day no. 15,988: a fate that falls

"I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act." -- G.K. Chesterton

There is a difference between understanding the imperative and denying the indicative. 

"God helps those who help themselves" is a particular bit of nonsense that presupposes one can help themselves without first having God's help. It assumes a possibility that does not exist.

Romans 3:10-12

None is righteous,

no, not one;

no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside;

together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.

Without God's help, no one seeks God or His help and without His continued help no one would continue to seek Him. Yet, there is a responsibility assumed in the assistance. Those God helps, He expects to help themselves in that He demands that they help themselves to more of His help; He lays on them the duty of destitution, which is to say, the obligation of asking. He has provision, guidance, grace and mercy in abundance and compels His people to take initiative by taking responsibility rather than by making excuses and blaming their fates.

Our actions are not a matter of indifference. God has designed the world in such a way as that the future is not inevitable outside of our actions, but that our actions are absorbed into the inevitable. God has given us agency without compromising His sovereignty. There are consequences to inactivity. God has implemented the law of sowing and reaping and it cannot be hacked or troubleshot. Inactivity is still sowing and will still reap it.

So, there is a fate that falls on those who refuse to get out of the way and yet another that falls by the hands of those who refuse to concede to its inevitability. There is a way God made the world and a way He has instructed us to act in light of it. So much so, that those who go against His grain will never gain and those who move in His way never lose.

day no. 15,987: homes are dangerous

“The home environment can undo a lot you try to do at school. That's why we've lowered the kindergarten age year after year until now we're almost snatching them from the cradle.” ― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Homes are dangerous.

The state is aware.

Homes are self-contained systems of governance. They come with built-in authority structures. The first earthly institution created by God was the family. Marriage assumes fruitfulness. The produce of which is stored at the homestead. What happens there is exported to the world and shapes it. This is why the State is so anxious to get into your home. This is why it want to place tariffs on what families produce. Since you export what you produce, the State wants to get its hands on the means of production. The one who owns and controls the means of production controls the niceties of consumption.

Keep your kids.

Stay dangerous.

day no. 15,986: tyranny is always easier to recognize in a rear view mirror

“Arrogance now stands secure and gives judgement against us.; it is a time of calamity and raging fury. But now, my sons, be zealous for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of your fathers. Remember the deeds they did in their generations, and great glory and eternal fame shall be yours.” -- Mattathias, 1 Maccabees 2:49-51

Defying tyrants is obeying God, yet tyranny is almost always more easily recognized in a rear-view mirror. We toast those who took those risks back then, but then reward those who do so in our midst with nothing better than backchat, second-guessing, and slander.

Luke 11:47-48

Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.

It is easier to honor those who have the aid of the ages to prove their honor. It is far more difficult to honor one in your midst without the headlamp of hindsight. Today's tyrants feed off of yesterday's tyrannies. They use past mistakes to fuel their current ones.

Luke 4:24

And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown."

Prophets are not remembered for cowing to the people anymore than men of honor are for catering to the timid. Both look back and honor their ancestors by being the kind of men in the moment that their kin were back then. We do no justice to our forefathers by being present pansies. We respect them by doing what they did. We best respect the hardihood of our ancestors by doing the hard things in front of us now.

John 8:39-41

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.”

We don't honor our forefathers because we're not related to them. We come from different stock and give different strokes to different folks.

day no. 15,985: fighting trim by feasting fat

Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

A feast of fat things and wines on the lee awaits those who wait upon the Lord: a festival of fatness, full of marrow; of richness overflowing, well refined. For now, we rehearse so as to arrive well-versed in gratitude. We don't want to be out of celebrating shape when we cross the threshold of the eternal banquet as we enter into God's mercy and grace.

Getting into fighting trim means feasting well and waxing fat.

day no. 15,984: forgotten in time

"His epitaph is Athanasius contra mundum, 'Athanasius against the world.' ... It is his glory that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, as all times do, have moved away." -- C.S. Lewis, Introduction to Athanasius' On the Incarnation

The timeless recognize the times without being of them; they run laps around them because they're not caught up in them.

1 Chronicles 12:32

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

You need to know what time it is in order to set an alarm. You need to know what's up in order to know what to do. Those who try to keep up with the times get left behind and in time are forgotten. There's nothing less cool than trying to be cool. There are few things more irrelevant than chasing relevance.

day no. 15,983: pipe in teeth, pencil in hand

"For my own part I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that 'nothing happens' when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand." -- C.S Lewis, Introduction to Athanasius' On the Incarnation

Original works inspire grateful hearts to write devotional works. While there might be much benefit in reading their insights, they would in turn and in concert urge us to spend more time in the original works that inspired their delight rather than spend our time meditating upon their meditations of them. Their meditations were meant to draw more attention to the source, not to their summaries.

