The Holidays

The anchor us just about ready to lift. The sails are soon to unfurl. And many of us have already begun moving about the deck, preparing to embark on that annual voyage we call ‘the holidays.’ But before the ship departs the harbor, how about some wisdom from God’s word to tuck into our hip pockets, and take with us on the journey? Here are a few portions of scripture, and some thoughts upon them, that I think could be helpful over the next few weeks:

“If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Romans 12:18). The holidays sometimes come with some peculiar challenges. One of them, for some of us, is the reality that our shoulders, during the holidays, are often in much closer proximity to family with whom the rubbing of shoulders (sad to say) comes with a good deal more friction than is comfortable. Some of it is perhaps our own faults, to be frank. And sometimes the provocation is largely coming at us. Often it’s both. But in any case, you must “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” And that means you must not be one of the cantankerous ones at the family gatherings. And it means that you must not respond to the cantankerous ones by bickering, or withdrawing, or silently fuming, or talking about them behind their backs. Be a peacemaker this holiday season.

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17). These next few weeks are going to bring some of us into proximity, not only with people who rub us the wrong way (or vice versa!), but also with people who need Jesus. Some of these lost people will be one and the same with the people with whom we have difficult relationships (all the more reason to “be at peace” with them!). Others will be those who are quite easy to get along with … but still lost. But, in any case, they all need the Savior! And, if you know the Savior, you may have opportunity to speak to them a “good … word” (2 Thess. 2:16-17) about Him. And you will likely have opportunity to do for them a “good work” that represents Him well. And, as you think about those opportunities, know that I have prayed 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 for those who read this article. Go out, now, strenghtened by the Lord, and do “every good work and word”!

“The LORD is near to the broken-hearted” (Psalm 34:18). For some of us, the holidays not only come with the challenge to “be at peace with”, and be a witness to, folks who are present … but with heartache over those who are not. For some of us, the holidays draw extra attention to the fact that someone is missing from the table. Usually it’s someone who used to be with us, but no longer is, for one reason or another. And sometimes, since we tend to think of the holidays as times to be with family, there may be a quiet grief over family members that God never granted; over a spouse or children who never materialized. But if you are the Lord’s, and if you grieve this season over someone who is not at the table with you, know that God is with you; that He “is near to the broken-hearted”. Rest in His nearness, dear friend … during the holidays, and always.

Every blessing to you all this coming holiday season,

Love and Feasting

"Better is a dish of vegetables where love is

Than a fattened ox served with hatred."

Proverbs 15:17

"Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it

Than a house full of feasting with strife."

Proverbs 17:1

We are entering the season of the “fattened ox” and the “house full of feasting”, are we not? And I, for one, am glad of it! God’s bounty to us – both temporal and spiritual – is grand reason for us to engage in the art of the shindig; for us to say, with the father in Jesus’ story, “bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate”. And so Thanksgiving and Christmas feasting are entirely appropriate and wonderful! And I like a good meal any other day, too!

And yet let us carefully observe the wise words of Solomon in the two texts quoted above.

Now, these words certainly apply to everyday life. It is better to be a family whose resources are pretty slender; whose everyday fare is along the lines of dry cornbread or simple veggie plates – but who genuinely loves and lives at peace with one another – than to be a family whose pantries, refrigerators, and tables are constantly bursting with scrumptious fare, but who are often at each other’s throats! Better a poor, but happy, home … than a rich, but tense, one! Take that to heart … and make life-decisions accordingly.

But let’s also apply Solomon’s wisdom on a micro level. Let’s apply it to the holiday gatherings with family and friends that many of us are soon to (theoretically) enjoy. I think it’s not a stretch to say that the air, at many family get-togethers, can sometimes have some tension (or at least potential tension) lingering in it. Maybe there are great worldview divides between believers and unbelievers. Maybe there are hurts, or disagreements, or bitterness that are often set to one side, but have never actually been buried. Maybe your family tends to just be a little pushy, or irritable, or cantankerous. Maybe sometimes there are just ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’, as the saying goes.

Sometimes these things boil completely over. And sometimes they simmer, fairly palpably, just below the surface. And thus our holiday gatherings, which ought to be celebrations of God’s goodness, and which ought to be filled with enjoyment both of one another and of God’s blessings, can sometimes degenerate into being uncomfortable at best, or downright ugly and/or painful at worst. Sometimes there is “feasting with strife” or even “with hatred”. Because, while the “fattened ox” (or turkey) is on the table; and while the “house” is “full of feasting”, it is not full of love. And thus, some financially struggling family somewhere – scraping together a meal that hardly looks like what we expect out of Thanksgiving Dinner, but genuinely showing love toward one another – is better off than our well-fed, but squabbling or bitter, clans!

So what should we do about it? How do we apply Solomon’s wisdom this holiday season? Well, I don’t think he’d have us just serve dried cornbread or a plate of greens for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner! For, save that it might keep you from having ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’, this wouldn’t actually address the other problems (and even the ‘too many cooks’ problem, when it leads to strife, is deeper than just logistics). No, Solomon is not saying that feasting is bad, or that it is the cause of our family strife. He’s saying that feasting is less important than love; or, to put it positively, that love is more important than feasting – so much so that the family who can’t afford to feast, but who genuinely loves one another, is better off than the bickering family who has the fancy meals.

So how do we make application? Don’t cancel the feasting … but give a great deal more thought and effort to love! Think (and pray!), ahead of time, about situations and people and subjects that you know could be tense. Ask God’s great grace to truly love your family and friends when things are tense. And then choose, in the moment, to do so.  Choose, in the moment, to love!  Choose not to retaliate or to simmer, but to forgive.  Choose not to vent your frustrations.  Choose, if you must say something that will be difficult for others to hear, to do so gently, patiently, and (where possible) discreetly.  And make sure that it's really something that truly needs saying.  Choose to love!  For wouldn’t it be wonderful, this holiday season, if the love was even more memorable than the feasting!

Babies!

PRBC is blessed with babies! Praise God for another one born today! And praise God for how He offers us spiritual instruction through them. Consider …

Babies remind us that we “must be born again” (John 3:7). “Unless one is born again” said Jesus in John 3:3; unless one is granted new spiritual life, in other words, “he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Birth is a metaphor for the new life that men, women, girls, and boys so desperately need! And so, when a baby is born, let us remember the new birth as well … and long that this child, and we ourselves (if we are not yet saved), and those around us, and those at “all the ends of the earth” might experience it!

“Newborn babies” remind us to “long for the pure milk of the word” (1 Peter 2:2). Babies “long for” milk, Peter says. Have you observed it? The opening of their tiny mouths, and the turning of their heads, and the looking for some place to latch on? We ought to be like that, says Peter, when it comes to “the milk of the word”! And so, when we see “newborn babies” longing for milk, let us remember that such ought to be our longing for the Scriptures!

Babies remind us of the Baby. Jesus was once a baby, too, wasn’t He? Jesus, too, grew inside His mother’s womb. Jesus, too, had those little bitty hands and feet; and laid, newborn, in his mother’s arms; and had His first drink of His mother’s milk. “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14)! The second person of the Holy Trinity became one of us! The “I am” became a human! And so, when we hold a tiny little human in our arms, or see him or her in momma or daddy’s arms, let us remember the Baby; let us remember that God Himself became one of us! And then let us remember, too, the saving purpose for His doing so!

