If we be less than the least, then we must be thankful for the least. Humility is always thankful. A humble man thinks himself unworthy of anything, and therefore he is thankful for anything. – Richard Sibbes, An Exposition of 2 Corinthians 1
The Depths of His Wisdom
If you drop and ax head in the ocean of God’s wisdom and come back in a thousand years, it will still be sinking. – John Piper
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Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:33-36
Tolle Lege: Is It Nothing to You?
Readability: 1
Length: 134
Author: Frederick Leahy
Frederick Leahy has written a trilogy, The Cross He Bore, The Victory of the Lamb and Is It Nothing to You?, of short little books on the cross that are all dynamite. Of the three Is It Nothing to You? is my least favorite, but it is still well worth reading. I would recommend anyone to read all three.
Leahy has a gift, a gift very valuable to a minister of the Word. It is the gift of a sanctified imagination. While remaining faithful to the word of God, Leahy takes you to the cross, and helps you to see vividly the spiritual realities of what happens there. There is both light and heat here.
This was paradoxical service: the greatest of all became the least of all, and he who clothes everything, retained nothing, that we might be clothed with the perfect spotless robe of righteousness.
The Sweet Dropper: Prevail by Prayer
Prayer is a prevailing course with God.
It prevails for the removing of ill, or for the preventing of ill, or for the obtaining of good, ‘I shall be delivered,’ I shall be continued in the state of deliverance; but yet you must pray. Your prayers will obtain and beg this of God.
Reason 1. Prayer is a prevailing course, because, as I said, it is obedience to God’s order. He bids us call upon him, and he will hear us. Prayer binds him with his own promise. Lord, thou canst not deny thyself, thou canst not deny thy promise, thou hast promised to be near all those that call upon thee in truth; and though with much weakness, yet we call upon thee in truth; therefore we cannot but be persuaded of thy goodness that thou wilt be near us. So it is a prevailing course, because it is obedience to God’s order.
Reason 2. And it is a prevailing course, because likewise it sets God on work. Faith, that is in the heart, and that sets prayer on work, for prayer is nothing but the voice of faith, the flame of faith. The fire is in the heart and spirit, but the voice, the flame, the expression of faith, is prayer. Faith in the heart sets prayer on work. What doth prayer? That goes into heaven, it pierceth heaven, and that sets God on work; because it brings him his promise, it brings him his nature. Thy nature is to be Jehovah, good and gracious, and merciful to thine! thy promise is answerable to thy nature, and thou hast made rich and precious promises. As faith sets prayer on work, so prayer sets God on work; and when God is set on work by prayer (as prayer must needs bind him, bringing himself to himself, bringing his word to him; every man is as his word, and his word is as himself), God being set on work, he sets all on work. He sets heaven and earth on work, when he is set on work by prayer. Therefore it is a prevailing course. He sets all his attributes on work for the deliverance and rescue of his church from danger, and for the doing of any good. He sets his mercy and goodness on work, and his love, and whatsoever is in him. – Richard Sibbes, An Exposition of 2 Corinthians 1
Tolle Lege: Thriving at College
Readability: 1
Length: 317
Author: Alex Chediak
I wish this book had been published before I started college and that someone had given it to me. It is the book I will give to all high school graduates, and I will recommend it to all college students as well. Alex is an “insider”, a former student who is now a professor, giving you mature wisdom from both angles. Thriving at College deals with faith, friendships, finances, family, academics, and character; every crucial area receives thorough treatment.
Each of the ten chapters deals with a common mistake made by college students. Here is the table of contents:
PART 1: COLLEGE MATTERS
- Common Mistake #1: Chucking Your Faith
- Common Mistake #2: Treating College as if It Were High School
PART 2: RELATIONSHIPS MATTER
- Common Mistake #3: Not Being Intentional
- Common Mistake #4: Distorting Dating and Romance
- Common Mistake #5: Refusing to Grow Up
PART 3: CHARACTER MATTERS
- Common Mistake #6: Being a Flake
- Common Mistake #7: Living out of Balance
PART 4: ACADEMICS MATTER
- Common Mistake #8: Being Too Passive or Too Cocky
- Common Mistake #9: Living for Grades
- Common Mistake #10: Wasting Opportunities
I made the decision to go to college almost by accident. What else was I supposed to do after high school? I was a fairly good student, but I lacked the maturity to make that really huge decision in a constructive, sensible manner. Frankly, my college years could have been better. Today, I look back on my younger self in college and wish I could have a cup of coffee with him. I wish I could give him somehard- earned advice.
