Renew

Our love is like a little pool, Thy love is like the sea, O beautiful, O wonderful, How noble Love can be. Amy Carmichael Love is a gift. And if St. John is right, love is divine, for God is love. Sadly many seem to live, or at least exist, without it--or live contrary to it. A gift must be received, opened, and used properly to be fully enjoyed. A thoughtful gift from a loved one can be deeply touching.  In the case of God's love for us, the gift and the Giver merge. No greater gift can be given.

From The Sampson Society Daily Time with God: "In the world of recovery, there is an axiom that is often shared with others in recovery. It goes something like this, “No matter how far down the road of recovery you get, you’re still just as close to the ditch.” Sin is easy, righteousness is work.     But Paul is suggesting, as followers of Jesus, we are free from sin and controlled by righteousness. There must be a secret hidden in this passage because that simply is not my experience or that of others I know. Still, let me take a stab at it … according to this passage, once we were slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to God (Romans 6:22). One of the byproducts of being a slave to God is being controlled by righteousness. Furthermore, the result (wages) of sin is death, both physical and spiritual, so when we continue to sin, the control of righteousness in our lives is weakened. It is like we put the chains of slavery to sin back on. We progressively feel powerless ov...

The Philokalia is an early Chistian text that seeks to help with spiritual formation. Very helpful for today. Here is a section that shows how anger is constructive, even necessary, for spiritual growth. "1. There is among the passions an anger of the intellect, and this anger is in accordance with nature. Without anger a man cannot attain purity: he has to feel angry with all that is sown in him by the enemy. When Job felt this anger he reviled his enemies, calling them 'dishonourable men of no repute, lacking everything good, whom I would not consider fit to live with the dogs that guard my flocks' (cf Job 30: 1, 4. LXX). He who wishes to acquire the anger that is in accordance with nature must uproot all self-will, until he establishes within himself the state natural to the intellect. " (On Guarding the Intellect, The Philokalia )

Beginning to read The Kingdom Life: A Practical Theology of Discipleship and Spiritual Formation . Here are some guiding principles gleaned from the book that show the centrality of the body of Christ in the process of kingdom growth and advancement, what I refer to as gospel transformation, community formation, missional reformation: Guiding Principle 1: Spiritual formation occurs in believers as they engage in intentional personal formation, community formation and missional formation. These three dimensions of spiritual development must not be compartmentalized or separated but organically connected. Guiding Principle 2: The center of the spiritual-formation church is Jesus and His kingdom. The Bible is a Christocentric book. Jesus’ primary message was about the immediate nearness and availability of His kingdom to us. Guiding Principle 3: Every spiritual-formation church must be rooted in the soil of the lost, the vulnerable, and the least. Guiding Principle 4: Th...

Lent...should never be morose - an annual ordeal during which we begrudginly forgo a handful of pleasures. Instead, it ought to be approached as an opportunity. After all, it is meant to be the church's springtime, when our of the darkness of sin's winter, a repentant, empowered people emerges. --Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter  The prodigal son was resolved to come, yet he was half afraid. But we read that his father ran. Slow are the steps of repentance, but swift are the feet of forgiveness. God can run where we can scarcely limp, and if we are limping toward Him, He will run toward us. Thought the father was out of breath, He was not out of love. --Charles Haddon Spurgeon O Lord, who has mercy upon all, take away from me my sins, and mercifully kindle in me the fire of thy Holy Spirit. Take away from me the heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh, a heart to love and adore You, a heart to delight in You, to follow and enjoy You, for Christ's sake...

God is the author of time. He invented it. There was a time when time was not. Then God created time and space. He ordered His creation in the span of six days and rested on the seventh. Thus the rhythm of our week is woven into the fabric of the world. God promised Noah that "while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). God gives us a framework. There is a stability to life. We can count on time--year after year, month after month, day after day, hour after hour. This brings structure to our lives. Time becomes something that we order our lives around. The fourth commandment states: "Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God." Work and rest become a daily and weekly and yearly rhythm. Time is the beat to this rhythm. The teacher in Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that there is a time for everything: 2  a time to be born, ...