Oh, let us thank God for the babies among us! And let us glean the instruction that God offers to us through them!


_______

P.S. The baby pictured is not the one born today, but my Lisi (2011), sporting an Ole Miss Rebels onesie!

The Mature Coloring of Autumn

I love the fall – the cooling of the weather, the hot apple cider, the pumpkins and dried corn, college football. Autumn is surely my favorite of the four seasons. And, of course, one of the great gifts of the fall is the changing of the leaves. What a stunning work of God’s artistry are the various hues that He draws from His palette every fall! And what a blessing that He grants the leaves this flourish of beauty in the final stage of their lives.

Perhaps there is a God-given parable built into that last reality. Perhaps we should be reminded, by the changed (yet gorgeous!) autumn leaves, that a similar beauty is meant for us in what has been called ‘the autumn of life’.

It’s not original with me to say that human life has its seasons – the spring of youth, when we grow and blossom; the summer of prime adulthood, when we produce fruit and get a lot work done; the autumn of older age, when certain things begin to slow down, and yet there is still produce to be gathered; and the winter of death.

And isn’t it interesting that the leaves, in the autumn of their lives, are given a flourish of beautiful color? Yes, they have lost some of the strength of spring and summer. But they are also granted a striking splendor in this final season of life!

The autumn of the life of faith can (and should) be much the same. Yes, as we draw near to winter, we are not quite the same as we were in the spring and summer of life. The energy of spring is no more. Some of the productivity of summer is just not possible any longer. But, if we are walking with the Lord, a beautiful autumn hue will also be growing upon our lives – the mature fall coloring of greater patience, a more fully-developed eternal perspective, and an increased dependence upon God in prayer.

Don’t you find these things attractive in mature older saints? Would, of course, that we all would seek much more of them earlier on, as well! But growth in grace is progressive and, as with the leaves, some of its warmest coloring appears later in life.

So whether you are living in the spring, summer, or autumn of life – take a parable from the changing of the leaves this fall. When you notice their changed, yet stunning, appearance, ask God to make you beautiful in your older age, as well; to grant you the autumn hue of increased Christian maturity. Don’t wait, of course, until older age to seek or expect growth in the graces that are sometimes peculiarly attractive in that season of life. But ask Him that in older age, you will indeed be colored with the maturity of autumn.

"Speaking the truth in love"

This is one of the ways in which we who are in Christ are to help one another become more like Christ: “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the Head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). We are to be “speaking the truth in love” to our fellow believers, in other words, so as to help one another “grow”.

And notice two aspects of this calling:

• we are to engage in “speaking the truth”
• and we are to do so “in love”

Now, none of us is immune to failure on either of these counts. And so I suppose that all of us sometimes fail at “speaking the truth” when we ought to; and that each of us also fails, at other times, to do so “in love”.

But I also reckon that, by nature, some of us find one aspect of this calling – or the other – more difficult.

Some Christians have the greatest trouble with the “speaking the truth” part. Maybe you are one of them. You are naturally timid. And thus you often find yourself so afraid of difficult or awkward conversations that you pull back from saying things that need to be said. Maybe you are sometimes afraid to address backsliding or sin in a fellow believer’s life. Or perhaps you are prone to shrink from correcting a fellow saint on some faulty way of thinking (v.14) which they are in danger of imbibing.

Other Christians struggle more mightily with the “in love” aspect of the calling. Perhaps you fit into this category. You are fairly assertive by natural disposition. And so, when something needs to be said, you are often quite ready to say it. Perhaps you don’t mind confronting sin, or correcting off-base theology, or tracking down a backslider. And yet you may sometimes be harsh in the way you do so.

But here’s the thing: No matter your natural disposition, you are still called, very plainly, to the task of “speaking the truth in love”! And so am I! A timid disposition doesn’t give us a free pass from “speaking the truth”; and neither is natural assertiveness an excuse for failing to do so “in love”.

And let us note that either sort of failure is a failure to love. We either fail to love by not “speaking the truth” that our brothers and sisters need for spiritual growth, or by speaking it in an unloving way!

Let us not fail one another in these ways, brothers and sisters! Let us, rather, live our lives “speaking the truth in love”.

"Then there will be a future"

Article 2 of 2

13 My son, eat honey, for it is good,

Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;

14 Know that wisdom is thus for your soul;

If you find it, then there will be a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 24:13-14

Wisdom, “if you find it”, will ensure you “a future” and maintain “your hope” (v.14b-c). Surely these are among the reasons why wisdom is so sweet! How could something that provides “a future” and protects “hope” not be sweet, right?

But how does this work? How does wisdom work for those who find it, so that “there will be a future” and so that their “hope will not be cut off”?

Well, let us first note that the word of God is true wisdom. If we want to gather the honey of wisdom, we must open the Bible! And, with that said (and with the question of ‘how’ from v.14b-c in our minds), listen to how the apostle Paul spoke to Timothy about biblical wisdom in 2 Timothy 3:15 –

from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

It is “the wisdom” of the Bible “that leads to salvation” in Christ! And it is by this salvation that sinners gain “a future” with God in eternity. And it is by this salvation that this eternal “hope will not be cut off”! Therefore, “if you find” the biblical “wisdom that leads to [this] salvation”; if, in other words, you hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ …

then there will be a future, 
And your hope will not be cut off.

And that is sweet indeed!

So … have you found wisdom? Have you heard and, by faith, eaten the sweet honey wisdom of the good news? “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures … and … He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), and “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). That is good, sweet news! It ensures “a future” to, and maintains “hope” of, all who take it in, by faith! And so I urge you – “eat [this] honey, for it is good”!

"Sweet to your taste"

Article 1 of 2*

13 My son, eat honey, for it is good,

Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;

14 Know that wisdom is thus for your soul;

If you find it, then there will be a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 24:13-14

I’m glad Solomon says what he says in verse 13. It’s a reminder that food is good – and that good food is good! And so I feel just a little bit better about my enjoyment of sweet tea (my own personal honey, as it were), and m a y b e even about fried chicken (not sweet, but still delicious)! There is something to be said, according to Solomon, about enjoying that which is “sweet to your taste” – and for that I am thankful.

But Solomon extols the sweetness of honey, of course, not mainly to teach his son about physical eating, but in order to say something about his spiritual diet! And the Holy Spirit, of course, inspired these things for us, as well as for Solomon’s son! And what we are told is that, in the same way that “honey … is sweet to your taste” (v.13), “wisdom is thus for your soul” (v.14).

Wisdom is sweet to the soul! Wisdom delights the palate of the inner-most being! Haven’t you discovered that to be true, Christian? Haven’t you found that the word of God (which is true wisdom) is “sweet to your taste”? Haven’t you experienced the Scriptures – read personally, read publically, and preached – delighting your spiritual taste buds?

The psalmist put it like this in Psalm 119:103:

How sweet are Your words to my taste!
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

God’s word is a delight! Would that I craved it like I sometimes have a hankering for sweet tea! And would that I would remember, when a perfect glass of sweet tea stimulates and satisfies my taste buds, that the wisdom of the Bible will do the same (and even better, Psalm 119:103), if I will drink it in!

And, oh, this wise word of God will be sweet to you, as well, my friend … if you will “taste and see” (Psalm 34:8)! Think of this reality when you crave – and when you are privileged to enjoy – whatever it is that peculiarly delights your palate.

Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;
Know that wisdom is thus for your soul

________________________

*I hope to come back, in the next article, and consider v.14b-c – where we are told that wisdom ensures “a future” to, and maintains the “hope” of, those who “find it” (blessings which, when we consider v.14b-c in connection with the three lines prior, must surely be seen as among the reasons wisdom is so sweet!).

His Feet

Part 6 in a series on Jesus’ Body

We conclude our look at Jesus’ body by gazing down at His feet. And I remind you of three wonderful truths concerning those feet:

First, Jesus' feet are “lovely”. In Isaiah 52:7 we read this memorable exclamation:

How lovely on the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who announces peace
And brings good news of happiness,
Who announces salvation,
And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

And, oh, does that ever describe the feet of our Lord Jesus as He proclaimed good news to sinners! “How lovely” were Jesus’ feet as He trekked across Galilee and Judea, “announc[ing] salvation” to the people there! And, though that earthly task is now complete, “how lovely” the feet that performed it remain! And “how lovely … are the feet of” those, today, who carry on in Jesus’ mission! Let us be among them! And let us praise God for Jesus’ own “lovely”, gospel-carrying feet!

And then, secondly, let us remember that, at Golgotha, Jesus' feet were pierced. “They pierced my hands and my feet” (Psalm 22:16). Why? “He was pierced through for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5). The same feet that carried Jesus from place to place “bring[ing] good news” were eventually staked to a Roman cross in the event that is the very centerpiece of the good news! His feet were pierced in order to pay the penalty for all the sins of all His people for all time! That is good news, indeed! Praise God that He loves sinners that much!

Finally, let us remember that Jesus’ feet will return (along, of course, with the rest of His body!). Seeing into the future, the apostle John wrote that he “looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion” (Revelation 14:1). And Job said of Jesus that “at the last He will take His stand on the earth” (Job 19:25). Jesus will, “at the last”, plant His feet, once again, “on the earth”! May you be ready for His second coming by repenting of your sins and believing in this same Jesus whose feet, at His first coming, were “pierced through for our transgressions”!

His Hands

Part 5 in a series on Jesus’ Body

What a wonderful thing it is to consider Jesus’ hands!

With His hands Jesus healed the sick (Luke 4:40). With His hands He blessed the children (Mark 10:16). And with His hands He washed His disciples’ feet (John 13:5). And, oh, let us “sing for joy at the works of [His] hands” (Psalm 92:4)! And let us remember that Jesus is still healing the sick, and blessing children, and serving His people even today! And let us imitate the hands of Jesus by using our hands to serve one another (John 13:14)!

And then there is this wonderful account of the use of one of Jesus’ hands, in Matthew 14:28-31 (emphasis added):

Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

What a strong and merciful hand that was! And praise God that, still today, Jesus reaches out to His people in our doubts and, with great strength and mercy, keeps us from drowning by them!

Then, of course, we must never forget that Jesus’ hands were “pierced through for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5) … “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Do you believe in Him? Have you trusted in the Savior whose hands were pierced for sinners?

Note also that, in His resurrected body, those hands carried “the imprint of the nails” – such that His disciples were certain that the One whom they encountered in those days after Golgotha was none other than the Lord Jesus Himself, risen from the dead (John 20:19-29)!

Oh, the marvelous hands of our Lord Jesus! Let us love those hands! And let us love Him whose hands they are!

His Mouth

Part 4 in a series on Jesus’ Body

“His mouth is full of sweetness.” So said that famous woman of Solomon’s song, regarding her beloved (Song of Solomon 5:16)! And so we can say of our Lord Jesus (although for different reasons than hers) – “His mouth is full of sweetness.”

One reason is because Jesus’ mouth reminds us that He really did take on our nature; that the Word really did become flesh. For, with His mouth, Jesus ate (Matthew 9:11). He needed bodily sustenance just like we do! Because He really is one of us!

And not only did He eat, but Jesus ate “with the tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 9:11) – so that this particular use of His mouth not only reminds us of His humanity, but also of His grace! He came to minister to those who were spiritually sick – and eating with them was an entry point to such ministry!

Further, not only did Jesus eat before His death, but also after His resurrection (Luke 24:36-43), demonstrating Himself to be no mere spirit, but bodily risen from the dead!

But then it’s not just what went into Jesus mouth that makes that mouth “full of sweetness” – but also what came out!

On more than one occasion, the physically impaired had reason to praise the Lord for even the very saliva that came from Jesus’ mouth (Mark 7:31-37; Mark 8:22-26; John 9:1-7). Did Jesus need to use His spit to perform these healings? No. He could have “just [said] the word” (Matthew 8:8) and the miracles would have been effective. But He chose to use the very secretions of His mouth to grant these healings. And the people who received them could surely never think of His mouth, again, without recognizing it as “full of sweetness”!

But, oh, it’s not just (or even mainly) the physical drippings from His lips that make Jesus’ mouth “full of sweetness” … but the verbal drops, as well! In Luke 4:22 “all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips.” Do you ever find yourself doing the same? Jesus’ mouth is what Solomon calls “a fountain of life” (Proverbs 13:14)! And we drink from that fountain, still, as we take in His word today! Drink from it, my friends! And as you do so, may God enable you truly to say that “His mouth is filled with sweetness.”

His Ears

Part 3 in a series on Jesus’ Body

A discussion of the various parts of Jesus’ body must surely include His ears, right? For one of the lovely qualities of our Jesus is His listening … both to His Father, and to His people.

In a beautiful messianic passage, recorded by Isaiah, Jesus speaks of the opening of His ear to the Father:

“He awakens Me morning by morning,

He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

The Lord GOD has opened My ear;”

Isaiah 50:4-5

Each day the Father would awaken His Son and open His ear to listen – to hear the Father’s words by reading and/or meditating on the Scriptures, and perhaps as the Father sometimes spoke to Him in other ways as well. And what a reminder this is of the value and weight of the heavenly Father’s words! And what a reminder that we need open ears, too; that we need to hear from God, day by day. And what a call this is for you to ask God to do for you what He did for Jesus – “morning by morning … awaken[ing your] ear to listen as a disciple.” Ask God to do so, and then open His word and listen. And as God gives you an ear like Jesus, the word of God will mold you into Jesus’ likeness in many other ways as well!

And then we also note that Jesus’ ears are not only tuned in to the voice of His Father, but to the cries of His people as well! I love the example of this which is given to us in Luke 18:35-43. Blind Bartimaeus is “sitting by the road begging.” And “a crowd [is] going by” (making the kind of noise, v.36, that you’d expect a crowd to make). And Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is in the crowd, and begins calling out to Him for help: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Will his voice be drowned out by the din of the crowd? Will Jesus perhaps not hear poor Bartimaeus, for all the other noises bouncing off His eardrums? Or will He, perhaps, even join some others in the crowd in telling Bartimaeus to pipe down? Not a chance! The Son of David does hear (and care about!) the blind man’s cry! And, oh, what a reminder this is of Christ’s dealings with you as well, believer! No matter how much clatter may be ringing out around you, and no matter how unconcerned others may be about your pleas, Jesus hears (and takes deep interest in!) the cries of each and every one of His people! His ears are open to us!

His Eyes

Part 2 in a series on Jesus’ Body

When we contemplate the parts of Jesus’ body, there is much to see and to learn by looking at, and into, His eyes! Consider them with me, now.

