day no. 16,657: tamper, tamper

All peoples clap your hands for joy,

to God in triumph shout;

for awesome is the Lord Most High,

Great King the earth throughout.

He brings the peoples under us

in mastery complete;

and He it is who nations all

subdues beneath our feet.

Psalm 47,

The Book of Psalms for Singing

All nations will give way to God.

All kingdoms will come to Christ.

And our feet have been charged with the ministry of tamping the grapes into wine.

Romans 16:20

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein; and all of it and everyone in it will subdued by its Savior.

day no. 16,656: cornering the market

“The sun has risen. Christ has come. He is the king. The light covers the world. A return to heathen midnight is an impossibility. Those who walk in darkness now are doing so in a world suffused with light. This is hard to do — you have to remain blind, or hide in root cellars. There are ways to stay out of the sunlight, but they are difficult to accomplish. Not only so, but as the day passes, they will get increasingly difficult.” — Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry

Sin is getting more egregious and perverse as the remaining darknesses are increasingly pushed back into the darkest of corners, places, and expressions. The light is filling the room and the darkness is retreating to the darkest corners it can find. While the darkness we still see then is darker than ever, it is its last gasp. While it may feel like they've cornered the market, it is only because the corners is all that they have left. The corners consist of concentrated wickedness because the darkness is cloistered in retreat. And soon the light will fill the room.

day no. 16,655: the wise see the waylay

Proverbs 27:12

A prudent man sees evil and hides himself,

The naive proceed and pay the penalty.

Those with eyes in their heads move when they see the blow coming, but the fool takes the jab.

A prudent man bobs, weaves, and counterpunches; but a naive one goes down for the count.

The wise see the waylay a ways off and get out of the way.

day no. 16,654: don't give up the faith because you gave up the fight

1 Timothy 6:12

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life,

Too many give up the faith because they give up the fight.

2 Timothy 4:7-8

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Fight the good fight.

Do not unlace your gloves.

Do not box the air.

We love Christ and His appearing by appearing in the arena, armor-clad, and ready to throw down.

Do not show up unprepared.

Do not prepare and not show up.

Orthodoxy in the bunker is better than heresy in the bunker, but better yet is orthodoxy on the battlefield.

Fight to the end.

Keep the faith.

day no. 16,653: oh, for the faith of the slave-owners

Matthew 8:5-10

And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

The Roman centurion was a master of men at home and on the battlefield. He was a man of war and a manager of people. He owned slaves and trained soldiers. And he had more faith than anyone else Jesus ever met. He had more faith in his slave-owning heart than most modern day abolitionists. He was a kindred spirit to the slave-owning Philemon who loved the Lord and served Him. He was a good master because he was, himself, a good slave. He sought the security and prosperity of his servants. He loved well those who served him well.

day no. 16,652: an eternal compass

“People want to make me a fixed star, but I'm not, I'm a wandering planet. No one should look to me for guidance.” -- Martin Luther

Stars are standards. They are fixed foundations. They can help you determine direction. In short, you can build something upon them and expect it to stand or depend on the guidance and expect to end up where you're wanting to go. People are like planets. They do not come with an anchor built in. People, like planets, may take predictable paths, but because of that, you can depend on them never to be in the same place for too long. You cannot build your life around your neighbor and have a life left. There are no inner compasses. Standards come from without. Compasses must be external to guide and eternal to do so reliably. The stars can guide us because they are outside of us. But even stars can fail. They may not wander, but they can wane. In order to have faithful, reliable guidance, we need something more reliable than stars.

Revelation 22:16

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.

Christ is the better star. The star of Bethlehem may have led wise men to Him, but He leads all men to God. Follow that Star and you will find the Father of Light. But that Star did more than guide from afar. It came close. It forfeited no fixity by taking the form of flesh. Christ can save us because He came down. He was a fixed star in human flesh. Because He is fixed, we can hang our lives upon Him. Because He was flesh, He hung upon a cross. Because He is fixed, we can fix our eyes upon Him. Because He is flesh, we have faith that our flesh too shall see God.