Caesar Augustus’ birthday was honored as the “birthday of the god!” A stone monument (Priene Inscription) was erected 9 yrs before Jesus’ birth celebrating Caesar as “a savior for the world” whose birth was the beginning of “good tidings for all people.”  It seemed good to the Greeks of Asia, in the opinion of the high priest Apollonius of Menophilus Azanitus: Since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us  Augustus , whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind,  sending him as a savior  both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance (excelled even our anticipations), surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and  since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings  [ euangelion ]  for ...

We've all done it. I have. I'm you at times have too. We listen to a sermon not so much to hear how I should change or repent or be challenged or encouraged, but rather how the preacher's got it wrong. We pick apart his arguments or his delivery or his choice of tie (or lack of one). As a preacher, I'll think how I could have said it so much better. Sometimes I wonder, have we come to church to learn or to lecture?  Martin Bucer, over 400 years ago, addressed those who were sinfully critical of preachers and their preaching. His words are as needed today as (apparently) they were needed then: This is why Christians are first of all to ask the Lord with great earnestness to grant them faithful ministers, and to watch diligently in choosing them to see that they walk in accordance with their calling and serve faithfully; and when these ministers come to warn, punish, teach or exhort in the Lord’s name, not to dismiss it thoughtlessly and despise this ministry,...

My wife, Heather, once said that our marriage is the most beautiful, most broken thing she has ever experienced. I concur. I still think that Dave Harvey wrote When Sinners Say 'I Do' about us. I'm not sure what either one of us was expecting when we entered marital bliss, but I do know that we both got a whole lot more than we bargained for. Paul Tripp wrote a wonderful book called What Did You Expect? for those of us who woke up after the honeymoon and wondered (though we would never say it outloud), "Who is this person next to me and what happened to the person I married?!" Tripp explains how he approaches marriage with the gospel: My whole approach to marriage is the Gospel, because I’ve got to understand that marriage is about a flawed person living next to a flawed person in a fallen world, but with a faithful God. So, I can’t look to my husband or wife to be my own personal messiah. No one is ever married to the fourth member of the trinity. There...

For a number of years now, I've been trying to re-emphasize the importance of outreach at the church I pastor. More specifically, I've been trying to move everyone toward engaging in evangelism. Whenever I bring up the subject, I hear someone say (sometimes audibly), "Oh no! Not evangelism!" The word conjures up images of street preachers or door-to-door witnessing that has all but been abandoned by everyone except "cult" groups. Perhaps another approach is needed. We can start by defining what evangelism is. What I mean by evangelism is simply speaking about the gospel of Jesus Christ--everything from "preaching the gospel to ourselves" (as Jack Miller and Tim Keller put it) to bringing up God (or more specifically God's work for us in Christ) in conversation with those who are disinterested or curious or in open rebellion against him. There has been a mixed response to my attempts at getting us back to this essential part of the mission. Some...

"The great intellectual tradition that comes down to us from the past was never interrupted or lost through such trifles as the sack of Rome, the triumph of Attila, or all the barbarian invasions of the Dark Ages. It was lost after the introduction of printing, the discovery of America, the founding of the Royal Society, and all the enlightenment of the Renaissance and the modern world. It was there, if anywhere, that there was lost or impatiently snapped the long thin delicate thread that had descended from distant antiquity; the thread of that unusual human hobby: the habit of thinking."  G. K. Chesterton

There are many fans of Les Misérables in the world. I am one of them. My wife and I have seen the 1980 musical, the 1998 dramatic film, and now the musical that is currently playing in theaters. We've been moved to tears each time we've seen it. Reactions to the film have been fascinating to hear and read. Most people are buzzing about the music, the live recordings of the vocals that were used and have become a rarity in films. Most were stirred, even stunned, by the performances, though many panned Russell Crowe’s portrayal of Javert. There have been a good number shocked by the crass vulgarity in the film (Rated PG-13). Bob Bixby, on his blog Pens é es , had this reaction: I was bemused by the many Christian lovely ladies in the blogosphere who were scandalized by the Lovely Ladies song (and Master of the House ). Haven’t they ever listened to the actual words of that song? The lyrics are famous. The movie did not falsely advertise its elf. It was a screenplay of t...

