day no. 16,687: the Lord of home and heritage

Psalm 69:35-36

For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

God cares about the seed of His servants. He looks to the sons of the sons of God. He is the God of the living and looks after the legacies of His beloved. The land is the Lord's and those that love His name shall dwell therein.

Psalm 127

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

The Lord builds homes and heritages. In Him they stand and march ahead. By Him they hold together and hold on to Him. It is vain to try to establish yourself outside of Him. It is a lesson in futility. Faith in His promises will, however, establish you and your sons, now and forever.

day no. 16,686: the human household is the chief obstacle to all inhuman progress

"Capitalism, of course, is at war with the family, for the same reason which has led to its being at war with the Trade Union. This indeed is the only sense in which it is true that capitalism is connected with individualism. Capitalism believes in collectivism for itself and individualism for its enemies. It desires its victims to be individuals, or (in other words) to be atoms. For the word atom, in its clearest meaning (which is none too clear) might be translated as “individual.” If there be any bond, if there be any brotherhood, if there be any class loyalty or domestic discipline, by which the poor can help the poor, these emancipators will certainly strive to loosen that bond or lift that discipline in the most liberal fashion. If there be such a brotherhood, these individualists will redistribute it in the form of individuals; or in other words smash it to atoms.The masters of modern plutocracy know what they are about. They are making no mistake; they can be cleared of the slander of inconsistency. A very profound and precise instinct has led them to single out the human household as the chief obstacle to their inhuman progress. Without the family we are helpless before the State, which in our modern case is the Servile State. To use a military metaphor, the family is the only formation in which the charge of the rich can be repulsed. It is a force that forms twos as soldiers form fours; and, in every peasant country, has stood in the square house or the square plot of land as infantry have stood in squares against cavalry." -- G.K.Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce

Families do not fight back. Families fight first. The State is fighting back. The family is a force of nature. The Servile State is an unnatural force. It must impose the unnatural upon the natural in order to eliminate resistance. A family is a resistance movement. It stands on its own. It is, by nature, a force. As such, it stands forever in the way of any attempt to break individual bonds. The State cannot replicate the home. It can motherly nourish them or fatherly discipline them, but it cannot take the place of a mother or father. It cannot turn citizens into children. It cannot, like the Spirit, regenerate. It cannot, like the Wind, turn where it likes and rebirth who it wants. It does not possess omnipotence, so it has to fake it in the form of decadence.

"The family is the little platoon we belong to in society," -- Edmund Burke

The world is at war with the family. It is fighting back against its natural fecundity. This may seem like bad news, but it should serve as a reminder: the family has the upper hand. They wouldn't be mobilizing such energy aimed at its destruction if it was nothing. It is something divinely inspired and empowered. The nuclear family is a nuclear power center and it is high time it starting acting like it.

day no. 16,685: the echoes of grace grow louder as they go

Psalm 89:1-4

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

Joy is easy to pass along. In fact, a tell tale marker of joy is the insatiable ambition to share it. You cannot love something without wanting others to love it. You cannot swell in appreciation without overflowing in admiration.

“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. . . . The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” ― C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms

We are free and fervent solicitors of our truest loves. Whether it be a sports team, a book, a movie/TV series, a meme, an article, a favorite restaurant or recipe, a vacation spot, a sunset, etc... we cannot help but want to share it. We want to enjoy it and we want the enjoyment of watching others enjoy it.

Isaiah 9:7

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

If a father loves the Lord, he will desire for his children to love the Lord. If he sees his God as faithful, he will want His faithfulness to be proclaimed and observed by others. The man who loves the Lord has legacy in mind. He cannot help himself. His energy will be thrown into it. Though it be his duty, he won't need duty to remind him. His zeal will lead him.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

A godly father cannot help but teach his sons to teach their sons to teach their sons the mercies of the Lord. The echoes of grace grow louder as they go. Entropy has no hold on its enthusiasm. In other words, grace does not run out of gas. 

