day no. 15,714: incongruent

"He who believes what he knows, shall soon know more clearly what he believes." — Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"Crede ut intellegas" (believe so that you may understand") — St. Augustine of Hippo

Knowledge and belief are related. If you know things in which you do not believe, you only know the half of it. If you believe in things you do not know, you don't know what you believe. But if you believe in what you know, you know better what you believe.

James 1:22

Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

day no. 15,713: the great commission as part of the second greatest commandment

Matthew 22:36-39
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

The greatest commandment is to love God with everything we have and the second is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Before we are called to love others, we are first called to love God. Part of loving Him involves and includes loving others, but there is a reason it is second. It is necessarily second in that it must follow the first in every sense of the word. It cannot precede the first in order or importance and it must follow the first in submission and succession.

"The Great Commission falls under the second greatest commandment. It is not the first." - Jim Wilson, Weapons and Tactics: A Handbook on Personal Evangelism

The Great Commission is part of loving your neighbor. It is very important, but it is secondary. Those who make it their top priority shipwreck their faith and set a bad example to those they hope to convert.

day no. 15,712: 8 out of every 24 and 1 out of every 7

"God planned for normal fatigue when He put the lights out on earth every night. He also set one day aside out of every seven for additional rest." -- Jim Wilson, Weapon and Tactics: A Handbook on Personal Evangelism

Rest is so important to God that He hard-wired it into the regular rhythm of our lives: our days are punctuated by laying ourselves down to rest and our weeks are predicated upon an entire day of rest. We rest seven to eight hours a day and one full day out of seven.

Rest is a rhythm given to us by God to teach us how much we need Him, how much we rely on Him, and how quickly we deplete whatever resources we have. We cannot hoard strength. We must use it daily and be refreshed nightly. We must spend it weekly and recover it on the Sabbath. We were meant to be spent and we were meant to seek rest.

Rest is not doing nothing, it is doing something. It is not simply passive, it is active. Rest is not something you reluctantly do once everything else is done. It is something you do on purpose in order to prepare to do other things.

Rest is intentional care that prepares us for our day's and week's worth of good works that God has prepared for us beforehand to do in Christ. We are His workmanship, created to work by a Worker who gives us the night to recharge and the Sabbath to refresh.

So, get some rest; and get to work!

day no. 15,711: man among men

Joshua 14:10-14
"And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.” Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.

Caleb the son of Jephunneh was a man among men. He was strong and he used his strength to pursue God and to fell giants. He was as strong at 85 as he was at 40 and employed it for going out to war and for going to and fro back at home. He used his strength to serve his people and his God and in all boldness inquired, "Give me this hill!" He asked his commander in chief for permission, but made the request already possessing all the faith required to accomplish the task. He wanted to fell large men in large cities surrounded by even larger walls because the God he served was large. God was big to Caleb, so Caleb applied himself to big things. And he was blessed by his commander in chief in heaven above and on earth beside.

Caleb, son of Jephunneh, man of God, man among men. May God raise up more like him in our generation and may giants fall as God's glory falls on us as we lift up praise to His Name.

day no. 15,710: dry wells, swamps, and flowing rivers

While listening to Douglas Wilson's Crash Course in Basic Christianity, he commented on sanctification from the following verses:

Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

If we try to work out what God has not worked in, we are a DRY WELL. We cannot produce what we don't have and any increased effort to draw water from that dry well will only increase our frustration.

If we do not work out what God has worked in, we are a SWAMP. We have water in abundance, but it isn't going anywhere. It is standing water without an outlet, getting stale, and growing stagnant like manna kept overnight.

If we work out what God has worked in, we are a FLOWING RIVER. We have water flowing into us and through us and beyond us. We have living water within and living water without. It is pouring in and pouring out. The water is moving and active and lively. It continues to enter because its source is never exhausted and it has somewhere to go because its receiver is eager to share it so that everything which leaves is something that was put there originally by Someone else.

John 7:38-39
"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.

day no. 15,709: is it a sword or not?

The following conversation is documented in Weapons and Tactics by Jim Wilson regarding a conversation he had with a man named Vic Jensen in 1954 while stationed in the Navy near Yokosuka, Japan...

"I brought my Bible."

"You can't use that," he said.

"Why?"

"For two reasons: First, the Bible is not allowed in intercollegiate debate, and second, I do not accept it as an authority."

"First, this is not intercollegiate debate. It is war, and the rules are different. Second, I do not care that you do not accept it as an authority. Suppose I have a two-edged sword in my hand, and I say to you, 'Jensen, I'm going to chop off your head.' You laugh and say, 'You can't chop off my head because I don't believe that's a sword.' Then it's my turn to laugh. 'I will have your head.' If I sheath the sword because you don't believe it is a sword, that does not prove it isn't a sword; it only proves that I don't believe it's a sword. 'The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder between the soul and spirit, joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart.' I'm going to have your head."

