Our church recently put a very helpful post up on their website encouraging us to read the Bible this year and giving us some practical guidelines and plans for doing so, at various levels of intensity (you should go check it out if you are in need of a Bible reading plan - they have a lot of good ideas over there). One in particular stood out to me because it seemed a little different from any other reading plan I've seen in the past and because it claimed to be a way to "master" the Bible - which is a rather extravagant claim, I would think! Basically, the idea is to choose one book of the Bible at a time and read it all in one sitting, continuing to do so until you've read the book twenty times. I think of a book like Genesis and I quail at the thought of reading it in one sitting... but the purpose is to grasp the primary messages and principles of each book as a whole, instead of getting lost in the details and the depth and never coming to a full, complete, and coherent understanding of the whole book.
So I thought, well, there's really no loss in trying this even if it doesn't turn out to be that doable, and I'm starting with the smaller books and working my way up to the more intimidating and lengthy ones. 2 John, at only 13 verses, took the prize for first, so I've been reading it repetitively for the past few days (I'm at 15 times through right now). And I do feel like I'm finally beginning to understand the point of the book. Each time I read through it, it's like I'm putting a piece into a puzzle, and the themes begin to emerge from the text, becoming clearer and more beautiful as I go. Maybe I'll write about it when I've made it through all twenty reads :) I'm finding treasures in that little book that I never knew were there, which really encourages me to do my best to follow through with the rest of this crazy plan to read the Bible! The beauty of the wisdom of God's word is breathtaking.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Eternal hope
"... sagacity says, 'Surely one must not kill hope.' 'You hypocrite,' replies the eternal, 'why do you talk so equivocally; of course there is a hope that should be killed, just as there is a lust, a craving, and a longing that should be killed - the earthly hope should be killed, because not until then is one rescued by the true hope, and that is why the sufferer should not even want to "accept release" (Hebrews 11:35) on temporality's terms.'" - Soren Kierkegaard, Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits
Earthly hope is very pleasant to the mind and the heart, even when it so improbable as to be more of a desperate wish than a hope, because it fills the imagination with beautiful pictures of everything temporal healed and set right - of health and wealth and happiness, of the fulfillment of life's "little dreams" (like a house in the country with a wrap-around porch, or a home full of children, or a long and loving marriage, or recognition and respect). But to make those hopes the great desire of one's heart - to think of "the temporal as the highest and the eternal as a kind of desperate standby" (Kierkegaard again) - is in the end to lose these hopes themselves, and their fulfillment, or even if one does experience the happiness of their fulfillment in a temporal sense, it is still in the end to lose the highest hope of all: that which is eternal.
So it is better not to hope for those things at all - to kill them when they appear - that one may set one's heart on the greatest and highest hope without distraction or reservation. Is there a sense of loss, at the thought of killing these hopes and thus not pursuing their fulfillment and obtaining their promised happinesses? Yes, there is; but it is a better loss than the alternative, which is to never become alive in the eternal hope, to never pursue that eternal fulfillment and obtain eternal happiness.
Earthly hope is very pleasant to the mind and the heart, even when it so improbable as to be more of a desperate wish than a hope, because it fills the imagination with beautiful pictures of everything temporal healed and set right - of health and wealth and happiness, of the fulfillment of life's "little dreams" (like a house in the country with a wrap-around porch, or a home full of children, or a long and loving marriage, or recognition and respect). But to make those hopes the great desire of one's heart - to think of "the temporal as the highest and the eternal as a kind of desperate standby" (Kierkegaard again) - is in the end to lose these hopes themselves, and their fulfillment, or even if one does experience the happiness of their fulfillment in a temporal sense, it is still in the end to lose the highest hope of all: that which is eternal.
So it is better not to hope for those things at all - to kill them when they appear - that one may set one's heart on the greatest and highest hope without distraction or reservation. Is there a sense of loss, at the thought of killing these hopes and thus not pursuing their fulfillment and obtaining their promised happinesses? Yes, there is; but it is a better loss than the alternative, which is to never become alive in the eternal hope, to never pursue that eternal fulfillment and obtain eternal happiness.