And we begin by noticing our Lord, in John 17:1, “lifting up His eyes to heaven” in prayer for His people. And it’s a reminder that, even though He is now in heaven, He is still praying for His people; still looking to the Father in prayer on their behalf. “He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Praise God for a Savior who sets His eyes on the Father in prayer for His own!

And then notice another beautiful mention of Jesus’ eyes in Mark 10:17-27. There Jesus encountered a man who foolishly overestimated his own righteousness (vv.19-20), and whose “much property” (v.22) was more valuable to him than following Christ. And, although Jesus heard evidence of the first folly in v.20, and although He knew the second even before the man “went away grieving” in v.22, we are told that “looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him” (v.21). Jesus’ eyes (and heart) saw, in this foolish and sinful man, not someone to hate, or to write off ... but someone to love; someone on whom to have compassion! Praise God for such a Savior!

But then notice that those eyes can look at us in less comfortable ways, as well. In Mark 3, we find Jesus’ eyes “looking around … with anger” at a group of uncompassionate Pharisees. And, oh, what discomfort came into Peter’s heart when, after his three-fold denial of his Master, “the Lord turned and looked at Peter” (Luke 22:61)! Let us live in such a way that Jesus need not set His eyes upon us in anger, or with a countenance that is grieved!

And let us finally notice how the glorified Christ’s eyes are described to us in the book of Revelation: “His eyes” says John “are a flame of fire” (19:12). See also 1:14 and 2:18. Surely this is the shining forth of His holiness! And when we look into those eyes of flame, the church (Rev. 2:18-23) should take sin very seriously … and Christ’s enemies (Rev. 22:11-18) should be very afraid!

Praise God for the eyes of our Lord Jesus – for both the comfort, and the discomfort, that they bring! Observe them, and gaze into them … and give yourself in faith to their possessor!

His Head

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down.

Isaac Watts

We do well to heed these words of Isaac Watts – to fix our eyes on the head, hands and feet of our Lord on “the wondrous cross”, and to consider what these bleeding body parts communicate. And God, using Watts's call to consider these parts of Jesus' body at Golgotha, has put it in my mind that it would also be beneficial to consider and learn the lessons of Jesus’ head, hands and feet from other times and places, too … and to learn from some of the other parts of His body, as well. So I propose to put together a few articles, over the coming weeks, looking at Jesus’ head, hands and feet (at Golgotha, with Watts; and elsewhere, too), and at a few other parts of His body as well.

And we begin, first of all, with Jesus’ head.

And let me remind you, in the first place, that Jesus had “nowhere to lay” it. “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:58). Jesus went about preaching, healing, and doing good for those three years, staying here and there, with no home of His own. He never ‘slept in His own bed’, as most of us so prefer to do. He never put His head on His own pillow at night. Why? Because He was committed to His mission – committed to doing the Father’s will, and bringing good news to the masses. Praise God for such a Savior!

And praise God, too, for that occasion when “a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head” (Matthew 26:7). This lavish gift speaks to us of the great value she saw in the Savior – and that we should see, too! He is worthy of all the blessing and generosity we can pour on His head! Her gift also (Matthew 26:12) points us forward to Jesus’ impending death – “she did it to prepare Me for burial.”

And, as Watts's words remind us, as Jesus made His way toward that death, His precious head was pounded with a reed (Mark 15:19), and crowned with thorns (John 19:2), as part of His suffering for the sins of His people. And He went through with these things because He loves His church! Indeed He loved us so much that He finally “bowed his head” in death for us!

So, my friends, consider the head of our Lord Jesus, learn its lessons, and lavish it with your praise!

Choose Your Companions Well

“He who walks with wise men will be wise,

But the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Proverbs 13:20

Who you hang with matters!

Spend time with fools, and it will surely bring you trouble. “The companion of fools will suffer harm.” Sometimes the harm may be ‘guilt by association’ and its attendant damage to your reputation. Other times the more tangible repercussions of your friends’ actions will slosh over upon you (your reckless friend crashes your car, for instance). And, worst of all (and I think probably what Solomon has primarily in mind), “the companion of fools” will often find their very foolishness rubbing off on him.

On the other hand, spending time with the wise has a rubbing off effect as well! “He who walks with wise men will be wise”! Solid, wise, God-fearing companions will have a good effect on what we think and how we live.

For better or for worse, says Solomon, our companions will rub off on us! So choose your companions well!

And let me say (influenced by Iain Murray’s The Undercover Revolution*) that surely this rubbing off principle applies, not only to our physical companions, but also to what we might call our virtual companions – those people whose company we may regularly place ourselves via television, movies, social media, song, magazines, radio, books, and video games.

If you regularly watch a particular television program, for instance – the men and women behind the content of that show become, in some ways, your companions. Their worldviews (and potentially agendas), passed on through the medium of that show, are washing regularly over your mind and heart. And, like water washing regularly over a piece of ground, these worldviews are bound to have an effect. If the ideas conveyed are wholesome and godly, then the effect will be a good one … shaping the clay of your heart more into conformity to God’s wisdom. But if their worldviews are unhealthy and foolish (for instance, in the belittling of certain people, or in how they portray gender roles, or sexuality, or the use of money), then you open yourself up to the eroding effect of the thinking of these, your chosen companions. Because the norms of those with whom you spend a good deal of time will tend to become your own.

The same could also be said of the kinds of authors you read, the people you follow most closely on social media, the song-writers whose lyrics and videos you admire, and even the creators of the games that you play.

And so … What if we determined to choose wise virtual companions – people who fear God, and whose worldviews and agendas therefore align with a biblical worldview? What if we read books written by the wise, and listened to podcasts created by the wise, and so on? What if we set aside our regular virtual ‘hanging out’ with people of faulty worldviews, and began to be the virtual companions of a much more God-fearing set of people? How would it affect us? Answer: “He who walks with wise men will be wise.”

This is not to say that you can’t learn anything from unbelievers, nor enjoy some of their art, or humor, or creativity. But it is to say that people of foolish worldviews shouldn’t be our companions; they shouldn’t be those with whom we walk; we shouldn’t make them our close friends – not even virtually. We shouldn’t spend a great deal of time imbibing the worldviews of those who don’t fear the Lord. And we should spend lots of time being rubbed off upon by the wise!

So choose your companions well!

_____________________________

*Murray points out how, through the medium of novels, ungodly authors in the past had a devastating influence on the culture that read them, and how we need always to beware such infiltration of our minds and hearts. Having learned from him how ungodly people can influence us through their creative works, I apply that lesson in this article.

"The majestic ones"

“As for the saints who are in the earth,

They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.”

Psalm 16:3

What David says in Psalm 16:3 is quite interesting, isn’t it? He calls “the saints” – the people of God – “majestic”! And he’s not using the word “saints” with the meaning that later came, often, to be attached to it – namely, as a designation for the super-heroes of the faith (as in Saint Augustine or Saint Patrick). He’s not just speaking, here, about the likes of Moses and Joshua. No, “the saints” here (and elsewhere in Scripture) are the people of God, in general.

And, says David, these people are “majestic”!