There is nothing I don't like about that. That is just straight, up-the-middle, first-class Gospel-sass.

day no. 15,708: without were fightings, within were fears

2 Corinthians 7:5
For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears

Christians are engaged in combat everywhere they go and everywhere they look. While the wicked are afforded no rest in the face of righteousness (Is. 48:22), the righteous are offered no rest in the face of unrighteousness. From attacks that come from others to attacks that are inside jobs, from oppression from without to corruption from within, the Christian is always on the front line of the battle.

To be a witness for the Word of God means to be opposed to the word of the world and they don't take kindly to being disregarded anymore than any, " prince will lightly lose one of his subjects." (Bunyan, Pligrim's Progress). And if, for a moment, the fighting from without dies down, the fears from within may rise up. The world, the flesh and the devil will not stop opposing the advance of God's kingdom in us or in His world around us. So we should expect trouble on every side and trouble on the inside, but we must also expect to see deliverance from both.

So, we must have faith -- faith to fight the good fight and faith to fight our fears. Faith plays the man. Faith endures every attack from around or within by looking above to the One who reigns and is bringing, in ever increasing proportion, His kingdom to bear down on His earth.

day no. 15,707: three and forty

Psalm 90:17
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Today is my 43rd birthday and I'm keenly aware that time is running out. I am not, as far as I know, at death's door, but my days, as this blog so faithfully reminds me, are numbered. The band has already taken the field and played their tune in all likelihood and I'm actively engaged in the second half of what will end up being my life. This is the last year of what can reasonably be considered the young 40s. After this it's mid-40s and then 50. That half a century mark seems far off in one sense, but remarkably close in another. At 50 you are no longer a young man. You are a man. And on the verge of being an older man. Having so many kids has kept my head in the space of a young man with diapers to change and first steps to enjoy and birthday cakes and piggy-back rides. They have kept me young, but time has marched on. I am not dreading getting older, only realizing that the holding tank of time which I always assumed I had in front of me to work with and accomplish dreams and goals is beginning to show its lack like a balloon that is losing its air begins to reveal that it was once fuller. May God establish the work of my hands, both what I've done to this point, what I'm doing at the moment and what I have yet to do with the time He so graciously provides to me.

day no. 15,706: birth days

Genesis 3:16
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children"

On this day in history two women were born to women who endured the difficulty of pregnancy, labor and delivery. Those two women are my mother and my wife's mother. Both of their mother's endured the pain in order to bring forth a child. Those two women respectively grew up to be mothers themselves. They endured the pain of childbirth like their mothers before them and brought me and my wife into this world respectively. So, today I celebrate the birth of my mom and my wife's mom and praise God for motherhood and its impact in bringing forth His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

day no. 15,705: a matter of taste

Job 34:3
The ear tests words as the palate tastes food.

Words and food are a matter of taste. Some things are easy to love like compliments and candy, and some things require more effort like constructive criticism and kale; but just as a palate can be trained to enjoy things that are good for it, so can ears.

The unrefined palate cannot distinguish what's in the dish being served to it. It digs in, but does not discern the ingredients. A refined palate can catch hints of saffron, cinnamon or truffle. Discernment takes work. It is easier, of course, to go with your gut. You either like it or you don't, and you don't care why or what good the thing could be for you. You reject what tastes bad or what sounds harsh.

Hebrews 5:14
Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Discernment can be trained just like palates. You can teach yourself how to enjoy things that are good for you even when they do not at first taste good. You can acquire a taste for mature things that a child would never gravitate toward without guidance. You can also develop the ability to discern what ingredients are present in what's being served to you so that you can source sentences and know when you're being served sugar-coated lies or when the soup needs more salt.

day no. 15,704: equally in need of oil

In commenting on the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25:1-12, Jonathan Edwards said,

"When the bridegroom comes, the foolish virgins stand in as much need of oil as the wise at the beginning." -- Jonathan Edwards, Ruth's Resolution in Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards edited by H. Norman Gardiner

Everyone needs oil, wise and foolish alike. The wise cannot substitute their wisdom for oil. It won't keep their lamps lit. But it can secure the oil that keeps a lamp lit in order to have it when it is required. The foolish too needed oil, but by the time they took that need seriously, time to acquire it had ran out. They were barred from entering the wedding feast for waiting until it was too late to acquire what was required: oil.

No one could enter without oil. The difference in admittance was not a difference in standard. Oil was required of both. One group was delayed because they got their oil after it was too late.  Oil was needed by both, but the wise made obtaining and maintaining it a priority. They did not dally, dawdle or delay. They got it and kept it for the day. And they were found ready. The fool also needs oil, but doesn't acknowledge its need until it's too late.

