day no. 16,961: all work and no play

“I don't want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers.” — John D. Rockefeller

Secularism is all work and no play. Educrats don't care about the person, they care about the person's productivity. The womb gives birth to workers. They do not want free thinkers because that kind of thing gets them thinking about freedom.

"Public education has not produced an educated public." — G. K. Chesterton

Nor was it attempting to. Public education has not failed, it has achieved its goals.

"In our dreams...people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. The present educational conventions fade from our minds, and unhampered by tradition, we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, educators, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians, nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have ample supply. The task we set before ourselves is very simple...we will organize children...and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way." — Rockefeller's General Education Board (1906)

Vocation is the goal of state education. It is not meant to produce people, but spare parts. State schools mass produce widgets. It makes people to replace the parts that have worn out. Federal education (feducation) produces citizens to rule and workers to tax. Public education is secular boot camp and lifelong wage slavery is the war.

"We want one class to have a liberal education. We want another class, a very much larger class of necessity, to forgo the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks." — Woodrow Wilson

Self-appointed queen bees bemoan the scarcity of the worker bees and despise the ingenuity of the few who aspire to royalty. So, state education was invented to stunt the ambitions of potential usurpers and to stoke the inhibitions of potential workers into the flames of productive kindling. These people serve to keep the fire warm for those who like to read. These are the logs burned at the stake of secular avarice and indifference.

day no. 16,960: plows and pow pows

“Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.” — anonymous 

The right to bear arms is God-given. As such, it cannot be taken away, except by execution. A living person has the right to protect themselves, unless they forfeit the right to be alive by committing and being convicted of a crime that carries with it a sentence of death.

Luke 22:36

Let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.

You can own a gun without trusting in it just as you can eat your dinner without trusting in it. The gun may help you stay alive and so may the pot roast, but you do not trust your life to shotguns or your soul to potatoes. So, carry a sword and know how to use it and when to use it. Protect your loved ones and eat your supper like a solider of Christ.

2 Timothy 2:3-4, 7

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him...Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

A Christian must shoulder the weight of his weapons, both the responsibility of bearing them well and of carrying them with him wherever he goes. A Christian who is not much interested in the Word of God should not be overly interested in the swords of men

Judges 7:20

They cried, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon."

If you don't know how to carry the Sword of the Lord, you should not try to compensate by carrying the swords of Gideon. It is both/and, not either or. The Lord is our weapon. Her permits us to carry.

2 Corinthians 6:7

The weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.

Every man must know how to wield the weapons of strength and the weapons of meekness. He must know how to use his dominant hand to dominate and his off hand to facilitate. He must know how to land the ol' one-two, using jabs as well as round-houses in order to knock evil down.

“A man is not only to wield the plow but also to bear the sword.” — Richard Phillips

A man needs to provide his people with supper and security. He must know how to plow in hope and how to punch in good faith.

"We need a theology of fist fighting... A time will come when spears are beaten into pruning hooks. A time will come when men no longer study war. This is the end result of the Gospel's fruitfulness in the world. But until the time when men will learn war no more, they must still learn it." — Douglas Wilson, Future Men

We must wage the good warfare and fight the good fight until there is no evil left to fight. To stop fighting before then is to surrender.

“Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.” — anonymous

For all of its flaws, evil does not forget that it is in a fight. It will not let up. It enjoys the enmity and leans into it. It will not stop until it is stopped by God.

"It is absolutely essential for boys to play with wooden swords and plastic guns. Boys have a deep need to have something to defend, something to represent in battle. And to beat the spears into pruning hooks prematurely, before the war is over, will leave you fighting the dragon with a pruning hook” — Douglas Wilson, Future Men

So, the end of the matter: farm and fight and know which tools are best for both. You can fight with a plow if you have to, but a sword is better. You can use a shovel as a sword in a pinch, but those plotting against you surely won't. They have swords for a reason. So should you.

day no. 16,959: along came the Rock

And the face of the tyrant is darkened,
His spirit is torn,
For a new King is throned of a nation—

A child is born.

— G.K. Chesterton, The Nativity

Herod hated the idea of another king. His cowardice feared the foretold Christ and his countenance fell at the tales of His fruition. So, he had the sons of Bethlehem slain. He cast a wide net in order to catch the Christ and killed more kids than he needed to in order to make sure he could accommodate the mystical math of the prophets. 

Yet, for all of Herod’s froth and bubble, the King escaped his impotent rage and was born. He reigned in His mother's womb before He reigned in the manger. He reigned in the caravan as a kid before He reigned in Cana as the barkeep. He took on the tent of human flesh in order to camp among us. He set up shop and got to work. And the temper tantrums of a tinpot tyrant could not stop the Son of God as He went forth to war.

Herod was deposed and his throne was exposed. He was sitting on sand when along came the Rock.

day no. 16,958: great expectations

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." — Shakespeare

Some are born as the fulfillment of great expectations. They were hoped for, longed for, and finally arrived. Their birth is an answer to prayer.

Some are born to no expectations. They are brought into a humble and low estate, yet they exceed everyone's expectations and accomplish great things for God.

Some are born with great expectations placed upon them. Prayers are placed upon them in their infancy. Hopes and dream ride on their life and livelihood. The weight of the world is placed on their fresh shoulders.

Jesus was all of these things. He was longed for and anticipated. His birth was an answer to great prayer and expectations. He was born into a humble home. No one who wasn't hoping for Him expected much to come from Him. He went unnoticed by most until He began to reveal His greatness. Hopes and dreams were placed upon Him in His infancy. The government of the world was placed on His shoulders and those who knew watched and waited to see how He would shoulder the responsibility. He was born for such a time as His and exceeded everyone's expectations except God's. He did everything His Father required. He did not go beyond what was commanded and He did not fall short of what was required. Praise God for the one, true Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

But what about the rest of us?

