day no. 16,109: you are shaped by what you make

2 Kings 17:15

They went after false idols and became false.

You become what you behold.

You realize what you run after.

Psalm 135:15-18

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see;

they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.

Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.

You are shaped by what you make.

You are formed by what you place your faith in.

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

When you make the glory of God the Father your goal, you grow in the Son by the power of the Spirit.

Everything is going somewhere, and sooner or later it's going to get there.

Everyone is becoming something, and sooner or later is going to be it.

day no. 16,108: sometimes it seems

"My mistake was what Pascal, if I remember rightly, calls 'Error of Stoicism': thinking we can do always what we can do sometimes." -- C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm

We sometimes forget that we cannot always do what we have only done sometimes. We tend to misremember ourselves and believe that we could do at any time anything we have been able to once before. Sometimes it seems our sometimes could be always.

Pelagianism is our default.

We trust our ability to do whatever we want to do, whenever we feel like doing it. But our wills are not at our disposal and we can't often make ourselves feel like doing anything. Our feels, rather, often try to make us do something. They do not simply do what we ask or want . They do not even do what we sometimes wish they did.

Having done something once upon a time is no guarantee you can do it again at this moment or will be able to do it sometime in the future.

day no. 16,107: the how and the Who

Exodus 20:1-6

And God spake all these words, saying,

"I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

God commands the HOW as well as the WHO when it comes to worship.

The first commandment states WHO.

The second commandment states HOW.

In other words, God commands that we worship Him alone as Lord and Savior. So far, so good. You are not permitted to worship anyone or anything else other than Him.

But you cannot fashion for yourself something to worship and justify it by calling it God. You cannot mold a golden calf, call it YHWH, and expect the God and Creator of heaven and earth to receive that kind of worship.

Worship is not just about WHO we're honoring, but HOW we're doing it. If you love another, you forsake the Lord. If you love Him by doing something He hates, you forsake the Lord, even if you address the card to Him.

God has not been unclear about WHO He is and HOW He is to be approached.

John 14:6

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.

day no. 16,106: images of images

"The meanest man that can be is a more excellent image of God than all the images of God or of the saints devised by men." -- Wiliam Perkins, A Reformed Catholic

The worst man alive is a better image of God than the best sculpture of a man ever produced. The image of God is better captured by an ugly man in the flesh than by a beautiful saint captured in marble. 

Genesis 1:26-27

And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

The most complete image of God is a man and women together, but even separately they are better images of God than the best portraits of a married couple.

Exodus 20:4

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Man is the image of God hand-crafted by God Himself. Images of man are copies of a copy and we all know how that trajectory works. Not only are images of men copies of a copy, but they are completed by human hands, not divine ones. So, the source is less genuine and the artist less competent. 

Romans 1:

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

The reflection of a reflection is two steps removed from the substance. And the more wicked and distorted the desires, the stronger the preference for copies of copies and reflections embedded in reflection and the more allergic to purity they become.

day no. 16,105: the God of all comfort

"The true consolations of religion are not rosy and cozy, but comforting in the true meaning of that word: com-fort: with strength. Strength to go on living." -- C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

I heard this other day* while walking and listening to the audiobook. "Comfort" means with strength. I thought about it and broke down the word: "com" means "with," and "fort" is presumably short for "fortitude." I had never seen that before and the thought shed new light on what I consider comfort to be. I had a similar experience at one point with the word "encourage," when I realize it literally meant "to put courage into." Sometimes you can be so familiar with a word that you fail to see the pieces that comprise it.

So all that to say, to comfort someone is to inspire fortitude in them; and to be comforted is to be fortified. Fortitude is courage in pain or through adversity. To be comforted is to be encouraged. It is to breath life and strength out where death and weakness fill the atmosphere.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

Those who are hurting or in pain do not need our empathy. They don't need us to feel sorry for them. And if they want us to feel sorry for them, we shouldn't. It doesn't help them and it may hurt us. Sympathy does not surrender its strength in order to love the weak, it leverages its position to genuinely assist the hurting. The steady hand does not help the shaking one by shaking it, but by firmly grasping it and saying, "It's going to be okay." The sound mind does not assist the shaken one by entering into the stupor of the other, but by speaking soundness into the swirl. To comfort is to share your strength, not to abandon it. To comfort is to give something you have to someone who desperately needs it. The desperate do not need us to become like them, they need us to be willing to employ our momentary resilience for their benefit.