"The dogma is the drama." -- Dorothy L. Sayers

We should read books of good reflections, but we should never neglect reading the source of light and substance that made the reflection possible. Drinking from the bucket should lead us to draw from the well.

"Visit many good books, but live in the Bible." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

day no. 15,982: God completes what He appoints

Job 23:14

For He will complete what He appoints for me,

and many such things are in His mind.

God takes responsibility where He takes initiative.

Philippians 1:6

And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Rest assured, where God is at work, the work gets done.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.

God completes what He appoints; He provides what He commands; He fulfills what He plans.

day no. 15,981: serving your neighbor with singing

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

You serve your neighbor by singing so that he can hear you. Your neighbor does not benefit merely from knowing that you're off somewhere singing. He needs to hear your voice, lifted up, and singing. He needs to hear the sound of your gratitude out loud, in person, and ringing in his ears.

day no. 15,980: audentes fortuna iuvat

"Audentes Fortuna Iuvat" (Fortune favors the brave/bold)

What looks like luck is actually pluck.

Things work out for those who work more often than they do for those who won't.

day no. 15,979: to a thousand generations

Joel 1:3

Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.

A man can preach to his great grandchildren by commanding his children to teach their children to teach to their children.

Faithful covenant keeping connects generations. It is a man being taught by his father what his grandfather told his son to teach him. It is that same man teaching his great grandchildren by teaching his children to teach their children to teach their children. By faithful covenant keeping, each man serves as the pivot point and connection between seven generations. He connects his great grandfather to his great grandchildren by keeping and passing along that which is of first importance, the faith once for all delivered to the saints (1 Cor. 15:3, Jude 1:3)

day no. 15,978: making the most of your boasts

1 Corinthians 1:31

As it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Boasting in inescapable. There is no way around it. The question is, "Of what will our boasting consist?" not, "Will there be boasting?" The answer to the first makes the difference between life and death. The answer to the second is why. We will be proud of something and seek to make much of it. So what will that be and how will we go about doing it are the only questions. In other words, "About what will we boast?" is the only and most meaningful question.

2 Corinthians 10:17-18

“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Since boasting is a given, you can't fix wrong boasting by trying not to boast. That will quickly just become one more thing you boast about... "Oh, still boasting are we? That's so last season." In other words, you cannot atone for the ambition of boasting by making it your ambition to boast less. You don't fix your misguided boastings by trying to do away with the guided ones. That only creates a new problem.

We were made to boast in the Lord. When we boast about something else, we rob Him. When we try not to boast, we rob Him plus boast about our lack of boasting... we continue to sin only now we cannot see it. Rather than rest in boasting about God, we boast in our resting from obedience.

Galatians 6:14

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Since we were made to boast in God, let us work hard to boast MORE. The solution to our boasting problem is not LESS boasting, but MORE. Boast in Him more. Boast in Him now. Boast in Him later. Boast in Him in work. Boast in Him in rest. This is our only hope. This gives Him more credit, us more delight, and boasting its proper place.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

day no. 15,977: contraception is practicing inhospitality

Romans 12:13

Share with the saints who are in need. Practice hospitality.

God commands to our weakness and for the benefit of others. If God commands us to share with those in need and to practice hospitality, it is not because we were going to do those things anyways. He has to command them because we weren't going to do them. We want to keep what we have, protect it, and keep others from being able to access it regardless of their need. We practice inhospitality. We, by default, close ourselves off to others and elbow them out of that which we have claimed for ourselves. 

Few places demonstrate this better than our attitude toward conception. 

Instead of practicing hospitality, we practice contraception. Instead of looking for ways to share with those in need, we look for ways to first meet our needs before considering inviting anyone else in. Instead of a welcome mat for fertility, we spend our energy and money building fences. If the ones in question are Christians, they install a gate and assume that when they finally get around to sending out warm wishes, children will inevitably accept the invitation.

James 4:13-14

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

We assume children are standing at the door knocking and that the only thing keeping them from moving in is our willing readiness. But the Lord opens and closes the womb and we do ourselves no favors by reinforcing selfish habits in our inhospitality. A uterus is a home of and a regular practice of inhospitality is not easily interrupted once established. It cannot be simply assumed to be broken by the right incantation. Fertility does not come with a simple on/off switch.

We assume we can keep kids out while assuming that they will come when we're good and ready for them. However, our ability to deprive ourselves is greater than our ability to bless ourselves and our current practices are preparing us to preemptively empty our nests. We save ourselves the difficulty of watching our beloved flock fly the coop by cracking our eggs. We are a scrambled people.

day no. 15,976: be the best byword you can be

“My prayer is that when I die, all hell rejoices that I am out of the fight.” -- C.S. Lewis

If you have to be an enemy, you might as well be a byword.