Acts 17:26

God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.

No one is born at the wrong time. God plans the place and the people of every person who is brought into this world. Most people will not be known by most other people. Most people will be known by a small, select group of people handpicked by the providence of God.

Esther 4:14

Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Whoever you are, wherever you are, whenever you are. You are God's. Go forth and seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Whatever you do, get God first and then go out and get after it.

day no. 16,957: to be brave in battle or in bed

“My religious beliefs teach me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time of my death. I do not concern myself with that, but to be always ready whenever it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and all men would be equally brave.” — Stonewall Jackson

It is well with the Christian whether he is in the fight or whether he is saying, "goodnight." He rests in the sovereignty of Christ om waking or sleeping. He has work to do and there is nothing the world can do to stop it. He cannot live a second longer than he wants and he cannot die a moment earlier than evil may plot.

"I know I shall die, and I shall die on time. Therefore, I must make the most of the moments between here and there.” — St. Boniface

There are good works prepared beforehand for each of us. It is not ours to know the hour of our death, but it is ours to know the time of day. We must make the most of the day while there are still time left on the clock.

Ephesians 5:16

Redeem the time, because the days are evil. 

You cannot afford to lose a minute, but you can afford to lose a battle. God does not rob the Christian of his courage by guaranteeing the outcome. For the Christian, the rest is in the obedience, not in the result.

2 Samuel 10:12

Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seemeth Him good.

The secret things belong to God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children that we may do them by grace through faith with courage in Christ alone. We fight hard to win and leave the score to Sovereignty.

2 Samuel 15:21

And Ittai answered the king, and said, "As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be."

We go with God wherever that may lead. If to death, then may we die with Him that we may rise like Him. If to victory, then may we ride with Him that we may rule well.

Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare ourselves for trial. 

Let us neither be dogs that do not bark, nor silent onlookers, 

nor paid servants who run away before the wolf. 

Instead, where the battle rages, let us find ourselves. 

Run towards the roar of the lion! 

Run towards the roar of battle! 

That is where Christ's most glorious victories shall be won!

— St. Boniface

In Christ, it is always victory. Since He defeated defeat by crucifying the cross, we are free to win in whatever means He has for us. In death, in life, it is always and only Christ.

Romans 14:8

For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

day no. 16,956: on turning 39 for the 1st time (my wife's birthday)

Happy 39th Birthday, Paige!

I have known you over half of your life. I knew you at the end of your tens, all of your twenties, and now into your last year of your thirties. Each decade has been better than the one before. In your twenties you were married, bought your first house, had your first child, had four more, sold your first house, moved, and helped plant your first church. In your thirties you had five more children, sold your second house, moved, helped plant another church, and then sold your third house before moving once more. You've had a few of productive decades to say the least. Through it all you have grown wiser and warmer. You are flexing your domestic muscles and getting better every day in every way. You are always getting cuter and more capable. You are always learning about new things and how to do them. You are expanding without losing what you already knew. Like wine, you grow in complexity and value with every passing day.

I am so proud to be your husband. You are by far the best thing about me. Nothing speaks more highly of me than you behind me. There is nothing I have done that could gain me a better reputation than someone finding out that you are my wife. You make me look good because you already look so good to begin with. Thanks for sharing. It was not good for me to be alone, but with you everything is always getting better.

I love you and I like you. I always have and I always will.

I can't wait to see what the next decade has in store.

Your husband,

Todd Henry Van Voorst

day no. 16,955: darwinism is atheism

“What is Darwinism? It is atheism.” — Charles Hodge

Darwinism does not begin with a single-celled organism, but with a singular hatred of God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth.You will not find the evidence of evolution in any prehistoric goo, but you can find it bubbling in the brackish hearts of all who hate the Lord.

Proverbs 8:36

All they that hate Me love death

Evolution is the doctrine of atheism and death is its sacrament. Progress, by its estimation, is a product of passing away and advancement is merely the ability to boast over one's ancestors.

Psalm 14:1

The fool hath said in his heart, "There is no God."

Darwinism is foolish. It is a willingness to accept anything that claims to circumvent Christ. More to the point, it is the belief that Christ can be circumvented.

It always has been and always will be a simple matter of Christ or chaos, but in this case, the Darwinists embrace the chaos and call it "good," because "god" would be a bit too on the nose for their taste.

day no. 16,954: salute the saints

Philippians 4:21

Salute every saint in Christ Jesus.

The saints are soldiers.

"Every baptized churchman is by his profession a 'soldier of Jesus Christ,' and is pledged 'to fight under His banner against sin, the world and the devil." — J.C. Ryle, Holiness

Show some respect and salute your brothers and sisters in arms. They are engaged in the same battle as you are and they have your back.

"Christian warfare is a great reality and a subject of vast importance. Necessity is laid upon us. We must fight. Where there is grace there will be conflict."  — J.C. Ryle, Holiness

The citizens of the Kingdom wage war on earth as it was once waged in Heaven by confronting evil and casting it out.

"The believer is a soldier. There is no holiness without a warfare. Saved souls will always be found to have fought a fight." — J.C. Ryle, Holiness

So, we fight side by side. Everyone is fighting their own fight, but all of us in Christ are fighting in the same direction and by the same Spirit.

"My sword, I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me, that I have fought his battles, who will now be my rewarder."  — John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress (Mr. Valiant-for-Truth)

Salute those who have gone before and those who stand by your side. Honor the uniform of those who bear the marks of fighting the good fight. Reward them with your respect and pay homage to them through your perseverance by keeping well what they laid their lives down for.

day no. 16,953: stretch marks are better than tattoos

1 Timothy 2:15

Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Motherhood is an act of service and its sacrifices are rewarded with badges of honor.