Job 19:25-27

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

day no. 16,651: those watchful dragons

“I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralysed much of my own religion in childhood... But supposing that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday School associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could.” ― C.S. Lewis

There is no stealing past those watchful dragons. Dogma and doctrine are not the et cetera, they are the main thing — everything else is the et cetera. The creeds are not the accouterments, they are clothing.

You cannot domesticate Christianity. You cannot slip past it. There is no safe space for spiritual soliloquies. Those watchful dragons of doctrine do not stop watching. They don't misfire. Many think they can neuter them or distract them. But no one ever has and no one ever will.

Jared Longshore recently brought this up as it applies to the recovery of singing Psalms. Psalms have a way of forcing you to face those watchful dragons that K-Love attempts to sidestep. You are forced to see things about God from His perspective and to consider the world according to His Word instead of ours. If you want revival and reformation, you have to want to get caught. If you are thinking, "Things can't go on like this forever," then you will have to embrace a new way of doing things, which turns out to be an old way of doing them: that is, by the Book.

day no. 16,650: going without knowing

Hebrews 11:8

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

"Us: Here am I send me, Lord!

The LORD: OK, go.

Us: Go where?

The LORD: That way.

Us: Anything else?

The LORD: No.

Us: But where am I going, LORD?

The LORD: I told you. That way.

Us: And LORD, where might I end up?

The LORD: Reread Hebrews 11:8.

We love our stats and our data. We love living by sight. When you go out on faith like Abraham did, the result is that you are a foreigner. You don’t know the customs. You don’t know the traditions. You’re ignorant of the songs. Where is the post office? Is there a post office? And there is no one to answer your question because you haven’t yet found an interpreter yet. I repeat: Trusting God and going out in obedience like Abraham is terrifying." -- Jared Longshore, 7 Hard Steps Reformed Evangelicals Must Take To Win in 2023

This one cut to the quick. There are few things I dread more than the unknown except being forced to face it. I love stats and data and ducks in a row. I like knowing what to expect and catching my breath before pushing "play." In other words, I love to disobey when God says, "Go." I don't like going on Another's confidence. I like being self-assured, not comforted by Christ. I like being self-confident, not confident in Christ.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

I read the Hebrews passage by Longshore within minutes of a friend texting me these verses from Proverbs. The ol' one-two from God's Word. Going out without knowing and leaning not on what you're used to leaning on. Wham and bam!

I don't know how to do what Abraham did and I don't know how to love what Solomon commands, but I want to. May God give me grace and guidance to go when and where He says and how and why He says so. And in the meantime, may God have mercy for all the times I've fallen short. May He account for all the opportunity costs lost to fear and timidity and proud stupidity. May He recover what was forfeited to the fear locusts and produce a fresh crop of faith even if thirty fold is my ceiling.

day no. 16,649: our internal chorus

Psalm 119:54

Your statutes are my songs.

Singing is inescapable.

It may take the form of a dirge, a march, a waltz, or of a battle hymn, but there will always be some me kind of singing and some sort of score. Every scene has a soundtrack. Every moment is underscored by a movement.

The Law of God is that soundtrack when it comes to the Christian life. It is always playing and it is never inappropriate. It makes sense to tap to it or hum along. It even makes sense at other times, like David, to get your groove on, assuming your groove is dancing according to the steps of His path. When we follow the footsteps of the Lord, we discover we are learning to dance. The commands of Christ are our canticles and His Word is our waltz. His commands capture the chorus of our heart, soul, mind, and strength singing together.  When every inch of us is playing its part in the same song, the chorus is like a rush of waters awakened by the Source of living waters.

day no. 16,648: extending an olive branch

"The olive tree will never be chopped down, and one day she will fill the earth with her fruit." -- Douglas Wilson, Westminster Systematics

Jesus did not come to chop the olive tree down. He did remove some of the barren branches and He did graft in some barbarian ones, but the olive tree still stands. He did not come to disregard the olive tree or to plant a new one. He came to prune the existing one to be more fruitful and to husband it to produce more flavors. There are not now two olive trees. There are not now no olive trees. There are not now other trees instead of olive trees. There is THE olive tree and it is producing fruit for the glory of God and the good of those who grow upon it.

