quotpourri

When our lives are focused on God, awe and wonder lead us to worship God, filling our inner being with a fullness we would never have thought possible. Awe prepares the way in us for the power of God to transform us and this transformation of our inner attitudes can only take place when awe leads us in turn to wonder, admiration, reverence, surrender, and obedience toward God.

James Houston

what's on the inside

You may or may not have picked up on the fact that, about once a month, I post a quote that has interested me, yet without comment. The rest of the time, I attempt to share some of the thoughts that come to mind as I read or remember a certain quote or quotes. This, taken together with the occasional unrelated mental upheaval, is after all the nature of my blog.

It has been two weeks since my last post, which is a little less often than I try to write. This longer-than-normal gap came about due to some increased personal "busy-ness" in my life. This morning I awoke thinking about the fact that when one has more things [than normal] to do in a given time, priorities are explicitly or implicitly assigned so that the most important and/or favorite things get accomplished in the available time. Items of lesser importance might be put off or canceled or not even thought of to begin with.

Now, I'm not making a commentary about the importance of my blog (or it's readers, if there are any) to me. I did wake up thinking something like, "Gee, it's been a while since I wrote anything." Right on the heels of that thought, it occurred to me that life's pressures can be very revealing as what we consider to be important becomes more and more apparent. If my Christian life is something that I do rather than who I am, does it not follow that it might be subject to priority too? To a watching world, it might then appear that, when I'm under pressure, my mask slips, i.e I forget to act like a Christian.

Praise be to the Lord, that Christianity is Christ, and even when life hands to me more plates than I can balance, the character traits that typify a genuine Christian life (such as patience, gentleness, and self-control) will still be present if I am letting Jesus live his life in me, because Jesus is the Christian life. That is why in the Bible, those traits are called the fruit of the Spirit.

I used to know a man who said, "Trouble doesn't build character, it reveals it." Even if there is no trouble or pressure ("Life's good!"), our life should be that of Christ in us, rather than our highest-priority effort to "be Christian."

The Christian life isn't difficult--it is impossible. If we don't know that, we will try to do things ourselves. Faith is not necessary when we think we can do it ourselves. Faith comes along when we realize that we cannot do it on our own.

Joseph Garlingen

One might well say, "What's the difference in a believer and a non-believer doing the same things? What makes the believer's life 'Christ living in him'?" Faith in God's Word--Jesus, the trusting of one's life to Him, makes the difference. So, with these thoughts in mind, may I repeat my quote of two weeks ago, from Douglas Rhymes, who said,

If our faith is not relevant to our daily life in the world and in the parish, then it is no use; and if we cannot be Christians in our work, in the neighborhood, in our political decisions, then we had better stop being Christians. A piety reserved for Sundays is no message for this age.

As in all ages, Christ in you is the message the world needs.

quotpourri

If our faith is not relevant to our daily life in the world and in the parish, then it is no use; and if we cannot be Christians in our work, in the neighborhood, in our political decisions, then we had better stop being Christians. A piety reserved for Sundays is no message for this age.

Douglas Rhymes

needs

There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all cost, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life. (This includes meeting the needs of your heart.) One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purposes, and yours may be that life.

Oswald Chambers

This includes meeting the needs of your heart is the phrase that caught my attention because of the way that God did that for me today. Blessings come in all shapes and sizes, but one of the most common things about them is that they rarely, if ever, are what we expect.

This afternoon, I was at work and my cell phone rang. Pulling it from my pocket, I glanced at the display and saw to my surprise and delight that it was my son calling. Now, those of you that know me know that he has been in the Middle East on his second deployment with the U. S. Army; that he was calling me from his cell phone could only mean that he was back in this country! What a rich blessing indeed! We knew that he was due back sometime soon, but we didn't know exactly when.

The endless stream of love and care that God pours out on me, indeed all of His children, is certainly reason enough to take the whole of Chambers' comment to heart. The wonderful thing is, I need not set out to do anything to overtly bless anyone; that will be the natural outcome of living dependently on Jesus Christ, as such a life is always useful in His hands. And that is the greatest blessing of all.

back

Three week ago, I was tremendously excited because of our impending departure for summer vacation: "Only two days until we leave!" And it was a fabulous vacation during which we thoroughly enjoyed a portion of God's creation. Rivers--we canoed on the Snake and North Platte rivers; mountains--my daughter and two friends climbed Mt. Elbert, the tallest peak in Colorado! It was wonderfully cool everywhere we were, and the blessings and refreshment were awesome.