Stretch marks are better than tattoos. Tattoos may express your individuality, but stretch marks declare your hospitality.

Galatians 6:17

From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

Tattoos are the marks of our own choosing, but stretch marks are the stamps of God's work in you. Scars are rewards for having done something and a testimony that hard times have been survived. Mothering is good, hard work and it has many rewards.

Proverbs 31:28

Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

A stranger may compliment your tattoo, but your children complement your stretch marks. The ink on your arm may give someone an idea, but the stretch marks on your body gave someone life.

Psalm 128:3

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

The fruitful vine will bear marks of pruning, but it also will bear much fruit.

Proverbs 31:30-31

Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

There is a beauty that fades over time and there is a beauty that grows more divine. The fruit of her hands is babies at her breast and a few reminders on her belly. Those babies will grow up, but the marks will remain. As a man with calloused hands can be trusted to provide, so a woman with stretch marks can be trusted to pour herself out. She already has. She has been hospitable and welcoming and as a result she enjoys their company.

Genesis 24:60

And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, "Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them."

God makes mothers into companies of warriors. Though those bands of brothers may leave bands around her belly, they also leave a legacy of life and livelihood in the land. She produces the arrows that pierce the heart of the darkness. The warriors of tomorrow are in the wombs of women today. Nations are nested in the nativity. Do not, for the shade of the world, pick the temporary markings of your on choosing over eternal badges of your Lord's blessings.

"Mary overcame in the way women are called to conquer—by giving birth to conquerors, or by giving birth to daughters who will give birth to conquerors. And this explains how the Magnificat can have been composed by a woman and still be so gloriously militant. Godly child-bearing is militant. The seed of the woman has crushed the dragon’s head." — Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry

Stretch marks are badges of honor. They are like medals awarded for courageous acts in wartime service. The Commander in Chief generously bestows them on His soldiers and they, in turn, wear them always and display them proudly on their persons.

day no. 16,952: walk this way; talk this way

“You could see that they were ready to be friends with anyone who was friendly and didn't give a fig for anyone who wasn't." — C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy

Christianity is cordial. It looks for peace. It is ready and willing to fight, but not looking for one. It doesn't need tension, but it isn't afraid of it. Christianity is established in the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It fights for peace and has fun doing it, but does not fight merely for the fun of fighting. It looks to get along where it can, when it can, with whom it can. 

1 Corinthians 9:22

To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

Christianity doesn't stir up trouble where there is none, but it does confront troubles where they are. There are some things, after all, that a Christian cannot do and will not become: a denier of Christ, for example. But there are many things a Christian is free to get along with. Christians are not required to be hard to be around, but they must be willing to be difficult, if and when it comes to that.

Matthew 12:30

He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

Those in Christ and those outside of Him really are on different sides. You are either with Him or opposed to Him. All roads do not lead to favor with the One at the Father's right hand. So, we should acknowledge the antithesis without exaggerating it. We are free to smile at anyone who is smiling without worrying that we're condoning their motives for doing so. We can be reasonable with those willing to be reasonable, even if their reasons are different than ours. But we must always be willing and able to defend our reason for being so charitable.

1 Peter 3:15

Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

The world should be able to see our hope in the way we walk down the street, but we must be ready to articulate our hope without soft pedaling it and not give a fig for anyone who takes offense to the way Christians walk.

day no. 16,951: liberty has a landlord

"Most modern freedom is at root fear. It's not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it's rather that we are too timid to endure responsibilities." — G.K. Chesterton

A fear of commitment can be spun as a freedom to sleep around, but it's not driven by liberty, but by licentiousness. It is not free to be bound. It is too afraid of being restrained. It is scared of the sacred and abhors obligation. It is too timid to tie itself to something. 

"Fight the thing that you fear." ― G.K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare

The only way through it is to face it. You will never be free by fleeing from responsibility. You can chase the rewards of a faithful man without wanting the rigor of his faith, but you cannot be counted faithful that way. You can try to reap a worker's reward without the sweat, but you will not grow callouses that way. You cannot jump in the water without getting wet. You cannot have the coolness of the water without its wetness. You must face reality, accept responsibility, and commit to the discipline of a man. And if you do, you will there finally find freedom waiting there for you.

"The chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild." ― G.K. Chesterton

Discipline is freedom. The man who cannot say, "No," to himself can never be free. His "Yes" can never be trusted. He cannot truly say, "Yes" to Christ who cannot say, "No" to himself. Said the other way, he who cannot say, "No" to himself cannot say, "Yes" to Christ. And those who say, "No" to themselves by entering by the narrow of door of "Yes" to Christ find life, liberty, and the enjoyment of happiness and holiness.

John 10:9

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Those who accept the door receive the pasture. Those who humble themselves to the narrow way are escorted to a broad plain.

Freedom is frolicking inside the fences and those who pay the price get to play.

Liberty has a landlord.

day no. 16,950: the natural consequences of ignoring the supernatural

“Take away the supernatural and what remains is the unnatural.” — G.K. Chesterton

The supernatural keeps the natural in line. Honoring God is the best way to honor your grandfather. Thanking your Creator is the best way to respect other creatures. The natural cannot keep itself without reference to the supernatural. If it attempts to do so, it becomes unnatural. It cannot stay merely natural. No nature is not an option. There will be either supernatural or unnatural. When you fail to honor God, you do not get no honor, you get dishonor. Only the supernatural can hold the natural world together.