Romans 11:18-22

Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

day no. 16,647: the feast of satisfaction

“Enough is as good as a feast.” — Laura Ingalls-Wilder

If you have enough, you have as much as one with too much. Our capacity to enjoy is often eclipsed by our rapacity to acquire, but a feast is not defined by how much waste is produced. It is rather a matter of how much satisfaction is found. A feast is wherever satisfaction is found.

1 Timothy 6:6

Godliness with contentment is great gain.

day no. 16,646: rest and rise again

Daniel 12:13

But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.

Those who labor for the Lord will rest in Him and rise again. The laborer deserves his wages and his respite and God gives both in abundance. He is helping us build our inheritance and will raise us from the dead in order to keep it. Eternal life is from beginning to end, front to back, side to side, grace upon grace. He provides the going, the growing, the giving, and the keeping.

We go.

It grows.

He gives.

We keep.

day no. 16,645: a covenantal requirement and a generational necessity

Psalm 78:4-7

We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

God commands fathers to teach their children to teach their children to teach their children. It is a covenantal requirement and a generational necessity. God commanded our fathers to keep the law. One of those laws was the obligation to teach their children the law. Another obligation was to teach their children to teach their children the law. Implicit in this is an obligation to teach your children how to teach their children to teach their children. The love of Christ is a communicable cure. It can be conveyed and spread by personal contact, particularly when those persons are parents and especially when they open their mouths.

We must teach our children to teach their children to teach their children.

day no. 16,644 continued...introducing Knox Nolen Reuel and (secret sister surprise) Eulalie Day

05/18/2024 - 2:46 pm CST

Paige gave birth to Knox Nolen Reuel Van Voorst

7 lbs. 2 oz, 20"

happy... healthy.

and then at 05/18/2024 - 3:08 pm CST

Paige gave birth to Eulalie Day Van Voorst

7 lbs. 0 oz, 20"

happy, healthy... just as surprised to see us as we were to see her :)

It took us longer to name the twins than any of our previous children. They were almost 2 weeks old (5/31/24) before we settled on names. Because this was our first time not having an ultrasound, it is also meant it was going to be the first time we were surprised by the gender. That fact alone made it hard to commit to a name before seeing the child. Then we not only were surprised by the gender, "It's a BOY!" but we were surprised by another person, "it's another baby... a GIRL!" 

Our 9th child and 4th son is Knox Nolen Reuel. 

Knox

Knox comes from Scottish Reformer, John Knox, and literally means "hill", but figuratively means the mountain of a man that was John Knox and his punchy Presbyterianism. He was the father of the Kirk (the Scottish church). He was bold and faithful, full of fire for God's enemies and comfort for God's friends. The kind of man you want on your side and fear to have against you.

"In the providence of God, John Knox was a nation builder. But he was emphatically not what we would call a political operative. He was no coalition builder, no maker or shaper of consensus. He knew nothing of polls, but if he had, he would have despised them. He probably never took a personality test to gauge his fitness for the ministry. He simply thundered the word in the hope that God would gather faithful men to Himself. And this, for many reasons, God was pleased to do." — Douglas Wilson

What do the righteous do when the foundations have been assaulted? They build it back beginning with the only foundation that holds, Jesus Christ as His perfect life, sacrificial death, triumphant resurrection, glorious ascension, and majestic rule and reign from the Father's right hand. Just as John Knox built a nation, may our little Knox build a Christian nation where one once flourished. 

Speaking of nation building, Colonel Henry Knox was instrumental in helping the colonies defeat the tyrannical overreach of the British Empire in establishing the United States of America. The Knox Expedition, commissioned by General George Washington, was led by Knox to transport heavy weaponry that had been captured at Fort Ticonderoga to the Continental Army camps outside Boston during the winter of 1775–76. This expedition involved tons of pounds and hundreds of miles, but he persevered and pulled it off and thus a nation was born.