That’s why I’m writing this book. I can’t take my younger self out to coffee. There’s no time machine for that. But as a college professor today, I have the chance to observe students and how they live their lives. I’m amazed at how many of them remind me of my former self. This book is, in essence, an attempt at taking you out to Starbucks and telling you what I’ve learned about the college years— and, most important, telling you how to make your college season the best years of your life (so far). I cannot tell you how much I wish someone had told me these things when I was in college.
The Sweet Dropper: All Esteemed, None Proud
God will have it thus in his wise dispensation, because he will have every man esteemed, and because he will have no man to be proud. He will humble his own to let them know that they stand in need of the prayers of the weakest. Every man in the church of God hath some gifts, that none should be despised; and none have all gifts, that none should presume over-much and be proud. In the church of God, in the body of Christ, there is no idle member. In the communion of saints there is none unprofitable. Every one can do good in his kind. – Richard Sibbes, An Exposition of 2 Corinthians 1
More Than Pizza
Over the past year I’ve conducted dozens of interviews with 20-somethings who have walked away from their Christian faith. Among the most surprising findings was this: nearly all of these “leavers” reported having positive experiences in youth group. I recall my conversation with one young man who described his journey from evangelical to atheist. He had nothing but vitriol for the Christian beliefs of his childhood, but when I asked him about youth group, his voice lifted. “Oh, youth group was a blast! My youth pastor was a great guy.”
I was confused. I asked Josh Riebock, a former youth pastor and author of mY Generation, to solve the riddle: if these young people had such a good time in youth group, why did they ditch their faith shortly after heading to college?
His response was simple. “Let’s face it,” he said. “There are a lot more fun things to do at college than eat pizza.”
Read Drew Dyck’s full article here.
The Sweet Dropper: Treasure up Observations
This should teach us then, this holy practice, to lay up observations of God’s dealing, and to take them as so many pawns and pledges to move God for the time to come to regard us. It is wondrous pleasing to him. It is no argument to prevail if we come to men, to say, you have done this for me, therefore you will ; because man hath a finite power which is soon drawn dry. But God is infinite. He is a spring. He can create new. What he hath done he can do, and more too. He is where he was at the first, and will be to the end of the world. He is never at a loss. Therefore it is a strong argument to go to God, and say, ‘Lord, thou art my God from the womb,’ thou hast delivered me from such a danger, and such an exigence. When I knew not what to do, thou madest open a way. I see by evident signs it was thy goodness, thou art alway like thyself, to be the same God now. Therefore we should treasure up observations of God’s dealing with us.
It should be the wisdom of every Christian to be well read in the story of his own life, and to return back in his thoughts what God hath done for him, how God hath dealt with him for the time past, what he hath wrought in him by his Holy Spirit. – Richard Sibbes, An Exposition of 2 Corinthians 1
How To Celebrate Memorial Day
Kevin DeYoung offers some great reflections. Here is the conclusion:
We should pray for service men and women in our congregations. We should pray for the President. We should pray for the just cause to triumph over the evil one. We are not moral relativists. We do not believe just because all people are sinners and all nations are sinful that no person or no nation can be more righteous or more wicked than another. God may be on America’s side in some (not all) her endeavors.
But please think twice before putting on a Star Spangled gala in church this Sunday. I love to hear the national anthem and “God Bless America” and “My Country, Tis of Thee,” but not in church where the nations gather to worship the King of all peoples. I love to see the presentation of colors and salute our veterans, but these would be better at the Memorial Day parade or during a time of remembrance at the cemetery. Earthly worship should reflect the on-going worship in heaven. And while there are many Americans singing glorious songs to Jesus there, they are not singing songs about the glories of America. We must hold to the traditions of the Apostles in our worship, not the traditions of American history. The church should not ask of her people what is not required in Scripture. So how can we ask the Koreans and Chinese and Mexicans and South Africans in our churches to pledge allegiance to a flag that is not theirs? Are we gathered under the banner of Christ or another banner? Is the church of Jesus Christ–our Jewish Lord and Savior–for those draped in the red, white, and blue or for those washed in the blood of the Lamb?
In some parts of the church, every hint of patriotism makes you a jingoistic idolater. You are allowed to love every country except your own. But in other parts of the church, true religion blends too comfortably into civil religion. You are allowed to worship in our services as long as you love America as much as we do. I don’t claim to have arrived at the golden mean, but I imagine many churches could stand to think more carefully about their theology of God and country. Churches should be glad to have their members celebrate Memorial Day with gusto this Monday. We should be less sanguine about celebrating it with pomp and circumstance on Sunday.
Book Length Responses to Love Wins
Some book length responses to Rob Bell’s Love Wins are already being published by good authors such as Michael Wittmer
No Other Boast 