Now, we may not always feel like we (or our fellow believers) are all that “majestic”! And, of course, sometimes we’re not so “majestic”, it’s true! But there is a great deal to admire – a great deal that is “majestic” – in the lives of everyday Christians. Consider:

• the older man quietly taking a fatherless boy under his wing
• the saint who keeps worshipping the Lord, even with a broken heart 
• the disabled who push themselves so as to be in God’s house
• the family and friends who help them do so
• the grandmother who never gives up praying
• the person who unconditionally forgives
• the young person who takes an interest in the elderly
• the adoptive family that provides a whole new life for a child in need
• the spouse who remains faithful and prayerful under great trial
• the missionaries who give up much for the sake of the gospel
• our persecuted brothers and sisters who serve Christ no matter the cost

And on the list could go, couldn’t it?

By His grace, God’s people can be truly “majestic”! Let us notice them, and “delight” in them, and thank God for them, and look up to them, and imitate them, and encourage them to keep being “the majestic ones”!

Law and Love

"Law and Love" new today from  Kurt Strassner in our 1 John series looking at 1 John 5:2-3. https://t.co/Qpwu9EpggS

— Servantsofgrace (@Servantsofgrace) June 13, 2018

Love for the Father and His Children

"Love for the Father and His Children" new today from Kurt Strassner in our 1 John series looking at 1 John 5:1. https://t.co/hnjIJnfdsG

— Servantsofgrace (@Servantsofgrace) June 12, 2018

"Imperishable"

We know the difference between perishable and non-perishable, right? Bananas are perishable. So is sweet tea (as evidenced by the moldy specimen on our kitchen counter after returning from vacation Wednesday night!). Canned goods, however, are called non-perishable – because they will last a good, l o n g time in your cupboard.

And yet even things that we call non-perishable are not completely so. Because canned beans, peas, and chicken noodle soup will all eventually turn to waste. And so, also, will much longer lasting things like gold (1 Peter 1:7, 18)! For this earth and its goods will eventually be destroyed.

But there are some things, the apostle Peter reminds us, that are truly beyond perishability! Have you ever noticed this theme in his first epistle, chapter 1 – imperishability?

In verse 4, Peter speaks of the believers’ inheritance, and calls it “an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away.” The present world will eventually be no more. But we will receive an inheritance “in heaven” (and will continue enjoying it in the new earth) which will never perish. We will be in God's presence forever!

And not only is the believer's inheritance imperishable, but so also is his faith! In verse 7, Peter compares the Christian’s faith with “gold which is perishable” – and the comparison seems to indicate that our faith, unlike gold, is not perishable. It will be “tested by fire” – and will remain. If you truly trust in Christ today, then you will always do so! Praise God!

In vv.18-19, Peter makes a similar comparison between precious metals and “the blood of Christ.” “You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold … but with precious blood.” And again, the comparison seems to indicate that while silver and gold are perishable, the blood of Jesus is not. And so what Peter is getting at, with that comparison, is that the payment that redeemed God’s people was not taken from the realm of temporary things, but from a much more significant source – from the very veins of Christ, who “always lives” (Hebrews 7:25).

And then, too, Peter speaks of the Scriptures as “imperishable” (v.23). “You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” The word of God will never go to rot; it will never cease to be true, living, powerful, and relevant. We are still feeding, in 2018, on the same word of truth that sustained the ancient Israelites millennia ago! And God’s people will continue to feed on it until the end of the world, and on into an endless eternity! The word of God is imperishable! And because the seed is imperishable, is it any wonder that the faith (v.7) which springs from that seed is imperishable as well?

Imperishable! Remember this theme from 1 Peter 1 the next time you find mold on your bread, or rottenness in a piece of fruit. Think of it when you see rusted metal, or a rotting tree, or something reduced to ash in a fire. So many things all around us are turning to waste – or someday will. But, praise God, there are some things that really are imperishable!

Pastureland and Provision

V a s t, green stretches of open pastureland – often without a building, or any other human beings, in sight. This was among the most breathtaking sights on my recent trip out west.

The landscape was striking, of course, because of its uniqueness – such vistas don’t open up to us every day in Cincinnati (nor even in many rural places east of the Mississippi, where even the most uncluttered of our open landscapes still hold a house here, a barn there, or some lights on the horizon).

The peacefulness and simplicity of such places is also stunning for us modern, fast-paced, digitally-connected Americans. The rolling hills, the ‘big sky’, the gentle breeze, the sound of birds – they seem to beckon one to just lay down in the grass for an hour or two, looking up at the sky, and forgetting all this complicated world.

And then this reality occurs to me as well – this marvelous countryside not only fills the souls of men with marvel, but also fills the bellies of thousands of cattle, and sheep, and bison, and pronghorn! These vast hills and plains are their pantry, their dinner table, their daily bread! And what a spread it is! How richly our heavenly Father has provided for them (Psalm 145:16)! What a marvelous food supply He has created for their good!

And, as Jesus says about the birds, “Are you not worth much more than they?” If God feeds the birds, Jesus reasons with us in Matthew 6:26, then surely He will also feed us, who are far more valuable than any sparrow, hawk, or dove. And I saw the same logic, on a grand scale, in the western United States. If our Father has provided this vast food supply for the bison, and the cows, and so on … then surely He will provide for us humans who have been created in His own image; and all the more so for those whom He has re-created in His Son!

And, of course, we don’t have to go to Montana or Wyoming to digest this logic. The birds Jesus speaks of live all around us – along with squirrels, and deer, and suchlike. And God is feeding them – often right before our eyes, if we pause to observe it. So pause to observe it! “Look at the birds of the air”! And remember, as William Cowper has paraphrased Jesus’ teaching, that “He who feeds the ravens will give His children bread.”

Glad That We Came

“I was glad when they said to me,

‘Let us go to the house of the LORD’”

So wrote David in Psalm 122. He was glad when it was time to go to worship! Similarly, I have often prayed, in my pulpit prayers, that God would enable us to leave our Sunday gatherings ‘glad that we came’ – glad to have made our way, that day, to the house of God. And I do hope that that is your experience of Sunday worship – that you are glad to go to God’s house, and that you leave glad that you went! So let me give you three suggestions to help you be glad to go, and glad that you went, “to the house of the LORD” from week to week.

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” It will be much easier to be glad to go to worship, and to be glad that you went, if you are not thinking about getting get back home to watch the game; if you are not mulling what you need to pick up at the store that afternoon; if you are not stewing over a list of chores you hope you might complete by Sunday’s end. In short, you will be much more likely to soak in the blessings of the day if you don’t have anything else on which you are fixated, anywhere else to be, or anything else to do on the Lord's Day; if you’ve organized your Sundays such that soaking up spiritual blessings is the order of the day. The less your bread is saturated with distractions, the more capacity it will have for sopping up the honey of the things of God!  See Isaiah 58:13-14.

Walk with God the rest of the week. Enjoy the honey Monday through Saturday, and you will be all the more eager to come to the honey festival on Sunday! “Taste and see that the LORD is good” all week long, and you’ll have a hankering for the big meal on Sunday. But if you satisfy your taste buds with other things all week, don’t be surprised if you feel rather meh about coming to the Sunday feast.

Pray for your Sunday services. Describing the childhood church-going experience of the great missionary John G. Paton and his siblings, John Piper has said that “the meat at the temple was so rich, they were eager to get there.”* Pray that your church services will be like that! Particularly, pray for those who prepare the meat – for those who select and lead scripture readings and songs, and for your pastor and other teachers as they prepare the sermons and lessons for God’s people – that they would prepare and serve you an absolute feast, week by week! Pray that “the meat at the temple” would be “so rich” that you would be “eager to get there” … and then glad that you went!

