day no. 16,321: foolish and foolesque

2 Corinthians 11:16-20

I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool. Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.

The world is in the habit of entertaining and even obeying fools. They gladly make themselves the willing slaves of silly men and submit themselves to their menus. They jump for joy into their boiling pots. They brine themselves in the hopes of being more pleasing to their devourers. They ask to be taken advantage of and are offended when they aren't invited to bend over. They have come to prefer a punch in the face from their Presidents to a pat on the back from their parents. 

This is all bad, but the the good news buried within it is that the world clearly has no issue giving favor to fools. How is this good news? They cannot simply dismiss Christianity as foolish nonsense since they gladly embrace foolish nonsense. Don't let their shade keep you from fighting in it. They cannot discount Christ by calling Him a fool when they've clearly demonstrated a desire to religiously defend the fools of their own choosing.

And since they're already in the habit of entertaining megalomaniacs, don't let their taunts of megalomania dissuade you from pushing ahead. They've already displayed more than enough compliance to incompetence to suggest that they should be open to considering the claims of omnipotence.

1 Corinthians 1:18

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

day no. 16,320: getting off scot-free

2 Corinthians 11:7

Did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge?

We are inherently skeptical of free things. The best way for a mall kiosk hair stylist to free up their day is to offer free haircuts and colorings. Free? Why? What's wrong with them? What colors are we talking about here? Are they weird haircuts?

When someone is going to great lengths to give something away for free our first reflex is often to wonder what the catch is. We wonder if it is either valueless, which is why they can afford to give it away or if it has a hidden value which the advertiser is wanting to conceal. The give away is either so worthless that the advertiser is convinced he will be better off without it or there is so much value in what they get in giving it away that the advertiser wants to convince you that you will be worse off without it. Either way, someone has to pay. And few people fail to count the costs when they are the one who is clearly absorbing one of the costs involved.

When someone hands you a free brochure or pamphlet, it is often akin to them saying, "Here, you throw this away." We don't pay special attention to it and don't lose sleep wondering where it is later that night.

Paul gave the Gospel to the Corinthians for free. He didn't charge them for it on the front end or expect reimbursement on the back end. In this section of his letter to them, he is wondering out loud if he did them a disservice in doing so. Were they mistreating the Gospel because it was free? Should he have made it more expensive? Should he have manufactured a catch in order to keep them? Of course, these questions are rhetorical in nature and there was no sin in his approach, but the snare of the Gospel for some is the fact that it is free (Romans 6:1)

Paul would rather deal with the problem of people taking it for granted than the problem of people taking it on payment installments due to its hefty price tag. The Gospel is free. Making it more expensive doesn't make it more glorious, but less. Its value is absorbed by the One who paid it all in order to give it all away. It is free to us because it cost Him everything. He paid the very last penny so that those caught by their accuser could go scot-free.

day no. 16,319: edict-ionary

"The battle (for the dictionary) is over the right to define the world” -- Douglas Wilson, Same Sex Mirage

Definitions carry with them the force of law. An edict, which is an order, is literally ex + dicere or "out of what is said/proclaimed." We get the word dictionary from the same root along with dictate, dictation, and more to our purposes, dictator.

The dictionary then can be said to be an edictionary in that whoever holds the authority to say what is and isn't an "official" definition holds the authority to define the world. The question is always "official" according to whom? Or more proverbially, "official" by what standard? Is there someone in charge of the definitions or do words become what the majority say they mean? Can a vocal minority massage the definition in a different direction? Who decides?

In a democracy, Demos gets to decide. Vox populi vox Dei, the voice of the people is the voice of God. But we don't live in the people's world, we live in God's world. People can no more decide what a word means than they can decide what can exist. It doesn't work that way, whatever way you define "way," or "work."

Isaiah 5:20-21

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;

that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;

that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes,

and prudent in their own sight!

This craven desire to redefine the world is not a modern manifestation. Isaiah heard it from his contemporaries and Eve heard it first hand when the serpent suggested that death meant life and forbidden meant felicity. Contradiction, then, is the oldest mode of combat. In the beginning, God made the world by His Word and shortly thereafter sin was introduced by believing another word could remake it. Contradict literally means to go against what they have said, contra (against) + dict (someone's words). Contradiction presupposes a dictator. Someone's words will rule the world. To contradict the Duke of Dictionary is to declare war on his world or at the very least to war with his hold on the world. Dictation is inescapable. We will have a dictator. The question isn't IF, but WHO and WHAT have they said?

Sin is essentially attempting to redefine reality according to one's own fancies.  Damnation is the natural outcome of refusing the world that is. You cannot inherit a world you hate... nor would you want to. 

Salvation is repenting of your own definitions and confessing God’s realities. The word for confess in Greek is homologeo which means homo (same) + logeo (words). When you confess, you are saying what God has already said. You are forcing your words to line up with His Word. Instead of contradicting Him, you are confessing Him. You are agreeing to the world as it is, not as you wish it was. You are submitting yourself to His definition of reality: right and wrong, up and down, progress and regress, sin and salvation, freedom and slavery.

God's Word carries with it the force of law. His Words carry in them their own definitions. He is the Definer. He owns the dictionary.

Psalm 119:89

For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

His Words are settled facts.

1 Peter 1:25

The word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

God's words are not altered by assaults to redefine them. The reason God pronounces woe on those who call things by the wrong name is that by doing so they are defining themselves out of His kingdom. Notice, they don't redefine "good" as "yellow" or "light" as "loud," they redefine themselves according to God's opposites. Thus, even in their attempts to redefine the world, they submit to God's assigned polarities. They call good "bad" and bad "good." They call up "down" and down "up." They profess to be ignorant of what they clearly know. They willfully close their eyes to what they clearly see.