Psalm 71:21

Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side

God comforts because He is strong. He can offer you help because He is not tossed in the same boat as you are. He is an anchor inside the boat. He is there with you, but not tossed like you. He doesn't enter into the storm as another on the verge of drowning, but as one who can walk on water or calm the waves. Comfort is infusing fortitude into another. God is the God of all comfort because He is all powerful. Rest assured, no situation is beyond His control and His supply of strength is unlimited.

"We all try to accept with some sort of submission our afflictions when they actually arrive. But the prayer in Gethsemane shows that the preceding anxiety is equally God's will and equally part of our human destiny. The perfect Man experienced it. And the servant is not greater than the master. We are Christians, not Stoics. We are told that an angel appeared 'comforting' him. But neither comforting in Sixteenth Century English nor [Greek: ennischyon] in Greek means "consoling". "Strengthening" is more the word. May not the strengthening have consisted in the renewed certainty -- cold comfort this -- that the thing must be endured and therefore could be?"

-- C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm

The thing must be endured and therefore it can be.

Psalm 119:50

This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

God's Word gives life. It quickens the dying soul and enlivens the languishing spirit. In your affliction, reach out to Him. When others are hurting, draw on Him in order to have something to give to them. True comfort is not simply sweet sounding words, but words that empower the hurting one to endure. Sweet sounding words may actually prolong the pain by making it more enjoyable. Fortitude is not merely feeling better about one's self or situation, but feeling faithfully determined to see it through by grace and by grit regardless of what happens.

“In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth -- only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

*7/27/21 at 3:30p

day no. 16,104: all the small things

Zechariah 4:10

For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice.

Small bites eat an entire meal. Small steps walk the entire distance. Small seeds lead to large plants. Everything begins somewhere. Do not neglect or overlook the good work of small deeds done faithfully. The fat and sassy get struck down whereas the small and faith-filled are raised up. Do not lose sight of the problems of bigness when considering those of smallness.

"When you are small and vulnerable, you trust in God because you know that you have to. When you grow big, and slick, and professional, you know what happens to Jeshurun, don’t you? Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked (Dt. 32:15)" -- Douglas Wilson, The Christian Imagination

So, do the good work before you today, regardless of how small. Little faith can see the potential of largeness, but a great heart is required to submit to small things for Christ's sake.

2 King 5:13

And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, 'Wash, and be clean?'"

We are often prepared to make great gestures and just as often offended at being asked to do so little. But great things are not often being asked of us. Great things are prepared for us and will be obtained by small acts of simple obedience.

day no. 16,103: don't call it something you're not willing to treat is as

"To be all bark and no bite is a good way to bring the authority of the pulpit into disrepute. Don’t call it something you are not willing to treat it as. But the balance here should be determined exegetically, and not by a pragmatic cowardice." -- Douglas Wilson, Eleven Theses on Birth Control

Do not call something a name more aggressive than you're willing to treat is as and don't make your willingness to treat that way subject to the tenacity of your courage, but rather to the clarity of God's Word. In other words, do not adhere to the principle by being an honest coward. Do not avoid hypocrisy by becoming a pansy.

Additionally, do not borrow your definitions of what you call something from the world. If God calls it, "sin," that is what you must also call it -- even if the world calls it, "enlightened," and you a "troglodyte." And if the world calls something a "sin" that God calls "righteous," you must not subscribe to their dictionary. You must agree with God. Your words must be His Word. His dictations are our definitions.

The word "confess" comes from the Greek word homologeo, meaning "same words." In other words, confessing is using the same words for what's going on as God would use. Our words are derivative and God's are substantive. He is the Word and the origin. Our words must be received from Him and we must refuse the temptation to be editors.

Deuteronomy 4:2

You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you 

Deuteronomy 12:32

Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take anything away from it.

Proverbs 30:5-6

Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Revelation 22:18-19

I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

day no. 16,102: off-the-rack idiocy

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity” - Hanlon’s Razor

Much of what we assume others are doing on purpose in order to be hurtful is actually just them being stupid by accident. In assuming it is malice, we assume it is a sin and as such that they owe an apology to us and a repentant prayer to God. This justifies our feelings of anger and hostility better than discovering that the evil genius who hurt us is just a run-of-the-mill, off-the-rack, regular ol' idiot.

“A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.” - Carlo Cipolla, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

So, a stupid person may still hurt you, but not for the reasons that you thought. It wasn’t for personal gain or to see you get hurt that they did what they did or said what they said; they’re just stupid. They hurt themselves and others because they're foolish. They cut their own fingers as they cut others with the sharp objects they picked up for no apparent reason.

Proverbs 28:16

The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor.