Nolen

Nolen is my mother's maiden name and means "champion." It pairs well with Knox since he is often referred to as the champion of the Kirk in keeping the flame of protestant hope and faith alive and thriving in Scotland. In Christ, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us, but we are not less than conquerors. Sure, there is more to it than merely conquering, but there is not less to it. Conquering is an essential element of the Christian faith (cf. Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21, etc..) Christ is our Champion. In Him, we become like Him and we win. We do not fight the good fight because we personally cannot lose, but because the case is guaranteed victory. Faith is the willingness to die combined with a strong desire to live. Lord, may it be so.

Reuel (pronounced for our purposes as "rule)

Reuel comes from J.R.R. Tolkien and means "friend of God." The second "R" in J.R.R. Tolkien's name is Reuel (John Ronald Reuel). He was the author of the The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and our family recently read through all of those during our nightly Story Club. We read these post 2020 and they were a breath of fresh air in a world where the smell of dumpster fires began to hang in the clouds. Frodo and Sam's commitment to the mission and each other was heartwarming in a cold winter. The faith of the Fellowship in the face of impossible odds fueled our family as we watched everything unfold.

Reuel is also Moses’ father-in-law (Exodus 2:18) and means "friend of God." He is more commonly known as Jethro (Exodus 3:1). "Jethro" likely being a title and "Reuel" being a given name. He was a good father, a good father-in-law, and a great counselor.  There are few things more you could hope for someone than for them to be a friend of God and friend to those who are themselves friends of God. Reuel was a friend of God and a friend of Moses, the man who was a friend of God. He loved God's law and he loved God's people. May Knox do the same.

Our prayer is that little Knox Nolen Reuel will be a champion of the church who spreads the leaven of Christ's Kingdom further through the lump with political involvement, theological purity, imaginative power, and deep-seated, everlasting friendship with and allegiance to God Almighty. 

...

Our 10th child and 6th daughter is Eulalie Day

Eulalie

Eulalie is a version of Eulalia, who was a Christian martyr from 303 AD and means "sweetly spoken." She was sweet and well spoken, relentlessly gentle and quiet in Christ... until you spoke ill of her Savior or attempted to elevate idols to be His equal. 

“Eulalia, a Spanish lady of a christian family, was remarkable in her youth for sweetness of temper, and solidity of understanding seldom found in the capriciousness of juvenile years. Being apprehended as a christian, the magistrate attempted by the mildest means, to bring her over to paganism, but she ridiculed the pagan deities with such asperity, that the judge, incensed at her behaviour, ordered her to be tortured. Her sides were accordingly torn by hooks, and her breasts burnt in the most shocking manner, till she expired by the violence of the flames, Dec. A. D. 303." — Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

Eulalie is of French and Greek origin. It is feminine and full of meaning. It embodies the Christian ideal of femininity in being sweet and kind and ferociously devoted to Jesus. It is that peculiar blend of accommodation and stubbornness. It is willing to bend where and when it can and unwilling to blur God's commanded distinctions. In a world where basic math and biology are shouted down, the willingness to stand for truth is crucial. But it is also crucial that it not be fussy or whiny, it must be gentle, loving, and cheerful. The one losing their temper is losing the argument. The one who has confidence in Christ is free to be friendly and faithful to be ferocious when required.

Day

Day is my sister-in-law's married name and means "light." There are 24 hours in every day. Some hours are ruled by light and called, "day," while others are ruled by darkness and called, "night," but the 24 hours as a whole is known as a "day." The 24 hours are defined by the presence of light, even during winter months when darkness prevails. Just as field mixed with wheat and weeds is called a wheat field, a 24 hour period of daylight and darkness is identified as "DAY."

Genesis 1:5

And the evening and the morning were the first day.

"The evening was 'darkness' and the morning was 'light,' and yet the two together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness. This will be a most comforting thought to those who are mourning their infirmities, and who ask, 'Can I be a child of God while there is so much darkness in me?' Yes; for you, like the day, take not your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light, though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one day be the only principle remaining." — Charles Spurgeon

Days include a period of both dark and light, but they are defined by the day. A night is simply put, just another part of the day. It is said to be darkest before the dawn, but by that time the night is nearly defeated. Though it appear to be making a final conquest of the light, it is merely exhausting its last breath before it expires (John 1:5).