Faith in Jesus alone is what will save. It alone can light the way to glory. Do not delay in acquiring it. You will need oil. Place your faith in Jesus today while it is still called "today" rather than waiting until tomorrow when it could be too late.

day no. 15,703: ashamed of what we can't help

“I felt ashamed."
"But of what? Psyche, they hadn't stripped you naked or anything?"
"No, no, Maia. Ashamed of looking like a mortal -- of being a mortal."
"But how could you help that?"
"Don't you think the things people are most ashamed of are things they can't help?”
― C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

It is an error to assume that we can and should only be ashamed of those things which we had something to do with. On the one hand, if you are tall or short, white or black, young or old, you have nothing to be ashamed of. It is not a sin to be what you are in that regard. But on the other hand, if you are alive, you are a sinner by nature and by choice and for both of those you should feel shame if you are not in Christ.

We didn't choose our face, our age, our height, or our complexion and yet we can be ashamed of them as though we did. Though we know we had nothing to do with choosing them, we still can feel ashamed somehow that our unfashionable flaws have chosen us. And not being able to help it is no security against feeling embarrassed about it.

We ought to be ashamed of the flaws we have helped cause, but what about those we haven't? To be alive is not a sin, but to be alive is to be a sinner. To be a Son of Adam is not a sin, but to be a Son of Adam is to be a sinner. We are sinners by nature and by choice. But why should we be ashamed for something we had nothing to do with? Because we need to be saved not only from what we do, but from what we are.

"According to the Augustinian understanding, moral obligation is created by the Word of God. Morality is defined by the law of God. If Scripture says not to do something, then doing it is sin. Pretty straightforward.

But according to the Pelagian understanding, moral obligation is defined by our abilities. Put another way, there is no moral responsibility that can be assigned to inability. According to Pelagianism, sin is not sin unless it can actually be avoided. Sin is always a function of free choice, and hence cannot be grounded in our nature. There is no such thing as a constitutional or natural depravity.

The Augustinian answer to this, of course, is a raft of Bible verses. We are by nature objects of wrath (Eph. 2:3). Evil men make choices in accordance with their evil hearts (Matt. 12:35). We are slaves to sin (Rom. 6:17). We are dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-2). We could make a much bigger pile of verses if you wanted.

What this means is that the Augustinians believe that the free offer of the gospel is presented as a way of saving us from what we are. We do of course receive forgiveness for the things we have done, but that is downstream. God does forgive us for the dirty water, but He also redeems us from having been a filthy font from which that dirty water came." -- Douglas Wilson, Emoting Like Pelagians

day no. 15,702: righteousness from Him and for Him or without Him and away from Him

Acts 10:1-5
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter." 

Some people's good works are signs that God is already drawing them near in order to invite them further upward and inward, while other's good works are signs that they are drawing away from God in order to attempt to be right without Him and away from Him. They don't want the alien righteousness that Cornelius or Paul wanted, that righteousness which is from Him and for Him; rather, they want an achieved righteousness that Cornelius left behind and that Paul threw away.

Philippians 3:4-9
I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

It is imperative to aspire to the right kind of righteousness. The wrong kind of righteousness settles for being right in its own eyes. The right kind of righteousness strives to be seen as righteous in God's sight. This striving is one of looking out to Christ rather than inside to self.

day no. 15,701: labor and deliverance

Hebrews 11:13

These all died in faith

"Dying in faith looks into the future. They fell asleep, affirming that the Messiah would surely come, and that when he would in the last days appear upon the earth, they would rise from their graves to behold him. To them the pains of death were but the birth-pangs of a better state." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Life begins and ends in similar fashion. Great travail is the prologue to every novel. New life begins by the labor pains that produce it. Conversion is accompanied by great dread and terror descending on a person that produces fear and trembling prior to being raised to new life by grace through faith in Christ. And finally, at death, if one is given the opportunity to see it coming, it is attended by fear and terrors similar to labor pains. There is new life waiting in the wings and in the works, but it must first endure the difficulties of labor before they give way to delight and relief that consumes all the terrors that preceded it.

Pangs are a necessary precursor to rebirth. Without pain, there cannot be new life.

Acts 14:22

Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

day no. 15,700: faith by which to live and die

Hebrews 11:13

These all died in faith

"Faith is as precious to die by as to live by." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

The righteous die in the same way that they live, that is to say, by faith.

Habakkuk 2:4
The righteous shall live by his faith.

There is no way to be righteous in life or in death but by faith. Without faith no one can please God. No one can be righteous but by living in faith. And the one who is righteous in faith will live. He will enter into the eternal life of knowing the Father by faith in the Son through the power of His Spirit. And this changes the way they live out the rest of their days and how they close their eyes on their last one.