Those who don't know what they're doing often oppress others and the more power that they have access to, the greater the oppression that they can cause. They say that hurt people hurt people, but it's just as often the case that stupid people are the ones hurting people. And that;s not even taking into consideration the stupid, hurt people who cannot help be wreak havoc wherever they wobble. And since stupid people are an inescapable reality, the best we can do is to keep them from positions of power where their stupidity is amplified.

"When a society is blessed, it is not because the stupid have been exiled, but rather because they have been cordoned off. They have been outmaneuvered. They are not in a position to make authoritative decisions." -- Doug Wilson, Budgeting for Stupidity

day no. 16,101: gotta serve somebody

Genesis 3:15

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

He shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise His heel.

Christ is inescapable. You will either worship Him or be at war with Him, but you cannot avoid Him. There is no skirting Him. There are no Christ dodgers. Everything is caught up into Him and must reckon with Him one way or the other.

1 Corinthians 15:27-28

For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Enmity is thus an inescapable reality. God has placed enmity between the seed of Eve, His Son, Jesus Christ and the seed of the serpent and all things. like the skull of the snake, will end up under His feet. Some will volunteer while others will be forced under. But either way, you were born into this war and you will have to enlist. There are no spectators. Everyone gets fitted out for one of two uniforms.

“But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes

Indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But you're gonna have to serve somebody”

- Bob Dylan, Gotta Serve Somebody

You cannot opt out or unsubscribe. You're going to have to serve somebody.

day no. 16,100: propagation, not propaganda

“Where the old initiated, the new merely ‘conditions’. The old dealt with its pupils as grown birds deal with young birds when they teach them to fly; the new deals with them more as the poultry-keeper deals with young birds— making them thus or thus for purposes of which the birds know nothing. in a word, the old was a kind of propagation—men transmitting manhood to men; the new is merely propaganda.” — C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

Christian education is discipleship. It calls the entire person into the covenant. It shapes affections and intentions and casts vision and provides purpose. It infuses culture and tradition into character formation that quickens the affections and broadens the creative capacities of gratitude and ingenuity for the love of God and neighbor and the increase of His glory and their good. It is Christians making disciples of all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded. It is a bird who knows how to fly teaching a chick the joy of heights.

Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Titus 2:3-5

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

day no. 16,099: grace and mercy imputed

"The mystery of sanctification is that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to me, not gradually, but instantly when by faith I enter into the realisation that Jesus Christ is made unto me sanctification. Sanctification does not mean anything less than the holiness of Jesus being made mine manifestly." -- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Grace is getting something good that you did not deserve.

Mercy is not getting something bad that you did deserve.

Grace imputes righteousness to us;

Mercy imputes wickedness to Christ.

God’s grace gives us Christ’s righteous reward.

His mercy gives Christ our due punishment.

God doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, but He must treat our sins as our sins deserve.

Thus, He put our sins on His Son and put His Son's righteousness on us.

Grace imparts sanctification;

Mercy imparts substitution.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

-- Augustus Toplady, Rock of Ages

day no. 16,098: daily bread and eternal life

"We are taught to pray in this manner, 'Give us this day our daily bread' (Matt. 6:11). Wherein we acknowledge every morsel of bread to be the mere gift of God without desert; and therefore, must we much more acknowledge life eternal to be every way the gift of God. It must needs therefore be a satanical insolency for any man to imagine that he can by his works merit eternal life, who cannot merit bread." -- William Perkins, A Reformed Catholic

We are commanded to ask God for daily grace of good food to eat. If we must receive what daily sustains us, how could we expect to merit that which eternally saves us? If wages cannot be depended upon to provide daily bread, how can they be trusted in to procure eternal life?

His will be done

His kingdom come

On earth as is above

Who is Himself our daily bread

Praise Him the Lord of love

Let living water satisfy

The thirsty without price

We'll take a cup of kindness yet

All glory be to Christ!

All glory be to Christ our king!

All glory be to Christ!

His rule and reign will ever sing

All glory be to Christ!

-- King's Kaleidoscope, All Glory Be to Christ

Jesus is our daily bread. And He is a gift from God to us. We could not deserve Him. We can only receive Him. He sustains us today like He did yesterday and He will again tomorrow until His return and into eternity, world without end, kingdom come, amen.

In the meantime, we work hard not to gain grace but to glorify the One who has already given it.

Titus 3:5-8

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people

day no. 16,097: education is the cultivation of just sentiments

Psalm 34:8

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good

Education is the cultivation of just sentiments.

“Famished nature will be avenged and a hard heart is no infallible protection against a soft head.” — C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

If your affections are out of order, you don’t repent by becoming unaffectionate. You can’t live that way. You cannot refuse to care. You cannot not love. If you try, you will find that you are zealous about not caring or passionately committed to debunking the outlandish affections of others.