Words matter and everyone knows it. The battle for the dictionary is not some random side skirmish. It's the front line. Definitions determine salvation and damnation. Confession is the means of forgiveness. Contradiction is the definition of condemnation.

John 3:19

This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

day no. 16,318: nothing runs like joy

1 Corinthians 15:10

By the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Grit gets after it. Grit gets things done. And Christian grit is full of gratefulness.

Titus 3:4-8

When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 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.

Grace inspires us to get to work through “get to,” not “have to.”

Our gratitude should fuel our grititude.

Grititude is grace-filled get-after-it-ness.

Nothing runs like joy.

Joy is not green energy. It has no envy in it. As such, it burns cleaner and gets better gas mileage than jealousy. Jealousy may motivate some, but joy surpasses it every time. Jealousy cannot compete with joy. God’s storehouses contain more than we imagine are in other’s treasuries. In other words, God has given us more than we could ever take from others.

Gratitude is renewable and inexhaustible because its source is the Author of joy.

“When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” — G. K.Chesterton

day no. 16,317: callista is sixta!

Happy SIXTH Birthday, Lissa Lou!

You are getting so big. You have really grown up a lot in the last few months I feel like. Your hair has grown longer, which is an answer to your prayers. It is long enough now, however, to hang in your eyes and you frequently puff it out of your giant eyes. You have begun praying more maturely lately as well. You often thank God for all the good things you have and demonstrate a growing thoughtfulness for others in remembering them in your prayers.

You love your little toy dog, Tricksy. You take her everywhere and love playing caretaker to her.  It is fun to watch you enjoy your purchase. You knew what you wanted and saved up for her and have demonstrated that you made a wise purchase by how invested in her you are.

You are looking forward to being done with regular naps. And the closer you are getting to being done with them, the less frequently you have been complaining about going down for them, which does indicate that you are ready to be done with them as a daily necessity for civility and decorum.

You are such a pretty girl. You have always had such nice skin. You have a good color and the summer sun is drawing out a nice golden tone. It complements your hair and eye color well. You are as your name implies, most lovely.

You also have a good sense of humor. You like being silly and making others laugh. You like doing your leg thing where you bend them nearly backwards. It makes me laugh every time and you are often agreeable to my requests to see it again and again. You sometimes use those legs to do your sideways crab dance, but then you let your shoulders in on the action. I love it! You are hilarious.

You have been "doing school" with the big kids using your dry erase marker your book of letters and shapes. You want to be like your big siblings and enjoy reading and listening to stories.

You taught yourself to ride a bike without training wheels once we moved to Leavenworth. You just decided and asked me to remove the training wheels. You took your bike to the top of our driveway and rolled down while you figured out the balance. It only took you a few tries and you were riding a bike.

You like wearing high heels and being girlie. So much so that mom had to enforce limits on how often you can wear them as not to misshape your growing feet and muscles. You are like your brother, Finneas, in that you have an eleven. You are extreme and have a hard time hiding whatever is going on with you. If you are happy, you are VERY happy. and when you are sad, you are VERY sad.

You are maternal as the day is long. You have always loved playing mother. I can still see you meeting and holding Juniper. It was the cutest hostage situation I've ever seen. You did NOT want to let go. Even now, you spend most evenings "fixing" mom while I tuck in the boys. You love checking on people and taking care of them and making sure that their owies and hurts are addressed and nursed back to health and comfort. 

You love me and like being my daughter. A few weeks back when I was facing off against a big black snake in our backyard, you were as scared for me as were of the snake. You were voicing your concerns as I engaged the serpent in battle. You were worried that something would happen to me. It made me want to win all the more, if only to alleviate your concerns for me.

I love being your dad, Callista and I am so grateful to God for you. I love the little lady that you are and look forward to loving the one you're becoming.

Happy SIXTH Birthday, Lissa Lou!!!

day no. 16,316: a warrior in a garden

"It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war." -- Chinese Proverb

It is better to have strength that you don't need than to need strength that you don't have. A warrior has more time to learn gardening than a gardener does to learn war. 

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

You cannot be strong now without working towards strength before. And the more you work when strength isn't needed, the less work it will be to be strong when it is. Inviting the right kind of trouble into your life now helps you avoid the wrong kind inviting itself over later. To take up the weights when you don't have to is to make for yourself less weight when you will.

You will not rise at any given moment if you are in the habit of staying down. We rise to our level of training. 

Matthew 25:1-13

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like  ten virgins who took their lamps  and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, "Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him." Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the wise answered, saying, "Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves." And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, "Lord, lord, open to us." But he answered, "Truly, I say to you, I do not know you." Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

It is better to be a virgin with oil and waiting inside than a virgin without oil waiting outside.

day no. 16,315: a little less fetched

In talking with my kids the other day, I made the joke that some tall tales could stand to be a little be shorter. The idea was that the tale is not made taller simply by adding chapters to it. Its tallness isn't best expressed in length, but in depth. A tall tale that was shorter in the sense of less fantastic, wouldn't be a tall tale at all; it would simply be an off-the-rack story. Tall tales need to search for special shops in order to find their clothing. A story that is far fetched can stand to be a a little less fetched at times. All that to say, too much fetch does not a better story maketh.

"Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen." - Mean Girls

Oh, it's happening. Maybe a little less fetch than what some may have wanted, but more than enough to get things off the ground.

day no. 16,314: the rule of Hell and the rule of Heaven

"When, therefore, a man, absorbed in the effect which is seen, has not yet learned to discern those which are not seen, he gives way to fatal habits, not only by inclination, but by calculation. This explains the fatally grievous condition of mankind. Ignorance surrounds its cradle: then its actions are determined by their first consequences, the only ones which, in its first stage, it can see. It is only in the long run that it learns to take account of the others. It has to learn this lesson from two very different masters — experience and foresight. Experience teaches effectually, but brutally. It makes us acquainted with all the effects of an action, by causing us to feel them; and we cannot fail to finish by knowing that fire burns, if we have burned ourselves. For this rough teacher, I should like, if possible, to substitute a more gentle one. I mean Foresight." -- Frederic Bastiat, That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen

Experience, generally speaking, is a good thing. If everything you ever did was your first rodeo, it would prove quite difficult. If everyday you were born yesterday, you'd have a rough go of it.

Experience, as Bastiat, points out, is a cruel master, but it is, nevertheless, a grace. The reason you know not to touch the outlet with wet hands is because by God's grace the shock of finding out why you shouldn't do that, didn't kill you. Experience is the grace of having survived your previous foolishness. So, in that sense, we are grateful for experience. And all the more so, we should seek to avoid experience as a tactic. Our strategy shouldn't be to find out later what we should have done. That, in short, is the Rule of Hell. It presents its best up front while doing its best to keep its worst in reserve for later. The Rule of Hell is a rope a dope bait-in-switch. It offers pleasure by disguising the pain, it tempts by desire what it conceals in devastation.

The Rule of Heaven is not so. It does not beguile one into believing in order to backhand it with burdens. The Rule of Heaven comes through the front door in promising that things may get worse before they get better, but assures that the best is yet to come. It forewarns as it foretells. It promises reward and resistance. It guarantees satisfaction and thirst.

John 2:10

Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.

Everyone understands the Rule of Hell by nature. It is how things usually work. No one suffers more harm than they have to. Enter Jesus. Any suffering He endured was more than He deserved and He suffered more than any who ever lived. He displayed the Rule of Heaven in despising the Cross and its shame, but going through it for the joy set before Him on the other end of it. For the glory and majesty of resurrection, He drank the cup of God's wrath set before Him in order to drink from the blessed cup of His Wedding Feast upon His return.

The Rule of Hell is a harsh reality for those hell bent on getting what they want when they want it, but the Rule of Heaven is a hope beyond imagination promised to those who go through the tribulations that pave the path to permanent and perpetual bliss.

John 16:33

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. in the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; l have overcome the world.

Peace is promised, but not before tribulation. Perseverance is encouraged because present darkness will be eclipsed by the Light of the world.

Acts 14:21-22

When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

Entrance into the kingdom of God is foretold, but not before a troubled road that leads there. Souls are strengthened and prepared to endure in faith because these various trials and tribulations serve to confirm we're on the right road and to conform us into the image of the One we'll meet at the end of it.

day no. 16,313: Christians should leave Egypt to the Egyptians

Exodus 9:1

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me."'"

So, a few questions:

Why couldn't God's people serve Him from the comfort of Egypt? They could have... kinda. You can serve God anywhere: in your kitchen, on the moon, in your heart, with your hands, in a jail cell, or on vacation. Anyone can worship God anywhere. Whether they're eating or drinking or doing whatever, they can glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31). But one can quickly see how one's worship is limited when under compulsion or confined. Daniel could pray at his window until he was crammed into the lion's den. True, he could pray from there too, but he was no longer free to pray facing his window once he was down there. His ability to pray was not cut off, but his view was.

Why was Pharaoh so reluctant to let the Israelites have a worship service? Why did he care if they went to church?

 

"Every tyrant instinctively knows that if God’s people are set free to worship they will never return to slavery." -- Toby Sumpter

When citizens are set free to worship their God with their people, they don't easily go back to being the pawns of a tinpot dictator. Once you have stood confidently in the presence of God Almighty, you can no longer cower in the courts of Egypt. Once you've been a brick in the house of the Lord, you cannot go back to making bricks for Pharaoh's pyramid schemes.

1 Corinthians 7:23

You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.

Redeemed people cannot put themselves back on the open market. If you are redeemed, you belong to your Redeemer. Christ purchased us with His sinless life and sacrificial death. He bought us. We belong to Him and He takes property rights personally. In fact, He embedded His thoughts on the topic into His Top Ten List when He declared, "Thou Shalt Not Steal." If not from your neighbor, how much more so from Him?

John 10:28-30

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Christ does not forsake or mistreat what is His or allow anyone else to take or steal it from Him. Christians have been adopted into the house of God and with all due respect must wipe their feet at the front door. In other words, Christians should leave Egypt to the Egyptians. Christians should not act like they still live under Pharaoh, because... they don't. Leave the dead to bury their own dead and walk with those raised to life by grace through faith in Christ alone.

day no. 16,312: there is nothing harder than a human heart

Zechariah 7:12

They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.

There is nothing harder than a human heart. A diamond can't even scratch its surface. It can only be pierced by the Word of God. Just as a diamond cannot be scratched except by another diamond, a heart cannot be cut except by another heart. The heart of Christ is the only substance strong enough to cut through the crust of the human heart.

Acts 2:36-37

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

The heart of Christ can cut through human hardness like a hot knife through room temperature butter. The Gospel of God does not break a sweat breaking through the pretenses of men. It cuts through all the religious red-tape and gets to the heart of the matter.