Acts 19:15-17

The evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

If you are to be known by the forces of evil, you might as well be known as an adversary.

Luke 22:31

The Lord said, Simon, "Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat."

If the enemy doesn't fear you, you aren't a hero. If the adversary doesn't wish you harm, it's because you're on their side.

"Every hero needs to be part nightmare." -- N.D. Wilson

The best way to love your enemy is to not be like him; you must oppose him. You do him no favors by agreeing with him. You do not love your enemy by loving what he loves. That is how you become your enemy. 

We should strive to be the best bywords we can be. Our enemies should be God's and our names should be anathema in their mouths. The cursed of God should curse us. If they speak too kindly of us, that cannot bode too well for us.

day no. 15,975: home before us, home behind

“‘As for me,' said Boromir, 'my way home lies onward and not back.'” 

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The better country is found by those who leave the lesser one, but not by those who abandon the idea of a country altogether. The better country is still a country. You don't improve upon your place by desiring no place.

Hebrews 11:13-16

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

The way home lies ahead not behind.

The better country is a country and the Heavenly city is a city.

Philippians 3:13-14

This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The kind of place we want to go is not the place we could go back to. It can only be produced by going forward. In so doing, our adventures will one day lead us to a new country that has all the warmth and welcome of a familiar home combined with all the wonder and thrill of a new and unfamiliar pleasure.

Luke 18:28-30

Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

day no. 15,974: when you despise the sunrise, you despise the morning

In C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength the curse of Babel falls upon the N.I.C.E. at assembled at Belbury and as Merlin leaves them to it, he says, 

"Qui Verbum Dei contempserunt, eis auferetur etiam verbum hominis."

(They that have despised the word of God, from them shall the word of man also be taken away)

The Word of God is the source of all words. Language holds together in its arche, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God. The word of man is downstream from the Word of God. The Word is the sine qua non (without which not).

Those who reject the light, reject that which is seen by the light. When you despise the sunrise, you despise the morning.

Those who worship anything other than God lose what they worship. If you idolize wisdom and significance and sophistication, you will be rendered foolish, insignificant, and muttering nonsense. You can't have what you want if it is not God that you first want.

day no. 15,973: de-fence less

“There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, ‘I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.’ To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: ‘If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.’” - G.K. Chesterton

Proverbs 22:28

Remove not the ancient landmark,

which thy fathers have set.

You should not lightly move or remove an ancient landmark. Not never per se, but never without good reason. Unless, with respect to the fence, you can explain: why there? why not somewhere else? what was meant to be kept out? what was meant to be protected? why that high? did it work? did it accomplish its intended goal? is it still necessary? etc.. you should not be permitted to move or remove another's legacy.

Moving a marker or removing it altogether should only be done if one can honor their father and mother in doing so. If you cannot honor your ancestors, even when, i.e. especially when, disagreeing with them on where they landed or what they landed on, you cannot be trusted to set up your own landmarks.

A disregard for the past is a disregard for the future in a present tense, autonomous arrogance. No one acts detached from history. Everyone must reckon with their ancestors and take into account their descendants. They can ignore their grandfathers or forget their grandchildren, but they cannot act apart from them.

day no. 15,972: all to all, every to every

Joshua 8:34-35

And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

Joshua read ALL to ALL.

He didn't skip anything or anyone.

He read EVERY word of God to EVERY person of God.

There was no skateboarding teenage girl edition of the Law or any portion of the service that excluded any portion of the community.

day no. 15,971: no enemies? no bueno

You have no enemies, you say?

Alas! my friend, the boast is poor;

He who has mingled in the fray

Of duty, that the brave endure,

Must have made foes! If you have none,

Small is the work that you have done.

You've hit no traitor on the hip,

You've dashed no cup from perjured lip, 

You've never turned the wrong to right,

You've been a coward in the fight.

- Charles Mackay

It is no complement to your character to be without enemies. To aim for an enemy-less existence is to make an enemy of God. He infused enmity into the world (Gen. 3:15); there is therefore no such thing as neutrality. Enemy-lessness is an impossibility. There are two opposing forces: to be aligned with one is to be the enemy of the other. There are no other uniforms. If you have no enemies, you are playing both sides; which is just another way of saying that you are everyone's enemy. It is better to be an honest enemy than a dishonest friend.

day no. 15,970: a feast of fat things

Isaiah 25:6

And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

The promised land is by no means low-calorie. Artificial sweeteners are shown the door and fat-free is asked to hit the showers.

Nehemiah 8:10

Eat the fat, and drink the sweet... for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

The heart healthy options of heaven's menu include the fattest cuts, the sweetest treats, and the finest wines.