Heidelberg Catechism
Q1: What is your only comfort in life and death?

A1: That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.

The righteous do not merely trust Jesus to save them from death when they die, they trust Him for life as they live. Faith is precious in life and in death, in living and in dying, in striving and in sowing, in waking and in sleeping.

day no. 15,699: hardihood

While reading The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues by Brett McKay, I came across the word, "hardihood." It's a good word and seemingly self-explanatory, but I looked it up anyways to see if there was any nuance that I may be missing. 

This entry in the KJV Dictionary was helpful:

DARE, v.i. pret. durst. To have courage to any purpose; to have strength of mind or hardihood to undertake anything; to be bold enough; not to be afraid; to venture; to be adventurous.

It then provided this example:

"I dare do all that may become a man." -- Shakespeare

A man must handle himself with hardihood. It is the ability to sustain initiative in the face of adversity. Hardihood hangs on when it gets hammered. Hardihood invites the right kind of trouble into its life. It does not shrink back from difficulty. It endures those which God ordains and invites those which God encourages.

day no. 15,698: difficulties are divine errands

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 quotes,

"Difficulties are God's errands." -- Henry Ward Beecher

God wants you to get into trouble. So much so, that if you don't go looking for it, He will bring it to come looking for you. It is good for us to have difficulties. God wants us to do hard things. They conform us to the likeness of His Christ. They accomplish God's desires for us by conforming us to His designs.

Romans 8:28-29
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.

The chisel strike is difficult to bear, but it shapes us into the likeness of the One who bears with us.

day no. 15,697: His yoke is easy, not unyoked

While reading the John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership, I came across a message by Paul Washer titled The Great Commission as a Theological Endeavor where he said,

"The Great Commission is didactic. It is a theological endeavor. It is not about sending missionaries per se; it is about sending the truth through missionaries -- to teach all to observe the truth. The Great Commission is not just about gnosis, it is about praxis; it is not just about orthodoxy, it is about orthopraxy. This is very clear in the teaching of Christ when He says, 'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me' (Matthew 11:29). The two ways always go hand in hand. To learn from Him is to submit to His sovereignty." 

If we want to learn from Jesus, we must submit to His yoke. He promises to bear the majority of the burden, but it still requires you to shoulder up next to Him. His yoke is easy, not unyoked. His offer presupposes that your current yoke is heavier and weightier and that you must bear it all by your lonesome. In addition to being heavy, it is cloaked in darkness and dimwit. You cannot learn unless you link up with Jesus. And when you are yoked to Him, He is not plowing co-pilot. He takes the lead. He teaches. You submit to His yoke and you learn.

Humility submits its body and mind to Jesus. It places its shoulders under His authority and its mind under His teaching. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot be taught if your body is not under His yoke. You cannot be shoulder to shoulder with Him if you are not willing to also learn from Him as you walk together. To be plowing with Jesus is to be growing in Him, next to Him, from Him and through Him alone.

day no. 15,696: what He desires, that He does

Psalm 115:3
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

God is sovereign. He is the only God. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. He is one of a kind and a kind all to Himself. His prerogative is always performed. He is a free agent. He is under no compulsion whatsoever. He owes no one anything. There is no pressure that can be applied to Him. His pleasure is unrestricted. He can do whatever He desires. There is nothing He wants that He cannot have and nothing He has that He does not want.

Job 23:13
But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.

And He has always been like this and always will be like this. He didn't graduate to Godhood. There was never a time where He didn't get His way. He didn't attain or arrive at enlightenment. He is Light. He didn't achieve greatness. His is Great. He didn't become good by trying or doing His very best. He is Goodness.

Malachi 3:6
For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed

And He has always leveraged all of His truth, goodness and beauty for the sake of others. He delights in displaying His great generosity of spirit. He loves charity. He enjoys giving Himself away. He does so because He wants to. He does so because it is Who He has always been, is now, and ever will be.

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

day no. 15,695: brooks of honey and butter

Job 20:4-7, 17, 20-23, 27-29
Knowest thou not this of old,
since man was placed upon earth,
that the triumphing of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
Though his excellency mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach unto the clouds;
yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung:
they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
He shall not see the rivers, the floods,
the brooks of honey and butter.
surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly,
he shall not save of that which he desired.
There shall none of his meat be left;
therefore shall no man look for his goods.
In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:
every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
When he is about to fill his belly,
God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him,
The heaven shall reveal his iniquity;
and the earth shall rise up against him.
The increase of his house shall depart,
and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

The promised land is defined as a place where milk and honey flow freely and frequently. When we eat ice cream on Friday night for dessert after our weekly pizza party, I make a point of acknowledging it. Where there are milk and honey, there is ice cream! And if this is how good fallen ice cream is, can you imagine how good perfected milk and honey will be? How much sweeter will glorified cows produce perfect cream and sanctified bees work to produce holy honey? 

