Experiencing Wondrous Joy is not living life without difficulties. It is abounding in hope and grace in spite of the difficulties. It is, in fact recognizing that our difficulties are mostly of our own making and are compounded by an immature assessment of our very own faith. For example, immaturity considers the Lord Jesus a helper. Maturity knows Him to be life itself.
Dr. J.E. Conant wrote: “Christian living is not our living with Christ’s help, it is Christ living His life in us. Therefore that portion of our lives that is not His living is not Christian living; and that portion of our service that is not His doing is not Christian service; for all such life and service have but a human and natural source, and Christian life and service have a supernatural and spiritual source.” Paul insisted, “For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21) and, “I can do all things through Christ” (4:13).
William R. Newell said, “Satan’s great device is to drive earnest souls back to beseeching God for what God says has already been done!” Each of us had to go beyond the “help” stage for our new birth and thank Him for what He had already done on our behalf. God could never answer a prayer for help in the matter of justification. The same principle holds true for the Christian life.
Our Lord Jesus waits to be wanted and to be all in us and do all through us. “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him” (Col. 2:9, 10). God is not trusted, not honored, in our continually asking Him for help. In the face of “my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19), how can we beg for help? Our responsibility is to see in the Word all that is ours in Christ and then thank and trust Him for that which we need.
F. J. Huegel declares: “When a Christian’s prayer life springs from a right position (a thorough adjustment to Christ m His death and resurrection), a vast change in procedure follows. Much of the mere begging type (though of course asking is always in order, for the Lord says, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive’ [John 16:24]) gives away to a positive and unspeakably joyous appropriation. Much of our begging fails to register in heaven because it fails to spring from right relations with the Father in union with Christ in death and resurrection: in which position one simply appropriates what is already his. (italics mine)‘All things,’ says the Apostle Paul, ‘are your’s. And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s’ (I Cor. 3:21, 23).”
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Loving God
Loving God is not only right but also in the interest of my own joy. To glorify God and enjoy Him forever are not two different purposes or ends but unite together as the greatest purpose of life. I get my greatest delight when I am lost in wonder awe and praise of God. In that very praising of God I can see why the pursuit of self-interest is not necessarily selfish. When I am lost in wonder awe and praise, I am the happiest I can become, but also the least self-conscious because when I am focused on God, I am not focused on myself.
This is the same dynamic that I experience in a good friendship. With people I don’t know I might feel self-conscious and wonder how they are responding to what I say and do. But with a really good friend I can lose myself in conversation, each of us conveying our deepest feelings without self-centeredness. Our joy is great, but we are focused on the other and the delight in the discussion we are having. C.S. Lewis summarizes this experience:
…the happiest moments are when we forget our precious selves…but have everything else (God, our fellow humans, the animals, the garden, and the sky) instead….
In this experience, I am not self-oriented but extremely happy. I am doing that which is in the interest of my own joy but not selfishly. I am full of wondrous joy but “disinterested.”
This is the same dynamic that I experience in a good friendship. With people I don’t know I might feel self-conscious and wonder how they are responding to what I say and do. But with a really good friend I can lose myself in conversation, each of us conveying our deepest feelings without self-centeredness. Our joy is great, but we are focused on the other and the delight in the discussion we are having. C.S. Lewis summarizes this experience:
…the happiest moments are when we forget our precious selves…but have everything else (God, our fellow humans, the animals, the garden, and the sky) instead….
In this experience, I am not self-oriented but extremely happy. I am doing that which is in the interest of my own joy but not selfishly. I am full of wondrous joy but “disinterested.”
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
TE TOTUM APPLICA AD TEXTUM; TEXTUM TOTUM APPLICA AD TE
Today my joy is focused on the absolute truth that the Bible is a revelation from a loving God to us, a revelation about the divine nature, human nature, and the divine-human encounter. I am grateful and secure in the knowledge that God, being omniscient and all-powerful, is perfectly capable of speaking clearly to us through human words and human writers on such matters.
I am thrilled to live in the truth of 2 Tim. 3.16 ("All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness"). This is spoken first about the Old Testament scriptures, and is equally applicable to the New Testament.
What this means in principle to me is that I do not see theorizing or speculating on theology as a creative enterprise where I get to generate my own belief system. Rather, I see it as a lifelong process of striving for understanding about what God is trying to tell us through the wonderful--and sometimes myterious--Biblical discourse.
My assumption is that once I understand what Scripture actually teaches on a subject like atonement, then it is an issue for affirmation and obedience, not debate. To paraphrase Mark Twain, "...it's not the parts of the Bible that I don't understand that concern me, It's the parts that I DO understand."
Johannes Bengel, the great German commentator on the Bible, once said, "Apply the whole of the text to yourself. Apply the whole of yourself to the text." It is a good motto.
{It means a commitment to lifelong study of God's word. It means a commitment to avail oneself of all of the resources, commentaries, lexicons, and dictionaries one can possibly muster in order to interpret the word of God rightly.} Witherington
And all that leads to continually growing Wondrous Joy!
I am thrilled to live in the truth of 2 Tim. 3.16 ("All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness"). This is spoken first about the Old Testament scriptures, and is equally applicable to the New Testament.