Nothing does the heart better than grace-glazed gladness dipped in gratitude.

Proverbs 15:15

A cheerful heart has a continual feast. (NASB)

A glad heart has a perpetual banquet (AMP)

Skinny souls find feasts offensive. They recoil from the cream and look down their noses at the wine. They're keeping a close watch on their sugar intake after all and only eating lean proteins. But lean meals produce lean souls, souls out of shape, out of practice, and unprepared to enter into the joy of the banquet. In the spiritual realm, a healthy soul is fat and used to feasting, but the skinny soul is the one accustomed to calorie counting. Leanness makes no effort to enjoy anything. As such, it is a sort of laziness: a highly regimented ingratitude combined with a slapdash satisfaction. Souls full of gratitude are in good shape, well-rehearsed, and ready to delight at the table God has set; skinny souls shirk any satisfaction.

day no. 15,969: the writing's on the wall

Daniel 5:5

In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

Belshazzar literally saw "the writing on the wall," but this phrase has been handed down proverbially to indicate an understanding of what's about to go down or seeing how things are going to play out. However, in its original context, it actually meant the opposite. Belshazzar and his party pals saw the writing, but they did not see what it foretold. They saw it written down, but they didn't understand what had been written. They knew enough to know that they needed to know more, but they certainly did not know what was about to go down or have a clear idea of what was about to happen.

Daniel 5:8-9

Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.

The writing on the wall mystified them. They were stupefied. They could see that there was something worth knowing and could see that it was a sign of something to come, but couldn't decipher what it was or place it's meaning anywhere. They could see the sign, but they couldn't read it. It was clear that it was a signpost, but it was unclear as to what pointed to. It was in a different language and they couldn't make heads or tails of it.

So they reached out to someone else for help.

Daniel 5:17

Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.

Daniel had access to the same writing on the wall that they had all seen, but he had something none of them had -- access to the One who wrote it. He not only saw the signs; he could read them. He knew how to read the world around him because He knew the One who made the world around Him by the Word of His power.

We need God's help to understand our times and to decipher our days.

1 Chronicles 12:32

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

These two hundred men were exceptional. Many can see the signs, but few can interpret the times.

Esther 1:13

Since it was customary for the king to consult experts in matters of law and justice, he spoke with the wise men who understood the times and were closest to the king.

In interesting times, anyone can see the signs, but few know how to read them. The wise work hard to study the compass of chronology. The discerning decipher the days, how we got here, where it's going, and what we can do about it.

Once Belshazzar heard the message from Daniel, he understood the message, but he didn't get the message. He understood what the sign meant, but he didn't act upon it. He didn't repent of its prediction. He heard it and was contented to be in the know. He was happy to be a hearer of the word without being a doer of it. Wisdom is doing what you know; it doesn't merely read the signs, it responds to them by doing what they say.

Luke 12:54-57

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

By God's grace, we can read the times; and by His strength, we ought to act. It is not enough to merely see the writing on the wall. Seeing the writing on the wall was the last thing Belshazzar ever did. We must see the signs, seek wisdom to read the times, and act in accordance with God's revelation, so that we might share in His great commission.

day no. 15,968: the mental marketplace

Proverbs 12:11

He that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.

The principles of the free market should be applied to ideas the way they already apply to goods and services. Products that don't work very well naturally become obsolete as demand for them diminishes. The same should be said for ideas. Those which don't work very well should be allowed to go bankrupt.

The marketplace of ideas should be one where theories are free to fail. Idea entrepreneurs should be allowed to hock bad ideas so long as they are also allowed to go broke. The public should not be forced to purchase cheap theories that don't work. There are ideas deemed too big to fail: like evolution, climate change, egalitarianism, etc... There are tariffs placed on competing principles deemed too big to be allowed: like creation, religion, responsibility, etc...

Even though the wokey pokey doesn't work, never has worked, and never will work, it is supported by tax dollars and bailed out every time it inevitably self-destructs. Bad ideas should not be illegal, but neither should they be mandatory. They should be allowed to go out of business. They should be forced to reap what they sow. People should be allowed to worldview window shop and proprietors of knock-off, trinket philosophies should be allowed to go broke. Thus, the free market for the mind.

day no. 15,967: our souls are soil and we are emotion farmers

Matthew 13:!8

Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

Our souls are like soil and we are like emotion farmers. Our emotions, like plants, grow up and out from within us. Each of us is a plot of land where emotions grow. We are charged with the duty of identifying the fruit and the weeds and promoting the prior and pulling out the latter. Our hearts, like land, by nature are wild. Once domesticated, they turn feral without constant attention. The wild west can become a garden state by domestication, but it can return to wilderness by abandonment. Our souls, by nature, are a soil rich with weeds. We produce poisonous emotions without effort. But by God's grace, we can be tilled up, though we cannot, by God's command, remain unfruitful. We will produce something. If we do not gardenize ourselves, we will again go wild, producing weeds and becoming overgrown by invasive, unwanted emotions. But if we follow God's pattern of planting, pulling, pruning, fencing, tending, etc... we will continue to be fruitful, well-ordered, and not only capable of killing weeds, but committed to it.