Matthew 7:9-11
What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

I love my children and strive to give them the best that I can. But I am a sinful dad. So then, if a sinful dad like me can provide this kind of milk and honey, just imagine what God has in store for those who love Him? Imagine what kind of ice cream He is capable of providing! He withholds no good thing. And He has access to better honey and butter than I can get my hands on.

But the wicked will be cut off from the land of honey and butter. No milk and honey are waiting for them in their future. The ice cream this side of Jordan is the best they will be ever get to enjoy.  However, for the righteous, this the worst ice cream they will ever taste. And if this is the worst, we can only imagine the best! The wicked will have the pleasures of the belly removed since they saw fit to worship their bellies. They will not receive the kingdom where bellies are filled.

Phillippians 3:18-19
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

There is a difference between setting your mind to enjoy the things of earth because you are grateful to God who made it and setting your mind upon the earth in order to worship it. The one worships God by appreciating what He has provided. The other bypasses the Giver and glories in the gifts. There is fresh, cold milk and thick, sweet honey awaiting those who set their sights higher than the hillsides and beehives. And those that look up will one day look down to see a bowl full of the best ice cream that has ever existed.

day no. 15,694: secondary things can safely dwell only in homes governed by first principles

"All through these talks I’ve been touching very lightly on a theme, which anyone who was treating the natural loves from a Christian point of view, would have emphasised far more strongly a few centuries ago. If the Victorians needed the reminder that natural love is not enough, the old theologians were always saying, very loudly and sternly, that natural love is

likely to be a great deal too much. The danger of loving our fellow-creatures too little was less present to their minds than that of loving them idolatrously. In every wife, mother, child and friend they saw a possible rival to God. And so, of course, does Our Lord (Luke 9:59-62, 14:26). There was therefore no question, in my mind of simple dissent from the older doctrine. There has been a difference of method. I have taken a roundabout way. In my critique of the loves, I have stressed their rivalry to God less than their failure without God to be completely, or remain securely, the sorts of love they profess to be. And this, I hoped, might make it easier for us to believe, and not merely to acknowledge verbally, that they are, after all, second things. Because to let us down, while legitimately attracting us, is the very characteristic of a second thing which has been treated as a first thing." -- C.S Lewis, The Four Loves

Colossians 3:5

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Inordinate affection presupposes a proper order of affections. The adjective is where the defect lies. In other words, priorities aren't the problem, but the order can be. Second things cannot be first things. If your priorities are out of proper order, they cannot help but produce disorder. It is in their nature to fall into place by the grace and gravity of God, who alone has enough sway to be the center of everything. When you try to make a satellite the center, it is not shocking to discover that the system feels off balance. It feels that way because it is that way -- off kilter.

"I know we have been told that ‘When half-gods go, the gods arrive’, but that seems to me a
very doubtful maxim. A heart ‘empty, swept and garnished’ (Matthew 12:44) of its half-gods
may expect, as we have been told, an in-rush of visitants anything but divine. And I think we
have seen it happen in our own generation. I would rather say, ‘When God arrives, and then
only, the half-gods can remain’." -- C.S Lewis, The Four Loves

Secondary things can safely dwell only in homes governed by first principles. A house that is out of order cannot endure the second things that are left to rule it. Disorder cannot tidy up. But an absence of secondary things is no assurance of clean, safe living. It is not the absence of secondary things that keeps a house in order, but the presence, rule, and reign of first things. Only a first thing can accommodate the presence of a secondary thing without it leading to the destruction of the entire structure.

day no. 15,693: if they killed her quick

"She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick.” - Flannery O'Connor, A Temple of the Holy Ghost

The prerequisite of a saint is right living, whereas that of the martyr is right dying. That is to say, a saint must die daily, but a martyr just the once. A saint must live rightly by dying daily; a martyr may die rightly by doing it just the once.

There is the kind of faith required to be a martyr and there is that kind that leads to one being martyred. It takes real faith to die for Christ if that situation in general should come upon you, but it takes another type of faith to live in such a way that it comes looking for you in particular. To live as a saint is to draw fire from the world. To be a martyr is to align yourself with God and His saints at the critical point, a difficult thing to do, especially if it has not been your habit to do so up until then. But many do not exercise the daily faith of a saint in dying to oneself and would disassociate from those that do if given too much time in the face of too much conflict. To be a saint is to be faithful. To be a martyr is to have faith. But some types of martyrdom would prove too much for many people’s faith.