Romans 2:5

Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

We hide behind the hardness of our hearts, hoping that it's recalcitrance will keep us safe.  We make them as hard as we can in the hope that it can shield us from the wrath to come. But there is, as it turns out, something harder than the human heart: God's. 

Matthew 21:44

Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

We will either be broken on Christ or by Him, but either way, we will be the ones who give way. He is the One from whom the rocks borrow their resolution. He is the One who holds the hammer and anvil together. He is the strength on which mountains stand their ground and by which mountains are tossed into the sea. He is inexorable.

Ezekiel 36:26

And 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.

We all will either be broken to pieces and put back together or shattered to bits and left undone. The stone will fall on the hard hearts of man one way... or the other until all pride is abolished.

day no. 16,311: the kindness of God will conquer the world

Romans 2:4-5

Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

The kindness of God will conquer the world.

His kindness is more formidable than our meanness, His tenderness more indomitable than our cantankerousness, His patience more enduring than our temper tantrums, His forbearance more intense than our forces. He will win the day. His kindness will outlast and outmatch us. He will overwhelm the world with His Fatherly warmness.

Christians are those who merely confess that they have already been conquered. They boldly proclaim their loss as their only source of gain. They broadcast their defeat as their greatest victory. Christians are those who have been conquered and in whom He has established His Kingdom.

The kindness of God leads us to repentance and it is this kindness that will win the world over.

Romans 11:22

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

day no. 16,310: contra mundum propter mundum

James 4:4

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Christian, you are called to be against the world for the glory of God and the good of the world. The only way to call people out of the world and into glory is to call it out for what it is while joyfully standing up in high contrast against it.

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

You do not love the world by loving what the world loves. God so loved the world that He sent His Son into it to live and die for it. He didn’t sit back and love it from a distance. He drew near and became flesh for the sake of dramatically changing it.

John 3:19

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Jesus drew near at great cost to Himself in order to reveal the darkness to itself and shine a light of hope from another world.

John 1:5

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

For the love of God and the good of the world, be against it.

Contra mundum propter mundum.

(against the world on account of the world)

day no. 16,309: coming and going

“Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.” -- Martin Luther

Women were made to make home and men were made to provide it. This often involves him leaving its comforts in order to bring goods back to it. Taking responsibility for those at home means going out of it in order to come back.

Proverbs 24:27

Prepare thy work without,

and make it fit for thyself in the field;

and afterwards build thine house.

Man was made to get to work for the sake of building his house. Not merely the physical structure, but also the theological 2x6s upon which the household is built. 

Proverbs 27:8

As a bird that wandereth from her nest,

so is a man that wandereth from his place.

A man must come home as soon as he can. He shouldn't loiter outside any longer than is necessary to secure what is needed. He must not wander about outside his home. He must go out with intention and come back with provision.

Man was made to go and come back home.

Woman was made to make home and go about her business.

Titus 2:4-5

Admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

The man brings home what is needed to make home. His wife is responsible to take that paycheck and turn it into feasts, ambiance, atmosphere, bedding, clothes, books, culture, etc...

A woman was made to cultivate beauty and she begins by taking what her husband brings home and transforming it into a currency that spends for generations in the form of culture and traditions.

This is not a booby prize for college drop outs. This is not a job just anyone can do. This is not something anyone with a Y chromosome can just do by default if nothing else works out. This requires work, training, creativity, sweat, trial and error. There is a learning curve that requires humility, tenacity, grit, and gratitude.

Proverbs 31:27-28

She looketh well to the ways of her household,

and eateth not the bread of idleness.

Her children arise up, and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praiseth her.

The end result is a household, a harbor to which all long to return, a training ground from which some deploy, a trench from what to fire out, a hearth to where one can kick up their feet, a bed where they can lay their head, and a table from which the full can rise to go out and get to work. God made us all to come and go in different fashions and for different reasons, but as we pay more attention to our comings and goings, we will see our households flourish.

A husband must not wander much from home;

a wife must not meander much within it. 

Genesis 2:24-25

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed

*Happy Father's Day!

day no. 16,308: two distinct mind sets

Romans 8:5-8

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Enmity is hard-wired into existence. God introduced it after the Fall when He placed enmity between the fleshly seed of the serpent and the Spiritual seed of the woman. This is commonly referred to as the Doctrine of the Antithesis. This has been the state of things since Genesis 3:15 and has informed the ongoing conflict at work in this world.

There are two conflicting mindsets one can have. The mind set on the flesh is in opposition to the mind set on the Spirit and not to be outdone, the Spirit cheerfully returns the favor in that a mind set on it is set in opposition to the mind set on the flesh. The end of the mind set on the flesh is death. The end of the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. The mind set on flesh is at war with the Spirit and if it could have its own way, it would perpetuate death and enmity forever and ever. The mind set on the Spirit is at war with the flesh and it will end all war by eradicating the flesh fully and finally forever. In other words, if the Spirit were to lose, death and violence would reign; but because the Spirit will win, life and peace will prevail. The Spirit's violence, in other words, is aimed at peace whereas the flesh's violence is aimed at more violence.