Mark 4:13

And He said unto them, "Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?"

day no. 15,966: faithful, fruitful multiplication leads to inevitable, eternal division

Luke 23:12

And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves

Jesus brings people together.

But not into one, unified mass mind you. All of humanity is headed for one of two camps: the seed of the serpent or the seed of Eve and Jesus is a watershed that forces everyone into one uniform or the other.

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.

The enmity between the two sides unifies each against the other. On the side of the serpent there are divisions coming to a head under a common opposition to God's imposition.

Psalm 2:1-3

Why do the heathen rage,

and the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord, and against his anointed,

saying, Let us break their bands asunder,

and cast away their cords from us.

The rallying point for the seeds of the serpent is a shared resistance to the sovereign claims of God in the singular person of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord. Hatred of Him is their meeting place in case of emergency. Cursing the Christ is their designated rendezvous.

So, Jesus unites peoples either in their opposition to Him or in their obedience to Him. 

Thus, Jesus divides people.

He is the watershed that joins all tributaries into opposite oceans. He brings the two opposing forces into complete focus. All of His followers are diversified in their individual likes and dislikes and unified in their first love. All of His detractors are unified in their dislikes and diversified in their individual self-love: they share a common interest in their respective self-interest.

Matthew 10:34

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

If Jesus had not come, the world would be more unified. The entire earth would have come together in one firm middle finger against God and His Christ. But because of Jesus, there is division on earth. Because of Him an alternative exists. Because He produced enmity between the fruit of wickedness and the fruit of the woman, there is not one unified mass of humanity sliding headfirst into the horrors of hell.

Luke 12:51

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.

The earth is divided because God keeps His promises. The sides are coming together because of Him. The one rallies together out of a shared resistance to His authority, like Coachella, and the other out of a shared insistence on His authority, like the Church.

When God's people multiply it leads to increased division. It sets more apart to everlasting life from those headed toward everlasting destruction. It makes salvation a possibility and divides the number of sinners into redeemed sinners and recalcitrant sinners. Faithful, fruitful multiplication leads to inevitable, eternal division.

day no. 15,965: everything praised in its right place

And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.

- Genesis 29:26

"We do not excuse Laban for his dishonesty, but we scruple not to learn from the custom which he quoted as his excuse. There are some things which must be taken in order, and if we would win the second we must secure the first. The second may be the more lovely in our eyes, but the rule of the heavenly country must stand, and the elder must be married first. For instance, many men desire the beautiful and well-favoured Rachel of joy and peace in believing, but they must first be wedded to the tender-eyed Leah of repentance. Every one falls in love with happiness, and many would cheerfully serve twice seven years to enjoy it, but according to the rule of the Lord's kingdom, the Leah of real holiness must be beloved of our soul before the Rachel of true happiness can be attained. Heaven stands not first but second, and only by persevering to the end can we win a portion in it. The cross must be carried before the crown can be worn. We must follow our Lord in his humiliation, or we shall never rest with him in glory.

My soul, what sayest thou, art thou so vain as to hope to break through the heavenly rule? Dost thou hope for reward without labour, or honour without toil? Dismiss the idle expectation, and be content to take the ill-favoured things for the sake of the sweet love of Jesus, which will recompense thee for all. In such a spirit, labouring and suffering, thou wilt find bitters grow sweet, and hard things easy. Like Jacob, thy years of service will seem unto thee but a few days for the love thou hast to Jesus; and when the dear hour of the wedding feast shall come, all thy toils shall be as though they had never been--an hour with Jesus will make up for ages of pain and labour.

Jesus, to win thyself so fair,

Thy cross I will with gladness bear:

Since so the rules of heaven ordain,

The first I'll wed the next to gain.

-- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

You cannot obtain a happy marriage without making and keeping serious vows. You cannot appreciate rest without applying yourself to hard work. You cannot enjoy the gift of God without confessing that you could not have earned it. Everything in its right place is everything rightly praised, no more or less than proportion demands and in the order that principle insists.

"St. Augustine defines virtue as ordo amoris, the ordinate condition of the affections in which every object is accorded that kind and degree of love which is appropriate to it. Aristotle says that the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought."  -- C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

day no. 15,964: duplicity is a dastard's policy

I will cut off them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham.