John 1:16

For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

day no. 16,684: the trouble of troubles

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

In Christ we can be simultaneously grateful for our troubles and still able to call them troublesome. We don’t have to pretend that the thorns are tender, but we also don't have to harp on their hardship. We are free from the burden of our burdens, but not expected to act like they weren't heavy. We are freed by grace, but not to gripe. We can see His kindness in our hardships without pretending they are not hard. His yoke may be easy, but it is still a yoke. We are strong when we confess our weakness. This does not require us to be strong before we can say that, but it also requires us to be strong in Christ after saying it.

In Christ we can be weak.

In Christ we can be strong.

day no. 16,683: Callista is SEVEN!!!

Lissa Lou, you are SEVEN years old!

This last year was a turning point for you. You have made a clear transition from little girl to young lady in training. You have grown physically and spiritually. You take on the tasks of a bigger kid when permitted and look for ways to pitch in. You regularly look after Oey, you have learned how to shower, you are learning how to play the piano, you pull out your own wiggley teeth, and more. 

You are a caretaker at heart and love to minister to your siblings when they get boo-boos. You run to get ice packs when I have a headache and ask to help when you see anyone under the weather. You are servant-hearted and kind to those who are sick and injured. You love fixing people and like being helpful.

You have really taken to the twins and love cuddling them and patting them back to sleep. You're a natural. You also love playing with other people's children at church. You frequently seek out littles to carry around. You often have a kid on your hip and a smile on your face. It is a gift from God and it is fun to watch you lean into it. 

You are consistently one of our best eaters. You eat most things that are put on your plate and other than Atticus, you often eat the most food. You drink water instead of milk, but you make up for it in the volume of solid fuel you consume. 

You love to play the piano and have taught yourself how to play. You like watching Penelope and then copying with your fingers what you've seen her do. You have a good ear for music and skilled fingers and coordination in turning the tunes in your head into sounds on the keys.

You love riding your bike. You like to see how fast you can go. You ride around our neighborhood whenever you get the chance. You like to practice tricks like waiving while you whizz by. It's pretty cute and you're pretty good at it.

You love spending time in the backyard with Juniper and Oey playing games, building houses, and getting your little legs tanned. You tag along with the boys when they play airsoft. You like baking with Lolo. You are well-rounded and enjoy jumping in on whatever your siblings happen to be doing.

You like to draw and have a unique style. I like the way you draw faces and the backstories you create for your growing number of characters.

You are a great daughter. You are beautiful and funny and helpful and easy to love. I like being your dad and I look forward to seeing you grow in wisdom, stature, and favor this year.

Love you,

Dad

day no. 16,682: a mighty seed upon the earth

Psalm 112:1-2

Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, That delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth.

If the Lord is your strength, your seed shall be strong. If you worship the Lord Almighty, your sons will be mighty. If you fear the Lord your God, your children will be feared. Those who delight in the Law will delight to see his offspring enforce the laws. The man who fears God above need not fear anyone on the earth below. Good seed will grow to fill the field and the man of God will multiply the children of God in the land.

Psalm 127:3-5

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

day no. 16,681: no hall passes

“We must fight against the passions with main force, not with artifice, and that the battle-line must be turned by a bold attack, not by inflicting pinpricks; that sophistry is not serviceable, for the passions must be, not nipped, but crushed. Yet, in order that the victims of them may be censured, each for his own particular fault, I say that they must be instructed, not merely wept over.” — Seneca, On The Shortness of Life

We cannot kill our sins by simple consent. It is not enough to merely wish your sins away. It is not enough to agree with God that they ought to go. We must mortify our sins. That is to say, we must engaged them in battle, hunt them down, stalk them where they live, and pursue them to point of annihilation when we have them on the run. 

Colossians 3:5

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

We cannot be content with any cancer. We must pluck it out. We must cut it off and cauterize the wound. No point of re-entry should be unguarded and no hall passes should be provided.

Romans 8:13

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

day no. 16,680: load-bearing

Isaiah 22:22-24

And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue.

The glory of God rests upon the head of the home. The weight and responsibility of being reliable is laid upon his shoulders. He is called to be fixed and fastened in order to provide a sure place for those under his care. Lineage and legacy hang in the balance and a rock of a man can make all the difference.