Hebrews 11:37
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated

Those who were stoned to death or sawn in two had to have the kind of faith that endured death in repetition. To be stoned to death is to endure the blow of many stones. To be sawn in two is to endure the many backs and forths of the saw. To have faith enough to endure only half the strokes, would be futile. It may stop the sawing, but not the dying. To be sawn halfway in half is to be completely beyond repair. Such is the faith of some- enough to do something, but not enough to finish doing it. Enough perhaps to engage, but not enough to endure.

To live as a saint requires faith that fills the day. Some people don't want to live in such a way, but would be willing to die for such a way, if it came to that. Such a person doesn’t want to have to live for Jesus now, but hopes that they'd be willing to die for Him if it came to that; but even then, only if it were done quickly enough without an opportunity or time enough to back out or turn back.

day no. 15,692: it always sounds good

"'Compassion' is a word that sounds good in anyone's mouth." -- Flannery O'Connor, Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction

Everyone likes the idea of compassion... especially the caustic. They love to slap “compassion” onto their endeavors in order to justify their evil. Compassion is the battle cry of the catamite, the sodomite, the trans, the abortionist, the communist, the feminist, justice warrior and the envious. “Compassion” is so powerful that anyone can use it for just about anything, no matter how un-compassionate it may be. 

That said, true, Biblical, Christ-like compassion (com = "with" + passion = "suffering") is a rarity. It is found more often in mouths than in motion. It always sounds good, but it also always looks hard. So it remains merry an echo — a sound without a body, a reverberation without an action.

Real compassion requires one to be strong enough to suffer the weakness of another without forfeiting enough strength in reserve to pull them both back out.

day no. 15,691: the Curse Himself

"All created mankind shall come to the fire of testing, and many shall be offended and perish; but they that endure in their faith shall be saved by the Curse Himself." -- The Didache, J.B. Lightfoot translation

Christ became the Curse. He became the forsaken. He became sin in order to save us from our sins. He became a curse for us in order to save us from the curse we deserved.

Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”

Our only hope in light of the curse upon us is the Curse Himself upon the cross -- in our place and for our sins. The tenth and final plague of Passover was God Himself. He sent His presence and it devastated the land, ending the life of every firstborn son of every household except for those covered by the blood of the sacrificial lamb. Christ became the final Lamb. He provided the perfect blood to cover our households in order to save us from the plague and curse of God. Furthermore, in Christ, God's presence is no longer a curse, but a blessing. In Christ, we are as the Beloved -- blessed because He became as we were... cursed.

day no. 15,690 continued... the characters of esther in current events

MORDECAI

Esther 3:2–5

And all the king’s servants, that were in the king’s gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. Then the king’s servants, which were in the king’s gate, said unto Mordecai, "Why transgressest thou the king’s commandment?" Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s matters would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.

May God grant us more Mordecais. He did not bow down or pay reverence to Haman. Despite being asked, despite being accused, despite being despised, he stood and did not bow. He bowed before God, not men. He saved his kneeling for his Lord. He reserved his obeisance for the One he obeyed without reservation. He defied the king's man and the king's commands in order to honor and obey the King's commands.

May God give us more men who bow down only before God and obey Him by refusing to bow before any other. May God give us men whose obedience includes defying tyrants.

ESTHER

Esther 4:16

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

May God grant us more Esthers. She was simultaneously in a position of power and in peril. Her office afforded her sway, but her beliefs were out of fashion. God had given her a time and a place and an opportunity. For what other reason could He have done so than to turn a profit on her position and risk losing it in order to express openly her beliefs? She concluded it was time to put it all on the line. It was not the time to attempt to secure her position, but to leverage it to protect her beliefs.

May God gives us more who leverage their positions for their convictions. May Christians who have been able to be under the radar up until now bring their beliefs into the light. May they do so with authority and humility. May Christians put their positions on the line in order to secure their position in line with Gods elect. Mordecai confirmed that God would save His people. The question was not whether His people would survive, but whether or not Esther would be included among their numbers. She did not seek to save herself, but surrendered herself and her position in order to save her people.

HAMAN

Esther 7:9–10

Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.”  So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.