Over the Christmas holidays, my parents came down for a visit. We had a wonderful time celebrating Christ's birth. For me the highlights were having my mom and dad in our Christmas services. During one small group class we went through Ephesians 4:4, 5--"There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call--one Lord, one faith, one baptism." I knew our discussion would be interesting. You see, I'm a Presbyterian pastor. My mom and dad are Baptists. Christians have disagreed about the proper mode and subjects of baptism since the early days of the church. We all agreed, however, that "one baptism" here refers to the baptism of all believers into one body, which is the result of the Holy Spirit bringing us alive in Christ. Baptism is an outward sign of the inward reality of the believer being in Christ as the result of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. All genuine believers who are "in Christ" a...

I recently received a Merry Christmas message from Steve Rice, a friend and colleague of many years--great words for the close of this year: Why am I doing this? We have all asked ourselves this question at some time or another in our work. It is usually at a time when things are not going well or the way we expected them. It is when morale is down and service has become a drudgery instead of a joy. We often can get lost in the myopic view of the every day and lose sight of the big picture. So it can be helpful to stop in the 'busy'ness of service and remind ourselves why we work so hard and toil with such diligence. Why do we spend our time, our skill, our resources on projects that we may or may not see personal results from? The simple answer is we have all been called to serve. We have been called to serve to make this world a better place. We have been called to serve our fellow men in all their plights. We have been called to serve each other and pass on to ot...

Last Friday's tragedy in Newtown, CT has left a whole community (if not the country) reeling in waves of grief. How could this happen and why? Could something like this be avoided? How can we protect our children? How can we stop such violence? The onslaught of advice from experts in crime prevention, legislation, mental health, education, family counseling, medicine, religious groups and the like has been overwhelming. Most of it is well-intended and much of it can be beneficial, but could it be too much too soon? Rain is good, a torrent can be deeply damaging. This becomes clear when some use the occasion as a soap box for their social or political agenda. All kinds of issues are brought up that have little to do with the horrific circumstances. Thinking we know much more than we do, we end up sounding like Job's friends. At least they sat with Job in silence for 7 days. We could use more of that. Pause. Weep. Grieve. Listen. Lend a hand, a shoulder, a hug. Of course there ...

Here are three simple items for my Christmas list this year: To have more time with friends who have more faith than I do. It is wonderful to have a living, breathing, walking example beside you as you walk through life. Faith-filled friends give a godly infection. “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” Philippians 3:17 Secondly, to get rid of everything doubtful in my life this year. “Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”  2 Corinthians 7:1 I hope to avoid degrading and defiling entertainments and distractions that eat away at the life of the Spirit in me. The third item is for mastery of my tongue. “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.” 1 Peter 3:10 Here is...

In Aftershock authors David and Robert Wiedemer and Cindy Spitzer write about the next global meltdown. Despite the risk of sounding like "Chicken Little," here is their executive summary: What is a bubble?   An asset value that temporarily booms and eventually busts, based on changing investor psychology, rather than on underlying fundamental economic drivers that are sustainable over time. What is a bubble economy?   An economy that grows in a virtuous upward spiral of multiple rising bubbles (real estate, stocks, private debt, dollar, and government debt) that interact to drive each other up,a dn that will inevitably fall in a vicious downward spiral as each falling bubble puts downward pressure on the rest, eventually pulling the whole economy down. What is the bubblequake?   Phase I of the popping of the bubble economy, including he fall of the real estate bubble, private debt bubble, stock market bubble, and discretionary spending bubble. What i...

Image from the Wall Street Journal

Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it. I am weak in the faith; strengthen me. I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor. I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you. In you I have sealed the treasure of all I have. I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor. I am a sinner; you are upright. With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness. Therefore I will will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give. Amen.

Bringing up politics in polite company is a great way to ruin a pleasant evening meal--so says T. M. Moore in his insightful brief study, The Limits of Politics: What Government Can and Cannot Do . With general elections coming up in November it's a timely topic. He begins by stating that government in necessary, but not necessarily evil. Politics is often seen as the black sheep of family America – a source of disappointment and disgust, who only comes around at certain times, but from whom we’re never entirely separate. But politics is simply the science of government. Politics describes the ways people in society organize their relationships and apportion the exercise of power in an effort to establish order and maintain peace. The problem is not with politics, as, doubtless, most of us realize, but with politicians. Politics is a noble science, and the practice of politics can be a way to bring glory to God and much good to people. That politics has come to be associated...