The solution to a wild heart is not a hard heart, but a heart transplant.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

We don't need no loves, we need better ones. We don't need no heart, but new ones.

Ephesians 6:4 (ESV, KJV)

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord... And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Fathers are to nourish their children in the way of the Lord. They are to feed their children’s souls and fill them with good things. Discipline is not merely corrective, but instructive. It doesn't merely show you what you did wrong, but show you what's good and true and beautiful and works hard to steer your affections towards that which merits them and to provide as many examples as possible in persuading and training the palate. God deserves our love and it is our duty to teach our children to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

day no. 16,096: eating the feast or eating crow?

“If you are loyal to anything and wish to preserve it, you must recognise that it has or might have enemies; and you must hope that the enemies will fall.” -- G.K. Chesterton

It is not wrong to hope that your enemies fail. In fact, it would be wrong to not hope for their failure. In order to love and be loyal to anything, you have to hate anything that would come against it.

Enemies are inescapable. It is not a matter of IF you will have enemies, but rather a matter of WHICH they will be. And it is the same for whoever or whatever you love. It will be opposed by something. And if you decide to love and be loyal to it, you must assume the enemies of your beloved.

Psalm 23:5

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

The guest list may include your enemies, but the table does not. God differentiates between those invited to eat the feast and those invited to eat crow.

Psalm 54:5

Behold, God is my helper;

The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.

He will pay back the evil to my enemies;

Destroy them in Your faithfulness.

God's faithfulness requires Him to be opposed to His beloved's enemies. Our faithfulness to Him requires us to be opposed to our Beloved's enemies. You cannot be friendly with evil and friends with God.

James 4:4

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

day no. 16,095: lonesome dove's epigraph

"All America lies at the end of the wilderness road, and our past is not a dead past, but still lives in us. Our forefathers had civilization inside themselves, the wild outside. We live in the civilization they created, but within us the wilderness still lingers. What they dreamed, we live, and what they lived, we dream.” —T. K. Whipple, Study Out the Land

Pioneers cut America out of the wilderness. A garden was cultivated out of the weeds. There were trees to cut down, rivers to cross, houses to build, wells to dig, land to plow, animals to tame, roads to pave, and culture to build.

As Doug Wilson has said, "There was plenty of work and no jobs." Jobs are provided by those who've already put in the work. Work comes first, jobs come later. Plowing precedes produce. 

Americans come from a race of trailblazers. Wilderness was in desperate need of man's dominion. Civilization lived within and was imposed upon the wilderness without. We are the descendants of their devotion and the benefactors of their backbones.

Their DNA still runs through our veins though it is often choked out by weeds. It remains in seed form though buried under an avalanche of entitlement and a cluster of conveniences.

May we again rise up and make things. May we subdue our surroundings, but first by the grace of God may we domesticate the wilderness that has grown up inside of us. May we exercise dominion in seeing to it that the garden of God first be planted internally and then by His strength may we see it externally again spread throughout the land, felling the forest of self-indulgence and erecting the standard of sacrifice and civility. Amen.

James 1:21

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

day no. 16,094: let us now try liberty!

"Let Us Now Try Liberty. God has given to men all that is necessary for them to accomplish their destinies. He has provided a social form as well as a human form. And these social organs of persons are so constituted that they will develop themselves harmoniously in the clean air of liberty. Away, then, with quacks and organizers! Away with their rings, chains, hooks, and pincers! Away with their artificial systems! Away with the whims of governmental administrators, their socialized projects, their centralization, their tariffs, their government schools, their state religions, their free credit, their bank monopolies, their regulations, their restrictions, their equalization by taxation, and their pious moralizations! And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Frederic Bastiat, The Law

Negative rights are those given to us directly by God. They originate in Him and are upheld and secured directly by Him. Thus nothing is required of anyone else in order to bring them into existence or guarantee their persistence.

Governments are created by free men to secure freedoms they already have. Liberty precedes limited government. Governments do not give men anything. They exist to ensure men are guaranteed to keep what they already have. So, governments themselves are subsequent to God-given rights. In other words, governments exists only because rights already do.

Big government is faith in human ingenuity. Mind you, it is only faith by a few in a few for the sake of what they imagine to be a large, unruly, undisciplined population. They presume most people won't do the right thing so it's their rare duty to force them to do what they ought. Now this presumption isn't wrong, but it is only right by half. The legislators fail to count themselves among those who don't know what's best for them and thus presume a divine ability to be different than all other people. They are self-proclaimed demi-gods and thus have the approval of their own consciences when they treat other people like machines to be tweaked instead of souls to be respected.

