Millions upon millions of people make their living by saying, "It is this." Millions upon millions more make their living by saying instead, "No, it is that." They provide for themselves while providing others only half the truth or half the reality: for many of these things are actually "this and that."
At any moment in time, if you are not building up then you are tearing down. There is no neutrality in life, and there is no neutrality in this moment. In God's eyes you are either tearing down outside of Christ (which is all unbelievers can do, since they are not in Christ) or building up in Christ (which is what believers do sometimes, when they are acting according to their new nature). Jesus declared: "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters." (Luke 11:23)
He really does love me infinitely, for I am perfectly united to him by the Spirit, Who indwells my inmost person, the truest me. I am to that extent a perfect image of God, and thus God sees me as infinitely precious- I am infinitely loved. Also, legally, in that I am counted in Christ, identified perfectly with His perfect Image, I am necessarily loved with an infinite love. For, again, He loves Himself infinitely, any true image of Him is a full image of Him (for He is immense and not just omnipresent), however small, and thus He is fully in love with the image. This is confirmed in my heart by the Spirit of God. I am infinitely more precious to Him than my children are to me, for my children are separate from me (ontologically and legally) but I am perfectly united with (ontologically) and identified with (legally) God. We are distinct, but unlike my children and me, we are not separate. The difference between the Son of God and me is that the Son, being infinite, can receive all of the Father’s infinite love at once. I, being finite, will only be able to receive infinitesimal amounts of God’s infinite love for me. So, while I can contain little of the love, He yet loves me, even right now, as much as the Son of God. Amen- confirmed in Christ. "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me." (John 17: 22-23) "For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5: 7-8)
Scriptural illumination is a reality to be sought more than all the riches in the world. It is seeing His Light come through the window of the Word, and in His Light and through the window seeing all the riches and blessedness of the other world. What a view!
Israel was given a conditional promise, that if they persevered as a nation they would inherit the literal land forever. They did not persevere and so lost that promise. But God does better: in Romans 11 He says that many ethnic Jews will yet inherit... the earth, along with the Gentiles. That is, true Israel (including regenerate Jews of all times and ages) will inherit the true land- the entire earth. The meek shall inherit the earth, said the Master. God sees to it that individuals who have been internally circumcised will certainly persevere to the end, to Paradise. In this case, Jesus fulfills the condition of the promise. True Israel- spiritual Israel- will persevere to the end.
We have too many Christians, including myself, who are trying to be heroes. The Lord simply requires humble, moment to moment obedience in what comes next, whether it is small or big. The quest to be heroic for God can, ironically, miss the heroism of unnoticed, joyful obedience in the present moment.
God is the Personal Being of Infinite Worth and Beauty. This explains everything.
Why I love good fantasy-adventure. I love it not primarily because it has a great plot, or intense action, or wondrous themes. I love good fantasy-adventure not because it is a good escape. I love it because it at times carries the fragrance of Heaven with it, the smell of royalty on High, the scent of Kingdom permanence and glory- which I am called to and destined for, and which is not far from any one of us. My King rides majestically through this world, on the mount of His victorious and telling Word, the Bible, and in all things which He created. In these countless vehicles that He rides (the central one being Scripture) we can and must properly perceive and sense Him, and the glory of His Kingdom. Good fantasy is a secondary, but powerful, pointer and director into the things of God; into their truth, yes, but even into their reality. Fantasy becomes the magical wardrobe through which we pass into... not Narnia, but the actual spiritual realms... into the foretastes of glory. He comes victoriously and wondrously, and bids me and you to partake of His Kingdom royalty and joy and wonder. We must obey with all our heart. When we are in view of His beauty and glory, then it is true that even wild horses, gruesome orcs, and evil wizards couldn't keep us from obeying.
Is it either/or OR both/and ... or... is it either/or AND both/and? It is both either/or AND both/and, and we need to know when it is which or whether it is both. Many subjects are tackled only with an either/or mentality and thus the person fails to see the other side of the issue, which makes sense in another sense. The rub is this: the Law of Non-Contradiction couched in the reality of Christian presuppositional and perspectival thinking affords a great deal of variety within countless subjects. However, there are many things, narrowly speaking, which are both rooted in reality and the built-in Law of Non-Contradiction, that are simply either/or, and we must defend them as such. For example, there is no other name under Heaven by which we must be saved... no other name than Jesus. It is not Jesus AND anything or anyone else. On the other hand, if we are talking about how Jesus saves us, it does us no good to pretend that this is an either/or scenario. Is salvation by grace or works? Well, both, but in different senses. God graciously applies all of Christ's works to us. So, it is by grace alone, but only in the sense that no works of ours are fundamental to our salvation. So, we are saved by both grace and works. The issue of either/or and both/and applies to all of reality. The key is to know what sense, and/or aspect, and/or perspective, and/or subject is being discussed and/or referred to at the time, and in relation to what time or times it is being discussed. If the church had a handle on Christian Perspectivalism (the complete application of the Law of Non-Contradiction within a Biblical framework) there would be less arguing and more cross-denominational fellowship.