Friday, January 6, 2012
A Prayer
In the midst of the world's chaos, may we find peace in Christ.
When all around us society crumbles, communities fall apart, and people's lives are broken, and everyone seems hell-bent on progressing in the course that brought us to this place, may we find hope in the faithfulness of our Lord. May we remember that His promises are true and that His Word cannot be shaken.
When all our civil leaders are tainted by corruption and greed, and political campaigning becomes political mudslinging with no hope of integrity or improvement, may we remember that we are ultimately citizens of heaven, and may we find strength in the knowledge that God's throne is founded on righteousness and justice.
When people we know, in the face of society's brokenness, still tell us that supporting marriage and family is "weird", may we learn to feel compassion rather than contempt for the blindness - and may we remember that God has power both to open their eyes and to heal the torn fabric of our nation's families. May we remember that no obstacle is too great for Him to overcome, no wrong tradition so firmly entrenched that He cannot uproot it.
When the pain in the eyes and the bitter words of others reveal the despair and empty loneliness of their hearts, may we, by Your grace, Lord, be ministers of that grace to them in their hurt and in their lostness. May we remember that Your grace has saved us out of the depths of our sin! - and thus is more than sufficient to save and heal these others also.
In the valley of the shadow of death, may we find comfort in Your guiding presence.
When all around us society crumbles, communities fall apart, and people's lives are broken, and everyone seems hell-bent on progressing in the course that brought us to this place, may we find hope in the faithfulness of our Lord. May we remember that His promises are true and that His Word cannot be shaken.
When all our civil leaders are tainted by corruption and greed, and political campaigning becomes political mudslinging with no hope of integrity or improvement, may we remember that we are ultimately citizens of heaven, and may we find strength in the knowledge that God's throne is founded on righteousness and justice.
When people we know, in the face of society's brokenness, still tell us that supporting marriage and family is "weird", may we learn to feel compassion rather than contempt for the blindness - and may we remember that God has power both to open their eyes and to heal the torn fabric of our nation's families. May we remember that no obstacle is too great for Him to overcome, no wrong tradition so firmly entrenched that He cannot uproot it.
When the pain in the eyes and the bitter words of others reveal the despair and empty loneliness of their hearts, may we, by Your grace, Lord, be ministers of that grace to them in their hurt and in their lostness. May we remember that Your grace has saved us out of the depths of our sin! - and thus is more than sufficient to save and heal these others also.
In the valley of the shadow of death, may we find comfort in Your guiding presence.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Establishing my path in eternity
This month, I'm attempting to read a chapter of Proverbs each day, as an easy reading schedule to remember but primarily as a means of soaking up wisdom and being challenged to put it into practice. Today, I noticed that the main theme of Proverbs 4 seems to be to follow wise instruction and stay on the right path - as v27 puts it, to "ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established;" that is, to be discerning and intentional about the way in which you live and about the direction and destination of the road you choose to travel.
From there I turned to Colossians 3 (as part of my more erratic attempt to read from the New Testament regularly as well) and was struck by how it seemed to perfectly complement Proverbs 4. First there were the encouragements and warnings to live by God's instruction and wisdom; then there were the practical details of how to do so. Of all those practical directions and commands, however, the one that struck me the most was, ironically, the least practical in appearance, in v2: "Set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth."
Now, both Proverbs and Colossians are rich with wisdom on how to live in this earth, with the things on this earth, so I doubt that this verse means we are to neglect our earthly relationships and responsibilities in order to meditate solely on eternity and on God. God did create us as physical beings and place us in a physical and temporal world, after all! Instead, I think it means that our desires, aspirations, intentions, and motivations - those things which are in our mind but which affect every action we take - ought to be focused on the eternal and the heavenly rather than the temporal and the earthly. When I plan dinners for Paul and I, do I do so out of love and respect (qualities eternal and heavenly in their essence, and relating to the good and right interaction between two eternal beings), or do I do so simply because cooking is something I enjoy and we need to eat? In other words, do I make dinner simply to satisfy my physical needs and experience temporal pleasure, or do I make dinner with eternity in my eyes? We have responsibilities regarding these temporal things, most certainly, but the mind behind our actions regarding the temporal must be gazing into eternity.