"Do not, I beseech you, be troubled about the increase of forces already in dissolution. You have mistaken the hour of the night; it is already morning.” — Hilaire Belloc

Day is a tip of the hat to the postmillennial hope the Bible teaches. It is a faith-filled belief that God will do what He has promised to do and that we labor not in vain in the Lord while we patiently work and wait. The sun is not setting, it is rising. The world is not getting darker, it is getting hotter. This march of progress is inexorable, but not without difficulties. Every day still has it's night and will continue to do so until all the darkness is eradicated (Gen. 8:22, Rev. 21:23).

Our prayer is that little Eulalie Day will sweetly speak of the pleasant surprise of God in flesh appearing, dying, rising, ascending, and ruling at the right hand of the Father. Just as the night is absorbed by the day, the nations will be ushered into Christ. Eulalie was a surprise. Her life appeared unexpectedly. May God provide more surprises and more life as His leaven spreads throughout His kingdom.

Amen!

day no. 16,644: throwing shade at foreshadows

John 5:46-47

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

If you have no love for God's Law, how can you love God's Word?

If you are ashamed of the words of God, how can you have faith in the Word of God?

If you place no faith in the words of God which you can see, how can you place your faith in the Word of God whom you have not?

If you have rejected the prophets, you cannot accept their message.

If you have had your doubts about the Bible, you cannot be faithful to its Author.

Jesus is in the Old concealed and by the New revealed.

You cannot throw shade at the foreshadows without being blind to the light.

day no. 16,643: the image of God lathered on like icing

God did not say, “Be fruitful, but be reasonable.” He did not command, "Fill the earth," but warn, "But don't get carried away!"

Genesis 1:28

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God blessed them by saying be fruitful and multiply. He charged them to fill the earth and to rule over it -- every inch of every other thing under the sun. God was over man and He commanded men to be over everything else. He did not merely spread man's authority over the earth, but commanded man to multiply in order to make his presence felt over the entire earth. There is no mud meant to be withheld from the squish of good men's toes.

Genesis 9:1, 7

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth... Be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it."

This command was not forfeited by the fall. God reiterated his charge to fill the globe after having filled it with water. Once the waters subsided, He reminded Noah of what He first told Adam, "Go and do to the world what I did with water -- fill it, subdue it, rule over it, and spread out everywhere to each nook and cranny.

Leviticus 26:9

I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you

The principle behind this pronouncement was not lost through the patriarchs or abandoned in Egypt. God told Moses that the plan was still, "Be fruitful and multiply." This command was part of the covenant. Go out and get after it everywhere there is to git and don't be stingy with the serving sizes. Slather the image of God on everything like icing on a hot cinnamon roll.

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Finally, Jesus Christ in His farewell address to His disciples circled back to this command. Go out and flood the world with the presence of God. Baptize the entire globe in the Name of the Triune God. Do not, like Achilles’ mom, allow anything to remain dry. Make sure the water and the blood sprinkle everything.

From beginning to end, it has always been, "Be fruitful and multiply." Never has a hint of holding back been introduced. It has always been full send and spread thick. The plan has always included a positive view of production and posterity akin to "the more the merrier."

day no. 16,642: the world must remove its shoes in His presence

Psalm 82:8

Arise, O God, judge the earth:

for thou shalt inherit all nations.

All nations. None escape Christ's claim. There is not a single one that He declines. He will judge the nations according to His Word and refine them by His gracious fire. Any atom of vainglory will be burned up that any atom of grace may remain: purified, perfected, and appropriated into Christ's Kingdom. The entire earth owes Him honor. The whole world must remove its shoes in His presence, stand at His entrance, fall before His feet, and stand up at His command.

day no. 16,641: Christ cannot be overcome

"O GOD who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies that we, surely trusting in thy defence may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." — Book of Common Prayer, Morning Prayer: A Collect for Peace

The humble servants of God inspire haughty assaults from God's enemies. Due to the enmity of good and evil, the sons of liberty will be attacked by the slaves of license. The proud darkness will attempt to snuff out the smoldering wick, but the might of Christ will confound them. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; and the yoke of slavery cannot be reapplied. The glory of God defends the steadfast. The faith of the weak is a strong shield.