This is binary, just like many other things in the world God created. He is a God of order, not chaos, which means many things require the clarity of on or off, yes or no, black or white, life or death. But because He is a God of poetry, He often uses paradox: black is made into white through crucifixion, no is made into yes through substitution, off is made into on through transformation, and death is made into life through resurrection, But even here, the paradox depends on the distinction. Resurrection is glorious precisely because life and death are at odds. You don't make resurrection more miraculous by erasing the enmity between life and death, you make it less. The distance between the two serves to accentuate the majesty of what Christ accomplished in reconciling polar opposites under one Head.

day no. 16,307: father Abraham had many sons

Romans 9:6-8

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

Father Abraham had many sons, but only one son of promise. Just because you can claim Abraham as an ancestor does not mean you can claim faith as your inheritance. Ishmael had a greater chronological claim to Abraham than David, but David had a greater theological claim to Abraham than Ishmael. The sons of faith and promise are the true sons of Abraham and the true Israel. Not all those who have Israel in their DNA are children of the inheritance. Many who have not a drop of Abrahamic blood in their veins by birth have Abrahamic blood applied to them by rebirth. Only those who are born again are truly born of Abraham. No one is born into Abraham for salvation by genetics, but all who are born again by faith into him are saved.

John 1:12-13

As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

day no. 16,306: the principle of pursuit

“Note, the devil, though he is an enemy to all saints, is a conquered enemy. The Captain of our salvation has defeated and disarmed him; we have nothing to do but to pursue the victory.” — Matthew Henry

Few principles of war are more easily overlooked than that of pursuit. Once the tide turns and the enemy turns tail, it is easy to take that moment to rest and reassure yourself that the worst of it is now over. But that rest and reassurance can quickly become a kind of retreat if it does not capitalize on all your previous combat. If you celebrate your victory at that point, you surrender the victory further down the field. Just when the advantage is gained, it is forfeited. At the moment decisive leverage is acquired, it is cast aside.

"Failure to pursue frequently reveals that the objective in the campaign was not victory, but rather some version of the 'upper hand.' Once we have fought to the point where we might be left alone for a while, we stop. This often happens because Christians are peace-loving people, and this sometimes gets them into trouble. Too often we drag a problem out and make the whole thing last ten times longer than it has to last. But when the principle of pursuit is employed, it is clear that victory is the objective." -- Douglas Wilson, Rules for Reformers

Jesus did not disarm the devil just to keep him from hurting others. He didn't win that round just to lay down in the next. No, He disarmed the devil in order to destroy him. He isn't fighting for a win by decision, but by knock out.

Hebrews 2:14

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.

Jesus didn't become flesh, suffer the rigor of living righteously, endure the pain of dying sacrificially, rise triumphantly, and ascend gloriously in order to slap the devil on the wrist. He didn't even do it all to break his wrist. No, the Scriptures teach that Jesus did all of that in order to utterly destroy the devil and all his works entirely.

1 John 3:8

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

"We are not to fight to the point of predominance, we are to fight to the point of complete victory... Pursuit is the principle neglected by the currently strong. Many wars have been prolonged because the victorious army did not press its advantage in the immediate aftermath of a critical battle."  -- Douglas Wilson, Rules for Reformers

God wants to do to the world what He is doing to us. He has saved us. He established a beachhead from which He is endeavoring to push His influence into every nook and cranny of our person. He is set on occupying every square inch of us. 

"There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, 'Mine!'" — Abraham Kuyper

There is no enclave of heart, soul, mind, or strength of which He does not intend to make conquest. He wants to use every square inch of us to occupy every square inch of His earth. His design for the world is His design for us: to conform it all, without exception, to Christ.

Ephesians 1:20-22

God set Christ at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things.

Christians are called to pursue this end, not merely nope or long for it. We have been drafted to chase it down. So, let's get to steppin'.

Romans 16:20

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

day no. 16,305: counting curses and forgetting blessings

Malachi 2:2

If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings

It is always easier and more intuitive to count your curses and to forget your blessings. Because works righteousness is so embedded into us, we immediately recognize when we've been short-changed and often overlook when we've received more than we owed. We not only count our curses, but we count on them. We count on them being an adequate disinfectant for all of our accumulated sins. It is easier to justify yourself by your mistreatment than by your merit. It is easier to find examples of being burdened than it is of being blessed. We can count our blessings, if we try real hard. But even then, we prefer to do it only once a year and mostly for things which we are at that very moment taking for granted.

"When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude." -- G.K. Chesterton

When you refuse to count your blessings as blessings, you turn them into curses. You call deep heaven down upon yourself. You take mercy and make it miserable. When we make a regular habit of forgetting our blessings and the One from whom all blessings flow along with them, we are converting our present blessings into burdens. We are making disgruntled disciples of divine favors. We catechize our comforts to become cancers. We make a mess of the blessings we have and backfill the well of fresh mercies.

"Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things." -- G.K. Chesterton

When we look down on what we've received from above, there's nowhere left to look. We cut ourselves off from the source of life and spoil the life we've already bottled up. Like bread from heaven, it can go bad when abused. 

Count your blessings, not your curses. Remember your blessings and forgive those who've cursed you. They only know the half of it after all. 

day no. 16,304: the weakest weakness of the weak and the strongest strength of the strong

Romans 15:1-3a

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself

The strong owe the weak their strength. They are obligated to demonstrate their strength by putting up weakness. After all, if they can't, who can? If the strong are unable to lift heavy weights, how else is left? Weakness is weighty and the weak cannot get out from under it. They cannot put up with themselves, let alone bear up under the burdens of others. They cannot live for others because they are caught up in living for themselves. They are stuck staring at their own pleasure. That is what makes them weak. They can't look away. They look only to their own interests and not to the interests of others. They do all things out of selfish ambition and vain conceit. They proudly refuse to consider others.