Today, as I write this, I've been back from vacation for two days, and it has reminded me how fleeting the temporal is. However, that brings into sharp focus the superiority of God's way. When one's life is centered on loving God and people, the passage of time nears irrelevance. As Henry van Dyke said,

Time is too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love -- time is eternity.

july fourth quotpourri

I have lived, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

Benjamin Franklin

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.

Thomas Jefferson

balanced diet

Several times recently I have heard the comment, usually made to justify changing churches, "I just wasn't being fed." Considering the fact that I have said this in the past myself, my reaction to hearing it lately is interesting to me.

"I just wasn't being fed." By that do you mean that there was no [spiritual] food made available? Or was the portion set before you too meager to satisfy? Was it there, and you merely did not "eat?"

When I was an infant, I of course depended on my mother to feed me. As I grew, increasingly I fed myself but my mother still specified and provided the food that I ate. As time went on, I could choose more and more what I ate, but largely it was still provided by someone else. Finally, in maturity, I'm largely responsible for feeding myself, even though there is almost always someone else involved in the provision of food.

One might initially be drawn to a local church because of a hunger to know the Lord; by feeding on the Word, one can learn who God is, who man really is, what God has accomplished to reconcile man to Himself, etc. As a [spiritual] infant, a person does not know what or how to eat, and the church, through the preached word, Bible classes, etc. can feed such a person until that person begins to learn to feed directly on the Word. From passages of Scripture such as Hebrews 5:12-14, we see that there is an expectation for the Christian to grow to maturity, but not every one does, and as Theodore Epp said,

It is a shame for a person to have been a Christian for years but not to have advanced beyond the knowledge of his salvation.

That aside, is occupying a seat and listening to sermons the reason ultimately for church attendance? The passage in Hebrews, as well as many others, points at our maturing to love one another as Christ commanded and to serve one another as Christ demonstrated. This is not at all to diminish the value or importance of the preached word, but the church is a family where we each have a responsibility to one another, and "eating" once a week will obviously not sustain us in our love and service to each other, much less to a needy world. We must daily see to our spiritual sustenance by making our mind available to God's Word. Viewed in this way, "I just wasn't being fed" seems a pretty selfish cop-out.

Last weekend, my wife and I were visiting the town where I grew up. As we drove by the church where I went as a child, we noticed the sign out front which carried this stinging rebuke:

Christians often expect the world to respect the book which they neglect.

and I gloat

You may think that I am about to brag on my kids since today is Father's Day and I've chosen a title for this post like "and I gloat." As their earthly father, I am very proud of them because they have grown into such fine people. The glory for that is properly reserved for their (and my) heavenly Father, who is the only character builder there is. What better Father's Day gift could there be than praising God and offering thanks for His accomplishments!

However, I have even more thanks to offer to the Lord today because today is not just Father's Day. It is an even more special day, the memory of which is brought about by two quotes:

I do.
--me

And,

I do.
--her

Thirty years ago today, my wife and I were married. I have no words to express how grateful I am that God put us together nor how much at this point I cherish the life we've had so far. She is my best friend, confidant, playmate, truly the greatest part of me. To say 'Thank you, Lord' seems so inadequate, as does 'I love you, dear.' Nevertheless, those heart-felt words are the best I have. Lord willing, I'll say them again in another thirty years (and every day until then!)

things

You know, at this point in my life, I don't want quite as many things as I once did, but there is still much that I do want. Not all of the things that we want are "stuff"--we want good health, the best for our kids, maybe to live in a certain place. Those who know me well know that my wife and I love to travel, and I certainly want to travel more and more. There are still things that as a child of God I don't want to want, but God is working on that. For the most part, things I want are fairly harmless, but I can get preoccupied with them. When preoccupation becomes obsession, neither the thing nor the want of it is harmless anymore.

With some amusement, some time ago I realized that there are many things that I want that, were I handed the cash and told, "go buy that," I wouldn't! Certainly I now think differently about spending money that I earn (better, that God provides;) the Bible calls that stewardship. And that's the point: As I've grown, as God has grown me, I think differently. I focus on different things and on things differently than I used to.

This was brought to mind by a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill all His promises . . . leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.

As I come to know God better and better, something I think about more and more are His promises, which make a most profound statement about His character and the depth of His love for us. That cuts the wants of this world down to size and makes every day a wonderful new adventure worth getting up for.

second verse

A phrase that I can no longer use with a straight face, one that people who know me won't let me get away with, is to refer to any passage of Scripture as "one of my favorites," since at one time or another I have said that of so many Bible verses. When I recently taught and preached at Grace Bible Church in Ripley, Mississippi, my wife needled me over whether the verses I taught on might already be marked in my friend Fredia's Bible, signifying that I had previously taught there on those passages. "Are these some of your favorite verses?" she inquired.