Therefore, do not fear the power of those who oppose the Lord. Whatever might they may have, it is borrowed. Christ alone possesses power in His right hand. He cannot be overcome. The darkness does not understand it anymore than it can overcome it.

John 1:5

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome (or comprehended) it.

day no. 16,640: He was hung over our doorways

1 Corinthians 5:7

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast.

Jesus Christ stands in the gap. His blood covers our threshold. He hung over our doorways so that we might enter into the holy of holies. In Him we are safe and sound. He is our feast. He is the bread of heaven, the poured out wine, and the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world for the sins of it.

Therefore, do not neglect the feast, but keep it. No sacrifice remains except that of thanksgiving and praise.

Hebrews 13:15

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

day no. 16,639: dead men turn no tails

“The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function.” — Band of Brothers

Dead men turn no tails.

Those who aim to save their lives will lose them. Those who've already lost them will save them. Those trying to save their own skin turn tail, while those who've died to themselves ride it out. The sooner you accept the fact that you're already dead, the quicker you can manfully keep to your post. As long as you are attempting to deliver yourself, you are giving yourself over to treachery.  Those who love their lives will demonstrate that ultimate allegiance in betraying all other alliances. Those who are loyal to their own preservation will manifest their commitment in abandoning other commitments.

day no. 16,638: cut to the quick and quickening to the cut

Daniel 10:19

And he said, “You who are treasured, do not be afraid. Peace be to you; take courage and be courageous!” Now as soon as he spoke to me, I felt strengthened and said, “May my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”

We cannot hear from God. We aren't strong enough to bear it. A single word from His mouth to our ears would undo us. But by His words He is able to strengthen us to hear. He is able to give us ears to hear. He can encourage faint hearts. He can speak boldness into the baffled. He can provide peace where His presence produced terror. The fear was a kind of gift and the relief is another kind. Grace teaches our hearts to huddle and grace our hearts exhorts to run. The words of God are grace and giddy up, they humble the proud and rouse the humbled; they cut to the quick, but quicken the cut.

day no. 16,637: the Masculine made flesh

“The male you could have escaped, for it exists only on the biological level. But the masculine none of us can escape. What is above and beyond all things is so masculine that we are all feminine in relation to it. You had better agree with your adversary quickly.”

“You mean I shall have to become a Christian?” said Jane.

“It looks like it,” said the Director.

-- C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

You can hide from men, but not from masculinity. You can insulate yourself from mankind, but not from manliness. The hands that hold the world are masculine. The One who made everything is Authoritative. He is all initiative. He is Sovereign and the source of all responsibility.

The hands that hold the world are Christian. They became flesh in order to be pierced. The Masculine made flesh remade the world and all power everywhere is entirely His.

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

We best do what He says and tell others to do the same... and the sooner, the better.

day no. 16,636: love is...

“Love is not blind; that is the last thing that it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind.” — G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Love knows no bounds?

Love only knows bounds.

Love is blind?

Love is light. It doesn’t overlook sin. It sees them, and forgives them.

Love is love?

Love is not what you make it. Love is what made you.

Love is free?

Love counts the costs… and pays them… cheerfully.

Love your self?

As though you don't already? It’s like the one thing you’re already good at. You’re a natural… a prodigy.

day no. 16,635: a victory garden

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.

Raising godly seed is not sitting the battle out; it is the battlefield.

1 Timothy 2:13-15

For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing-if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

Being required to raise your kids is not being forbidden to fight; it is being required to fight by raising your kids.

Every Christian home is a victory garden.

day no. 16,634: quiet quitting is gay

Matthew 5:37

Let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No." For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

Quiet quitting is gay. 