"The 'key's speak of safety and protection. The 'peg' speaks of firmness, strength, stability, and something not usually to the modern man's taste: staying put." — Elisabeth Elliot, The Shaping of a Christian Family

A man must be a peg in a sure place. He must be a load-bearing beam. Lives depend upon him. He must be able to support others. He is a board, like them of course, but he is a board that must support other boards. He must be fixed, firm, reliable, resolved, strong and stable.

Galatians 6:2-5

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.

A man must bear his own load because he will be required to help carrying the loads of others. If he cannot carry himself with dignity, he will not be able to carry others with reliability. 

Proverbs 27:8

As a bird that wandereth from her nest,

so is a man that wandereth from his place.

Cornerstones cannot take vacations from their cathedrals without causing collateral damage.

day no. 16,679: a good book rewards return visits

“I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.” — C.S. Lewis, Letter to Arthur Greeves (February 1932)

In the last few years, I've adopted the practice of re-reading good books. I still read new books, but I focus the bulk of my reading on circling back around to good books.

A good book rewards return visits.

“Those who read great works, on the other hand, will read the same work ten, twenty or thirty times during the course of their life.” —  C.S. Lewis, The Reading Life: The Joy of Seeing New Worlds Through Others’ Eyes

There are some books worth reading once, but there are some that are worth reading over and over. A good book is not one you read simply to get through, but to get something out of. A great book has enough to supply subsequent visits. A great book moves with the times by staying put. Because it wasn't written to appease the prisoner of its particular moment, it is free to speak in principle to anyone at anytime in particular and to any one at different, particular times in his or her life..

Read good books.

Reread great ones.

“Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and reread them…digest them. Let them go into your very self. Peruse a good book several times and make notes and analyses of it. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books he has merely skimmed. Little learning and much pride comes from hasty reading. Some men are disabled from thinking by their putting meditation away for the sake of much reading. In reading let your motto be 'much not many.'" ― Charles H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students

The best way to appreciate a good book is to know the Good Book. The Bible is the key to understanding and applying any other book. It is the legend that unlocks every other written word.. Whatever you do, read and reread your Bible. No book better exemplifies the reward of return visits than the Bible. It is a living Book. The principles contained never go out of style. They never cease being applicable.

"Visit many good books, but live in the Bible."  ― Charles H. Spurgeon

day no. 16,678: the growing forces of dissolution

"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

The darkness is not growing, it is gathering. It is being herded together and led to the slaughterhouse. 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.

1 Corinthians 15:25-26

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Every darkness will be rooted out. It may be darkest in the corners, but that is merely a symptom of its defeat. It is huddled and cornered and outgunned and coming to an end until only death will be left. And even then, it will go down. Death will die and darkness will be snuffed out by everlasting light.

day no. 16,677: single or sundry?

"Pluralism is just the political name for what in theology is called polytheism. And Christians are not polytheists, or at least they didn’t used to be. The Christians of the future won’t be, at any rate." -- Douglas Wilson, Trump, NFTs, Fremdschämen, and More

Pluralism is polytheism. You cannot have competing gods of the system without having competing gods. And if we learned anything from our mythologies, there is never enough room in the kitchen for multiple chefs. You cannot have more than one god without having at least one duel to the death. You cannot have multiple ultimates. Those who multiply gods multiply sorrows and those who cannot be satisfied by a single God cannot be satisfied by sundry gods.

