Homework = good stuff

I'm now back in the "school" mode, which means that there is homework and papers and reading and class time and... well, you can fill in the blanks!  Anyway, I'm currently starting my long list of books to read for class and have not been disappointed with the material so far!  (I'm going to be taking a class for my Organizational Leadership program called "Leadership and Influence")

Here's a good thought(s) to chew on:

God develops leaders through a process.  When the Lord is developing someone, all of life is a school.  No experience, good or bad is wasted (Rom. 8:28).  God doesn't squander people's time.  He doesn't ignore their pain.  He brings not only healing but growth out of even the worst experiences.  Every relationship can be God's instrument to fashion a person's character.  At times, through our most painful experiences, God does His greatest work.  

- Henry and Richard Blackaby, Spiritual Leadership

Ambassadors

     "What should we do to be part of God's work in the lives of others?  Paul uses the word ambassadors to define what it means to live incarnationally.  
     The job of an ambassador is to represent someone or something.  Everything he does and says must intentionally represent a leader who is not physically present.  His calling is not limited to forty hours a week, to certain state events, or to times of international crisis.  He is always the king's representative.  He stands in the place of the king (or the government of his country) wherever he is, whatever he is doing.  His relationships are not primarily driven by his own happiness.  He decides to go places and do things because they will help him to faithfully represent the king.  Thus the work of an ambassador is incarnational.  His actions, character, and words embody the king who is not present.
     Paul says that God has called to all to function as his ambassadors.  Our lives do not belong to us for our own fulfillment.  The primary issue is, "How can I best represent the King in this place, with this particular person?"  This is not a part-time calling; it is a lifestyle.  When an ambassador assumes his responsibilities, his life ceases to be his own.  Everything he says and does has import because of the king he represents.  Anything less is an affront to the king and a denial of the ambassadorial calling.
     What is God calling you to in your marriage?  To be an ambassador.  What is God calling you to as a parent?  To be an ambassador.  What is God calling you to regarding friends and neighbors?  To be an ambassador.  What is God calling you to at work and in leisure?  To be an ambassador.  We represent God's purposes to the people He places in our lives.  This is much broader than a commitment to formal ministry occupying a portion of our schedule.  It acknowledges that our lives belong to the King."  

- Paul David Tripp

"Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands"

My Ebenezer's 100th post - thoughts from Valley of Vision

I have slowly been working my way through "The Valley of Vision", a compilation book of Puritan prayers.  I am always blessed and challenged as I read the thoughts that came from the hearts of these godly men.  Today has been no different.

Regeneration

O God of the highest heaven,

Occupy the throne of my heart,

take full possession and reign supreme,

lay low every rebel lust,

let no vile passion resist Thy holy war,

manifest Thy mighty power,

and make me Thine for ever.

Thou art worthy to be 

praised with my every breath,

loved with my every faculty of soul,

served with my every act of life.

Thou hast loved me, espoused me, received me,

purchased, washed, favored, clothed, adorned me,

when I was worthless, vile, soiled, polluted.

I was dead in iniquities,

having no eyes to see Thee,

no ears to hear Thee,

no taste to relish Thy joys,

no intelligence to know Thee;

But Thy Spirit has quickened me,

has brought me into a new world as a new creature,

has given me spiritual perception,

has opened to me Thy Word as light, guide, solace, joy. 

Thy presence is to me a treasure of unending peace; 

no provocation can part me from Thy sympathy,

for Thou hast drawn me with cords of love,

and dost forgive me daily, hourly.

O help me then to walk worthy of Thy love,

of my hopes, and my vocation.

Keep me, for I cannot keep myself;

protect me that no evil befall me;

let me lay aside every sin admired of many;

help me to walk by Thy side, lean on Thy arm, 

holy converse with Thee,

that henceforth I may be salt of the earth and a blessing to all. 

Here is a video of the Sovereign Grace rendition of this prayer.  The title is "O Great God".  May the music cement the great truths of the scriptural prayer into your heart, so that you may be filled with "...psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord." (Eph. 5:19)

"Don't Waste Your Life"

I have been slowly working through John Piper's "Don't Waste Your Life" book.  It has been very challenging, and I wanted to share a section from it.

The Christ-Exalting Paradoxes of Life
     A life devoted to making much of Christ is costly.  And the cost is both a consequence and a means of making much of Him.  If we do not embrace the path of joy-laden, painful love, we will waste our lives.  If we do not learn with Paul the Christ-exalting paradoxes of life, we will squander our days pursuing bubbles that burst.  He lived "as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything (2 Cor. 6:10).  The Calvary road is costly and painful, but it is not joyless.  
When we embrace with joy the cost of following Christ, His worth will shine in the world.  The cost itself will become a means of making Christ look great.  The apostle Paul had one great passion in life.  We have seen him say it several ways: to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2), to boast only in the cross (Gal. 6:14).  