If you want to quit, then quit. Be a man and say it out loud. Don't imply it through poor output. Put in your resignation. But don’t pretend to work somewhere. Sweat somewhere. Don’t spend your energy trying to look productive. Be fruitful and multiply.

Don’t draw on the benefits of employment while shirking the responsibilities of an employee.

Quiet quitting attempts to enjoy the benefits of obedience without incurring the costs of obeying.

It is all orgasm and no pregnancy, all pleasure seeking and no promise keeping, all show muscle and no real strength, like a marble statue that looks like it could lift a thousand pounds, but weighs a thousand more and doesn't lift a finger to help you move i.

Psalm 98:2

The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

God openly has shown.

No smoke and mirrors.

No pretense.

Colossians 2:15

Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in [the cross].

Christ was not killed in a dark corner. He wasn’t slaughtered in secret. He triumphed over His enemies in broad daylight and burst forth three days later to eternal sunrise. He then walked about openly, revealing Himself as risen forty days before ascending to the right hand of His Father in Heaven where He is destroying His enemies in broad daylight before returning to demolish death, finally and forever.

Don’t try to look like something you’re not. Play the man. Work hard or walk away, but don’t phone it in for the look of respectability. Be respectable. Don’t cash a good man’s checks for a poor performance. Don’t reap a strong man’s wages for a weak man’s efforts.

day no. 16,633: the fruit from the tree and the fullness of the Law

"Just as the ten commandments are summarized by the two great commandments — love God and love your neighbor — so they are summarized by the one great commandment before the Fall, which was to not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge." — Douglas Wilson, Westminster Systematics

Do not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil lest you die is to say:

(1) you shall have no other gods before the One who issued this clear command,

(2) how that God is to be worshiped,

(3) that His Name is as holy as His commandments are His glory,

(4) rest in the goodness of His commands by eating from any of the other trees,

(5) honor the Father in Heaven by honoring His commandments on earth,

(6) respect life by not taking a human life by taking the fruit,

(7) keep the garden bed pure and keep adulterous fruit out of the covenant cupboard,

(8) acknowledge the fruit of Another by refusing to see it as yours,

(9) testify to the truth of His Word and don't add to or take anything away from it,

(10) be content with what God gives and be happy for those to whom He has given.

The fruit of that tree was God's and not to be consumed. It was set aside, like a tithe, for Him alone. In not eating that fruit, one kept the entire Decalogue. In that one law, all Law lived. The fruit from the tree contained the fullness of the Law. In any of God's ordinances all of His glory is revealed.

James 2:10

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

In any law, all the Law lives.

day no. 16,632: love your next generation neighbor

"When you discipline your children correctly, you are loving your grandchildren." — Douglas Wilson, Why Children Matter

A man loves his great grandchildren by teaching his children to teach their children to teach their children. If you raise your children well, you will get to enjoy your grandchildren. If you do not raise your children well, you will have to raise your grandchildren. 

You do not love your next generational neighbor by failing to discipline their parents. If you are called to love those living next door geographically, you are called to love those living next generationally. Your children need you to be their parents so that they can parent their children someday. Your grandchildren will be owed the discipline and instruction of the Lord which means you must provide it to their parents. 

Psalm 78:4-7

We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

You cannot teach your grandchildren to remember the Lord's commands by forgetting to obey them. You cannot teach a future generation the value of the Lord by refusing to acknowledge it before the current one.

day no. 16,631: culture is the liturgy of livelihood

"Liturgies train our loves by aiming them toward a certain telos." — James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love

No one falls in love. Affection is not the end result of inattention. You do not "fall for" anything you haven't been preparing to embrace. You don't spend your entire life feeding an affection for virtue and then fall head over heels for vice. You do not mull over an affinity for sports cars and then fall in love with a minivan. You don't love by accident. You can fall in lust, but not in love.

How we organize our days and how we regularize our delights determines our affections. It trains our hearts in a particular direction. You do not backslide into affection. You fall, in that sense, for what you have been hoping to trip into.