"Whoever thinks one God too little, will find two too many, and yet hundreds not enough." -- Mathew Henry

Christianity cannot be re-branded to meet the new DEI requirements. It cannot remain Christianity and compromise on the matter of Christ's assertion of unilateral authority (Matt. 28:18-20). The Kingdom of Christ will cover the world as the waters cover the sea, but it will never have more than one throne.

day no. 16,676: good homes and good medicine

"Frodo was now safe in the Last Homely House east of the Sea. That house was, as Bilbo had long ago reported, ‘a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep, or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.’ Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear and sadness.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

A good home is good medicine. It can fill myriad prescriptions. A perfect place must be suited to differing demands. It is a place of productive activity for the laboring and rest and respite for the exhausted. It is a place to lay your head and to lift it. It can tend to the needs of the mending or the growing. It gives rest to the worker and work for the rested. It is a place of quiet and belly laughs, of sitting and standing, of silence and singing, of fasting and feasting, 

Godly parents strive to give their kids this kind of blessing and should teach their kids how to provide this gift to their children. It nourishes health and teaches how to feed. It comforts and teaches how to be a comforter. It raises and teaches how to raise others. A good home reproduces good homemakers. A good home is one that does not insist on being superior to the subsequent homes it produces. It shows those in it how to make one of their own, it cheers them on in their endeavor, and it welcomes back its former members without obligating them.

In short, a good home is simultaneously somewhere you want to be and something you want to replicate somewhere else.

day no. 16,675: pig sty repentance

Ephesians 6:4

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

Christian parents are obligated to raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. This command was given to Gentile Christians in Ephesus who did not have a robust history of Christendom to lean into. They had to build it from scratch. If there was going to be a Christendom, they were going to have to create it.

So, they did.

We find ourselves two thousand years downstream from those who received Paul's letter and others like it. We have a rich inheritance that has been largely squandered on loose living or taken for granted by entitlement. We have wasted the fruits of our father's hard work by waxing fat and kicking. Like the prodigal in the pig trough, we are now dead broke and the economy is falling apart around us. He was out of cash when in came the famine. But back home there was plenty. There was work to do and food for the asking. 

The prodigal considered the pigs and headed for home. He had nothing left to eat but crow. 

So, he ate it.

May we similarly see the swine and return to our Father's house empty-handed with hearts full of repentance.

day no. 16,674: what craftsmen and centurions have in common

"Every wise craftsman who seeks to exercise true dominion in the world knows two things: first, he has creative authority to arrange—he is the craftsman. And two, he must respect the nature of the material he is using. The craftsman does not just exercise authority; he also submits to the nature of his material." — Douglas Wilson, Church Music and Other Kinds

A craftsman, like a centurion, is found faithful when he is in authority by being under authority. Creative genius is a creature. An artisan cannot create without acknowledging the created nature of the materials and more importantly, the created nature of the mind and fingers performing the work. Derivative minds working with derivative materials cannot be authoritative in their artistry without first submitting to the Author of all things.

day no. 16,673: the stars always shine

Philippians 2:14-16

Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

The stars always shine, but we see them better at night.

We are called to conform our behavior to Christ's commands wherever we are and whatever we are doing (1 Cor. 10:31, Matt. 28:18-20). But our behavior shines brightest when everyone else is rebellion. The contrast only draws attention to our shining conduct. But like the stars, let us burn bright for Him who sees us in broad daylight. Let us not only show up and show off at night. Let us labor to light up anywhere, all the time.

1 Peter 4:3-5

For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.

Stars are strange as far as the heavens are considered. The night sky is dark with rare exceptions. But those exceptions shine all the brighter for the backdrop in which they are placed.

Isaiah 60:1-3

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

day no. 16,672: Lord Light and Lady Dark are Mr. and Mrs. Day

Genesis 1:1-5

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

In the beginning, God made the light and separated it from the darkness. He called the light, “day” and the darkness, “night”, but the pattern of light and then dark that has followed is called a “day." The darkness is defined by the light. They are a set with the Light assigned as the head of the darkness. The darkness was married to the light by God and took on light’s last name. In other words, Lady Dark and Lord Light are Mr. and Mrs. Day.

day no. 16,671: in concert with Christ or incoherent without Him

Ephesians 1:9-10

For He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Progress is either in concert with Christ or it is regress. 

Every bridge will either be Crossed when we get there or burnt behind us.

All things are either going forward in the Lord or nowhere quickly.