- Zephaniah 1:5

"Such persons thought themselves safe because they were with both parties: they went with the followers of Jehovah, and bowed at the same time to Malcham. But duplicity is abominable with God, and hypocrisy his soul hateth. The idolater who distinctly gives himself to his false god, has one sin less than he who brings his polluted and detestable sacrifice unto the temple of the Lord, while his heart is with the world and the sins thereof. To hold with the hare and run with the hounds, is a dastard's policy." -- C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Duplicity is a dastard's policy. It hedges its bets and applauds the one present. It plays the field instead of playing the game. For the fear of missing out on something it refuses to give itself entirely to any one thing. It spreads itself thin and develops a backbone in kind. Duplicity does not please God. He is not appeased when you bow your knees in His presence and raise your middle finger to Him in your absence.

To swear by conflicting principles is to offend them both.

To pledge allegiance to rival flags is to promise treason twice.

To multiply kisses is to divide loyalties.

To be mostly faithful is to be unfaithful.

day no. 15,963: the long war

"Children aren't the result of bad planning.They are the plan." -- C.R. Wiley, Man of the House

Having children cannot ruin your plans unless your plans were rot to begin with. 

"Because it is a long war, it crosses generations. In a very short space of time, your children will join you in the line, and a short time after that, their children will join them. This means that we begin by fighting for our children, but we must end by fighting by means of them. We must do two things simultaneously—we must fight today’s battles, and we must recruit and train tomorrow’s warriors." -- Douglas Wilson, The Neglected Qualification

Families are not God's plan B for timid souls, they are His plan A for the faith-filled.

day no. 15,962: a kingdom is a household of houses

"A kingdom is a household of houses." - C.R. Wiley, Man of the House

A house is not built without a foundation. Covenant promises lay the groundwork for homes and households. In building these, we build communities; in building communities, we build a kingdom; and in building a kingdom, we fill the earth for glory of God and the good of our neighbors beginning with the those neighbors who call our house home. Your neighbor is the one God has placed in front of you and those with whom you share a last name you share the most space and bump into more often than anyone else.

The King is the Head of the kingdom and His kingdom is comprised of households. The King is the Head of each one by being the Head of them all. A kingdom is a collection of lesser kingdoms. The King is the Captain of lesser kings. A kingdom contains households and the household sustain the kingdom.

day no. 15,961: house-bound

"Covenant binds the man and wife so completely it changes them and they receive new names. A woman traditionally took her husband's name in order to show that she was bound to him; and a man was given a new title, husband -- which means house-bound -- hus for house, and bund for bound. And here -- in the mans new title -- we see how one thing leads to another. Marriage makes shelter; it establishes a household." - C.R. Wiley, Man of the House

Covenants provide shelter. They domesticate the covenanters. The woman is taken from her father's home and given a new home to call her own under the name of her husband. The man is taken out of the world and into a particular place that he is called to secure, provide for, and defend.

Proverbs 24:27

Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field;

and afterwards build thine house.

The husband is a house-bound man. He is committed to his house. He is bound to use his strength for its good. He must often head there, lay his head there, and be the head there.

Proverbs 27:8

As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.

A husband too often away from his home is a man abandoning his post. He is placing himself and his beloved in danger by his absence. He must leave at times to get from the outside world; but he must soon return, bringing back the goods, to the place that he calls home. He should go out with intention and plan to prosper his home by he returns. A man must only be divided for a time from his house in order to be reunited to it more full for his going.

day no. 15,960: progress is not a conveyor belt fueled by time

"Progress is not a conveyor belt fueled by time." -- C.R. Wiley, Man of the House

Things do not get better merely by being left alone. In fact, it is the opposite: things left to themselves get worse. The Rule of Rust and Decay faithfully keeps its promises and the Law of Entropy wears everything out. Drift only runs in the direction of decay and destruction.

Going forward in time does not produce forward motion. Going ahead is not getting ahead. Progressing in time does not progress achieve.

We are often encouraged or consoled by the fact of our progress. But one must stop to ask, "Progressing toward what?" and "Progressing out of what?"

Time is merely a measurement; it is not a catalyst. In other words, time accomplishes nothing.

"Mark Twain is reported to have said, 'History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.' Here's the promise of this book: If our problems rhyme with problems faced by people in the past, maybe the solutions do too." -- C.R. Wiley, Man of the House

Things do not usually happen exactly the same way a second time, but they do share many similar traits as the first time around. If Twain's observation is correct, the past provides data points from which we can decipher the present and predict the future.