Our Shame and Our Treasure
     (referring to Phil. 1:20-21)  Notice the way he (Paul) makes this clear in verse 20: "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed."  Stop here just a moment.  Shame is that horrible feeling of guilt or failure when you don't measure up before people whose approval you want very much.  It's what the little child feels in the Christmas program when he forgets his lines, and the other kids snicker brutally.  I remember those horrible times.  Or shame is what a president feels when the secret tapes are finally played, and the foul language and all the deceit emerges, and he stands disgraced and guilty before the people.  
     What is the opposite of shame?  It's when the child remembers the lines and hears the applause.  It's when the president governs well and is reelected.  The opposite of being shamed is being honored.  Yes, usually.  But Paul was a very unusual person.  And Christians ought to be very unusual people.  For Paul, the opposite of being shamed was not his being honored, but Christ's being honored through him.  "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that...Christ will be honored in my body."  
     What you love determines what you feel shame about.  If you love for men to make much of you, you will feel shame when they don't.  But if you love for men to make much of Christ, then you will feel shame if His is belittled on your account.  And Paul loved Christ more than he loved anything or anyone.  "Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (Phil. 3:7-8).
     Whenever something is of tremendous value to you, and you cherish its beauty or power or uniqueness, you want to draw other's attention to it and waken in them the same joy.  That is why Paul's all-consuming goal in life was for Christ to be magnified.  Christ was of infinite value to Paul, and so Paul longed for others to see and savor this value.  That is what it means to magnify Christ--to show the magnitude of His value."

(from "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper, 63-65)

A man who love the Bible

     One of my classes, "Great Christian Thinkers", have been studying the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer this semester.  I have really been enjoying the class and the opportunity to think critically about some of the contemporary issues that we are facing similar to the age of Bonhoeffer.
     For one of my assignments, I chose to do some research on what Bonhoeffer believed concerning the Bible.  As a theologian, he is almost impossible to "categorize".  Some say that he is very "liberal" because he studied under men like Harnack and Barth.  Others say that he is "conservative" because he seemed to stand in contrast to his teachers.  Where does he belong?  This is a hard question to answer, especially after reading through his biography, for I was struck again with the oddities of this man.  Yet, he also lived during a time when there were extreme political agendas being pursued--Hitler and Nazi Germany.  He was attacked by the German state church for preaching the Bible and speaking boldly for the truth.  He was faced with many hard decisions to make.  And in the end, he died a martyr.
While Bonhoeffer believe some odd things concerning the Bible (i.e. not inerrant, capable of human discrepancy, made the Word of God as God spoke through the human words), he did have a devotion and love for the Word of God that stood out in stark contrast to the "theological norm" of the day.  For a person, who according to our standard was less than "fundamental" in thinking, he loved the Bible.  He truly and honestly wanted to hear God speak to him.  He wanted to obey God.  He wanted to grow in the knowledge of God.  He counted it a privilege to preach the word of God.  Because of this, there are a few things that we would to well to learn from our brother in Christ.
     The following includes excerpts from my paper concerning Bonhoeffer's beliefs on bibliology:

Introduction  

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an early twentieth century theologian and pastor.  He was known as an intense thinker and student.  While he decided to study theology at an early age, it was not until later on in life that he came to a personal knowledge of salvation and desired to live out the theology that he was learning.  It was this same fervor, excitement, and seriousness for the things of God with which he employed himself and taught his students. His passion for the things of God, the Word of God and preaching was his most telling characteristic.  This zeal for the Word of God is seen in most all of his writings.  He said, “I believe that the Bible alone is the answer to all our questions and that to receive an answer from it, we only need ask with persistence and a little courage.”

Bonhoeffer is to be commended for his commitment to the word of God.  We would do well to take up this “torch” and learn to approach the Word with the same attitude.  Many scholars during his time (and in our day as well) were forsaking the Holy Scriptures for man’s ideas and treating the Bible only as an historical book to be criticized.  Yet, Bonhoeffer truly believed that the Bible contained the word of God, and he desired to practice this truth in his life. 

The Word of God needs no decoration...