Government God's way requires faith. It requires government to limit itself because its God is unlimited. It requires men to be free because in Christ they are bound. It requires everyone to resist the urge to insist that the world would be a better place if they were in charge. It wouldn't and they never will be. God rules and reigns and has it under control. Faith is required to live in that reality.

Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

day no. 16,093: positive rights prevent charity

The following thought was provoked by re-listening to Frederic Bastiat's The Law. 

Highly Recommend.

Since positive rights are made by men with limited capacities, they must force other men to pay for them to continue to exist. In other words, if someone stops doing something or paying for it, the “right” simply evaporates.

Exacting money from all in order to redistribute it to some makes it impossible to credit anyone with charity. Forced gifts are not a product of generosity. Thus, these kind of "rights" prohibit charity by definition, eliminating it as an option. They turn what could have been sacrifice and selflessness into taxation and resentment.

Furthermore, the more “charitable” the government becomes, the more it takes away and the less is left for anyone to actually give of their own accord to their duties to immediate family. Forced charity leaves nothing left to charitably give unforced to one's neighbor.

In other words, Socialism is satanic. It eliminates charity and guarantees envy by creating disparities anchored in policies requiring all to contribute to what benefits only a few. It does as a government what would be illegal as an individual to do to another.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

day no. 16,092: positive rights produce slavery

The following thought was provoked by re-listening to Frederic Bastiat's The Law. 

Highly Recommend.

Positive rights are those produces by legislation. They do not exist until they are created. And once created, they require someone to do something in order for them to continue to exist.

For example, Affordable Health Care. This does not, by nature, exist as a right. It can only be made a right by passing legislation which in its creative power says, "thus," and expects it to be and in it's being brought forth, to be very good.

When positive rights are created, it requires people and systems to be set up in order to execute everything in keeping it. E.g. Someone has to provide the health care, someone has to provide the machinery and medicines required to provide the care, someone has to secure and sustain the locations that adequately provide access for all to exercise their rights, someone has to pay for the equipment, electricity, and property taxes to keep it all going, someone has to pay the personnel or someone has to do it for free. All that to say, many people are now obligated to either directly provide or pay for all the services required in order to guarantee the newly minted right.  In other words, many are enslaved to ensure a positive right.

Rights that do not originate with and from God can only be guaranteed by limited beings by enslaving other limited beings. But the law of the Lord does not enslave, it sets free. It secures liberty. Where the Spirit is, there is freedom. Government exists to insist on these freedoms and liberties remaining as such by punishing those who would violate these God-given rights of life, liberty and property. Government should not be in the business of minting more "rights," mainly because it shouldn't, but secondarily because it can't.

Romans 13:2-4

Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

day no. 16,091: all tail and no teeth

"The armed forces recruited from a welfare state tend to lose initiative. Too luxurious a standard of living results in their becoming all tail and no teeth." -- Sir John Glubb, The Search for Survival

"The tooth-to-tail ratio (T3R), in military jargon, is the amount of military personnel it takes to supply and support ('tail') each combat soldier ('tooth'). While both 'tooth' and 'tail' soldiers may find themselves in combat or other life-threatening situations, 'tooth' soldiers are those whose primary function is to engage in combat. The ratio is not a specific measure but rather a general indication of an army's actual military might in relation to the resources it devotes to supply, upkeep, and logistics." -- Tooth-to-Tail Ratio 

Decadence leads to decline.

Indulgence produces indolence. 

Sloth slides into insolence.

But... by the grace of God, tails can become swords and the soft can become sharp. 

Isaiah 41:14-15

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

Deuteronomy 28:13

And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

May God have mercy and make it so.

Amen.

day no. 16,090: we are saved by God's giving

"No sinner was ever saved by giving his heart to God. We are not saved by our giving, we are saved by God's giving." -- A.W. Pink

God isn't in need and willing to save those who contribute to His campaign.

God doesn't lack.

God doesn't want anything we have and willing to save those who are willing to part with it.

God doesn't covet.

We are not saved by giving God something.

We are saved because God gave something.

We are not saved by giving Him everything.

We are saved because God, in Christ, gave us everything.

day no. 16,089: do what's right in front of you

Do what’s right.

Christians desire to do what is right and should, therefore make the effort to discern right from wrong.

Hebrews 5:14

Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil.

Do what’s in front of you.

God calls us to be where we're at, not where we are not. He calls us to serve where we are, not where we should be. We are not called to be righteous in the hypothetical future. We are called to be righteous in the very present tense and circumstance.

Do what’s right in front of you.