Romans 1:21-25

When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

It's only natural that God should be required to keep things in order. The best way to love anything is to love God more. The only way to keep things in line is to keep Christ at the head of the line. Normal life is only possible where revelation is acknowledged. If special revelation is rejected, you don't merely have natural revelation, but abnormal speculation. You can't stay put. As Chesterton elsewhere acknowledged, a love of white fences is a commitment to repainting them white. For if you leave them be, you will have gray fences. Unless we are remade daily by God's good mercies, we are rotting.

In other word, God has made the world in such a way that it is completely natural and normal for things to become unnatural when the supernatural is rejected and/or abandoned.

day no. 16,949: free thinking

“The free man is not he who thinks all opinions equally true or false; that is not freedom but feeble-mindedness. The free man is he who sees the errors as clearly as he sees the truth.” — G.K. Chesterton

Coexist is the creed of the feeble-minded. Advocating for the good of every religion is to be enslaved to the Spirit of the Age.

"Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." — G.K. Chesterton

Open-mindedness is empty-headedness. There is no virtue in being open to anything. It is good to open your mind in order to wrap it around something tangible, but it is no good to leave your mind, like your mouth, wide open. You never know what nasty things might get in and you never really have anything good that makes its way in there as it can just as easily fall back out. Additionally, anything solid that finds its way in is more likely to be a choking hazard. Instead of being nourished by good things, you either starve to death or suffocate.

"Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions." ― G.K. Chesterton

The one who lets too much in gives too much up. He is not free. He is at the mercy of whatever comes along. He does not possess the high and generous quality of patience because he does not, strictly speaking, possess anything. He is at one moment open to this and at another open to that. His a door not a wall and as such, cannot be trusted to guard anything. (cf. Song of Solomon 8:9-10)

"If we are not all trying to convince the world of the truth of our convictions, what in the world are we doing; or why in the world do we call them our convictions at all?" ― G.K. Chesterton

Conviction is costly. It requires decisiveness. A decision cuts off other options. It says, "Yes," to one thing in order to say, "No," to another. You cannot have something unless you cut yourself off from something else. Every "yes" to one thing is a "no" to something else. Every "no" to something is a "yes" to something else. You cannot be convinced of something without being unconvinced of that which comes against it. And in this world of antithesis, nothing of value will be tolerated by the wicked. Good will not go unchallenged. So, we will have to decide. You cannot hold an opinion without refusing to hold others. You cannot grasp something without letting some other things go.

“The modern habit of saying 'This is my opinion, but I may be wrong' is entirely irrational. If I say that it may be wrong, I say that is not my opinion. The modern habit of saying 'Every man has a different philosophy; this is my philosophy and it suits me' – the habit of saying this is mere weak-mindedness. A cosmic philosophy is not constructed to fit a man; a cosmic philosophy is constructed to fit a cosmos. A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun and moon.” ― G.K. Chesterton

A man can, no doubt, possess a religion, but not a private one. He can possess the sun and the moon, but only the way any man can, by inheriting them from his Creator. In order to have an opinion, it must have you. An open mind is not free to be closed. In fact, "being open for business" is the one thing it will fight tooth and nail over. It may be open to all kinds of nonsense, but it is decidedly closed to sense.

Free thinking is done on the cheap. It costs nothing, knows nothing, and is worth just as much.

day no. 16,948: the garden and the ghetto

“The most ignorant of humanity know by the very look of earth that they have forgotten heaven." — G.K. Chesterton

Anyone can see that something is wrong. Most everyone, in fact, doe. There may be many different opinions about what exactly that something is and just as many about what to do about it, but no one is looking around and thinking that we've arrived. Conservatism wants to protect the good from the threat of the novel and progressivism wants to pursue more good than the timid desire, but no one wants everything to stay exactly as it is, and that, as Chesterton points out, is because we are Heaven-haunted. The garden echoes into the ghetto. We miss somewhere we've never been as we miss the mark wherever we are. We feel patriotism for a place we have misplaced and loyalty for a land that someone once loved.

Matthew 6:33
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

If you seek the kingdom of God you will see the sin in the kingdoms of men. If you seek only the conquest of men, you will be conquered by the kingdom of Christ.

“Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in': aim at Earth and you will get neither." — C.S. Lewis

If you aim for earth without reference to Heaven, you reveal that you do not understand where the earth came from. If you aim at Heaven without reference to the earth, you reveal that you do not understand where it is all going. If you, however, regularly implore God, as Jesus commanded, to bring about His kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven, you will see His will done.

History requires an origin story and an eschatology. The origin and end game of God is Edenic. It is restored relations between Heaven and earth: horizontal harmony and vertical vitality. It is men unified with Christ above and one another below, receiving all good things from God as grace and with gratitude.

day no. 16,947: a reference guide

"There was a man who dwelt in the east centuries ago, and now I cannot look at a sheep or a sparrow, a lily or a sunset, a vineyard or a mountain, without thinking of Him.” — G.K. Chesterton

The world is derivative. The Word is substantive. It came first.

Everything that is, at one time wasn't. Nothing that is remains on its own. 

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Everything has a reference point and that reference point became flesh and dwelt among us.

John 1:14

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

God is glorious and generous. As such, we discover glories everywhere we go, but those glories are signs and symbols of the greater glory who is their Author.