Reflecting on this, I realized that I do tend to return to certain passages when teaching and illustrating. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB) we learn that all Scripture useful for teaching; in presenting the Gospel and in preaching Jesus, which is always my goal, I guess that I tend to use Scriptures that had the most impact on me. Does that make them my favorites?

I am like most in that I do not read my Bible as often as I think I should nor as much as I say that I would like to. When I read, a temptation I must avoid is to return to those "favorite" passages always, instead exposing my mind to the entirety of God's Word. I want to cherish all of the Word the way I do those "favorite" passages, but I rest assured that when I do return to those seemingly well-known verses, God always can teach me more through them. I guess that is what is meant by the Word being living and active.

This comment from Charles H. Spurgeon was another part of what got me thinking about this.

Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.

apologies, bard

To blog or not to blog, that is the question; whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer through silence as well as occasional outrageous comments, or to respond even to non sequitur and by responding, dignify them. To die, to blog no more; and by a post to say my thoughts might be on par with quotes from saints of old — 'tis a pride that flesh is prone to. To blog, to post; to post, perchance to influence. Ay, there's the rub.

quotpourri

The gospel is so simple that simple children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches.

Charles Hodge

misunderstanding

So, I've been wrestling with this thought for several weeks but (until now?) have not been able to come up with the concise expression I wanted. The idea is this: I've been a believer for a long time now, and while God has brought me a long way from the mire that was my life without Him, He is showing me areas of my life where I thought I had improved (whatever that means) but haven't, at least not as much as I might like. To illustrate, let me pick on some great passages of Scripture.

I've long known that if one stands on the street corner in downtown America and asks various people, "Do you know a verse from the Bible?" the answer will often be "yes," and frequently the known verse will be John 3:16. Many can recite it, but therein lies a frustration: It rolls off the tongue with little or no thought as to the enormity of what is being expressed. Even (or maybe especially) the first six words: "For God so loved the world..." Because we can so easily say it without hearing what we are saying, when I want to share God's love with someone, I like to point them to Romans 5:6-10, and expecially verse 8, which expresses basically the same idea as that fabulous verse in the Gospel of John.

One can get to know something (or someone) so well that it is taken for granted, not appreciated or no longer valued as it should be.

Now, consider another well-known passage of Scripture:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5,6 (NASB)

I have known and loved these verses for a long, long, long, long time now, but recently it came to me just how much I do lean on my understanding in so many things. To lean on one's own understanding (may I say, knowledge) lies in opposition to the walk of faith which is pleasing to God. As Henri Nouwen said,

I often wonder if my knowledge about God has not become my greatest stumbling block to my knowledge of God.

I need Him to show me where the value and pursuit of knowledge necessarily ends (or better, yields to) the heart-felt faith and trust which is the basis for living dependently on Him.

Understanding and control are sought-after commodities in this world; we think that they are our best, or perhaps only, defense against the myriad problems and trials that characterize life on this earth. Always, the world is upside down from God's plan and way; "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways."  (Isaiah 55:8)  He may not calm the storm (although He can,) but he can calm my heart and fears and anxiety in the midst of any storm.  "But I need help, not platitudes!"  As has been said, let go and let God.

Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.

Augustine

mom's the word

I just felt like I wanted to say "Happy Mother's Day," not only to my wife, the mother of my children, but to others as well.  My own mother went home to be with the Lord in 1986; I do miss her.  My wife's mother lives next door to us, and she is a dear lady--one more way that I consider myself so blessed.

An old Jewish proverb goes:

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.

Erroneous theology, but hey, I love the sentiment!  So, Happy Mother's Day!

more sand

Sometimes I amaze myself.  What I mean by that is despite whatever I've learned (or re-learned) or how much I've grown (or better, how much God has grown me,) I still encounter amazing pockets of foolishness and even stupidity within myself.  Sometimes I think that the only real improvement is in more quickly recognizing and acknowledging these things.

Recently I've come to recognize more clearly the erroneous dependencies I have on people around me. Resumption of writing this blog has been one of the big eye-openers; also, the behavior of some that I have had high regard for, and my associated reactions, has been unsettling.  The ongoing change at my church has also served to highlight some of this for me.  As I have written, I believe that this is an inevitable result of not keeping or having our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Anyway, here is another quote relevant to this subtle selfishness.