May God allow us to see more Haman's hung on their own gallows. May we see the wicked fall into the pits they have dug for the righteous and caught in the traps they have set for Christians. May God use Christian faith and creativity to catch the clever in their own devices. May we be granted the privilege of seeing them swing and our people set free.

day no. 15,690: charity requires someone to work

"If the comer is a traveler, assist him, so far as ye are able; but he shall not stay with you more than two or three days, if it be necessary. But if he wishes to settle with you, being a craftsman, let him work for and eat his bread. But if he has no craft, according to your wisdom provide how he shall live as a Christian among you, but not in idleness. If he will not do this, he is trafficking upon Christ. Beware of such men. But every time prophet desiring to settle among you is worthy of his food. In like manner a true teacher is also worthy, like the workman, of his food. Every firstfruit then of the produce of the wine-vat and of the threshing-floor, of thy oxen and of thy sheep, thou shalt take and give as the firstfruit to the prophets; for they are your chief-priests" -- The Didache, J.B. Lightfoot translation

A traveling minister shall be given room and board, but not indefinitely. Within 2-3 days, he needs to either become part of the community or move on. He must either get to work and earn the bread that was previously provided to him as a guest or get to stepping to where he wants to end up. But if he becomes part of the community, he must begin to contribute to it. He belongs to the family so he helps with the dishes. He is no longer a stranger in need of hospitality, but a member in need of contributing something back.

Charity requires someone to work. In order to have something to give, someone must have extra. A Christian is one who receives God's work on their behalf as their only hope of salvation and right standing before God. This faith is then demonstrated by doing for others what God has done for them. Along with a new heart and the help of His Spirit, the Christian discovers an impulse from God to provide for others. The Christian becomes like Christ in working for the benefit of others.

No Christian would seek to make his living off of merely being a Christian. Christians in vocational ministry understand their calling as work. They are paid to disciple, study the Scriptures, preach, counsel, etc... but they don't expect a paycheck for simply being a part of the body. Being a Christian isn't a job, it is a delight. We obey God because we want to and His commandments are not burdensome. Expecting someone to pay you for being a Christian is what the Didache calls trafficking upon Christ. Beware of those who would do this and the temptation to become like this.

day no. 15,689: our diets should not make us want to die

"Thou, Almighty Master,
didst create all things for Thy name's sake,
and didst give food and drink unto men for enjoyment,
that they might render thanks to Thee;
but didst bestow upon us spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Thy Son.
Before all things we give Thee thanks that Thou art powerful;
Thine is the glory for ever and ever."
-- The Didache, J.B. Lightfoot translation

Food and drink were meant to be enjoyed. God made food and drink. He designed their tastes. He gave men taste buds that could distinguish different flavors. Food is good and meant to be enjoyed. God also gave us bodies to steward. But if our diets end in us despising food, we are doing it wrong and something is out of proportion to its created intent. Our diets should not make us want to die. 

Romans 14:17

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost

God gave us minds to think with and hearts to thank with and all that passes through our mind, mouth, heart or soul can be received with gratitude because He is full of grace and withholds from us no good thing. By eating the fat and drinking the sweet, we train ourselves to agree with God that life is good and living an occasion for celebration.

1 Timothy 4:4-5
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

day no. 15,688: we huddle in order to break

"As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains
and being gathered together became one,
so may Thy Church be gathered together
from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom;
for Thine is the glory and the power
through Jesus Christ for ever and ever."
-- The Didache, J.B. Lightfoot translation

Grain is gathered and ground in order to be brought together as bread. Bread is a gathering of grains. Once gathered into one loaf, it is blessed by being broken. The reason bread is made is in order to be broken. It gathers in order to be scattered again. Just as Jesus was broken on our behalf, so we are broken on behalf of others.

God gathers in order to scatter. He breaks a thing for the blessing of everything else. What ends up broken is better than it was before. It is brought together in order to be better scattered. The end of the thing is better than its beginning. Bread is grain gathered, but broken bread is grain recommissioned. We huddle in order to break.

day no. 15,687: ancient politics

"Thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born, thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods." -- The Didache, J.B. Lightfoot translation

Few things could better describe the progressive impulse than death and envy culture, both of which are prohibited by God in His Word and are directly here refuted in one of Christianity's earliest teachings, The Didache. 

It is interesting that The Didache specifically clarifies that abortion and infanticide are examples of murder and that these would specifically be followed by an admonition against covetous envy. Abortion and Socialism defy God's Law. Socialism is institutionalized envy and Abortion is institutionalized murder. Those who promote either do so in direct defiance of God's Law and the clear teachings of the early church. Murder is murder, even if it is an unborn child. Envy is envy even if it is being done by the government. No one can pass a law that nullifies God's. Even if murder is declared health care and envy is declared redistribution, it is still murder and envy; and no caveats are provided by God with respect to the murder of the unborn or the pillaging of  your neighbor's fruitfulness.

day no. 15,686: balm in Gilead

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—

prophet still, if bird or devil!—
Whether Tempter sent, or whether

tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted,

on this desert land enchanted—
On this home by Horror haunted—

tell me truly, I implore—
Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—

tell me—tell me, I implore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.” 

- Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven

When revisiting this poem back on 4/30/2020, my mind attached itself to the sentiment above. I performed a search and located the source from which Poe borrowed this phrase.

Jeremiah 8:21-22
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

There are two kinds of despair. One kind is being without a balm which you are convinced could heal you if you only had it; the other kind being unsure if such a balm even exists. If you know and believe hope is out there, you despair its absence, but hope in its eventual presence. But if you doubt its existence, you despair of its absence without hope. To miss a loved one is to wish them back, but the Christian hopes in going to them, whereas the unbeliever has no hope of ever seeing them again.

2 Samuel 12:23
He is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.

Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

day no. 15,685: the soul of the world

"In a word, what the soul is in a body, this the Christians are in the world. The soul is spread through all the members of the body, and Christians through the divers cities of the world. The soul hath its abode in the body, and yet it is not of the body. So Christians have their abode in the world, and yet they are not of the world. The soul which is invisible is guarded in the body which is visible: so Christians are recognized as Being in the world, and yet their religion remaineth invisible. The flesh hateth the soul and wageth war with it, though it receiveth no wrong, because it is forbidden to indulge in pleasures; so the world hateth Christians, though it receiveth no wrong from them, because they set themselves against its pleasures. The soul loveth the flesh which hateth it, and the members: so Christians love those that hate them. The soul is enclosed in the body, and yet itself holdeth the body together; so Christians are kept in the world as in a prison-house, and yet they themselves hold the world together. The soul though itself immortal dwelleth in a mortal tabernacle- so Christians sojourn amidst perishable things, while they look for the imperishability which is in the heavens." --  The Epistle to Diognetus, chapter 6, J.B. Lightfoot translation

The man who gains the world and loses his soul is a fool. Whatever you gain in trade for your soul cannot be yours. If your soul belongs to someone else, whatever you have, isn't yours.

Mark 8:36

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

The world seeks to save itself and loses its soul in the process. It ignores its soul and loses its ability to retain ownership of anything

Matthew 16:25

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

A man seeking to preserve his body yet paying no attention to his soul will end up having both of them taken from him. He does not know the value of what he had until it is no longer his and too late to retain it. What he failed to value in life cannot be redeemed by regret after death. A soul scorned will be avenged.

day no. 15,684: buying the field for the sake of the treasure

While reading the John MacArthur Handbook of Effective Biblical Leadership, I came across a message by Phil Johnson titled The Extent of the Atonement where he referred to an illustration Curt Daniel gave regarding Matthew 13:44 which says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

"Buying the field ensures that the man buys the treasure. The treasure was the object and the aim of his purchase. The treasure was the reason for His great joy. The treasure was the reason He made this deal in the first place. But He did not purchase the treasure only; He purchased the whole field... That is a very clear statement that there is a universal ramification of the atonement. Christ's death, in some sense, purchased Him an exalted position of lordship over all. There is a true sense in which Jesus purchased the whole world in order to get the treasure, the church."

Jesus bought the entire field, but He pays particular attention to the treasure buried in it. The whole field is benefited by being owned by Him, but the treasure benefits especially.

1 Timothy 4:10
To this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe

The treasure is dug up and unearthed out of its darkness; it is lifted and exalted up from the ground. It is resurrected to see the light of day. It is brought into the Master's home and elevated to a position of honor. It is treasured because it has particular value. The entire field benefits in general because of the particular love the Master has for the treasure.

"We believe that by His atoning sacrifice, Christ bought some good things for all men and all good things for some men." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

In other words, we can fully expect the world to be improved and benefited by the grace of God for the sake of His elect. For the sake of the especially, everyone experiences salvation. The salvation of the one, however, is qualitatively different from that of the other. The field is saved from being under the deed of the previous possessor, but the treasure is possessed by the new owner in a way that the field isn't. The treasure is saved in a way that is unique. It too is no longer under the deed of the darkness, but it is delivered from it in ways manifestly different than the dirt that was dug up along with it. The Treasure Hunter rescues the prize from the ground and carefully brushes the dust off of the object of His pursuit, but He does not attend to the dust as it falls. 

"The design of God in the atoning work of Christ pertained primarily and directly to the redemption of the elect, but indirectly and secondarily it included all the blessings of common grace." -- R.B. Kuiper

God provides for many when providing for the elect. Many ate bread in the desert and drank water from the rock and were led by fire by night and a cloud by day and were saved from Pharaoh and from slavery in Egypt who would not enter into the promised land. For the sake of the elect, many are blessed. For the sake of the saved, the whole world is baptized and the flood of His goodness covers the entire landscape. No one can escape some of His grace. Just as He promised not to flood the world again in wrath, He did promise to flood the world with grace. And everywhere we look, we can see the sea is rising and His tide is coming in.

Habakkuk 2:14

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