All that to say, do what is right by God's eternal standards in your current situation. Wherever you are, do what's right. Don't look to do right where you aren't. 

Be right where you are and do right where you are.

day no. 16,088: clarity is kindness

"Clarity is kindness." -- Paige Van Voorst

I will grant you that being intentionally vague for the sake of sparing someone's feelings may be well-intentioned in one sense, if you will grant me that it is also ill-intentioned in another.

To know what is true and say something else is what they used to call "lying." 

"Beware the flatterer." -- John Bunyan, Pligrim's Progress

Kindness requires clear words. Cloudiness leaves people perhaps feeling okay, but it also often leaves many unanswered questions loitering around. It's nice to feel nice, but it's not kind to make someone feel something that is out of sync with reality so that you can spare yourself the discomfort of being responsible for them feeling less than nice.

Clear instruction is kindness. Vague sentiments make it impossible to discern the commander's intent and leaves those, especially the ones eager to please, unclear as to how to obey. 

Communicating clearly is loving kindness to those who look up to you.

day no. 16,087: the right kind of wrong

“To be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men.” -- A.W. Tozer

God grant us to be the kind of men who get into the right kind of trouble with plates dished up with plenty of the right kind of wrong.

Acts 5:29

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

To be in trouble with men is sometimes required in order to be in favor with God.

2 Timothy 3:12

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

The ungodly will always take offense to the godly, even attempting to bully the godly into being less so by their reminders of how unloving it is to make the ungodly feel so badly about their ungodliness.

Matthew 5:10-12

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

They don't make up stories about what you said if you're not saying anything and they don't target your words to twist unless they suspect your words, if heard rightly, may shake things up for them.

day no. 16,086: all men are male, not all males are men

"All men may be males, but all males are not men." -- Penelope Van Voorst (7/15/21)

No, this isn’t some postmodern, woke soft serve. This is not a statement of gender fluidity. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. This is a statement of gender rigidity. Masculine hardness to be more specific.

1 Corinthians 16:13

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

When Paul exhorts the Corinthians to “act like men,” he is presupposing a standard. He had in mind a definition of a man and he is calling the Corinthians to aim at that understood target. He asks, in essence, “What would a man do?” with the rhetorical admonition attached in exhorting, “Do that!”

Being a man means something. A Y chromosome does not a man maketh. It makes you male. To be a man is more than that though it can never be less. It is aspiring to be what you ought and to know that you owe everyone your best effort to become it. Duty is what you owe to those you love. 

So, be a man. Watch! Have situational awareness. 

1 Chronicles 12:32

Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.

Be prepared.

“The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” -- Sun Tzu

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.” -- George Washington 

Stand firm. Be rigid. Be hard. God made men to be hardwood. Stand firm, deeply rooted, anchored, and nourished in the groundwork laid by God. Be hard for others, not hard on them.

Be strong. God made men strong. Use your strength for the glory of God and the good of your neighbor.

Proverbs 20:29

The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.

day no, 16,085: double trouble

“Christ in suffering obeyed, and obeying suffered.” — William Perkins, A Reformed Catholic

Jesus, in His death, took upon Himself the sin of His people for the sake of His Father after having taken upon Himself a life of perfect obedience for the sake of His people to the glory of His Father.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus left His perfect righteous reward to those who would by grace and through faith receive it and He took our utterly depraved punishment upon Himself so that He might become what He never was so that we might be what we could never become.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy wounded side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Save from wrath and make me pure

-- August Toplady, Rock of Ages

Salvation requires a double cure. We have sin that needs to be punished and we need righteousness we cannot achieve Christ accomplishes both in earning a righteous reward which He leaves as an inheritance to those who by faith receive Him and in taking the condemnation of the wicked which He assumed as His own by hanging with it on the cross.

day no. 16,084: the master and margarita, round two

Last evening (7/14/21), I completed my second time through Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. The LAST TIME was about 9 years ago when I was still commuting 2 hrs a day from Story City to Des Moines. About a decade later and I'm still not entirely sure what I just read... again. It's interesting, quirky, hard to follow, very Russian, entertaining, well-written, and more.

There are some sections that slog along and some that fly by due to intrigue. All in all, it's a decent read. Not one I would strongly recommend, but one I would enjoy discussing with someone who has read it. If you're not an avid reader, this isn't the book for you. There are better books if you're only reading every so often.

First of all, it's long and will discourage you by that fact from the git go and there are sections that definitely feel long and that will likely put the nail in the coffin if you even decide to give it a go.

If you don't like Russian literature, this isn't for you. The names and places are often a bit disorienting as the same person can go by multiple names depending on who is referring to them. But if you often make time to read and don't mind feeling a little confused at times, this may be worth tossing into the mix.