“How terribly dangerous it is for anyone who has stood in St. Peter’s in Rome to hear and love the heavenly voices of the Sistine Choir—and not to love the very voice of God as it sounds forth from the language of the Bible.  How close to blasphemy to use such rich, splendid accomplishments of human art to celebrate the memory of the man who wore carpenter’s clothes and spoke the clear and simple language of everyday life; this might obscure the poverty and lowliness of Jesus Christ.  That we love the creation more that God, this is the deep danger and temptation of all those who want to love music for God’s sake….There is great seriousness in this approach, much knowledge of the uniqueness and exclusiveness, the austerity of the divine revelation, for which there can be no replacement.  The word of God needs no decoration.  We want to keep this firmly in mind: the word of God, as found in the Bible and as it sounds forth to us in the proclamation of the gospel, needs no decoration."

In a letter that Bonhoeffer wrote to some of the former seminary brothers, he encouraged them concerning their diligence to the Word.  He wrote: “as well as meditation, however, daily, plentiful reading of Scripture must keep its place.  No day of our life in office may go past without our having read the Bible on it.  The very controversies of the last months (referring to the church struggle and rise of Nazism) have once again clearly shown to our shame how unversed in the Holy Scripture we still are….We must make it a rule to look for the Scriptural evidence for every decision that confronts us, and not to rest until we have found it.  Our confidence in dealing with the Bible must increase year by year.”

                                                              

                                                               Conclusion

            One cannot read any of Bonhoeffer’s writings without acknowledging the fact of his devotion and love for the Scriptures.  Even when he was imprisoned, his daily disciplines of meditation and the reading of the Bible were most important to him.  In light of this, we would do well to come to the word of God with as much fervor and love.  However, in contrast to Bonhoeffer, we know that the Bible is the Word of God which is totally breathed out by God and inerrant.  There is no new special continuing revelation of the Word of God.  There is nothing that can be added or taken from the revealed Word of God. 

In relation to the preaching of the Word, a focused seriousness of proclaiming the Word of God is necessary for pastors.  Yet, we know that preaching is the exposition of the special revelation of God from the past, rather than new revelation.  God has given all things that “pertain to life and godliness” through His Son and His completely revealed Word.  We need not seek any “new revelation” from God, but only submit and yield ourselves to the indwelling Holy Spirit for the illuminating of God’s revelation to us.  

Of dictionaries...and prolific hugs

You know those times when you say a certain word in a sentence that you believe is grammatically correct, and then the person you are talking to gives you a really odd look?  Then, you start thinking, "Wait, was that the right word?"  "What did I just say?"  "What does she think I mean?"  With these questions in mind, your face becomes a mask of quizzical-ness as you evaluate what it was that you just said. 
Now, I know that I am not the only one that has experiences like this!  (I think :)

My story has to do with the word "prolific".  I used it in the context of a friend of mine giving another friend a hug.  "You hugged her prolifically."  To this comment, we both started laughing.  Then the questions ensued. 

"What?" 

According to the dictionary, prolific has several different definitions, including: producing offspring, young, fruit, etc., abundantly; highly fruitful: a prolific pear tree. (2) producing in large quantities or with great frequency; highly productive: a prolific writer. (3.) profusely productive or fruitful (often followed by in or of ): a bequest prolific of litigations. (4.) characterized by abundant production: a prolific year for tomatoes.

Therefore, in the sentence that I used, giving hugs prolifically just means that they are given in abundance.    But does this really work? 

With this thought in mind, I realized how many "creative" words I think I know and yet may not.  There is definitely something to be said of expanding your vocabulary! 

Word of the Day: appertain; to belong as a part, right, possession, or attribute. 
Synonyms: apply, be characteristic of, be part of, be pertinent, be proper, be relevant, bear, have to do with, pertain, refer, relate, touch upon, vest

Try to use this word today.  It appertains to the development of your vocabulary! 
And tell me what you think of prolific hugs!!

February 28th: Psalm 92

We had an Evidence concert today.  Heritage Christian Academy called the school and scheduled us to come and sing for them.  Many in our group have been fighting this horrible sickness (I am still trying very hard to stand firm against it!!!), and so we were not "on the top of our game".  In spite of this, God's grace is always sufficient. 
He blessed me with Psalm 92:

Psalm 92

How Great Are Your Works

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.

 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning,

and your faithfulness by night,

3 to the music of the lute and the harp,

to the melody of the lyre.

4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;

at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

5 How great are your works, O Lord!

Your thoughts are very deep!

6 The stupid man cannot know;

the fool cannot understand this:

7 that though the wicked sprout like grass

and all evildoers flourish,

they are doomed to destruction forever;

8 but you, O Lord, are on high forever.