Strength is being able to look to the needs of others. So, if you are strong, you are obligated to look to others. If you refuse to use your strength in this way, you are only demonstrating that you are too weak to do so. In other words, your perceived strength is a confirmation of your weakness.

One of the worst failings of the weak is that they imagine they are the strong ones. They read verses like this and imagine themselves as the strong martyrs who faithfully bear the burdens of those below them. Their weakness is imagined strength. They cannot see the weakness of their own position. They are too weak to resist the temptation to see themselves as strong.

So, if you are strong, show it by serving those who do not deserve it. Anyone can serve someone who deserves it. Anyone can pay what they owe without feeling guilty about it. But only the strong can pay what they do not owe and obligate themselves to those who refuse to recognize their efforts. The weak cannot be expected to recognize great effort. They are not strong enough to pay respect. They are too cheap to give credit where it is due. The strong are sturdy enough to be overlooked and to bear the lack of appreciation they receive in turn for all their efforts. 

The weak cannot stand being unappreciated. They rage against the perceived ingratitude of their peers. The strong stand unappreciated and yet grateful to God for the strength they receive from Him to do so. The strong know their weakness and surrender it to God. The weak know only their imagined strength and suffer for it.

The weakest weakness of the weak is that they imagine that they are strong.

The strongest strength of the strong is that they know that they are weak.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses…For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses... For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The greatest failure of the failing is not seeing their failure.

The greatest victory of the victorious is is seeing their failure.

day no. 16,303: stand up, stay the plague

Psalm 106:30

Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,

and the plague was stayed

Stand up, stay the plague.

Phinehas had eyes in his head. He saw what was going on and he knew what needed to be done. He may not have been the only one who saw it, but he was the only one who acted upon it.

Numbers 25:7-13

When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. And the Lord said to Moses, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

Because of Phinehas, the plague was stayed, but not before twenty-four thousand had perished.

We are in the midst of our own plague. It is not the one being advertised, but the one the marketing campaign is revealing. It is hidden in plain sight and for those, like Phinehas, with eyes in their heads, the next step is obvious: stand up. There is a contagion of misinformation masquerading as fact checking. There is a plague of ill logic parading as polemics. There is an outbreak of break downs being applauded as building up.There is an end game calling itself a reset. 

Pathology is being promoted as progressive and sickness is being sold as strength. 

The plague we see is a playgue. It is all for show. It is theater. The true plague is the desire to write that script. The true plague is buying tickets to that show.

The real plague is the desire to stay down.

So…

Stand up. 

Stay the plague.

We cannot stay the plague by staying down.

Standing up is the only antidote for staying down.

*originally drafted during the upheavals of 2021

day no. 16,302: out of Egypt one way or another

"God's saints left Egypt in different ways. Joseph came a slave and died a prince. Moses grew up as a prince and left with all the slaves. Joseph left after he died, when his bones were moved. Moses left before he died." — Douglas Wilson, Empires of Dirt

Joseph and Moses were both rightly related to the State even though they related to it very differently. Joseph served a State that had enslaved him and Moses left a State that had adopted him. God brought Joseph to Egypt and was with him while he was there. God led Moses out of Egypt and was with him in his exodus. Joseph acquired Egyptian gold and nobility while Moses abandoned the riches and titles of Egypt. Both Joseph and Moses were men of God and both lived in Egypt, but neither were buried there. Joseph's bones were brought back home and Moses was buried only God knows where in the wilderness. Joseph's affluence provided for other's poverty while Moses' poverty provided others with affluence. Joseph put on Egyptian clothes and Moses took his off. God promoted Joseph to an official place of power and God employed Moses to show off His power. God used Joseph's influence to save Israel and God used Moses' witness to save Israel. Two men, one God, two approaches, one State, one outcome.

May God grant us wisdom to overthrow Pharaohs as well, whether by winning them over or by winning against them in battle. May God deliver us as well, whether by blessings or by curses. May God always free Israel from Egypt. Amen.

day no. 16,301: no to all of it

"Herein lies the central point that Christians across this great nation must get deep down in their bones: You will have Christ as Lord of all, or you will have Pharaoh's tyranny. In the main, our problem is that we want Pharaoh's melons, leeks, and onions, but we do not want his chains. Pharaoh's offer, however, is a package deal. And we must say no to all of it." — Jared Longshore

When we beg to be bought, we make ourselves slaves. When we implore the State to adopt us, we make ourselves its wards. If you make the State your father, you can't be shocked to find that it wants to hold the remote. If you ask the State to set your table, you can't complain when it picks the menu.

"The conflict has always been and will be until the end, Christianity or Paganism; the idols or the living God." —  Abraham Kuyper

Secularism cannot hold itself together. There is no neutral force out there that can keep someone else's hands off of your body or out of your pockets. There is only Christ or Chaos. And you cannot merely keep the chaos at bay by throwing a little bit of Christ at it one day a week.

If Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. He also puts forth a package deal: Lord and Savior. You cannot parcel out what you prefer and discard the rest. You either have all of Christ or you have none of Him. You either embrace all of Christ for all of life or you can expect strange men in your women’s restrooms. That’s an entirely different kind of package deal and one we all should be eager to avoid.

day no. 16,300: assigned places and purview

"The Church is the ministry of Grace and Peace. The Civil Government is the ministry of Justice. The Family is the ministry of Health, Education, Welfare." -- Douglas Wilson

God has directly established three forms of government or ministry: the family, the church, and the civil government. Each is a type of government that He has assigned certain respective responsibilities and jurisdictions of authority. These spheres may speak to each other, but may not annex from the other what God has given uniquely to it. For example, the Church should not carry the sword nor the State administer the Lord's Supper. The Family should not take the place of the preacher nor the Church the place of capital punisher.