Below are some lines I found well-written or thought provoking:

“But what can be done, the one who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.” ― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

Love is covenantal. It makes promises and extends loyalties. It yokes itself to the beloved and takes upon itself any debts belonging to the beloved. Love marries its destiny to that of the beloved. It binds itself to the fate of the other. It becomes one with the one it loves whether that be for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness or in health.

God so loved the world that He submitted His Son to the fate of the world so that both the world and His Son might be free from fate. The world deserved to die so God died so that the world and He along with it could rise again together. God took upon Himself the fate of the world and when those of the world by grace through faith reciprocate, it shares in the fate of the Beloved by being made fit for eternal joy.

“Cowardice is the most terrible of vices.” ― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

C.S. Lewis famously pointed out that courage was the sine qua non of all virtue. Bulgakov here states the photo negative of that reality by pointing out that cowardice provides the groundwork for all vice. In all vice, cowardice is present, just as in all virtue, courage must be.

Revelation 21:8

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

Cowardice is a sin deserving everlasting death.

“Yes, man is mortal, but that would be only half the trouble. The worst of it is that he's sometimes unexpectedly mortal—there's the trick!” ― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

This wordsmithing caught my ear the first time around as well. Although in the translation I read it was worded like this...

“It has rightly been said, ‘Man is mortal.’ And sometimes suddenly so.” ― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

I love that wordplay. Being mortal isn't our biggest problem -- being suddenly mortal is. Knowing that you're going to die someday is a bummer, but discovering yourself to be dying this very instant, all of a sudden, is a bigger bummer. To be mortal is to know you will one day die. To be unexpectedly mortal is be dying, like right now. We all get the heads up that it is somewhere in the future, but for most there is little heads up as to when the future is today.

Hebrews 3:13-15

But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; While it is said, "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation."

day no. 16,083: rocketsauce on the sevens

Happy SEVENTH Birthday, Rocco!!!

You are a great kid. I love being your dad. You are my youngest son and yet you play older brother to three of my daughters. And you are a good big brother. You love Ophelia and look out for her. You don't make trouble for anyone who doesn't deserve it and don't look for trouble, but welcome it warmly enough when it comes looking for you. 

You are solid. You are not named rocky for nothing. You are firm and solid and resolute. You are not easily shaken or dissuaded. But you are also very compliant. You are not a tough kid in the sense of making life difficult, but you are a tough kid in the sense that you make it difficult for others to rattle you.

That said, you care. You think about what people say and consider it. You are not an unfeeling rock of a man, but a meek man of mettle. You are strong, but under control. You are not strong because you don't care, but strong because you do without being tossed to and fro.

You like to mix things up. You frequently follow Finneas around, but don't often lag too far behind despite the fact that he has several years and inches on you. Because your older brothers are also bigger and taller than you, you often get yourself, quite literally, in over your head; but because you're a tough nut to crack, you don't let it keep you from the fray.

You taught yourself to ride bike recently. You found a slab of concrete at the Spratt's house and took it upon yourself to learn. Now you can be found pedaling up and down the street when the weather permits. When you're not biking, you're skateboarding. Either way, you like scooting around and haven't let a tumble or two keep your from getting back up and at it.

You don't take yourself too seriously and can be silly and have fun without feeling insecure. You can wear a bow tie and dance without worrying what it looks like. You can wear a dinosaur mask while sitting through read-a-louds because you don't mind. 

You are good at being a boy. You enjoy it and you're good at it. It's fun to watch.

As much get up and go as you have, you do power down, eventually. You live hard and sleep hard. You often fall asleep on the floor during Story Club, giving me the privilege of carrying you down stairs and tucking you into bed. I know these days won't last forever, but they are fun while they last.

You are smart. You pick up on things easily and make sense of things quickly. You ask good questions and are thoughtful. You turn things over in your mind and take your turn in sharing them. You don't overshare, but you aren't a closed book either. You are happy to talk about you're thinking about, but also to sit back and think some more about it if everyone else is already talking.

You are polite. You wait your turn. You knock before entering into a room with a closed door. You ask, "May I?" instead of "Can I?" You're a good kid. You're easy to like. You are well loved by others as well and are often a fan favorite with other families.

You are also funny. You have a good sense of humor and frequently make hilarious observations. Sometimes you know you're being funny and other times you're funny without knowing it, but you're always a joy to be around.