You must not lose confidence in God because you lost confidence in your pastor. If our confidence in God had to depend upon our confidence in any human person, we would be on shifting sand.

Francis Schaeffer

if you please

You know, lately I've had several things washing around in the back of my mind as potential blog topics.  This morning, the following quote appeared on one of the quotes websites that I watch.

Cure yourself of the condition of bothering about how you look to other people. Be concerned only . . . with the idea God has of you.

Miguel de Unamuno

I had asked the Lord to lay on my heart what to write about next.  Thank you, Lord!

Last week, a friend and I were having coffee, and our discussion arrived at the acknowledgment that almost every believer, regardless of goal or claim, still cares a great deal about what other people think.  I certainly include myself in this (to my chagrin,) as I alluded to in one of last week's posts.  Before we come to know Jesus, it is people we look to for [perfect] love and acceptance, a habit that is difficult at best to break.  These attentions we give to others manifest themselves in amazing ways--how we dress, what kind of car one drives, the movies we say we like...

What we say we believe.

Several times in Scripture, the apostle Paul (in context) draws a distinction between pleasing men and pleasing God.  For example, in Galatians 1:10, we read "... If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ."  I think that even as our mindset changes (Romans 12:2) we tend to confuse serving people (love your neighbor as yourself) with pleasing people.  It is easy to confuse loving a person (seeking what is in that person's best interest) with making that person happy; very often the two do not overlap at all.  When I take my eyes off of Jesus, I'm in grave danger of catering to the reaction, i.e. acting to make someone happy, rather than letting Christ live through me to love and serve that person.  But it takes God in Christ growing me to know the difference, even though it might seem so simple.  Trusting God to grow me and live His life through me is the basis of a life pleasing to Him (Hebrews 11:6.)

Never, never pin your whole faith on any human being: not if he is the best and wisest in the whole world.  There are lots of nice things you can do with sand; but do not try building a house on it.

C. S. Lewis

We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.

John Stott

quotpourri

Why do so many people have struggles when it comes to prayer? ... Men and women were originally created to desire communion with God. But the effects of sin have dulled most of that original human desire. Sin turned a natural activity into an unnatural funciton.

Gordon McDonald

prayer

I noticed today that my friend Mike, in the context of a recent post, made the comment, "One thing I've been thinking about is how much I need time for prayer. I think I need it more now than I ever have." As I have shared in the past, I breakfast with several men weekly for Bible study and fellowship, and [coincidentally] this morning we read Luke 6:12-19.  Verse 12 says, "It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God."  Wow.  We spent time discussing this, and when I later read Mike's post, what conviction was brought to bear on me!

Last year I read George Müller's autobiography, and one of my reactions to it was the notion that I don't know how to pray at all; prayer was central and primary in Müller's life.  I wonder if the disciple who asked of Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray..." (Luke 11:1) also felt as I do sometimes.  What an encouragement to read in Romans where the apostle Paul reminds us that we do not know how to pray as we should, and he goes on to say that the Spirit intercedes for us in prayer.  As John Bunyan  said,

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

As for more time for prayer, I've always felt that the scriptural exhortation to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thes. 5:17) underscored the fact that I'm never ever alone--the risen Jesus by His Spirit is always present within me.  Even so, the expressed desire for more time for prayer, and the scripture relating how Jesus prayed all night, reminded me of this comment from Martin Luther:

I have so much to do (today) that I should spend the first three hours in prayer.

It's not unusual for me to not know how (or what) to pray, but neither have I grown to the point where prayer is as natural in my life as breathing. Lord Jesus, teach me to pray...

hello again

Several close friends have encouraged me to resume sharing through this blog, and others have asked me why I stopped writing. Such comments are encouraging to me personally, but they also quickly reveal in me so many faults that God has yet to grow me beyond. For example, I am amazed that it stings so much that other people dear to me did not make such comments. I am really still that selfish.

No matter. For the last several days I have had a growing urge to write, and I am praying like crazy that God is stirring this up in me. Please pray that my mind would be an open canvas for God to use in the lives of whoever reads my posts. Also, when I have written in the past, I've been amazed at how impacted I've been--it had to be God putting the ideas there and then using them to grow me!

Having shared these personal thoughts, I will also share several quotes that caught my attention this morning as I perused my quotes file (now over fifty pages!) I am convicted by these comments as well as the encouragement of my friends to be diligent to share my thoughts as God does life with me.

Give what you have; to someone it may be better than you dare to think.

Longfellow

The repetition of small efforts will accomplish more than the occasional use of great talents.

Charles H. Spurgeon