Advances are either in concert with Christ or incoherent without Him.

day no. 16,670: coming to their Head or coming to their end

"Because we do not trust the Spirit’s intricate work in the womb of the world, we think to take over the process. We don’t take it over successfully, obviously, or thwart it, but we do retard it. Because we have become worldly in this way, we have refused to become earthy... The work of God is thereby reduced to the management of a tiny ecclesiastical and doctrinal circle, with the gospel right at the center of it. The gospel is right where it ought to be, right at the center, but it is not doing what it was intended to do, which is to transform the world. Because, for the faithful, there is nothing in the world that is allowed to be outside the circumference." — Douglas Wilson, The Great Gospel-Centered Crack-Up

Keeping the Gospel central is often a catch phrase used to keep it at the periphery. The Gospel is advocated as the center of some miscellany on the perimeter or the axle of some wheel that is not connected to the rest of the car. Yes, we insist, it must be central. But central to what? Is it the Center of everything or just the one thing? Is the Gospel central in its own lane or is it the center of all lanes? The error of western evangellyfish is in insisting that the Gospel be the center of a small, off-to-the-side sphere, one with very little, if any, overlap with the large circle in which we live, move, and have our being. They still insist on it being the center of something which assuages their consciences. They are Gospel-centered after all. It should be central somewhere. But what this misses is everything else. Jesus is Lord of all lords and King of all kings. He is the Center of every other system. All things are coming to their head in Him or coming to their end by His hands.

Colossians 1:17-18

And He (Christ) is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.

Ephesians 1:9-10

For He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.

1 Corinthians 15:24–26

Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

day no. 16,669: running from rumors

Hebrews 10:39

But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Christians do not fade to black, they march ahead. 

Proverbs 28:1

The wicked flee when no man pursueth: 

but the righteous are bold as a lion.

The wicked run from rumors. 

The righteous face their fears.

Do not skedaddle on spec; battle in broad daylight.

Do not retreat from possibilities; run toward realities.

day no. 16,668: a kinder, gentler authoritarianism

"Modern intelligence won't accept anything on authority. But it will accept anything without authority." — G.K. Chesterton, The Man Who Knew Too Much

Authority is inescapable. The modern mind hates this fact and wars against it by embracing any authority that opposes the appearance of the old authorities. Nevermind that it can only do so based on a new authority. On what basis do you remove the ancient landmark? On whose authority do you supplant it? By what standard do you forsake it? By the standard that having standards is old-fashioned, and on the authority of those who despise our elders, and on the basis of the ancient world being so unrepentantly unmodern. By this we attempt to remake the world in our own image. The modern world redefines authority to mean anything that used to hold sway so that when they grasp for power and cast them aside, it isn't by "authority" that they do so, at least in its traditional sense. How could it be when by its definition "authority" is the order it is overturning? And thus we get the new kinder, gentler authoritarianism. 

"For the modern world will accept no dogmas upon any authority; but it will accept any dogmas upon no authority. Say that a thing is so, according to the Pope or the Bible, and it will be dismissed as a superstition without examination. But preface your remark merely with 'they say' or 'don’t you know that?' or try (and fail) to remember the name of some professor mentioned in some newspaper; and the keen rationalism of the modern mind will accept every word you say." — G.K. Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce

The backslidden West despises definite authority. Cite a specific Source and the impulse is resistance. The apostate post-moderns do, however, receive indefinite authority. If some study has found something or someone online said or you saw something somewhere, it is assumed to be authoritative.

day no. 16,667: the wedding vows of Adams

The first Adam’s wedding vows were:

Genesis 2:23

This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.

The second Adam’s wedding vows were:

This at last is blood of my blood

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Christian,

because she was taken out of Christ.

Matthew 26:26-29

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

day no. 16,666: flee or fight, the fear still awaits

“A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

While people may differ in how they respond to fear, with some wanting to flee from it and others wanting fight it, they cannot differ in having to eventually meet it. Fear is inescapable and fleeing from it only guarantees that you will meet it on its terms. Facing your fears is confronting them on your terms. It is deciding to fight instead of being forced to it.  Whether you flee or fight it, the fear still awaits.

Matthew 10:28

Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Fear is inescapable. You will be afraid of someone for some reason. And no one can escape facing their fears. Running from them is running into them. Is is compounding the problem. It is adding fear to fear. It is water at a flood. It is tossing kindling at a fire. 