With an eternal perspective, the importance of ensuring the road we choose to walk through time is established and founded becomes more immediately apparent: it is not merely a temporal road, ending at death, destined to become a forgotten nothing; rather, it reaches past time and thus choosing the wrong fork in the road now could have eternal consequences (beyond affecting our eternal destination, our choices now shape who we will become for all eternity, to borrow an idea from C.S. Lewis). So even when the things we must think about and do seem almost entirely temporal in nature, by doing them for God and because of God we set our minds on things above. By pondering the path of our feet, we are able to choose the path which perceives and gives life to the eternal essence of all good and godly things, and thus can learn to live on the earth with our minds and hearts full of the glow of heaven.
From there I turned to Colossians 3 (as part of my more erratic attempt to read from the New Testament regularly as well) and was struck by how it seemed to perfectly complement Proverbs 4. First there were the encouragements and warnings to live by God's instruction and wisdom; then there were the practical details of how to do so. Of all those practical directions and commands, however, the one that struck me the most was, ironically, the least practical in appearance, in v2: "Set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth."
Now, both Proverbs and Colossians are rich with wisdom on how to live in this earth, with the things on this earth, so I doubt that this verse means we are to neglect our earthly relationships and responsibilities in order to meditate solely on eternity and on God. God did create us as physical beings and place us in a physical and temporal world, after all! Instead, I think it means that our desires, aspirations, intentions, and motivations - those things which are in our mind but which affect every action we take - ought to be focused on the eternal and the heavenly rather than the temporal and the earthly. When I plan dinners for Paul and I, do I do so out of love and respect (qualities eternal and heavenly in their essence, and relating to the good and right interaction between two eternal beings), or do I do so simply because cooking is something I enjoy and we need to eat? In other words, do I make dinner simply to satisfy my physical needs and experience temporal pleasure, or do I make dinner with eternity in my eyes? We have responsibilities regarding these temporal things, most certainly, but the mind behind our actions regarding the temporal must be gazing into eternity.
With an eternal perspective, the importance of ensuring the road we choose to walk through time is established and founded becomes more immediately apparent: it is not merely a temporal road, ending at death, destined to become a forgotten nothing; rather, it reaches past time and thus choosing the wrong fork in the road now could have eternal consequences (beyond affecting our eternal destination, our choices now shape who we will become for all eternity, to borrow an idea from C.S. Lewis). So even when the things we must think about and do seem almost entirely temporal in nature, by doing them for God and because of God we set our minds on things above. By pondering the path of our feet, we are able to choose the path which perceives and gives life to the eternal essence of all good and godly things, and thus can learn to live on the earth with our minds and hearts full of the glow of heaven.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
As you have received, so walk
A very short and simple verse caught my attention this morning:
Unfortunately, I don't think I walk with Christ now with those same qualities. It's easy to forget that I still need God to help me live rightly, and to start thinking that I can do something in my own strength to please Him and earn God's acceptance and approval (forgetting what should be obvious - that through Christ I am already accepted and approved!) And it's easy to become discouraged and saddened by my own failures and by the general state of the world, and lose sight of the joy that comes through Christ. But realization is the first step towards change, right? :) Moreover, when we're striving to remember these things and live life in this way, we're striving to make our perception of reality concur with what is actually real, which gives us a firmer foundation for our thoughts, decisions, and actions.
"As you therefore have received Christ, so walk in Him" - Col. 2:6When we received Christ - when we put our faith in Him - we did so with a recognition of our own great need and desperate sinfulness (why else would we be asking someone to save us, after all?). We received Him with lowliness of heart, throwing ourselves in utter dependance upon the grace He offered us (we had no illusions about our own inability to be righteous and blameless before God). And we received Him with incredible joy, with wonder and thanksgiving (how could we not have joy, when we saw that our sins were forgiven?).