_______

*Taken from Piper’s biographical message, You Will Be Eaten by Cannibals! Lessons from the Life of John G. Paton.  Piper is describing, in his own very memorable words, what Paton himself says about his childhood church-going.  The quote is found in the audio version of the message, though not in the written manuscript.

If We Confess Our Sins

"If We Confess Our Sins" new today from Kurt Strassner in our 1st John series looking at 1 John 1:8-10. https://t.co/E8CshqpxKu

— Servantsofgrace (@Servantsofgrace) April 26, 2018

"Lift it up, do not fear"

"Get yourself up on a high mountain,

O Zion, bearer of good news,

Lift up your voice mightily,

O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;

Lift it up, do not fear.

Say to the cities of Judah,

'Here is your God!'"

Isaiah 40:9

Some of you will know, and others of you may be surprised to know, that I sometimes struggle with significant fear in the matter of lifting up my voice to speak God’s word. Sermon preparation can, at times, be quite nerve-wracking as I agonize over whether I am getting this or that item right. Second-guesses (not of the Bible, but of myself) also occasionally come into my mind, mid-sermon: ‘Did I say that right? Is the way I phrased that sentence misleading? Did I cite that commentator correctly?’ And then, even after my voice has been lifted up, and the sermon is done, there is the further challenge of putting the sermon online, and wondering the above sorts of things all over again. Pray for me! For, though such fears may sound absurd, they seem very real when I am in the midst of them.

Maybe you are sometimes afraid of (or afraid while) lifting your voice, too. Maybe, when sharing the gospel, or teaching a Bible class, you worry about whether you are getting it right – not because you don’t know the Bible well enough (which is a legitimate reason to second-guess yourself!), but because you’re a worrier, like me. Or perhaps you have a fear of speaking God’s word to people because of the potential of getting a poor response from them. ‘Will they mock me? Will they become angry with me? Will they distance themselves from me, relationally?’ And then there is just the plain old fear (regardless of the content spoken) of speaking in front of a group, or to someone we don’t know well – a fear which can weigh heavily upon us in various situations, including those in which we are called to speak for our God.

How do we overcome such fears? Well, I’m no expert. I often struggle mightily. But one strategy I’ve found helpful is to quote or paraphrase to myself, just before going into the pulpit, those words from Isaiah 40:9 – “Lift up your voice … Lift it up, do not fear.” These words, of course, remind me that I must not fear. But they also imply, it seems to me, that I need not fear; that the God who has called me to speak for Him will be with me in that speaking, so that I can be confident, rather than afraid. And maybe Isaiah 40:9 will be helpful to you in that way, too. Store it in your memory bank, and remind yourself of it when it’s time to speak for the Lord.

Remember, too, that your opportunities to speak “the good word of God”, and any specific gifting you have for doing so, are among the talents (Matthew 25) that God has entrusted you to steward. And you mustn’t hide them in the ground. You must use what God has given you, my friend! You must “lift up your voice”! “Lift it up, do not fear.” You won’t do so perfectly. You won’t always do so painlessly. But, with God at your side, you may do so confidently!

"Let love of the brethren continue"

The following article was composed, specifically, for the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church family ... but may be of help to others in thinking about (and continuing!) the love that exists within your own church family.  May it be so!

‘What are the strengths of the church?’

That’s the question someone recently asked me, concerning PRBC.  And it's a good question!

I was glad to answer, in the words of one of our other elders (Charles) from awhile back, that the church has proven to be a kind of nest; a safe haven and soft landing spot for those who have needed such – younger Christians, strugglers of various kinds, people who just need a calm and nourishing church atmosphere where they can, for a season, gain (or re-gain) spiritual strength. This is an important ministry!

I was also happy to reply that our church has been, for well over a decade now, relatively conflict and controversy free. The spirit of unity here has truly been a gift from the Lord, and surely has been one reason we’ve been able to be the aforementioned safe haven!

It is also true that the family at Pleasant Ridge truly cares for one another. I am so pleased to see folks giving rides, visiting the nursing home, providing meals, helping with children, and so on. This is a sign of strength! And let me add, here, that a friend of mine recently pointed out to me how much the people of PRBC love me. Thank you, brothers and sisters! Your care for one another has extended wonderfully to your pastor and his family!

Praise the Lord for His kind working in and for us! And thank you, church family, for walking with and serving Him in these ways. It occurs to me that they are all related to that fruit of the Spirit which is love. And let me encourage you, now, to “Let love of the brethren continue” (Hebrews 13:1).

Sometimes we may need to be encourage to begin loving one another in ways that we haven’t been doing. Other times the call may be to rekindle our love for one another. And then there are times when we are loving one another, and simply need to be reminded to continue down this happy path! And so let me encourage you in this latter way.

You have been a marvelous safe haven, PRBC, for so many people. “Let love of the brethren continue.” You have walked together in a Spirit of wonderful unity. “Let love of the brethren continue.” You have cared so well for one another, and for your pastor and his family. “Let love of the brethren continue.”

“By this” said Jesus “all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). So, my brothers and sisters, “Let love of the brethren continue.”

Light

“So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19

This fallen world, even for the Christian, is so often “a dark place”, is it not? The culture in which we live is shrouded in a godless midnight of unbelief and idolatry. Our own circumstances, when we are in difficulty, can be like dark clouds looming over our heads. Depression, too, can be like a dreadful series of gloomy, sunless days. And then there is, of course, the darkness of our own sin, ever lurking in our hearts, and breaking onto the surface far more than we would like. And so we can identify, I think, with Peter’s reference to “a dark place.”

And yet praise God that we have “the prophetic word” – the Bible – which serves us as “a lamp shining in a dark place”! Praise the Lord for the lantern of the Scriptures! And let us be sure that we use them as such; that we “pay attention” to them! Let us hold the lantern up above our lives, so that we can actually say with the psalmist, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). Dark as things may be, we don’t have to grope around in that darkness! Praise God, He has provided us with a lamp!

And praise Him, too, not only for His provision of light, now … but also for His promise of light, later! For the days will not always be dark, says Peter. They will only be dark “until the day dawns”; until Christ, the Light of the world, shall return to this earth like the morning sun, and shall dawn upon His people with the brightness of His glory. In that day, the midnight of our godless culture will give way to a bright morning sun! And for the Christian, the light of Christ’s presence will, in the words of Henry Van Dyke*, ‘melt the clouds of sin and sadness’ and ‘drive the dark of doubt away’!

So let me urge you, Christian friend – to make use of the provision, and to bank on the promise, of light from the Lord! Open the written word and let it be, for you, “a lamp shining in a dark place.” And look forward to the coming of Jesus, the incarnate Word, who is “the Light of the world”, and who will soon dawn on His people like the glory of the morning sun!

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*From the hymn Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. Van Dyke, it seems to me, rightly employs the words quoted above as a prayer for present light from the Lord (which light the Lord often gives!). I make use of his phraseology, however, as also being an apt way of describing the future dawning of Christ’s light.