Oh, what wrath was befalling Judas in his final hours. Overwhelmed by guilt, crazed, trapped in His wickedness and aware of it, responsible for betraying the Son of Man into the hands of His enemies, panic-stricken that he had betrayed innocent blood, he offered the thirty pieces of silver to be returned, and the authorities said, essentially, "What have we to do with this- its your problem." With no recourse and no pardon by the blood He betrayed, with no hope of considering himself ignorant of Who Christ was, in madness he scattered the pieces in the temple, and ran. But it was not permitted for him to put this money in the temple, for it was blood money. He ran, and he hung himself, but this contraption did not hold either, and he fell and spilled his guts on the ground. He died under the heat of furious Divine wrath, which raced after him, denying him even the slight dignity of a successful hanging. Judas failed to take his own life, for God would have the villain be burst open on the ground. From there, Judas entered into his everlasting torment under the merciless Eye of God, with the omnipotent Lamb at His right hand. The wages of sin are even worse than death- for death itself with no judgment afterwards would have been a great relief to Judas. But the crimes of men, however slight or great, must receive their due in Hell, or for God's people, their due on the cross. Death points beyond itself to that lying down which is in the bed of eternal, completely merited, torment.
When chaos commences and my mind is a jumble I look out of myself into God's perfect, organized, rule. He reigns over me with love. My life, so many pieces, is all under His awesome control. In fact, God intends to use all these confusing and troubling bricks to build me into an everlasting monument of His infinite grace. All I want is God, and the encroaching mess of my life darts me only more toward Him. I don't just want His control, and to be reminded of that, but I want Him. He is beautiful and is infinitely far from being a mess or a confusion Himself. "For God is not a God of confusion"- but He DOES implement and use what appears to us to be a mass of confusion. He holds and controls His creation with perfect ease and composure, and invites me, calls me, into His tranquility. "Be still, and know that I am God." When my home, finances, schedule and obligations all yell for attention I can go first to God and say- "It is well with my soul." Then, knowing the peace of His organized perfection, I can have power to try to bring a little more order to my life, my family, and my surroundings.
Contrary to the slogan "Peace Starts Within", true personal peace starts with a Holy Spirit invasion from outside the sinner. Still more, the foundation of peace is the love of God which does not have its original seat in our hearts but in God's. God's love compelled Him to send His only Son to die on the cross, securing judicial and relational peace between us and our God. But again, this was not within us, but outside of us in history some 2000 years ago. Further, years afterward the Word of God was communicated to us, from another, so that we could know about Jesus. This communication came from someone out there. God's Holy Spirit, then, from the outside, rode His own Word into our hearts with transforming power and glory. We then experienced peace on the inside, but this wonderful peace did not come from the inside. And as we continue to experience the peace of God, it comes from the one Who is now inside of us, but Who is not us, and Who still uses countless external things to bring us to the sense of inner peace in Him.
Contrary to the slogan "Peace Starts with a Smile", the Spirit of God makes the sinner weep for his sins. Then comes true inner peace! Then comes the truest smile- a smile reflecting God's joy!
The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed; the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. (A saying in some Reformed circles)
It is well for one to hate denominationalism but to love the Reformed truths.
The heart is quite literally designed for fellowship with God. We were made for God. What or who else, then, can satisfy us? "...and the earth has nothing I desire besides You." (Psalm 73)
The heart has its reasons, which reason knows not. (Blaise Pascal)
I long for my experience to be complete. Legally speaking, I am already everlastingly complete in Jesus. But not until I am with Him physically, and without sin, will I feel completely complete.
When we are caught up in the Spirit there is a certainty beyond analysis. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)
Faith is the (subjective) evidence. (Hebrews 11:1)
By faith we enter Heaven now, and feast our hearts on him Who is the feast of Heaven.
We were created for all-consuming intimacy with God.
Why not confess all to God? He already knows your sins!
Since the deck of life is always shifting, balance is only a momentary synchronicity. (Dr. Richard Pratt)
Since the love of God is never shifting, there can always be an inner peace surpassing the peaceful balance of momentary synchronicity.
All God's ways are analogous, and His dispensations harmonize with one another. (quote or paraphrase of Jonathan Edwards)
Everything is a God-intended symbol. Even the existence and use of symbols is itself symbolic of the ultimate symbolic nature within God- the Son is the eternal and perfect representation of the Father. (Colossians 1: 15, Hebrews 1: 3)
Hell is real. Don't go there. Don't get yourself there. You will have no one to blame but yourself.
There is a boldness and majesty which makes you far greater than the greatest worldly kings- and that while you wash dishes.
The chief end of man is to glorify God. Those who love God will do this by being amazingly blessed by God, forevermore. Those who hate God will glorify Him by being amazingly cursed by God, forevermore.
Lack of Contentment is found only in the God-less regions of my heart.
Oh God, You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You. (St. Augustine)
All things prove the existance of the Christian God, but our minds are too small to comprehend all things. The experience of true faith, however, gives us the certainty that such an infinite mind would have.