Unfortunately, I don't think I walk with Christ now with those same qualities. It's easy to forget that I still need God to help me live rightly, and to start thinking that I can do something in my own strength to please Him and earn God's acceptance and approval (forgetting what should be obvious - that through Christ I am already accepted and approved!) And it's easy to become discouraged and saddened by my own failures and by the general state of the world, and lose sight of the joy that comes through Christ. But realization is the first step towards change, right? :) Moreover, when we're striving to remember these things and live life in this way, we're striving to make our perception of reality concur with what is actually real, which gives us a firmer foundation for our thoughts, decisions, and actions.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Resolutions
With the New Year come New Year's resolutions, and despite being relatively busy and rather knocked down by this head cold, I have done some thinking about taking on a few of my own. There are a lot of things I'd like to improve upon during this next year, you know? I'd like to exercise more and eat healthier (the two most typical resolutions here in the US, I would wager), and I'd like to keep my house cleaner. Oh, and I'd like to finally decide upon some future plans for my life! But since God is involved in making that one happen, and since He seems to like me to proceed one step at a time, I probably shouldn't resolve on solidifying plans unless I'm looking for a resolution to break...
This morning, though, I started thinking that while all these resolutions are good, they are purely temporal. They exist in time, only touching eternity tangentially or indirectly, and they will pass away with time. But I, a human being and a child of God, will not pass away with time; eternity awaits me. If I am going to make New Year's resolutions (an idea very much rooted in the cyclical passage of time), maybe I should make them such that they draw my mind and my heart towards eternity and towards God. Maybe I should use this celebration of time itself to endeavor to remember specifically those things in time which are eternal in essence: the Lord God in whom I place my faith, the future glory and restoration for which I hope, and my fellow eternal souls with whom I walk through time and whom I desire to love as God has loved me.
So what do I resolve? First, to seek the Lord my God - to make knowing Him my highest priority and my greatest joy - and to do so in the strength of His grace, remembering that He always loves me and always desires me to try again to follow Him, no matter how often or how spectacularly I have failed. Second, I resolve to live with hope, resisting the temptation to despair that is for me so strong and attacks such a weak place in my armor, remembering that God has made His dwelling place within me - that He is always with me, will never forsake me, and has prepared a place for me with Him for all eternity, in the glory of His presence. Finally, I resolve to better love the people with whom I interact every day of this new year, to replace my irritations and criticisms with patience, compassion, and thankfulness, remembering that the God who died for my salvation died for them also and loves them with an unfailing love - that they too are eternal beings in need of Him, with their own deep sorrows and high joys.
In the end it all comes down to faith, hope, and love. Like the apostle urged the church of Corinth, I desire to let these three abide within me, that they might through the work of the Spirit transform my heart and come to characterize my life, that my life (though existing now, in time) might take on the aroma of eternity.
This morning, though, I started thinking that while all these resolutions are good, they are purely temporal. They exist in time, only touching eternity tangentially or indirectly, and they will pass away with time. But I, a human being and a child of God, will not pass away with time; eternity awaits me. If I am going to make New Year's resolutions (an idea very much rooted in the cyclical passage of time), maybe I should make them such that they draw my mind and my heart towards eternity and towards God. Maybe I should use this celebration of time itself to endeavor to remember specifically those things in time which are eternal in essence: the Lord God in whom I place my faith, the future glory and restoration for which I hope, and my fellow eternal souls with whom I walk through time and whom I desire to love as God has loved me.
So what do I resolve? First, to seek the Lord my God - to make knowing Him my highest priority and my greatest joy - and to do so in the strength of His grace, remembering that He always loves me and always desires me to try again to follow Him, no matter how often or how spectacularly I have failed. Second, I resolve to live with hope, resisting the temptation to despair that is for me so strong and attacks such a weak place in my armor, remembering that God has made His dwelling place within me - that He is always with me, will never forsake me, and has prepared a place for me with Him for all eternity, in the glory of His presence. Finally, I resolve to better love the people with whom I interact every day of this new year, to replace my irritations and criticisms with patience, compassion, and thankfulness, remembering that the God who died for my salvation died for them also and loves them with an unfailing love - that they too are eternal beings in need of Him, with their own deep sorrows and high joys.
In the end it all comes down to faith, hope, and love. Like the apostle urged the church of Corinth, I desire to let these three abide within me, that they might through the work of the Spirit transform my heart and come to characterize my life, that my life (though existing now, in time) might take on the aroma of eternity.
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