Ephesians 4:4-6

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

God is above all and through all, and in Chris,t He is in every Christian. The Christian can see the glory all around him because he has the Spirit within him and he cannot see anything without seeing the Glory behind it

day no. 16,946: God''s friends have enemies

“I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword.” — Jesus, Matthew 10:34

“The Christian will be sure to make enemies. It will be one of his objects to make none; but if to do the right, and to believe the true, should cause him to lose every earthly friend, he will count it but a small loss, since his great Friend in heaven will be yet more friendly, and reveal himself to him more graciously than ever. O ye who have taken up his cross, know ye not what your Master said? ‘I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother; and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.’ Christ is the great Peacemaker; but before peace, he brings war. Where the light cometh, the darkness must retire. Where truth is, the lie must flee; or, if it abideth, there must be a stern conflict, for the truth cannot and will not lower its standard, and the lie must be trodden under foot. If you follow Christ, you shall have all the dogs of the world yelping at your heels. If you would live so as to stand the test of the last tribunal, depend upon it the world will not speak well of you. He who has the friendship of the world is an enemy to God; but if you are true and faithful to the Most High, men will resent your unflinching fidelity, since it is a testimony against their iniquities. Fearless of all consequences, you must do the right. You will need the courage of a lion unhesitatingly to pursue a course which shall turn your best friend into your fiercest foe; but for the love of Jesus you must thus be courageous. For the truth’s sake to hazard reputation and affection, is such a deed that to do it constantly you will need a degree of moral principle which only the Spirit of God can work in you; yet turn not your back like a coward, but play the man. Follow right manfully in your Master’s steps, for he has traversed this rough way before you. Better a brief warfare and eternal rest, than false peace and everlasting torment.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Enmity is inescapable.

The light and the darkness cannot coexist despite what the bumper stickers advocate.

War and peace are part of the plot per God's providence. You can make your peace with God's war and take up arms according to His Word or you can fight against the way the world is and oppose your Author in the process. 

God's friends always have enemies, but God's enemies don't have His help.

So, Christian, expect trouble, but expect help. 

day no. 16,945: the snare of sunken ships

"Like a ship sunk in the mouth of the harbour, which is more dangerous to others than if it had perished in the open sea. There is less scandal by the sins of the wicked, who sink, as it were, in the broad sea of profaneness, than in those who are convinced of sin, troubled in conscience, and miscarry so near the harbour, within sight, as it were, of saving grace. Tempted souls can hardly get over these without dashing." — William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour

Loose lips sink ships, but loose morals do too. And the closer to harbor they sink, the more dangerous they are to other ships. A ship deep in the throws of immorality sinks at sea and other ships sail over it without even knowing, but a ship that sinks close to harbor is a great danger to other ships seeking safety. In other words, a reprobate who dies in his sins far from God is no snare to a Christian seeking the Kingdom, but a hypocrite who sinks near the harbor is a snare to those genuinely seeking asylum after he sinks. His hypocrisy haunts the harbor.

1 Timothy 1:18-19

This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.

We must fight the good fight and look out for sunken ships. Because it is a war, some ships must be sunk and because it is a long war, there is a history of hypocrisy and a harbor full of underwater hurdles to navigate. We cannot merely see the harbor and head full bore toward home. There are snares everywhere and until we've arrived, we'd do best to keep our heads on a swivel, lest we stumble in sight of the finish line.

1 Corinthians 9:24

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

In other words, we must take the harbor with gratitude and not for granted. We must have grit and avoid ingratitude.

day no. 16,944: ordo amoris and earthly authority

Colossians 3:5

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

Rightly ordered affections, or ordo amoris, presupposes that no earthly authority is absolute. The prevalence of sin insists one know which loyalty answers to which. If your father asks you to sin against your God by forbidding something Christ commands or commanding something God forbids, you must honor your Father in Heaven by disobeying your earthly father. If the State commands you to disobey Christ or forbids you to obey Christ, you must defy tyranny and obey God as Peter pointed out in Acts 5:29 when he said, “We must obey God rather than men.”

All earthly authority is derivative.

As Jesus told Pilate, “You would have no authority over me unless it were given to you.” (John 19:11) Pilate had real authority over the fate of Jesus because he had been appointed the governor of Judea. But that authority could be taken away. This fact was something the Pharisees were eager to point out to Pilate as a way of convincing him to crucify Jesus. Pilate’s power was dependent upon the Emperor and losing favor with him would lose him his position, and more likely his life. So, Pilate had power because the Emperor had given it to him and the Emperor had power because God, who establishes governments, had given it to him.

So, taken altogether, we understand that even during His trial, Jesus was providing Pilate with the power and authority to crucify Him. Anyone watching saw one powerless man at the mercy of a powerful ruler. But anyone with eyes to see would have seen one Man in control of His fate and another at the mercy of other people’s opinions. One was doing what He wanted while the other was doing what others wanted. One man was fearfully trying to keep what little power he had. The other was confidently displaying the power of God at work in Him through patient submission to the will of His Father, and that because He had His affections rightly ordered. He loved God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength and sought the Kingdom and its righteousness first and foremost.  As such, He has received everything else along with it.

day no. 16,943: selling our silver bullets to the werewolves

“The use of fashions in thought is to distract men from their real dangers. We direct the fashionable outcry of each generation against those vices of which it is in the least danger, and fix its approval on the virtue that is nearest the vice which we are trying to make endemic. The game is to have them all running around with fire extinguishers whenever there’s a flood; and all crowding to that side of the boat which is already nearly gone under.” — C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

The lowerarchy wants us worried about our least concerns and indifferent, or even excited (if possible), about our biggest problems; but enough about the Gospel Coalition.

Can the family become an idol? Of course. Anything can be an idol. 

Is that the biggest threat to Christendom in general and most Christians, in particular, at this moment? Far from it.

Is society as a whole in danger of becoming too family-centric? Or too interested in having children as a result of the influence of Christians? Read the room. The answer is a resounding, "No!"

Can politics be consuming? Obviously. 

Are Christians too politically active with respect to their faith? Not nearly.

2 Corinthians 2:11

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Satan wants us whacking at ants with baseball bats while selling our silver bullets to werewolves.

But God has given us eyes to see and ears to hear that we should not be so easily swayed.