The primary focus of each ministry is that which God has given to it directly. It cannot delegate these to any of the others. It cannot confiscate any of the other's.

Each sphere lives in a world where it must consider and do commerce with the other spheres and God has given clear instruction on the adverbs that should accompany said interactions: gently, kindly, patiently, honestly, etc... And in addition to that, He has also reminded us to mind thine own beeswax. (Romans 14:4, 12–13),

day no. 16,299: go tell that fox!

Luke 13:31–32

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.'"

Let us enroll for a moment in Jesus' School of Defying Tyrants and learn a lesson or two:

Herod had plans for Jesus. The Pharisees here inform him of them. Herod wants Jesus dead. But Jesus has plans of his own. He has a list of things He wants to do and He intends to get to all of them. Jesus doesn't sit on His agenda. He proclaims it and pursues it boldly. He isn't shy about saying what He's wanting to do and He isn't lazy about working hard to make it happen. Jesus doesn't merely respond to the Pharisees who deliver the message, but to Herod who sent it.

The Pharisees, however, have plans as well, the least of which includes getting Jesus to shut up. So they used what they believed to be a trump card: outside authority and internal self-preservation. They appeal to an outside authority and bring it up in order to bully Jesus with the threat of someone who isn't there, but will be shortly if He doesn't comply. They also appeal to basic self-preservation in assuming that the threat of death would motivate Jesus to comply. 

Jesus check mates them on both accounts. He is not only NOT phased by the appeal to outside authority, He doubles down and says, "Yes, make sure and give him a message from Me," and then proceeds to call Herod a derogatory term in front of the Pharisees (thus defusing that bomb) and telling them to repeat the words back to Herod (thus throwing a grenade of His own).

Additionally, He throws back the threat of death at them as well in foreshadowing His own death and resurrection. In other words, if death is the best they can do, they may want to find better firepower because He isn't afraid of death. He came to die... and overcome death. The One they are talking to was born to die and has His sights set on killing death on a Roman cross.

Jesus said, in a sense, "Tell that tyrant, 'I'm just getting started.'"

Let us learn these lessons well and faithfully follow His example.

day no. 16,298: bird brain

Hosea 7:11

Ephraim is like a dove,

silly and without sense

In other words, as Ben Zornes once pointed out, Ephraim is being a bird brain.

I love discovering stuff like this, hidden in plain sight. One of my favorite things about the Bible is how much I still don't know about it. My other favorite thing is all that I have already gleaned from it. It rewards return visits which incentivizes additional investigation.

Reading and re-reading the Bible is like Chesterton's hypothetical traveler who set out to discover a new land and ended up landing on the other side of his home country. That man felt all the thrill of discovery and all the warmth of sentimentality at the same moment. He was on an adventure and coming home in one fell swoop. He was able to enjoy the risk of the foreign with the rewards of the familiar and the excitement of courage with the contentment of comfort. The Bible is warm and familiar and foreign and exotic. It is ancient and applicable, timeless and timely, regal and familial, lofty and practical, ethereal and earthy.

The Bible is my favorite book. It's the kind of book that calls someone a bird brain, but in such a way as to make you work for it. But also the kind of book that teaches you to see by revealing what was previously invisible to you. Much of God's gold is hidden in plain sight because He is eager to give it away.

day no. 16,297: outside in

Luke 11:39-41

And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?"

Despite what many have come to think, Jesus did not say that the outside of cups and dishes do not matter. What He implied is that everyone understands the value of the outside of the dish. Just ask any engaged couple picking out plates for their registry. They are not so much concerned about the insides of the bowls as they are with the patterns on the outside and what impressions they imagine they will make. Granted, they are looking at brand new, clean cups and dishes and don't have to concern themselves with the insides yet. That comes later, after love and marriage, but before the baby carriage (for those playing at home)

Functionally, the inside of the bowl is far more important than the exterior. When it comes to eating, the outside is less important than the inside. The food goes on the inside and that is what needs to be cleansed from the last food that was eaten in the bowl. But even then, hand me a bowl clean on the inside but still dirty on the outside and I'll still have a hard time finding my appetite.

We are well acquainted with the process of putting lipstick on a pig. We know how to make things look good, which is to say, better than they really are. We come equipped with the ability to put on a favorable face or to telegraph a good impression. We do not need to be trained in this deception. Yet, we do need to be reminded not to throw the outside of the dish out with the dishwater. Yes, the inside counts as Jesus points out and we should never forget or minimize this, but Jesus never meant for us to forget or minimize the outside. His teaching could be summarized as saying: the inside of the dish matters too. Everything matters, inside and out.

In summary, do not neglect what things look like or what they are like under the surface. Hold on to them both. Concern yourself with both. Understand how and when they may be played against each other and from where pressures and temptations may come to prefer one when the other is required or to settle for the other when the one is demanded.

day no. 16,296: what to buy and what to carry

Matthew 25:24-27

He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, "Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours." But his master answered him, "You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest."

Christians are called to put their talents to work and to invest what God has given them for the sake of turning of a profit to His glory and the good of their neighbor.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Christians are called to cheerfully sow the seeds they've been given in order to see them yield a fruit of righteousness.

