto rulers of the world with the bill of rights folded in its right hand. Also imagine that those with coastline mansion continued to live in them largely unimpacted by the hurricanes, while those living in apartments more than a thousand miles inland were facing homelessness. 

That would be crazy, right?  Right?

day no. 15,625: disaster mode

"'Of course,' said the Director, 'things might come to such a point that you would be justified in coming here, even wholly against his will, even secretly. It depends on how close the danger is--the danger to us all, and to you personally.'

'I thought the danger was right on top of us now . . . from the way Mrs. Denniston talked.'

'That is just the question,' said the Director, with a smile. 'I am not allowed to be too prudent. I am not allowed to use desperate remedies until desperate diseases are really apparent. Otherwise we become just like our enemies--breaking all the rules whenever we imagine that it might possibly do some vague good to humanity in the remote future.'" -- C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

As I write this (Sunday, April 19, 2020) we are still under Shelter In Place (SIP) orders from our state due to the quarantine response over COVID-19. I listened to this discourse on audio book yesterday while on the treadmill and it immediately brought to mind our current situation. It's like Lewis' Director was reading our mail.

Desperate remedies should only be applied if desperate diseases have manifestly been proven and apparent. Without warrant, extreme measures were implemented. Clear rules have been violated predicated on vague, albeit violent, predictions. 

All that is not to say that we should not have a disaster mode, but rather to say we should be sure we are only using disaster mode to prevent disaster lest we create a different kind of disaster by employing disaster mode without sufficient warrant to do so.

day no. 15,624: wood, nails, and sin

Genesis 6:5, 8, 11-12, 17-18
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually... But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord... Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth... "Behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you."

Noah, inside the ark, found safety from the flood outside; while sin, inside Noah, found safety from the wrath of God outside. God did not save Noah because he was sinless, He saved Noah because He is gracious. He gave undeserved favor to Noah. Noah was a son of Adam and as such carried sin inside him. When Noah was safely tucked away inside the ark, sin was safely tucked away inside of him.  The ark could save mankind from the flood water of destruction, but it could not save him from the destruction of death. The ark could remove man from the curse of the ocean, but it could not remove the curse of the garden.

If man was going to be saved, something greater than an ark would be required. Just as wood saved man by being an instrument of flotation, wood once again would save man, but this time by being the instrument of destruction. The ark saved man's body from drowning, the cross saved man's soul from sinking. God sent the ark to save the seed of man and God sent His Son to save man as the Seed of Eve.

God sent His Son to bear the destruction while hanging from wood. Only wood could save man from the flood of God's wrath, but only the flood of God's blood could save man from eternal death. Just as wood and nails once kept man safe from the raging waters that surrounded it, they would again keep man safe, but this time by bearing up the One who would bear the raging wrath of God in His body.

day no. 15,623: intellectual ascent

"Ideas have consequences." -- Richard Weaver

Everything is going somewhere and sooner or later it's going to get there.  Ideas take us places. They aren't meaningless abstract thoughts that come from nowhere and amount to nothing. Ideas come either from above or from below and both are pulling for their team.

James 3:14-17
If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Our theology comes out our fingertips. What we think about anything is observed in everything we say or do. Ideas are catalysts. They urge things in a certain direction. They can be resisted, but it requires intention. Inattention to your thought life produces a life you never thought of.