1 Chronicles 12:32

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

May God grant us more men of Issachar to understand how we got here and what to do about it beginning of course by keeping our silver bullets and using them to decrease the current werewolf population.

day no. 16,942: liar, lunatic, Lord

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” — C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. 

In other words, He is either not who He said He was or He is exactly who He said He was.

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."

day no. 16,941: feminism is a Christian heresy

“Feminism and egalitarianism can be considered Christian heresies.” — Rich Lusk, Celebrating a Patriarchal Eucharist

God designed distinctions and called them, "good."

Day and night, water and land, man and woman. 

All distinct and all distinctly good.

Egalitarianism is the erasure of distinction. It is not equality. It is insanity. It is one thing to argue that men and women are equally valuable, but quite another to declare that men and women are equal. XX does not equal XY. They are not the same. Egalitarianism is predicated on the principle that differences are bad. Its religious position is that distinction is transgression. Egalitarianism declares that a woman can be as strong as a man and that a man can be just as pregnant as a woman.

Feminism is egalitarianism applied to sex and gender roles. 

Atheism is egalitarianism applied to religion.

Materialism is egalitarianism applied to science

Socialism is egalitarianism applied to economics.

Communism is egalitarianism applied to philosophy

Environmentalism is egalitarianism applied to nature.

Egalitarianism is derivative. It is a perversion. It is not substantive. It requires a host. It cannot sustain itself, it can only suck the life out of something else. It is a Christian heresy. It is a parasite fed by the fumes of Christendom. It needs the world God made the way He made it in order to distort it for its own purposes. Rather than submitting to God's purposes for it, it kicks against the goads, and like Saul, it will be knocked off its high horse.

"The Feminist (which means, I think, one who dislikes the chief feminine characteristics) has heard my loose monologue, bursting all the time with one pent-up protest.” — G.K. Chesterton

Feminism presupposes the feminine that it despises.

Antichrist presupposes the Christ that it contradicts.

day no. 16,940: a woman serving the sacraments is a sign that Satan's lies are still believed

“Every time a church allows a woman to preside over the Eucharist, the Fall of Genesis 3 is being re-enacted; a woman serving the sacramental meal (especially to men) means Satan’s lies are still being believed.” — Rich Lusk, Celebrating a Patriarchal Eucharist

There are few things more Satanic than a woman presiding over the Lord's Table. It echoes of the first sin and parodies the Fall the of man.

Genesis 3:6

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Where women are serving communion, men are failing. The men have failed to take responsibility for the sacraments. They have failed to occupy their position as the servants of the meal and they have failed in permitting a woman to preside over the meal (1 Tim. 2:12). In every way, shape, and form, a female priest or pastor is an apostasy.

1 Corinthians 10:20-21

I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.

It is blasphemous to call the cup of devils "the cup of Christ." It is one thing to eat from the bread bowl of Beelzebub instead of the body of God, but it is quite another to eat the devil's dainties while calling them divine. The golden calf was called YHWH, but that didn't make it any better. It only made it worse. Calling it "god" did not make the bovine divine, it just made the worshipers idolaters.

Matthew 12:22-31

Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

It is blaspheming the Holy Spirit to call evil "good" and good "evil." It is demonic to assume control of the dictionary. There is only one Dictator and He has told us what is what.

Isaiah 5:20-21

Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,

and shrewd in their own sight!

It is a curse to refuse to confess what Christ has said. The horror of being without homologeo is that you pronounce judgment upon yourself while proclaiming peace with God. If you are wise in your own eyes, you are foolish in God's. The church is the bride of Christ, and her submission to her Husband is to call Him "Lord" and obey as He says, which in this case requires men to preside over the Lord's Table. As it turns out, insisting on a male-only pastorate is actually the submission of the bride of Christ. It is not a flex of the patriarchy, it is the humility of the parson's wife.

day no. 16,939: feminism is the surrender of the feminine

“The Feminist (which means, I think, one who dislikes the chief feminine characteristics) has heard my loose monologue, bursting all the time with one pent-up protest.” — G.K. Chesterton

Feminism is the confession that masculinity is all that has mattered all along. It agrees with the chauvinist in saying that women's work is beneath us all.

In short, feminism is the surrender of the feminine. 

"In this corner called England, at this end of the century, there has happened a strange and startling thing. Openly and to all appearance, this ancestral conflict has silently and abruptly ended; one of the two sexes has suddenly surrendered to the other... the woman has in public surrendered to the man. She has seriously and officially owned that the man has been right all along; that the public house is really more important than the private house." — G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong With The World

For the feminist, the only metrics that matter are the masculine ones. The only yardstick that counts is the one by which manhood is measured. If you try to give a feminist credit for her beauty, she will scold you for not giving her credit for her strength. If you try to compliment her grace, she will deride you for overlooking her grit. If you praise her gentleness, she will upbraid you for debasing her assertiveness.

As such, he private house has been neglected. Men respect the private house, but do not possess the ability or desire to take dominion there. Women despise the private house and abandon it for the sake of being third rate men. The private house is now either attended to by effeminate men filling the gap where their women used to be or by hired hands who babysit, cook, and clean for cash, most of them, you guessed it, women. But since they are getting paid to do it, it counts as an occupation, not a degradation. Additionally, these maids and nannies have now abandoned their own posts, by either neglecting their own children or by not having any, in order to attend to another's abandoned post.

Feminism robs from Mary to pay Martha (and calls both blessed).

day no. 16,938: living to not fight another day is death

"The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God's paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle - and not lose it." — G.K. Chesterton

Faith fights the good fight because it is good. It does fight to win, but it doesn't refuse to fight if victory seems impossible. Because it fights upon principle, it makes its last stand on the Rock rather than compromise to live to not fight another day.