The Christian life then often comes down to knowing what to bury and what to carry, what to lay down and what to pick up, what to die to and what to live for. We are called in resurrection hope to sow seed so that it may become even more fruitful and we are called in sanctified grace to labor like those who know it's not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

This distinction is worth making. We are called to bury seeds and to swing hammers, but if we're not careful and not paying attention, we will end up burying our hammers and hoarding our seeds.

day no. 16,295: the least of their problems

1 Chronicles 12:14

These Gadites were officers of the army; the least was a match for a hundred men and the greatest for a thousand.

The Gadites were billy bad apple. The least of them would give a hundred men a hard time and the greatest of them could be counted on to take out a thousand.

These are the kind of men you want in your local congregation and your personal contacts. They are forces to be reckoned with. If you want to tangle with them, you need to convince at least one hundred other people to come with you if you're to have a shot. And that's assuming you're picking a fight on the least of them. But rest assured, if you mix it up with the least of them it will soon be the least of your problems. Wait until the greatest of them arrive to have his back.

A few verses later, the men of Issachar are described this way:

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 men knew what was up and how to throw down. They could read the story that they were in and they knew how to end it. They were well-versed in the narrative arc of the day and in the art of end punctuation.

May God again give us men like these of Issachar and Gad and give us the courage and faith to follow in their footsteps.

*Penelope pointed verse 14 out to me after her nightly Bible reading 11/13/21

day no. 16,294: rightly understood and gratefully experienced

"The Christian life, broadly speaking, is but the enjoyment of Christian truth rightly understood and gratefully experienced." - B.B. Warfield

We are commanded to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in 2 Peter 3:18 and Warfield here points out that these disciplines, in short, embody the whole of the Christian life and livelihood.

As we grow in knowledge, we grow in our enjoyment of His Truth. The more we learn, the more there is to love and what we gain aids us in better loving that which we already knew.

As we grow in grace, we grow in our gratitude. The more we are given, the more we have to be grateful for and what we gain in grace aids us in better appreciating all that we have already been given.

Christianity is deeply and eternally satisfying. Because there is no end to God, there are always new truths to learn and old truths to better appreciate and more grace to be had and grace already given to better actualize.

day no. 16,293: slippery slopes and that damned plus sign (+)

Romans 1:18

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness

The wrath of God is not always fire falling from heaven; sometimes, and seemingly more often, it is God giving people over to their own desires.

Romans 1:28

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper

When people willfully ignore His presence and passionately rebel against every principle He has put in place, there comes a point where He simply let’s go and hands them over.

Slopes don’t get less slippery the further down you slide... and once you get going, it's all downhill from there.

It should not shock us, therefore, to see pornography in classrooms, men in women's locker rooms, pedophilia being promoted, or even human sacrifice suggested. The naysayers assume some sort of secular order will save us from going too far, but their hope is in a basic human decency that doesn't exist. There is no decency where God is dishonored.

The woke will go for broke and that + will grow to include every vile sexual practice imaginable. That damned + can be anything precisely because it is damned and has no brakes.

Some will scoff and say, "Come on, that plus sign cannot be aaaaaneeeeething. Don't be so dramatic. There are things that even they would consider too far.”

We have bought the lie that basic morality exists on its own and can hold a society in place while giving way to immorality at its edges. It's just gay marriage (i.e. mirage). It's just sex reassignment surgery. It's just polygamy. It's just pedophilia. It's just +. That God-awful + just hovers there waiting to grow up into whatever someone is willing to say or do next. There is no reason it could not be anything. There is nothing to limit it or depth to which it will not consider going since God has taken His hands off.

Romans 1:28-30

God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper... inventors of evil.

Our only hope is God getting more hands on. 🙏🏼

day no. 16,292: asking the lost for directions

"It is our practice now, at least in the large cities, to find from our psychiatric priesthood that our sins aren’t really sins at all but accidents that are set in motion by forces beyond our control. There was no such nonsense in this church." -- John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley

It is an error to accommodate your liturgy to the tastes of a hypothetical unbeliever who may happen to visit or to select the songs you will sing based on what you imagine an unbeliever would be interested in singing or to change the words of familiar hymns for the sake of making them less offensive to people unfamiliar with them.

Imagine being invited into a mosque. What would you expect? You might be surprised by a few things for sure, but you would shocked if they rearranged their routine to make you feel less awkward. If you are there, you're there to see it for what it is, not for what they think you want it to be. I would feel sorry for the religion that felt like it had to wipe its own feet at the door of its own house for my sake. Maybe “sorry” is the wrong word, but “respect” certainly wouldn't be the the right word. How could you respect the beliefs of those who accommodate them to what they think you want to hear? You cannot find the lost by asking them what they think they need. They're lost for a reason. Perhaps directions aren't their area of expertise. Unless you want two lost people, maybe don't submit to their sense of direction.

Steinbeck visited what he called a John Knox church (i.e. Presbyterian) and it was everything he expected it to be: straight forward, aggressive, and unapologetic in its worship of the Triune God. If only we had more churches like the little one he visited that morning.

Do not be so eager to invite psychology into your religion. Be more eager to insist that your Christianity get a seat in their psychology. We do not evangelize the lost by appealing to their perceived needs. When you do that, you're only accepting the basic tenets of their faith in order to gain ground for yours, but that is like a virgin venturing into the back seat with a boy in order to teach him the value of chastity. Whatever sway she has with him, it isn't chaste. Whatever she gains, she can't get back; whatever she wins, she loses. It is a Pyrrhic victory at best.