The Son’s Everlasting Dominion
• I needed a familiar passage this week. 8 years is more than sufficient to escape long-term memories. • Obsession with eschatology > Abandon it altogether. Some would prefer to remain disengaged. Focus on essentials. “End Times” doctrine not central to the gospel. • Disagreement doesn’t mean unsaved, unwelcome. Differences of opinion abound among solid, reformed Christians. Common Reading Strategies (Unhelpful): 1. Detailed blueprints • Characteristic = Chronological Precision. • Method = Each element finds correspondence with historical event/figure. •…
The Prayer Of The Cupbearer
I like to stay informed of what’s going on in the world, but the main outlets to learn this information have a way of explaining things in such inflammatory ways that it’s hard to read the news without becoming upset. And that sucks me into a nosedive of frustration and despair that is difficult to recover from. Hours later I’m still trying to refocus my attention. Let me know if any of you have discovered the secret of staying informed…
The Need For Nehemiah
In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis writes that the doctrines of Psychoanalysis have given most people the impression… “…that the sense of Shame is a dangerous and mischievous thing. We have labored to overcome that sense of shrinking, that desire to conceal, which either Nature herself or the tradition of almost all mankind has attached to cowardice, unchastity, falsehood, and envy. We are told to ‘get things out into the open,’ not for the sake of self-humiliation, but on the…
The Priest In Filthy Garments
Those of you who have small children at home will be familiar with an experience I had about 10 years ago. Thatcher was one year old and he was eating spaghetti for the first time. As all of you could imagine, by the time he was finished eating he had managed to get himself completely covered in spaghetti sauce with an occasional noodle stuck in his hair, face, arms, hands, clothing, legs, and toes. He was literally covered from head…
Love That Will Not Let Me Go
When people search for a marriage partner they often begin with superficial motives. We see an example of this in the book of Esther. When Queen Vashti refused to entertain King Ahasuerus and his guests at a party, he set up a beauty contest in order to select his new queen. Modern society tries to be a bit more sophisticated, but much of the superficiality remains. A potential spouse usually has to pass an appearance test before going through a…
The Riches Of The Gospel
Imagine the incredible works of literature we would lack if people had not spent time incarcerated. John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Miguel Cervantes began to write Don Quixote, widely considered the first modern novel. Martin Luther King Jr. penned “Letters from a Birmingham Jail,” his fiery response to complacent clergymen as he suffered punishment under an unjust law. Unfortunately, we also have Adolf Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf. Of course, the most critical literature ever to come out of prison, were the Prison Epistles…
The Strength Of The Gospel
Last year, during the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, CNN made a ridiculous assessment of the situation. In a screenshot that has now become the subject of thousands of memes, reporter Omar Jimenez, is front and center. He had goggles on his forehead and a gas mask hanging around his neck. Behind him were several hollowed out vehicles and structures still engulfed in flames and smoke. The caption beneath the scene said: “FIERY BUT MOSTLY PEACEFUL PROTESTS AFTER POLICE SHOOTING.” Matt…