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.” — G.K. Chesterton

Faith does not desire to die, but it is willing to die in order to live by faith. The rule of courage is that loss is possible, but unfaithfulness is not permissible. That is to say, come what may in Christ, but go not on without Him.

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality." — C.S. Lewis

The testing is the point at which it costs something. Faith is willing to fight what looks like a losing battle in order to further the cause of that which should have won. In its sacrifice, life is honored. 

There are few things more Christ-like than laying your life down in order to pick it up again.

Christianity is the story of dying in order to destroy the power of death and going faithfully into that good night in order to usher in the never ending day.

day no. 16,937: the eleventh hour

“Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died. Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

Death cannot kill Christianity. Because He rose, His people cannot stay down. They can be beaten and buried, but only the way a seed is. If you break their shells and stuff them in the ground, they spring up all the more plentiful. If you set them on fire, you only serve to remove their outer resin, like a serotinous cone, so that they can sprout.

“The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church." — Tertullian

Resurrection rules the world. You cannot keep it down. By definition, it rises every time.

Philippians 3:10

That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.

If you die a death like Christ's, you will rise from the dead like He did. If you are in Him, you will rise and rule with Him. You cannot be made into a footstool even by those who would stamp you into the dirt. They only plant you and give you access to deeper roots for Act II.

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Christ, we are more than conquerors, but not less. We are not merely conquerors of the worldly sort, but conquistadors of Christendom. The difference being that a conqueror can be defeated, but a Christian will be resurrected. The Christian conquers even if he is killed.

"Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God’s character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it — the love of God in Christ Jesus. 'Out of the wreck I rise' every time." — Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

So, get to work. 

In Christ, your labors are not lame. They can get their legs knocked out from underneath them, but they cannot stay down if they are grounded in God. Love like that sprouts up from the dirt every time.

Micah 7:8

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

The righteous are not rugs, they are the feet of Christ.

Romans 16:20

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.

The enemies of God end up underfoot, but not His friends.

1 Corinthians 15:25

For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.

So, if you are beaten down, bear up.

Your Redeemer lives and He lives to crush the fiends of Hell.

You will rise again and raze the wicked.

Proverbs 24:16

For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again:

but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

A good man does not fall for the lie that says that good men cannot fall. 

You may fail more than once, but you will not fail to rise.

He who promised is faithful and He will do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Get to work for He who works within you is mighty to save and faithful to deliver.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Nothing done by grace through faith in Christ alone is a waste of time or effort. 

God loves an eleventh hour rescue. Denouements are divine. He loves the tension of an impossible situation and the resolution of a miraculous deliverance. He has written this story again and again in microcosm and it is the overall trajectory of the metamarrative. God loves narrows escapes and defeating the wicked in the midst of their end zone dancing. He likes letting the world strut before He sits them down.

"The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God's paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle - and not lose it." — G.K. Chesterton

If the Head is above water, the body can breath. As long as Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, the body of Christ will survive. As long as He breathes, we live. We are free to risk it all for Him because He is a safe bet.

day no. 16,936: Finneas the thirteenth

Happy 13th Birthday, Finneas!

They say to look out for Friday the 13th, but they say all kinds of things, and more importantly and to our purposes here, they've never had to tangle with Finneas the 13th! No one ever has. At least, not until TODAY. Get ready, world. Here he comes.

Finneas, you are officially a teenager. 

While you still enjoying boyhood, you are beginning to appreciate the pursuit of manhood. You are lifting weights and wanting to grow muscle. You are helping out with physical chores around the house and looking for opportunities to help. You are beginning to earn a little extra cash in the process and learning how to spend and save money and how to make purchases you don't regret. 

You have a razor sharp wit and often surprise your mother and me with just how quickly you pick the perfect comeback. You have a clever tongue and you can read a room. You know where all the buttons are. You identify the weak points without much effort. The work for you will be knowing what to do with that insight. God has given you a great gift of being able to read people and situations and by His grace and through His Spirit, you will leverage that strength to build up saints and break down demonic strongholds.

You are a fun person to be around as evidenced by how easily you make friends and how quickly you adapt to whatever game the group was playing before you got there. 

I'm proud of you, Finneas. 

You are a good son. You are caring, thoughtful, helpful, hilarious, and loyal. You are committed to what you like and look to convince others to like it. I would not be surprised if you leveraged that to win many to the Christian faith. You are not afraid of conflict and as we have pointed out time and time again, you almost always win. You dominate. By God's providence, you are often able to impose your will on a person or a situation. And since you are growing up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, you are learning God's will as well. So, putting it all together, I suspect you will be used by God to bring His will to bear upon many people and places before it’s all said and done.

God has great things in store for you. That has always been obvious to anyone who has gotten to know you. When you were a child, I would often joke that you were either going to destroy the world or fix it. As Shakespeare said, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” In your case, itt is all three. You were born special and will do special things because God has singled you out, like Samson, for special work.

I love being your dad and like being your friend. I look forward to smoking cigars and clinking glasses of scotch with you. 

Welcome to manhood, my friend.

You are my son, but you are my brother in Christ.

Happy Birthday, Finneas.

Love,

Dad

day no. 16,935: the house of God rules over the houses of men

Psalm 87:2

The Lord loves the gates of Zion

more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

The Lord God loves the assembled families of men in worship at His house more than He does the individual families of men leading their times of family worship in their homes. This is not to say that He does not love families. He does. To love one thing more than another is not to have no love for the first. But it does highlight a particular emphasis or order.