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Fear is inescapable. However, the one who fears God alone need not fear any other. Those who flee to the Fear of Isaac (Gen 31:42) need not flee from anything else.

day no. 16,665: a defeatist attitude is defiance

"The Christian warriors chant the war song, and prepare for to-morrow's fight. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening 

It is not prideful to believe that in Christ, we can win. It is prideful to disbelieve it. A defeatist attitude is defiance. It is resisting the blessing of God and refusing to hear what He has said. He is in you and it is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). He is greater than what opposes you. So, if you are a Christian, chant this war song and fight the good fight.

Be willing to lose, but expect to win. Fight like that for which you are fighting is worth your best effort. Believe in Him and in His promises. And then get out there and get after it.

1 John 4:4

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

day no. 16,664: origin stories and eschatologies; the ballad of from and for

Revelation 1:8

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

From and for are inescapable. Everything, it seems, eventually comes down to competing origin stories and eschatologies. In other words, everything is ultimately about ultimates. Time must be pushed all the way to the corners.

From and for are inseparable. When you know where you're from, you know what you're for. You can't measure progress without a beginning and an end. If you know where you started, but don't know where you're going, you could be miles off track. If you've run for miles, but don't know where you're from, you may be merely circling the drain. You cannot appeal to how far we've come unless you know from where we have come. You cannot warn about how far we have yet to go unless you know where we are supposed to end up.

day no. 16,663: continuity heirs

Amos 9:13-15

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.

The theme of dominion dominates the Scriptures. Everywhere you look, you are commanded to look after everything.

Isaiah 58:11-12

And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

It’s almost like this theme dominates Scripture as a first hand lesson and example of what He calls us to do in His world. His Word is dominated by the theme of dominion. Just like Eden was a blueprint, His Word is a blueprint. Just as Eden was a garden meant to provide an example of how to gardenize the globe, the Word is word picture of how we are to participate in the story of the world.

Look down and you will see that the Word is immersed in the language of worldwide dominion and commands us to beautify it all and flood it with the image of God. The Bible is flooded with this theme. Now look up and go out and do that in the world! Flood it with grace for the glory of God and the good of the world.

The Bible tells one story; one overflowing with continuity heirs.

day no. 16,662: a Christian home is an et cetera

"When David told his son Solomon that God had chosen him to build His house he encouraged him with these words, 'Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.' (1 Chron. 28:20 NIV). Will not the same Lord be with any man or woman to whom He gives the task of building a home? Ask Him!" -- Elisabeth Elliot, The Shaping of a Christian Family

The Christian home is not et cetera. It is not a tack on, take it or leave it kind of thing. You may not be tasked with leading a church, but if God has given you a family, He has charged you with keeping it. You may not be responsible for the care of your local church building, but you are responsible for the care of your home. And the weight of that should lead anyone to prayer. And the promises of God should lead anyone to expect them to be heard.

day no. 16,661: your local, district satan club

“I am opposed to Satan clubs in the government schools because the government schools are a Satan club. Our overarching goal should be to shut down the pretense of neutral education.” — Douglas Wilson, Blog & Mablog 

Neutrality does not exist because everything matters. In a world filled with enmity, nothing is a wash. Everything is either gain or loss, victory or defeat, advance or retreat.

You should oppose a Satan Club starting up in your local school district, but you should do so by not sending your children to be instructed by the Satan Club that is the public school district. The reason Satan Clubs are even permitted is because evil is unrestrained where there is no vision (Pr. 29:18). In other words, where God is not the standard of decorum, no other standard will hold. Where God does not go, anything goes.

Oppose the Satan Club that is your local district government school, whatever clubs they do or do not allow. Begin that opposition by pulling your kids from their rosters. If you've already done that, raise your kids well and teach them to teach their kids to teach their kids to do the same.

day no. 16,660: despotism is a tired democracy

“If there is one fact we really can prove, from the history that we really do know, it is that despotism can be a development, often a late development and very often indeed the end of societies that have been highly democratic. A despotism may almost be defined as a tired democracy. As fatigue falls on a community, the citizens are less inclined for that eternal vigilance which has truly been called the price of liberty; and they prefer to arm only one single sentinel to watch the city while they sleep.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

If everyone agrees to let one man lead, is that despotism or is that democracy? The answer is yes. 