Postmillennialism contends that things are getting better, but not by mere happenstance. It does not ignorantly assume that time passing produces better results. It is not optimistic about the future because time heals all wounds, but because a living God is actively accomplishing His purposes in perpetuating His kingdom to increasing degrees. He not only overcomes the Rule of Rust and Decay and the Law of Entropy, He usurps them, and creates real forward momentum despite a sin-soaked world clamoring for the contrary.

day no. 15,959: without a father, there is no family

"With Abraham the revelation of the ultimate importance of fatherhood began, and at last Paul proclaimed, 'the Father, from whom every family (patria) in heaven and earth is named.'  (Ephesians 3:14-15). Without a father, there is no family." -- Leon J. Podles, foreword to C.R. Wiley's Man of the House

All families receive their identities from their dads going all the way back to the beginning with God, the Father Almighty. Without the Father there would no other fathers. He has bestowed on dads the dangerous and delightful duty of being the respective heads of households just as He is the Head of all households.

"A kingdom is a household of houses." - C.R. Wiley, Man of the House

day no. 15,958: the temple of God between your temples

“Have we come to realize that our ‘body is the temple of the Holy Spirit’? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a ‘temple of the Holy Spirit.’"

— Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

God must live in our minds. He must rule and reign there as He does in our physical bodies. What we do with our hands and where we point our feet must be determined by Him, but what we do and where we go must be informed by minds submitted to the mind of Christ. He must reside in our bodies and in our minds. Each is a room in the temple of our worship. We give sacrifices of praise and gratitude at the altar in our thoughts. We bring our bodies before Him. Our bodies and our brains cannot be disconnected. They are both to be brought hand in hand to the feet of Jesus and made to serve Him.

Romans 12:1-2

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The temple of God must be located between our temples.

1 Peter 1:13

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:15

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Our minds must be kept swept and clean. Every thought must be barefoot before our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Every meditation must be made to bow. Our hearts, heads, and hands are a temple of the presence of God on earth and as such, must be kept to reflect that fact.

day no. 15,957 continued... full of sap

Psalm 104:16

The trees of the Lord are full of sap.

"We do not understand the circulation of the sap, by what force it rises, and by what power it descends again. So the life within us is a sacred mystery." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Those who are planted by the living water of the Word are full of sap. We have things happening inside us that don't make sense: mysterious things, the workings and work of something magical. Life, like sap, circulates through us as we thrive and pours out of us where we're pricked. It comes out our fingertips. It drips out from us. It is moving so completely within us that it comes out of us wherever there is a breach. Whatever we touch has life only inches behind it.

day no. 15,957: alphabetical areas of interest July 2022

"There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people."

- G.K. Chesterton

Interested people are interesting people.

Be interested... stay interesting.

All of Christ for all of life for Olive St. (our new home's motto)

Anthem Church (no longer attending, met with Toby and Keaton to communicate)

Ascensional (revised and completed another annual reading)

Assurance of Pardon (possibly my favorite part of service every week)

Attic (excited by prospect of this space in new house)

Babylon Bee (kids like watching their YouTube videos)

Baptism (excited to join CCL and have remaining kids baptized)

Basement (hoping it is usable in new home: family room/play area/storage)

Beer & Books (excited to jump in on this with LVKS guys first Fridays once settled in)

Boonville (had the fun of visiting again recently and reliving summer of 2020)

Breakfast Burritos (added Parry Gripp's breakfast burrito, burrito van, backpack full of burritos)

Buckinghams (closed in CoMo, moving away, but still bummed)

Buying a home (trying to keep track of all the "moving pieces", HA! pun intended)

CC's (would like to go there one last time before moving)

Chickens (first time having live animals in our backyard)

Christ Church Leavenworth (excited to join)

Communion (excited for all kids once baptized to participate)

Confession (have really enjoyed and looked forward to weekly cadence)

Couchechism (need to revisit regular implementation)

Dahl, Roald (recently read through most of his catalog, really enjoyed autobiography)

Dinner ditties/bell (having fun growing this tradition and adding more songs)

Doug Responds (kids enjoying Doug interacting with online content)

Doug TenNapel (getting back into reading with kids)

DV (will strangely miss chicken that turned out to be rooster, poor guy)

Eggs (excited for chickens to begin producing)

Eyebrows (developed odd habit/tick of pulling eyebrow hair: needs to stop!)

Eyes (everyone sans Rocco, Lissy, and Ophelia now have glasses)

Failure (feeling the weight of this lately: as a man, husband, son, father, etc...)

Family movie night (maybe move to Saturday night to help Monday am out?)

Father (excited to follow men I want to be like in Leavenworth)

Fatherlessness (read Psalm 27:10 recently and was struck by the sentiment)

Father Brown (enjoying listening to some of these Chesterton stories)

Fifteen Years (wedding anniversary coming up in August!)