Hope in Wormwood Days

I hope, from time to time, to be posting some of my articles over at servantsofgrace.org (check them out for a great deal of other helpful content, too).  When I post there, I hope to link here.  Here's the first installment:

"Hope in Wormwood Days" new today from Kurt Strassner https://t.co/SnO4MVGb9H

— Servantsofgrace (@Servantsofgrace) March 21, 2018

"God blesses us"

“God blesses us,

That all the ends of the earth may fear Him”

Psalm 67:7

What a marvelous reminder, in Psalm 67, of the stewardship with which we, as God’s people, have been entrusted! One reason the church is so blessed; one reason God so “cause[s] His face to shine upon us” (v.1) … is so that we might leverage His blessings for the purpose of spreading His fame to “all the ends of the earth”! Read the entire psalm, and notice how it both begins and ends with this theme – we are blessed, so that the nations might bless God!

One specific blessing spoken of in Psalm 67 is the blessing of temporal prosperity – a good harvest season. But perhaps other sorts of blessings are in view. Or, at least, the psalm can surely be applied to other sorts of blessings. And, in these few paragraphs, I want to think, particularly, about how the church in America is blessed, and how we ought to steward those blessings for the glory of God in world missions.

That’s not to say, for one second, that only the church in America is blessed; or that the church in America is more blessed than the church in other lands! Not so! Psalm 67 applies to all Christians everywhere! And we would do well to remember that the church in other lands is blessed in unique ways, too. Christians in many other lands are often blessed with fortitude in suffering; or with deep, child-like humility; or with habits of prayer which we Americans could stand to learn from. And, of course, the church in every place is blessed with the same word of God, the same Holy Spirit, the same gospel, and so on!

So the purpose of this article is not to puff up the American church. But since Psalm 67 does apply to our blessings, too; and since I am writing primarily for an audience that resides on American soil, I write for that audience. And I point out three particular blessings which the Lord has poured out on this particular portion of His vineyard, and remind us that God blesses us in these ways for the sake of spreading the gospel; that “God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him”! It’s not an exhaustive list of God’s blessings, but I hope a helpful one.

So then, for the sake of His fame among the nations, God has blessed the American church with:

1. Financial blessing. We have so much in this country! And the churches in this country have so much, too! We are blessed, financially. Think of how amazing it is that Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, a fairly small congregation, has well over $100,000 at our disposal, every year, to use for the glory of God. And PRBC is not abnormal. The American church is financially blessed! And let us never forget that the reason is not only for our own up-building in grace, but also so “that [God’s] way may be known on the earth, [His] salvation among all nations” (v.2, emphasis added).

2. Linguistic blessing. English is spoken and/or understood so widely in today’s world, is it not? Which means that we English speakers have ready linguistic access to people from all sorts of places. That doesn’t mean that long-term missionaries shouldn’t take the time to learn the native tongues of the people to whom they minister. They should! But the fact that English is today’s lingua franca means that we who aren’t long-term missionaries have amazing access (at home, and abroad, and online) to people from many nations, tribes, and tongues. And we have such access; God has allowed our language to become so widespread, not for our own ease, but “that all the ends of the earth may fear” the Lord!

3. Theological blessing. Make no mistake, America is probably the world’s chief exporter of false teaching. And I’m not overlooking that. But America, by God’s grace (alone!), is also blessed with sound theological seminaries, Bible colleges, and book publishers that Christians in many other countries drool over. We are extremely blessed with access to solid theological training and teaching. And we are blessed in that way, not to keep all that learning simply to ourselves, but to bring good news to the nations as well!

So, my friends, let us steward these blessings well! Let us give of our financial blessing to the cause of world missions! Let us take advantage of our linguistic blessing by sharing Christ with people from many nations! And let some of us take all of the theological blessing available to us, and go – moving abroad, learning another language, and making the knowledge of God available at “the ends of the earth”!

Numb?

I have written before about how much I enjoy the Winter Olympics. And, for the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed them once again this time around. There’s something deeply delightful about being cozied up with your family, on a winter’s eve, watching these great triumphs on snow and ice.

But one thing (among a few) that saddened me this time around was how often I heard God’s name, on broadcast television, being taken in vain. During both the broadcasts and the commercials, the holy, holy, holy God could be heard, over and again, being used as an exclamation, rather than in true reference to the Almighty. It was disturbing and disheartening … not only because people used God’s name that way, but because we have apparently reached a point, culturally, where it is no longer even considered shameful to do so (or to broadcast people doing so), even on the once somewhat-sanitized airwaves of broadcast TV.

On one hand, I’m not at all surprised. So much other sin, these days, is portrayed (and sometimes celebrated) on television … and tolerated (and sometimes enjoyed) by viewers. Why should I expect the broadcasters, the advertisers, or their viewership to care about the 3rd commandment? And yet, on the other hand, NBC did issue an apology, at one point, when microphones picked up an athlete using the ‘F’ word. Apologies were also issued for certain socio-cultural gaffes made by on-air personalities. And yet God’s name was blasphemed left and right … with the network and other responsible parties apparently recognizing, neither that such language is inappropriate and foul, nor that the reason it is so is because of the greatness of the One whose name is being misused!

Why am I pointing these things out? Not to be a culture warrior, lambasting NBC, or the television industry in general. And neither am I trying to gather stones for us to cast at our culture or our neighbors. Nor, even, am I writing in order to address the redemptive task of graciously engaging our neighbors on such matters, and pointing them away from sin and to Christ. In this space, rather, I’m simply concerned to urge that we Christians beware not to be taken (or to allow our families to be taken) along for the cultural ride.

Did you watch much of the Olympics? And did you pick up on what I am pointing out? And do you notice (and cringe at) the misuse of God’s name on so many other channels, shows, and other forms of media? Or have you become desensitized to this grievous offense against God (and/or others like it)?

I’m not saying that being insensitive to the misuse of God’s name by others is the same thing as engaging in blasphemously yourself. But surely our numbness to His being dishonored is a grief to the heavenly Father. And furthermore, unless we awaken from such spiritual sedation, we may soon find that we (and our children, who learn from us) will not only begin to be numb to offenses against God, but also to fall into them ourselves!

And so it’s worth asking – not for the sake of throwing stones; and not just for the sake of kindly helping take specks out of others’ eyes; but for our own sakes – it’s work asking if we even notice the way God’s name is bandied about, so carelessly, in our culture. It’s worth asking, too, if we’re bothered by such misuse of His name (and, indeed, if we’re bothered enough so as to shut the TV off when it’s bad enough; or to turn certain portions on mute; or to pause and discuss with our children the sadness of what we just heard or saw). And it’s worth asking these sorts of questions about any number of other offenses against God that are considered normal in our present cultural milieu.

Let us not be numb to the dishonor of our God!

A Breath of Fresh Air

How about the weather these last two days? Monday and Tuesday have felt like spring! And I am most thankful, not just for the warmth itself, but for how the warmth has beckoned me to breathe fresh air. Monday afternoon found our family on a lovely walk, breathing in more such air than we have for many days. And today (Tuesday), after many weeks breathing the stale, re-circulated, indoor air of a cooped up winter, windows are opened wide, allowing both home and office (and their occupants!) to breathe the fresh breaths of spring! And how good such breaths are, both for mind and body!

And it occurs to me that we can speak similarly about “a Sabbath well spent”.* It occurs to me that, after six days of breathing what often feels like stagnant air – after six days in the office; after six days in the rat race; after six days of toil; after six days of paperwork, or computer screens, or deadlines, or sweat, or stress, or pressure, or difficult co-workers – “a Sabbath well spent” (a  Sabbath used in the way God intended it, in other words) can be a breath of fresh air! It can be like the throwing open of windows, or the taking of a brisk spring walk, after a week trapped indoors.