The danger of democracy is that citizens are not fixed stars. Since individuals are wandering planets, you cannot depend on them for navigation. In other words, you cannot determine where to go or how to get there by looking merely to people. Democracy makes the voice of the people into the voice of God since whatever the majority wants is what constitutes a standard. Standards accepted in this manner are not lofty ideals that some strive to live up to, but the lowest common denominators to which anyone can fall. Even in systems of democracy aimed at giving voice to the minority, the majority can simply vote to stop doing that.

Christ is the only standard that holds since He holds everything else together.

Colossians 1:16-17

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 

Christ is the only standard upon which you can hang everything since He alone is fixed and firm.

Ecclesiastes 12:11

The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one Shepherd.

His Word holds firm.

Matthew 7:24-25

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

Despotism may be a worn out democracy,

but Christendom is a church militant.

day no. 16,659: respectable punks

"Lewis was looking at the principle. When some delinquents stole some of his things, that was nothing new. Thieves you shall always have with you. The thing that Lewis noticed with alarm, a cloud the size of a man’s fist, was that indulgent and excuse-making judge. That is where the fatal disease was. The boys had the decency to commit their crime in secret, as though there was something wrong with it. The judge did what she did in the broad light of day, in a courtroom, with witnesses there, and with the approval of her own conscience. That was the promise of a societal hell . . . and here we are." — Douglas Wilson, In Which C.S. Lewis Tells Some Punks to Get Off His Lawn

There is a kind of crime that is committed in broad daylight with the approval of its own conscience - it is the crime of being soft on crime and neutral on nonsense. In Lewis' day it was some childish vandals being mollycoddled, but even he saw where that kind of nonsense would take you. In other words, the disrespectful punks in the back alley were one thing, but the respected punk with the gavel was another. Mischief at midnight on a Friday is a problem, but mannerly mayhem at 11 am on a Tuesday is worse. Sins committed as sins must, of course, be expected as part of normal life, but sins committed as virtues cannot be tolerated without changing the course of everything altogether.

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no revelation, 

the people cast off restraint;

But happy is he who keeps the law.

You cannot throw shade at order and keep any semblance of it. If you cast off justice, you cast off restraint. Where there is no clear vision of what we should expect, you can expect to find the invention of new evils clearly on display.

day no. 16,658: breeding farms for secularists

"With regard to men who have strong opinions about lotsa kids, and equally strong opinions about the need to contribute little after begetting them, I have seen some really unfortunate consequences of this attitude. Such men seem to want to be little more than breeding farms for the secularists." — Douglas Wilson

Inconsistent Christian homes with inattentive Christian dads are sometimes simply breeding farms for secularists. There is no blessing in simply having a lot of anything. Riches can rot and the more the murkier and kids can go bad if abandoned — instead of becoming arrows in one's hand, they can become thorns in everyone's sides.

The secularists cannot breed their own soldiers. They have embraced fruitlessness by being fruity. Two outlets can't make a charge and two nuts can't screw. Nothing they do works and cannot hold together. They cannot have children. But they are more than happy to take yours. 

So stop giving them to them.

If you have strong opinions about the number of children one should have without having strong convictions about the quality of those children, you are merely recruiting rioters. You cannot send your kids to secular boot camp and expect them to come back loyal sons of the Savior. 

The Bible says that children are a blessing. They are not, however, an automatic blessing.  All of your enemies are someone else's children. All the drag queen story hour alphabet mafiosos were begotten by somebody.

So…make more babies, but make them disciples.

Make more arrows.

Do not trust the twigs to sharpen themselves.

Do not send them to the general mill for shaping.

Do not let them become left wing lumber.

Form them at home.

Be sharp and sharpen them.

Ephesians 6:4

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