I love being your dad and like being around you. I thank God for these days that I get to spend so much time with you. You are growing in your faith and faithfulness. You love God and take His Word seriously. You do your best to sing the songs and listen to the sermons on Sundays. You like church and you love your Lord. You often pray at night to marry a good and godly woman and to be able to teach your kids about the Gospel someday. You also pray that you'll get to drive a dump truck. I hope all those prayers come true. The world could use more men like that.

May you be a cannonball for the Kingdom of Christ, destroying demonic strongholds and carrying off captives from Christ from every corner. May you, like the cannonball, change the shape of the world around you without being shaped by it. 

I love you, Rocco. Always have. Always will. You are my son and you are my brother in Christ. I love getting to share meals you every evening and sharing communion with you every Lord's Day.

Happy Birthday, Rocco. You were so good at being a 6 year old boy, you've been promoted to being a 7 year old boy. I can't wait to see what God has in store for you this year.

Love, Dad.

day no. 16,082: the green initiative

Psalm 69:4

More in number than the hairs of my head

are those who hate me without cause; 

mighty are those who would destroy me,

those who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal must I now restore?

The envy-driven, social justice grievance machine is not a new manifestation. Hating others without cause and demanding reparations from those who have taken nothing is nothing new.

This is the destructive power and presence of envy. It lies, cheats, accuses, demands, destroys, and doesn't apologize for any of it. It is built on covetousness. It refuses to be content with anything it possesses. It doesn't merely want what the other has, but wants them to be deprived of it. It doesn't want equal treatment, it demands equal results. It prefers to share destitution to unequal distribution. It nicks the tops off of any that end up a head above the rest and insists that the remaining stalks begin nicking themselves. It would rather have everyone equally destitute than allow any to prosper to different degrees.

It is evil, wicked, and depraved and it cannot go on forever. It is unsustainable (ironically enough). The green initiative fails every time. Envy is a pyrrhic achievement. If it wins, it loses. It is a snake eating its own tail. And as it devours, it disappears.

day no. 16,081: together, we stand.

Philippians 1:27-28

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.

My friend, Josiah, made this comment regarding these verses,

"The church and its members should be of one accord not just on what is written in scripture but what it means in the world. How the scripture should bleed out of our fingers and not just our tongues. This means we should be on one accord of how to raise children, how to spend money, how to vote, how to act in the workplace, what to say no to, and what to say yes to. And within all of these topics, Standing firm against our adversary, not backing down to the culture or the activists or the local principalities pressure."

Pharaoh feared a family. Jacob came to Egypt a family of seventy and several centuries later numbered in the millions. But Pharaoh didn't merely fear them because of their size, but because they were a unified block that size: one God, one tradition, one history, one vision, one sense of identity, etc... In other words, it meant something to be an Israelite. It meant something to be from those who came from Jacob. To be an Israelite said something about your diet, your finances, your service, your marriage, your child-rearing, and so on.

"Men who raise families that remain in fidelity to tradition will end up with descendants ruling the world.” – E.H. Looney

We could certainly benefit from more continuity in what it means to be Christian. There is room for diversity under the unity of Christianity in one respect, but what it means to be a Christian in the first place must be fully agreed upon and adhered to in faith and in practice. When that happens, we will get to enjoy the diversity of the parts which can flourish in that kind of unity. My kidneys are no more or less Todd than my biceps, but they are very different in form and function; but not so different that one is Todd's and the other is someone else's. It means something that they are mine. It means something to be my organs, but it also means something that each organ is not identical.

1 Corinthians 12:12

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

day no. 16,080: brake for conventions, keep with commandments

“This man's spiritual power has been precisely this, that he has distinguished between custom and creed. He has broken the conventions, but he has kept the commandments.” -- G.K. Chesterton, Manalive

Question convention, keep the commandments.

Discernment requires one to question that which does not find its origin and source in the one, true, eternal, Triune, Christian God. This does not mean a whole-hearted rejection of any and all convention, but rather a consideration and standard to be applied to any and all convention. Either your conventions will be measured by the Commandments or the Commandments will be measured by your conventions. And it bodes well here to be reminded just how much God despises false weights and measures. (Lev. 19:35-37, Pr. 11:1, 20:10, 20:23)

The commandments of God, however, should be kept. They don't require one to keep them unquestioningly, but they do insist that one keeps them while they ask their questions. If an instruction is given, it must be obeyed. The reasoning for it can be inquired of while one is in the act of obeying, but one cannot wait to obey or delay compliance until a sufficient explanation is drawn out of God. It's good to remember who owes Whom what. Explanations are a grace of God to us. Obedience is our debt owed to Him.

All that to say, in matters of convention, question before you obey; in matters of commandment, obey before you question

Brake for convention, keep up with commandments.