Think of it that way! Think of your Sunday opportunities – for physical rest, for praise (at church and at home), for prayer, for sitting under the preached word, for fellowship, for edifying reading – think of them as a weekly fresh air walk, or as the flinging open of the windows, so that the draft of a different and healthier air can blow through the corridors of your life. Think of Sunday as a spiritual fresh air day!

Strive, yes, to breathe more and more of that air, seven days a week! But recognize that, if some days and weeks are more like a cooped up January, there is always a fresh-air day just around the corner! There is always this one day on which you don’t have to breathe the same old air, as it were – a day on which you are entitled (and commanded!) to get out of the rat race; to lay down the labors of the rest of the week, and to throw open the aforementioned spiritual windows of praise, fellowship, the word, and so on!

So commit to doing so!  

Commit, first of all, to setting aside your normal labors on the Lord’s Day – which is commanded, by the way, even if those labors are not stressful, or like stagnant air!  This commitment is right and healthy, whether you think you need to get away from your work or not!  And, if the Monday-Saturday routine is stressful or stagnant, such a commitment will get you, one day a week, out of the stale air!   

And commit your Sundays also, not just to getting out of the rat-race, but to positively breathing the fresh air!  Commit to open the windows, or to go on a fresh-air walk, so to speak.  Commit, in other words, to really do the things that make Sunday a breath of fresh air!  Breathe that air in – by means of rest, praise, prayer, fellowship, the word, and solid Christian books. Don’t sit, on a spring-like day, in the same stagnant air in which you’ve been languishing. Breathe the fresh air!


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*I quote this phrase from Matthew Hale’s classic poem “a Sabbath well spent”. In this poem, Hale rightly points out how a well-spent Sabbath brings contentment and health for the week that follows, though I have used his words  in writing about the blessing of the Sabbath coming on the heels of the week that was.

Some Helpful Books

Some books are best read straight through, in fairly decent-sized chunks, and without a great deal of starting and stopping … so that you can keep the train of thought, or the flow of the story, straight in your mind. Other books, however, while they can be read fairly quickly, can also serve you quite well by taking up regular residence on your nightstand, or beside your recliner, or wherever it is that you tend to go in the quiet moments … and by being dipped into and mulled over, here and there, in smaller or larger chunks, over the course of many months or years. And, with the reminder that the Bible must always be the first and foremost book in our lives, I encourage you to read the spiritually edifying variety of both sorts of books!

In the space below, allow me to recommend a handful of books that fall into the latter category – the kind you might keep nearby your bed, or beside your favorite chair, or wherever you do your reading … so as to dip into them at various times. Each of them would be of certain benefit to you.

The Valley of Vision. A collection of Puritan prayers (gathered under various topical headings) which, although not divinely inspired, will read something like a collection of psalms. Use them for meditation, and to prompt your own prayer life. Available in paperback or leather bound.

The Letters of Samuel Rutherford. Written in beautiful, poetic prose, Rutherford’s letters are devotionally warm, pastorally helpful, and will encourage you to want to know more of Rutherford’s Savior. Charles Spurgeon called these letters “the nearest thing to inspiration which can be found in all the writings of mere men.” You might begin with the abridged version.

Spurgeon’s sermons. Charles Spurgeon was called “the prince of preachers” for a reason! And generations have benefitted from the hundreds of his sermons that have been preserved. Warm, straightforward, and consistently making “a bee-line to the cross,” his sermons make for some of the best reading that any Christian could do. One readily available volume (of 28 sermons) is CH Spurgeon’s Forgotten Early Sermons.

Operation World. If you want to pray for the spread of the gospel among the nations, this book is a wonderful resource. Containing important information, statistics, and prayer requests for each nation of the earth, this book has the potential to draw out your mind and heart in pray for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

May God grant you fruitful reading!

Rescue Psalms

I have lately been making my way through the Psalms, and have sometimes found myself reading cries and petitions that don’t seem to have a great deal of immediate application to me. I’m thinking of those psalms in which the psalmist groans for deliverance from his enemies. These 'rescue psalms' (as we might call them) are wonderful psalms! And yet, what to do with them when I don’t really have a great many earthly enemies? What does an American, living a pretty easy life, do, for instance, with verses like the following?

Lord, how long will You look on?

Rescue my soul from their ravages,

My only life from the lions.

I will give You thanks in the great congregation;

I will praise You among a mighty throng.

Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me;

Nor let those who hate me without cause wink maliciously.

For they do not speak peace,

But they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.

They opened their mouth wide against me;

They said, “Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!”

You have seen it, O LORD, do not keep silent;

O Lord, do not be far from me.

Stir up Yourself, and awake to my right

And to my cause, my God and my Lord.

Judge me, O LORD my God, according to Your righteousness,

And do not let them rejoice over me.

Do not let them say in their heart, “Aha, our desire!”

Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up!”

Psalm 35:17-25

What do I do when there is no one (seemingly) “open[ing] their mouth wide against me”? A few thoughts on how to make good use of these psalms:

1. Remember our brothers and sisters who do have such enemies. Persecuted Christians in places like North Korea, or the Middle East. Christian business owners in this country, under fire for trying to work according to their consciences. Abused women and children. And so on. There are those for whom the words of such psalms are very immediately relevant. So use the psalms to pray for them!

2. Remember these psalms for when you do need them. Life is not always easy! And a time may come when someone does set him or herself up as your enemy … either because of your faith, or perhaps for some other reason. Gossip, slander, persecution, abuse, unfair lawsuits. These sorts of things can happen. And we’ll need the likes of Psalm 35 then! So remember that they are there! Keep them in your back pocket, as it were, and pull them out when the tough times come.

3. Remember that you do have enemies. Maybe not in the form of other people who desire to “swallow [you] up” … but your own sin is a mortal enemy! And so are the devil and his minions. And so, when sins, or doubts, or temptations, or the devil’s accusations are laid before you like snares, the rescue psalms can be taken up then, too. “Rescue my soul from their ravages, My only life from the lions.”

4. Remember the Messiah. Two of the seven statements Jesus uttered from the cross are direct quotations from the sorts of psalms I have in mind in this article (see Psalms 22:1 and 31:5), and a third is closely connected with Psalm 69:21. So Jesus was thinking of these sorts of psalms when under the thumb of His enemies! And that means, I would say, that we should be thinking of Him when we read them!* No one ever suffered like Jesus! And He repaired to the psalms in the midst of His suffering! And so when we read the suffering and the cries of the Psalms, let us think of this ultimate Sufferer, and praise God that His cries were heard … and that, in Him, so also will be the cries of His people!

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*Not to say that everything in the rescue psalms has a correlation in Christ’s suffering and cries. But there are correlations – some more general, others more direct – that you will notice if you are looking for them.  So look for them!  Think about how what you are reading in the Psalms compares to the sufferings and/or cries of Christ.  And, if your Bible contains cross-references, use those to help you!  Not every correlation may be listed in the cross-references (so do some comparative thinking on your own, aside from the cross-references).  But some such correlations (especially the more direct ones) may be noted in the cross-references. And so it would be a good exercise, when reading the rescue psalms, to scan down through those cross-references, looking to see if they call attention to any correlations between the psalm and the life of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Doing this with Psalm 35, while working on this article, the NASB cross-references informed me, for instance, that Psalm 35:19 is quoted in John 15:25 in reference to the sufferings of Jesus: “They hated me without a cause.”