day no. 16,691: fussbudgets go broke

2 Corinthians 6:11-13

Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now in a like exchange—I speak as to children—open wide to us also.

Love leans in. It wants to believe. It looks for things to compliment. It seeks to protect the reputation of the beloved. It opens its heart as wide as it opens its mouth. It is not suspicious. It doesn't desire any dark secrets. It isn't seeking to justify a bad attitude by looking for a fly in the ointment.

"Fussers don’t have this largeness of heart. They fuss right and they fuss left. They fuss about their meals, they fuss about the traffic, they fuss about the sermons, they fuss about the lack of things to grumble about. Because this had happened at Corinth, the saints there had fallen prey to certain agitators who wanted to circulate their complaints. So Paul opened his heart wide, and poured everything out. And it was at that moment that he told them the problem was in their own twisted, constricted hearts. Open up, Paul says. Imitate him as he imitates Christ. Join him and his company of great hearts." -- Douglas Wilson, A Blizzard of Troubles

A fussbudget not only budgets for flaws, but invents them where they can't find any. Fussers take a lack of legitimate fodder as an occasion for illegitimate accusations. They bank their bad attitude on assumption and assuage themselves by pleading that they're merely being realistic. In Reformed circles, they may even hide behind the doctrine of total depravity liberally applied. 

But the company of great hearts have great faith. This is not to be confused with being insatiably naive. The doctrine of total depravity is as much a part of their creed as the fusser, but they don't place their faith in it, they place their faith in God, who saves and sanctifies dirty rotten sinners. Fussers place their find in fault-finding. They insist that they can find a bent motive behind any behavior, yet cannot see the log of bent motives in their desire to discover specks.

Fussbudgets go broke. While they may account for withdrawals, they never make any deposits. They overtax and underproduce. They are not warm or welcoming to imports while being experts in exporting cold, calculating suspicions.

day no. 16,690: the Church Militant is still fighting and still alive

“The early Church was important while it was still insignificant, and certainly while it was still impotent. It was important solely because it was intolerable; and in that sense it is true to say that it was intolerable because it was intolerant. It was resented, because, in its own still and almost secret way, it had declared war. It had risen out of the ground to wreck the heaven and earth of heathenism. It did not try to destroy all that creation of gold and marble; but it contemplated a world without it. It dared to look right through it as though the gold and marble had been glass. Those who charged the Christians with burning down Rome with firebrands were slanderers; but they were at least far nearer to the nature of Christianity than those among the moderns who tell us that the Christians were a sort of ethical society, being martyred in a languid fashion for telling men they had a duty to their neighbors, and only mildly disliked because they were meek and mild. Herod had his place, therefore, in the miracle play of Bethlehem because he is the menace to the Church Militant and shows it from the first as under persecution and fighting for its life.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

The church has never been a non-issue. From its inception it incited a most violent reaction. Herod attempted to kill one child by killing an entire classroom. The child had to die because He laid claim to the throne. The church cannot be tolerated because the church cannot tolerate the unrepentant. It refuses to go along to get along and so, it must go. And yet, here it is. The Church Militant may be under persecution and fighting for its life, but it is still fighting... and it is still alive.

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

Enmity is inescapable. The seed of the serpent will never settle for a ceasefire. Evil is no more content with a ghetto of good than Good is content with an island of evil. Neither can tolerate even a hint of the other. God will sanctify the world as He will sanctify the saint. He will push His Spirit to every inch of every corner until everything is under His dominion. Every nook and cranny will crane its neck in His direction.

Isaiah 45:22

Look unto me, and be ye saved,

all the ends of the earth:

for I am God, and there is none else.

The chief end of all the ends of the earth is to begin with God. Everything is going somewhere and sooner or later, it's going to get there. That place is in Christ. All things, in heaven and on earth, will be summed up in its Savior.

Ephesians 1:9-10, 20-21

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... He raised [Christ] from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.

The current principalities obviously take exception to this. Those possessing power or might push back. Those trying to dominate don't like being dominated.

1 Corinthians 15:25-26

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

But none shall outlast Christ's attack. He has laid siege on the gates of hell and they cannot hold out. Until you see death eradicated, rest assured, Christ's enemies are being systematically stalked and hunted down.

day no. 16,689: laughingstock

"The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal, or two friends talking over a pint of beer, or a man alone reading a book that interests him.” — C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Few things can beat a good laugh and a good draught, except perhaps a good book. Good company comes in many forms and all of them are from God. It is not good for man to be alone and God has given him many good companions. From good friends to good poetry and from good times to good silence, it is all from God. Under the sun, there is much to be done, but none of it is good outside of grace, and all of it is gracious in His good will.

Ecclesiastes 2:24

There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

God is kind to the ungrateful. He gives even the gift of gratitude. There are no lack of excuses to say, "Thank You!" We are surrounded by invitations to blush. God helps us to give thanks as we receive His grace. May we all be of that good stock which is, in Him, a laughingstock.