You cannot make an omelet without eggs and you cannot have a congregation without families, but neither can you have an omelet if the eggs stay in the carton or a congregation if all the families stay home. There is something special about everyone getting out of their own bed, getting dressed in their own clothes, driving their own vehicles, and gathering together to a common place on a common day to worship a common God. The gathering of the saints on the Lord’s Day to worship God with His people is unique. It does not happen on a Tuesday evening. That isn’t to say that your Tuesday night with your family in worship is unimportant. If anything, it is to say that family worship at home is all the more important because it prepares your particular people to better worship your God with the rest of His people the following Sunday. 

Ephesians 3:14

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

We are grateful for the gifts of God and for godly families, but families are derivative, not substantive. They are important because God is important. Fathers matter because God the Father Almighty matters. Families matter because the family of God matters. Your house matters because the House of God matters. Family worship is special because the family of God is special.

day no. 16,934: better by what standard?

1 Chronicles 29:2

I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of onyx and stones for setting.

Is gold better than silver? Sometimes. It has historically been worth more, at least in fair trade on the open market, but that does not make it better at being silver. Sometimes you need silver. Is iron better than wood? It depends. Does it need to float? Does it need to bend? How much heat will it need to endure? What are you trying to do? By what standard?

David carefully set aside everything that would be needed for the house of God. He had categories. He didn’t just save a bunch of gold saying, “Gold is best. Make it all out of gold.” Gold is great, but it is also heavy and soft. Some things need to be light and some things need to be rigid. And some things are not always available for purchase, no matter how much gold you could offer for it.

David also didn’t just store up a bunch of gold saying, “Use this to buy whatever you need.” Gold can, after all, buy things that it cannot build. At the end of the day, however, David didn’t want to give Solomon a big bank account and a bigger to do list. He could have done that, but he didn’t. He gave him the things he needed in proportion to what they were needed for. Iron is strong, but onyx is pretty. Gold is precious, but wood can float. 

God has made everything according to its kind and purpose. It is our duty to appreciate things in proportion to what God made them for. 

If I set the sun beside the moon,

And if I set the land beside the sea,

And if I set the flower beside the fruit

And if I set the town beside the country

And if I set the man beside the woman

I suppose some fool would talk

About one being better.

— G.K. Chesterton, Comparisons

This is not some post-modern goo log about everything being equal. This is merely pointing out that context is required to assign value. The sun is better at governing the day than the moon is. The sea is better at being wet than the land is. A man is better at being a man than a woman is.

Every thing really is better than another thing at being what God made it to be and nothing is better than anything else at being what it is not.

day no. 16,933: the secular blood sacrament

“Abortion is the demonic parody of the Eucharist.” — Peter Kreeft

At the Lord's Supper we celebrate, among other things, faith in the idea of "My body for yours."

In the act of abortion the modern world declares, among other things, its insistence on the idea of "Your body for mine."

Abortion is the blood sacrament of the modern secular church. 

2 Corinthians 11:14

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

It should not shock us that the secular world has sacred texts like Darwin's Origin of Species and sacraments like Sanger's abortion-on-demand. Secular chaos cannot escape the power of God's living order and symbolism. So, it borrow rainbows and doves in order to celebrate defiance and enmity with God as superficial peace with men (Jas 4:4) It puts crucifixes around its neck or tattoos them on its shoulders. It cannot help itself. People were made to worship, but they defy their Maker. They play with the power of religion without consulting the Person  by whom and for whom religion exists. You cannot be on good terms with sin and the Savior. You cannot sit at the table of sin and the table of salvation.

1 Corinthians 10:20-21 

I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.

The side of good never calls "evil" good in order to annex more land. 

Psalm 16:4

Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

You cannot call murder "healthcare" and by the side of health or holiness.

You cannot call evil "good" and be on the side of good or goodness.

day no. 16,932: divine indifference

"What is the solution to all this? The solution is the divine gift of not caring what they think. But of course, not caring at all is apathy, and that is also a sin. Caring is another inescapable concept—not whether, but which. It is not whether your conduct will be approved, but rather which group will approve it. It is not whether you care if your conduct is approved, it is rather which group’s approval you care about." — Douglas Wilson, Real Offense and Not So Much

There is a Christ-like way to not care what others are saying about you.

Differentiated leaders embrace the diktat of divine indifference.

This is the way.

Luke 11:44-46

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.

The lawyers were worried that Christ had accidentally included them in His critique of the Pharisees. Christ was concerned that any doubt remained, so He took the opportunity to clarify.

Matthew 15:12-14

Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

The disciples were worried that Jesus had offended the Pharisees.

Jesus was worried that He hadn't. 

“You could see that they were ready to be friends with anyone who was friendly and didn't give a fig for anyone who wasn't." — C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy

So, all that to say, in order to be Christ-like, you must be willing to be friends with the friendly while not giving a fig for those won't.

Christ-like not caring is the way. If you care a great deal about what God thinks, you won't care a bit about what blasphemers feel.

day no. 16,931: light swallows darkness

“Everything becomes more and more itself. Here is joy that cannot be shaken. Our light can swallow up your darkness: but your darkness cannot now infect our light. No, no, no. Come to us. We will not go to you. Can you really have thought that love and joy would always be at the mercy of frowns and sighs? Did you not know they were stronger than their opposites?” — C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

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

Luke 8:17

For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.

The darkness will be dragged into the light until it is no more.

Hebrews 2:8

Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet. For in that He put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But now we see not yet all things put under Him.

Everything will be subordinated to Christ.

Light devours darkness.

Darkness cannot dim the day.

The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent are on opposite sides, but they are not equals. The devil is not God's opposite. God has not opposite. If an opposite was needed, Michael would be Satan's opposite, but God would still have none.

1 Corinthians 15:24-26

Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

Everything is going somewhere and that somewhere is a Someone. Everything is headed to Him. Enemies will be destroyed. Friends will be delighted.