Fight Laugh Feast Conference (waiting to see details about Fall Conference)

G.I. Joe (began watching carton with kids)

G.I. Joe's (boys purchased some action figures off Ebay recently)

Going Solo (Dahl bio I recommended to Atticus, he read and loved it)

Handpies (love pecan ones from Amish on Saturdays)

Headaches (been free of any serious ones for a couple months now!)

House selling (glad it went quickly, but it always expensive)

House hunting (hard trying to imagine a new home... again)

Inheritance (want to live long enough to secure inheritance for my children's children)

Intermittent Fasting (3 1/2 yrs in and still my diet plan sans Sunday - Christian Warrior Diet!)

Internet (excited for faster speeds for similar prices)

It's Good To Be A Man (reading with Josh M.)

Jared Longshore (enjoying his YouTube video blogs, excited to see at FLF and CCL in Oct)

Kansas (will be the 3rd state I've lived in - SD as a kid would be 4th, but never home address)

Kansas City (nearness will be nice for things like IKEA, but not so nice for things like KC)

Latin and Logic (have big kids study on their own this upcoming year?)

Leavenworth (new hometown)

Little House on the Prairie (recently reread each of these childhood classics)

LOTR (re-reading, got owned by Lydia Spratt: need to get in better Tolkien shape)

Membership (excited to be a member of a church I am excited about: it's been a while)

Milk (wondering what we'll do without access to the Amish)

Money (moving is expensive, praying for provision)

Monkey pox (not a thing: monkeyshine! somehow less of a thing than Fauxvid)

Morning and Evening (rereading Spurgeon's excellent devo)

Morning walks (need to get back into that habit)

Move (i'm always baffled by the amount of stuff to move from one place to another)

Narnia (fun to be back in that world for Story Club)

Ophelia Belle (is over 1/2 a year old now!!! no settled nickname yet)

Open (good to have permanent remote and field trip info all out in the open w/ Shelter)

Paedobaptism (theology comes out your fingertips.... and faucets)

Pet (someday? someday soon? can't believe I'm even considering it)

Postmillitant (over 1,100 followers on IG, posting 4x per day prior to pushing pause)

Postmillitant (on pause: considering if, when, and how to go fwd... or not)

Presbyterianism (full send: I am Presbyterian)

Proverb of the Day (still drawing pictures for Atticus to copy each night)

Psalms (have learned several this year and am excited to learn more!)

Psalm Sings (looking fwd to these in LVKS on the second Friday each month)

Puberty (oldest two kids turning from big kids to young adults)

Queer (how did odd become advertised as "normal"?)

Quirky (homeschool kids are weird? really, have ya seen public school kids lately?)

Redeemer Presbyterian (grateful for the good fit in between Anthem and CCL)

Remodeling (considering older house in need of some TLC)

Remote work (still loving it. a huge blessing that came out of panicdemic)

Rally (excited for Knoxville in October after FLF x2 and Grace Agenda last year)

Roe v. Wade (overturned during pride month, God is kind and funny like that)

Sabbath (continuing to refine and add to Lord's Day celebration)

Saturday Dadurday (continuing breakfast burritos/coffee and Cash in the am)

Saturday night (maybe move big feast to Sat pm?)

Shutting up (been working on saying less and listening more)

Skillet cds (checked out from library and kids LOVE them!!!)

Skillet (see in concert at Hills Alive or State Fair?)

State Fair (go to Iowa to see this year?)

St, Georges's Day (was fun adding this for first time to calendar)

St. Giles (excited to see CCL get this off the ground this Fall)

Stop motion (Atticus and Finneas have filled the laptop with projects)

Sword and Song (Postmill daily devo I'm slowly chipping away at making)

Teenagers (praying for growing skill to match growing kids)

Temper (been having greater struggle in keeping cool)

Tension (trying to juggle too much produces more anxiety than it's worth)

Think on These Things (reading this devo with Atticus)

Transit (would love to get medium ceiling 15 pass Transit at some point)

Under authority (excited to be under authority of good, godly men at CCL)

Vacation (would like to take one, but don't know when or how to afford)

Vacation Time (need to use some by September, but don't know when or for what)

Van (still chugging along, but still drives funny, still keeping eye out for a Transit)

Waiting (after a long time coming, we're moving, wonder what we'll wait for next?)

Weight (gained some lbs. with Paige being pregnant)

Work (Shelter approved permanent remote work and move)

WSC songs (really enjoying Brian Sauve's WSC 1-10 set to music)

Xpenses (may be entering season of more closely watched spending)

Yeoman (a man holding and cultivating a small landed estate; a freeholder #lifegoals)

Zzzz's (been sleeping til 7:45, but still often tired it seems)