What this means in principle to me is that I do not see theorizing or speculating on theology as a creative enterprise where I get to generate my own belief system. Rather, I see it as a lifelong process of striving for understanding about what God is trying to tell us through the wonderful--and sometimes myterious--Biblical discourse.
My assumption is that once I understand what Scripture actually teaches on a subject like atonement, then it is an issue for affirmation and obedience, not debate. To paraphrase Mark Twain, "...it's not the parts of the Bible that I don't understand that concern me, It's the parts that I DO understand."
Johannes Bengel, the great German commentator on the Bible, once said, "Apply the whole of the text to yourself. Apply the whole of yourself to the text." It is a good motto.
{It means a commitment to lifelong study of God's word. It means a commitment to avail oneself of all of the resources, commentaries, lexicons, and dictionaries one can possibly muster in order to interpret the word of God rightly.} Witherington
And all that leads to continually growing Wondrous Joy!
Monday, February 12, 2007
Quiet Contentment
Not father or mother has loved you as God has, for it was that you might be happy He gave His only Son. When He bowed His head in the death hour, love solemnized its triumph; the sacrifice there was complete.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A new day today in which I only wish to bask and revel in the knowledge and the mystery of God’s love for me. I could engage in an orgy of adjectives but I will refrain and simply tell you I am sitting here with a thankful heart and a knowing smile. Hopefully I’ll accomplish something useful today, although I think just loving God back, may be considered very useful from His point of view.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A new day today in which I only wish to bask and revel in the knowledge and the mystery of God’s love for me. I could engage in an orgy of adjectives but I will refrain and simply tell you I am sitting here with a thankful heart and a knowing smile. Hopefully I’ll accomplish something useful today, although I think just loving God back, may be considered very useful from His point of view.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Philosophy Can Be Fun!
"Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise. Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God." --Thomas á Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
I have discovered much truth in Thomas á Kempis’ observation. It is an interesting paradox that secular philosophers use the very disciplines of the mind, such as logic and reason, which God created, to argue against God’s existence. Yet even though á Kempis seems to argue against higher learning I am persuaded that since God did create the minds’ ability to think and reason and postulate and prove, it must be a worthwhile endeavor to study and understand philosophy. As long as the “love of knowledge” always places the queen of sciences – theology – in its proper place there is much to gain.
All that aside, I love to learn. I especially love to learn those things which help me to relate to God and which equip me to help others in their faith journey. I get excited about understanding grace from a new perspective or being able to relate a passage of Scripture to a detail of life I’d never considered before. God requires that we all be continual learners. There are many reasons for that, not the least of which is that we might be prepared for the questions being raised by modern skeptics within and without the church.
As I grow in acquaintance with the character of God my reverence for Him grows. As my ideas brighten on the person of Christ, I love Him more. As I become more acquainted with the perfection and spirituality of God's Word, I delight in it more. As I see more clearly the evil of sin, I hate it with a more intense hatred. And as I learn more and more about all these things—my wondrous joy increases.
I have discovered much truth in Thomas á Kempis’ observation. It is an interesting paradox that secular philosophers use the very disciplines of the mind, such as logic and reason, which God created, to argue against God’s existence. Yet even though á Kempis seems to argue against higher learning I am persuaded that since God did create the minds’ ability to think and reason and postulate and prove, it must be a worthwhile endeavor to study and understand philosophy. As long as the “love of knowledge” always places the queen of sciences – theology – in its proper place there is much to gain.
All that aside, I love to learn. I especially love to learn those things which help me to relate to God and which equip me to help others in their faith journey. I get excited about understanding grace from a new perspective or being able to relate a passage of Scripture to a detail of life I’d never considered before. God requires that we all be continual learners. There are many reasons for that, not the least of which is that we might be prepared for the questions being raised by modern skeptics within and without the church.
As I grow in acquaintance with the character of God my reverence for Him grows. As my ideas brighten on the person of Christ, I love Him more. As I become more acquainted with the perfection and spirituality of God's Word, I delight in it more. As I see more clearly the evil of sin, I hate it with a more intense hatred. And as I learn more and more about all these things—my wondrous joy increases.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
I Choose Joy
I learned as a child that when it's your yard and your tree, you are in charge of the fort. I sort of feel that way with this new media forum. It's my blog. I can say whatever I want. I can wax eloquent and philosophical or just be plain silly. Even tho' I am a pastor, a teacher and a grandfather -- I usually prefer silly. But I realize that just because this is my blog--I am never entirely without responsibility to exhort, encourage, comfort, and even challenge. So I promise not to overdo silly.
I just want to declare in my initial post why I picked the title I chose for my blog. It is a reflection of the amazing transformation that God has wrought in my heart. It is the reality in my life of the statement made by Peter in his letter. "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9)
I choose to live in a state of wondrous joy.
BTW, the Italian sounded even more fun!
I just want to declare in my initial post why I picked the title I chose for my blog. It is a reflection of the amazing transformation that God has wrought in my heart. It is the reality in my life of the statement made by Peter in his letter. "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9)
I choose to live in a state of wondrous joy.
BTW, the Italian sounded even more fun!
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