The doctrine of union with Christ is the functional heart of the doctrine of salvation. In His mind, God has always (and always will) identified us with Christ, and so He gives us all the good Christ earned as our full representative. All spiritual blessings- regeneration, sanctification, faith, love, justification, adoption, etc.- are simply a result of our union with Christ.
Definitive, progressive, and consummative blessings are really just the consummative (final) blessings stretched between two ages.
We are not the lords of our Spiritual affections; so Spiritual comfort, confirmation, and confidence come in the Spirit's time and in the Spirit's way.
"Scripture Alone" does not mean "Tradition Too".
"Scripture Alone" does not mean "What I Understand in Scripture Alone".
"Scripture Alone" does not mean "What I Like in Scripture Alone".
Mind, affections and will must all, always, be conformed to the Word of God. Sometimes our affections may be conformed to a doctrine but our minds stray from it; sometimes the other way around. Sometimes our actions conform to Scripture but are not done in accordance with Scriptural understanding and affection for God. Etc.
Scripture has certain content, affection, and direction- thus, the content, affection, and direction of our lives must be impelled by Scripture's, and reflect Scripture's.
Spirit-given trust is a more reliable guide than agonized analysis. "Trust in the LORD will all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3: 5-6)
"Remember the poor."
"Prudish" is often the Devil's word for "Purity". He would have us to feel awkward, stiff, and snobish about remaining clean, setting ourselves apart in heart, mind, will, word, and body. But God does not call us to be prideful prudes! Rather, He calls us to the excellence of holiness, including sexual purity: "Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity." (Ephesians 5: 3)
I had hoped, and continued to hope for some time, that the command and grace of "self-control" was a state that one could arrive at and find relatively little opposition from the flesh. But I see now that "self-control" is a matter of staying armed and ready, of doing battle on a daily, and often moment-to-moment, basis. In this life, self-control is not a static state but a dynamic dual. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary, the one to the other..." (Galatians 5: 17).
Hear and see the sound and sight of swords clashing in the battle for your mind. It is an all-out battle. The sword is the Word of God, and faith by the Spirit of God is your shield. Indeed, the enemy knows our soft spots, so we must, "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." (Ephesians 6: 11)
Sieze the rare moments of clear sanity to protect yourself against the moments of spiritual insanity. In doing so we may obey the command to "make no provision for the flesh" and thwart the ability to act on our future evil inclinations.
As God gives mankind in their wickedness over to their own sins as punishment (Romans 1: 24), so in an analogous way He will lovingly discipline His rebellious children by leaving them for a time in the consequences of their sin (Psalm 6, Psalm 32).
To love another is to subject yourself to their needs. More precisely, it is to joyfully (lovingly) subject yourself to their real needs, big or small, out of affectionate devotion to God and perceiving the image of God in the other person. Thus, it is true faith in God which produces true love of our neighbor.
Our culture is over-choiced and over-teched. I'm not against having many choices or having much technology per se, but the sheer volume of it all makes simple, holy living the more challenging. I have decided, therefore, to not be ashamed of my limited ways and preferences. So they are common ways for Christians of my circle- so be it! They are deservedly so!
I am over-choiced and yet subjectively under-choiced when I slip into practical hyper-Calvinism. I know that God rules and controls all things, but I must also regrasp my own responsibility and dependent freedom before the face of God.
I have tortured myself over choices, and over the expectations I have had for myself. But they have been false expectations. "Godliness with contentment is great gain." This is God's Word. "All things are yours." This too is God's Word to me. "You are complete in Him." Thus, contentment is natural to the child of God who is grasping these things deeply. They have eluded me- but I am now prepared to fight for them in my heart- having enjoyed some of the fruit of them. I can do my current job until the day I die- or have no job at all- and be content. If, that is, I retain these truths in my heart and do not forget them.
God's absolute providential control extends to all systems, and the inner workings of the soul, mind, etc., comprise a system as much as anything else in all creation. God has confirmed so sweetly to my heart, several times, that all the bad (evil) decisions I have made and perhaps continued in are part of the system of things included under the "all things work together for good" of Romans 8: 28. Thus, even my sins- every one of them- has been ordained (planned) and controlled (providentially) for my good, yet so as God is not the doer of the evil. That is my blame to bare alone. That the system of my inner being is fully under His providential control is not only Scriptural but makes sense to my mind. Every choice is simply the result of the competing and/or cooperating work of conscience, affection, memory, perception, past wounds, intelligence, chemical make-up and interactions, fears, etc., all of which interact with the outside world (visible and invisible) to produce a direction of soul (choice) at any given moment of time. God is in control of all these things- their degree, content, etc.- at all times and is thus also in control of every choice I have ever or will ever make.
Goals are not bad things, but must be God-shaped and held with knowledge that God may frustrate or obliterate their attainment. He, after all, is the Goal of goals.
My life, I finally understand, is to be characterized by joy, joy, joy! Why not always? "Rejoice always, I say..." (Philippians)
The "John Wayne-bravado-emotionless-gruff-independent man" is not Biblical. The closest- if it could be called close- to this we will find in the Bible is the "Paul-joy-interdependence-willingness to strongly lead" model.
I am the sort of man who writes because he has made progress, and who makes progress by writing. (Augustine)