Random Ramblings

athena-grace:

The best compositions of men are soon exhausted; they are cisterns, and not springing fountains. You enjoy them very much at the first acquaintance, and you think you could hear them a hundred times over; but you could not: you soon find them wearisome. Very speedily a man eats …

Thoughts are flying through my head at a mile a minute and I can barely keep up. I’m jumping back and forth between three different lines of arguments in three different sections - I might just be a bit crazy.

Oh Father, I praise You for Your Son, who by Your grace performed signs on earth to Your honour and glory. I praise You that these signs are recorded in Your Word today, so that we who read it may believe. As I write this essay, help me not lose the wonder as I behold Your power and might. Guard me against the persuasive arguments of those who do not know You. Let me hold fast to You, so that in what I write I might not be swayed to please man, but may it be according to the truth that is found in You. Please give me wisdom and courage, so that You might be glorified. In Your Son’s name, Amen. 

A wonderful cause to give to - truly, how blessed we are to have bibles in our own language, and how joyful it is to be able to use our resources to enable it to be translated into other languages! :) 

(Source: vimeo.com)

I let biblical literacy and theological knowledge define my maturity. This is related to the identity temptation but requires its own attention. It is quite easy in ministry to give into a subtle but significant redefinition of what spiritual maturity is and does. This definition has its roots in how we think about what sin is and does. Many pastors carry a false definition of maturity that results from the academic enculturation of seminary.

Since seminary tends to academize the faith, making it a world of ideas to be mastered, students easily buy into the belief that biblical maturity is about precision of theological knowledge and biblical literacy. But spiritual maturity is not something you do with your mind (although that is an important element). Maturity is about how you live your life. It is possible to be theologically astute and immature. It is possible to be biblically literate and in need of significant spiritual growth.

I was an honors graduate of a seminary. I won academic awards. I assumed I was mature and felt misunderstood and misjudged by anyone who failed to share my assessment. In fact, I saw those moments of confrontation as persecution that anyone faces when he gives himself to gospel ministry. At root I misunderstood sin and grace. Sin is not first an intellectual problem. (But it does affect my intellect, as it does all parts of my functioning.) Sin is first a moral problem. It is about my rebellion against God and my quest to have, for myself, the glory due to him. Sin is not first about the breaking of an abstract set of rules. Sin is first and foremost about breaking relationship with God. Because I have broken this relationship, it is then easy and natural for me to rebel against God’s rules.

So it’s not just my mind that needs to renewed by sound biblical teaching, but my heart needs to be reclaimed by the powerful grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The reclamation of my heart is both an event (justification) and a process (sanctification). Seminary, therefore, won’t solve my deepest problem—-sin. It can contribute to the solution, but it may also blind me to my true condition by its tendency to redefine maturity. Biblical maturity is never just about what you know but always about how grace has employed what you have come to know to transform the way you live.

Think of Adam and Eve. They didn’t disobey God because they were intellectually ignorant of God’s commands. They knowingly stepped over God’s boundaries because they quested for God’s position. The spiritual war of Eden was fought on the turf of the heart’s desires. Consider David. He didn’t claim Bathsheba as his own and plot to get rid of her husband because he was ignorant of God’s prohibitions against adultery and murder. David acted because at some point he didn’t care what God wanted. He was going to have what his heart desired no matter what.

Or think what it means to be wise. There is a huge difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is an accurate understanding of truth. Wisdom is understanding and living in light of how that truth applies to the situations and relationships of your daily life. Knowledge is an exercise of your brain. Wisdom is the commitment of your heart that leads to life transformation.

Even though I didn’t know it, I walked into pastoral ministry with an unbiblical view of biblical maturity. In ways that now scare me, I thought I had arrived. So when my wife, Luella, would lovingly and faithfully confront me, it was not just that I was being defensive. By definition I thought she was wrong. And I became convinced she was the one with the problem. I used my biblical and theological knowledge to defend myself. I was a mess, and I had no idea.

- Paul Tripp

Piercing, confronting truths to my proud soul.

(Source: earthstranger, via romansfive8)

romansfive8:

Pride, one of the hardest things ever to put away - to turn away from. 
To humble yourself before the LORD and just admit that our ‘good works’  are filthy rags before Him.

John Piper (via athena-grace)

KimyalBible10minute (by DianneBecker)

This left me speechless and teary-eyed. Oh Lord, how blind I’ve been to just how precious and amazing Your Word is! And I praise You for these Kimyal people, Your chosen people, who have shown me again the joy, delight, peace, and life that is found in Your Word. 

whiteflagxp:

“This Momentary Marriage”. 8 minutes that will change your day. 

(Source: whiteflagxp, via romansfive8)

A spontaneous excursion with parents to admire the view and enjoy each other’s company. Strolling, chatting, photographing, being silly, and laughing, lots. It feels like I’m a little girl again. Blessed contentedness. :) 

Baking at Lil’s - 48 pretzels, 100 mini muffins & 3 batches of brownies - it’s been a good afternoon :)