"The reason culture trains our heart is that, in a sense, it is a type of liturgy." — Raymond Simmons, The Confessional County

Culture is a kind of repetition. It is a smell that always accompanies a moment, a flavor that pairs with a routine. Culture is a liturgy of livelihood. It trains our affections in a certain direction. It provides the grammar of delight and the logic of loveliness. It provides the scripts and sets the expectations. 

"You can't not love."  — James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love

Love is inescapable. Liturgy is inescapable. Culture is inescapable. You will love something. You will organize your days around something. Your will train your affections towards something.

"Christian culture is putting God's ethics into public action." — Raymond Simmons, The Confessional County

Christendom is Christ's commands incarnate. It is not merely private sentiment. Jesus is not only the Lord of the few inches between your ears, He is Lord and Savior of every inch inside of you and the world around you in which you live, move, and have your being.

Christendom is Christian civilization organized around a Christian calendar, fueled by a Christian culture, and built on a Christian foundation.

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

day no. 16,630: if the dam don't hold

"If you can hold back the culture's influence long enough so that you can change it before it changes your children, you should stay. If not, you have no choice but to make some sort of change." — Raymond Simmons, The Confessional County

If your dam won't hold, you have to move to higher ground. If your walls cannot keep the evil out, you have to evacuate. The Gospel of God will conquer the world, but some fronts may be temporarily lost in the course of the campaign. You cannot begin by taking Berlin. Nor can you initially expect to keep Berlin out of your backyard if you live within shouting distance. You cannot defend that plot of land by dying in it. You must retreat and regroup in order to return with the Allies to your homeland. It will be won back and Berlin will fall, but only by those who consolidated their forces outside its city limits.

day no. 16,629: Christ or the Christless

"If we are to be truly free, we must be bound to the laws of words of God. This is because the only alternative to submission to Christ is submission to Christless men." — Douglas Wilson, Westminster Systematics

Imposition is inescapable. Someone will submit to someone else. The world is hierarchical. Authority is hard-wired into it. Submission, therefore, is also inescapable. We will either submit to the Christ or to the Christless. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. His law is liberty. His Word is truth. Where He isn't there is tyranny, overreach, slavery, addiction, and the gnashing of teeth ad infinitum.

James 1:25

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Good works are acts of gratitude. They are grace-fueled and full of grit. The Christian gets after it only after getting got. He takes hold because he has been held.

Tenacity is tangible thanksgiving.

Perseverance is palpable praise.

day no. 16,628: whether for correction or for lovingkindness

Job 37:13

He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.

Whether for correction or for loving kindness, Christ causes all to occur. Nothing escapes His notice and everything's end is His intention. Whatever comes, He causeth it. Our options are either (1) the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, or (2) curse God and die. But we cannot imagine an outcome outside of His attention. We can wonder why, but we cannot wonder if. God is sovereign and His will cannot be thwarted.

Isaiah 14:27

For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

day no. 16,627: continual and irreconcilable war

"This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man; yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part; whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh." — Westminster Confession of Faith, 13.2

The Christian life is one of continual and irreconcilable war.  Because of sin, there is enmity. It was introduced by God the Father in the fallout of the Fall.

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Since that day, the sons of Eve have been at war with the seed of the serpent, wherever it is found. Christ came to conquer as far as the curse is found. This includes the dragon without and the dragon within. The Christian life is one of unending warfare. It is killing sin wherever it is conceived inside us (James 1:15) and taking it captive for Christ wherever it is conceived around us (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

Galatians 5:17

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

There will be warfare. There will be contradiction. There will be words and there will be backchat. Imposing wills will clash with only one will prevailing at the expense of the other. The Spirit will not stop until the world, the flesh, and the devil have been fully vanquished. The flesh will not cease fire. It will not surrender. But neither will the Spirit and God's guns will outflank the flesh, lay waste the world, and demolish the devil.

God shall arise and by His might

Put all His enemies to flight

With shame and consternation.

His haters, haughty though they be,

Shall at His august presence flee

In utter desolation;

For when Jehovah shall appear,

He shall consume, afar and near,

All those that evil cherish.

As smoke before his dreadful ire,

As wax is molten by the fire,

So shall the wicked perish.

Psalm 68