9 For behold, your enemies, O Lord,

for behold, your enemies shall perish;

all evildoers shall be scattered.

10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;

you have poured over me[a] fresh oil.

11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;

my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree

and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;

they flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They still bear fruit in old age;

they are ever full of sap and green,

15 to declare that the Lord is upright;

he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

"A Tale of Two Cities" and a look at the heart of man.

It has become my intention of late to read more classic literature and broaden my scope of literary works. I have been enjoying the books thus far, and have just finished "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens.

I really enjoyed this book set during the French Revolution. It was a tale of mystery, intrigue, love, hate, revenge, honor, courage, and devotion.

Yet, through all of this, I was shocked and sickened by some of Dickens' descriptions of horror behind this Revolution. The blood that flowed for the name of "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity!" was unimaginable. And yet, it gives truthful insight into the sinful nature of mankind.

An interesting example of this is in chapter 35, entitled "the Wood Sawyer". So as not to ruin the book for anyone else still planning on reading it, I will spare some of the details.

It is in this chapter that Lucie sees a wild display of the nature of man's sinfulness when it is given reign to control. Lucie is waiting beside the shop of a wood cutter. She is hoping for a chance to see her husband, who is in prison, or a least allow him to see her. While she is waiting, she sees some of the citizens of Paris dancing the wild Carmagnole.

Dickens describes the scene:

"There could not be fewer than five hundred people, and they were dancing like five thousand demons. There was no other music than their own singing. They danced to the popular Revolution song, keeping a ferocious time that was like a gnashing of teeth in unison. Men and women danced together, women danced together, men danced together, as hazard had brought them together. At first, they were a mere storm of coarse red caps and coarse woollen rags; but, as they filled the place, and stopped to dance about Lucie, some ghastly apparition of a dance-figure gone raving mad arose among them. They advanced, retreated, struck at one another's hands, clutched at one another's heads, spun round alone, caught one another and spun round in pairs, until many of them dropped. While those were down, the rest linked hand in hand, and all spun round together: then the ring broke, and in separate rings of two and four they turned and turned until they all stopped at once, began again, struck, clutched, and tore, and then reversed the spin, and all spun round another way. Suddenly they stopped again, paused, struck out the time afresh, formed into lines the width of the public way, and, with their heads low down and their hands high up, swooped screaming off. No fight could have been half so terrible as this dance."

What is interesting about this dance is the continued description that Dickens makes:

It was so emphatically a fallen sport--a something, once innocent, delivered over to all devilry--a healthy pastime changed into a means of angering the blood, bewildering the senses, and steeling the heart. Such grace as was visible in it, made it the uglier, showing how warped and perverted all things good by nature were become.

Why is it that good things become perverted? Why is something innocent, delivered over to devilry?

The Bible tells us in Romans 3, that all men have sinned and have fallen far short of the glory of God. This means that man is so far from the standard of God's holiness that he is far short of reaching it. He will never reach it! The point is that sin has perverted all that was good in the world. It started in the the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin entered the world. Because of sins effects, man is now separated from God and unable--apart from Christ--to have fellowship with God.

So to answer Dickens questions: Why is it that good things become perverted? Why is something innocent, delivered over to devilry? The answer is: sin.

What I found enlightening in this section is the way that Mr. Dickens pointed out this truth. In the midst of brutal murder and gruesome war, there is the past-time of dancing. Once a good activity, now turned sour.

But don't we always do that?

Solution: Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! As we continue more and more to see the downfall of the sin filled society around us, may we ever live to glorify God in the face of Jesus Christ!

"If"

If...

I myself dominate myself,

if my thoughts revolve around myself,

if I am so occupied with myself I rarely have "a heart at leisure from itself,"

Then...

I know nothing of Calvary love.

If...

a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word*,

Then...

I know nothing of Calvary love.

(* For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.)

If...

There be any reserve in my giving to Him who so love that He gave His Dearest for me;

if there be a secret "but" in my prayer, "Anything but that, Lord,"

Then...

I know nothing of Calvary love.

If...

I slip into the place that can be filled by Christ alone,

making myself the first necessity to a soul instead of leading it to fasten upon Him,

Then...

I know nothing of Calvary love.

If...

when an answer I did not expect comes to a prayer which I believed I truly meant,

I shrink back from it;

if the burden my Lord asks me to bear be not the burden of my heart's choice,

and I fret inwardly and do not welcome His will,

Then...

I know nothing of Calvary love.

"That which I know not, teach Thou me, O Lord, my God."

-quotes from Amy Carmichael "If"

"Do nothing from rivalry of conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." Phil. 2:3-7