Rooting For You
No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.
Proverbs 12:3
Why are we tempted to evil? Sometimes it is the lure of sin itself. Other times, wickedness offers itself to us as a tool to achieve our dreams or escape our fears. But the wise man Solomon observes that it never works: no one is established by wickedness.
On the other hand, righteousness is not a means but an end. As such it is forever. Although the righteous will face difficulties in this life, their roots in Christ will remain. When the fiery floods of judgment sweep over the earth, the godly will remain, sprouting again unto eternal life. And there we will flourish like green leaves in the Garden of Eden.
Daily Bread
Give us this day our daily bread.
These are the famous words of the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus modeled for us to pray. Of course, the point is not the repetition of the words, but the engagement of the heart. The Prayer offers us tracks to run upon in our prayers to God, areas of focus: his glory, the advancement of his kingdom, provision, forgiveness of sin, and deliverance from temptation.
The Lord calls us to pray for our earthly sustenance, symbolized here by bread, the universal biblical symbol for food. And yet we know that earthly food isn’t the only provision we need, for “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Therefore, within this prayer we may also find room to pray for our daily spiritual bread.
What is the spiritual bread of the Christian? It is the gospel. That same food that saves us sanctifies us. Tim Keller observes, “The gospel of free, gracious justification and adoption is not just the way we enter the kingdom; it is also the way we grow into the likeness of Christ.” Believer, what you need most today is to eat upon the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection for you. Rest in the finished work of your Savior and be fed. “I am the bread of life,” says Jesus. This is the Bread God loves to give most.
William Perkins on the Trinity
William Perkins (1558-1602) is known as the Father of the Puritans. I commend the following quote of his to our contemplation of our Triune God. Notice that, as a Reformed theologian, Perkins stewarded the truth as it was handed down from the Early Church—in this case, the Nicene Fathers. In particular, he is handling the doctrine of the eternal generation of God the Son:
The manner of this generation is this: the Son is begotten of the substance of the Father not by any flux, as when water is derived from the head of the spring to the channel; nor by decision, as when a thing is cut in pieces; nor by propagation, as when a graft is transplanted into a new stock; but by an unspeakable communication of the whole essence or Godhead from the Father to the Son, in receiving whereof the Son does no more diminish the majesty or Godhead of the Father than the light of one candle does the light of the other from which it is taken. Whereupon the Council of Nicea has said well that “the Son is of the Father as light of light, not proceeding but begotten.”
William Perkins, An Exposition of the Creed
Safe Paths
A little forethought can go a long way in making our futures secure. We buy insurances of all types to give ourselves peace of mind. Insurance companies can guarantee financial help in the event of an accident, disaster, or misfortune. While they can’t stop those things from happening, they can afford us some peace of mind for ourselves and our loved ones. When it comes to our spiritual and ultimate well-being, well, that is quite out of our hands. God (who controls all things) has given us his wisdom for obtaining peace of mind about the ups and downs the future may hold for us:
Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,
but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.
-Proverbs 10:9
Living an honest life is a safeguard in its own right, for it gives us peace of mind. And that is no small ingredient in a life confidently lived. On the contrary, walking in crookedness—secretly doing evil—fills us with worry. It’s only a matter of time; we will be found out. But if we walk honestly before God, we know that bad things still can (and probably will) happen, but we can face them with inner peace, knowing that they are God’s portion for us and not the consequences of our secret sin. Integrity is the safe path through the wilderness of this world.
The Vibe of Heaven
What will heaven be like? I’ve wondered that since I was a child. If you’re like me, you assumed it would be like your church: the sights, the sounds, and the feels (for me that was pictures of the sky or flowers on the bulletin, organ music, and uncomfortable clothes). A similar feeling must have inspired the Biggie Smalls lyrics:
It don't make sense, going to heaven with the goodie-goodies/
Dressed in white, I like black Timbs and black hoodies
Depending on what churches Mr. Smalls was familiar with, he may have a point. But heaven will make sense for everyone who is there. It will be all the vibes for all the peoples. It will transcend our individual preferences and yet, it will contain all that we desire.
Heaven will be peaceful and tranquil, but also rugged and raw and not without its primal aspects. You may not enjoy heaven as the hymns of yesteryear sung in vibrato, but I assure you there are plenty of grandmothers who will. On the other hand, they may be surprised to find there the drums of “bang bang music,” as my late grandmother put it. I’m quite convinced the bass lines will be funky. In any case, it will have all the vibes; and more importantly, we will dig them all to the glory of Christ.
The Reformed Doctrine of Pondering the Orbs
Wizards are in (thanks Gandalf), and so are their orbs. So, no time like the present for Christians to catch some mage vibes and gaze upon orbs of another sort than the palaníri (that is for another blog). And why not? Didn’t our dear brothers, the righteous magi, come to worship Christ by pondering the orbs? Maybe we can too.
God’s orbs, sun, moon, and star, have brightened the sky for a long time. When you peer up into that firmament, you see ancient celestial bodies in an ancient heavenly rhythm. Everything that’s ever happened on earth took place under those same lights. So next time you look up, remember what the Lord Jesus says about it all:
“When he established the heavens, I was there.” (Prov 8:27)
Do we have the foggiest idea Who we are dealing with?
Darwin’s New Clothes
Nobel Prize winner Francis Crick, who discovered the structure of DNA, issued the following warning to his colleagues:
Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved.
Why the need to constantly remind oneself of this? Because the temptation to believe that some Intelligence made everything is powerfully attractive while examining the evidence. DNA apparently screams design, and even the most staunchly Darwinian biologist must diligently remind himself that what he is seeing was not, in fact, fashioned by a living God.
They say if you’re taking an exam and you’re unsure of the answer, go with your gut. Our brains are smarter than we realize. The same applies here. Your instincts tell you there is a Creator: your instincts are right. To deny this is “The Emperor’s New Clothes” all over again. Try to think yourself out of it all you like; sooner or later you’ll end up right back where you started, acknowledging the glorious Maker with every instinct of your being.
The Now
If you’re anything like me, you’re filled with worries about the future. An endless stream of “what about?”s tugs the mind away from the present moment and the task at hand. How can we break through the constant onslaught of anxiety? There is one remedy: let God be God. He will take care of us tomorrow, so we can focus on today. C.S. Lewis puts it well by comparing life to a play:
How can the characters in a play guess the plot? We are not the playwright, we are not the producer, we are not even the audience. We are on the stage. To play well the scenes in which we are “on” concerns us much more than to guess about the scenes that follow it.
It is not up to us to know what happens next. It is up to us to live each moment as best we can. And we can’t do that if our minds are splintered into a million moments at once. Combatting worrisome thoughts really doesn’t get much simpler than looking to our caring God for help:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
Snowy Deo Gloria
No question about it, Old Man Winter can be formidable. He is literally cold as ice. And the snow! It covers your car, it slows everything down, it’s just not fun.
When you live somewhere cold, it is almost an unspoken rule that you complain about the weather. It’s like a social sacrament. We utter our quick Hi, how are you? and Fine, yourself? and proceed to drop our pinches of incense before the god of warmie-placie.
Well, if we really have a problem with it, we’ll have to take it up with the Boss, for:
He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.
He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
who can stand before his cold?Psalm 147:16-17
If there’s snow on the ground (and on the houses, cars, basketball hoops, and bushes) where you live today, God sent that snow. Sure, it’s a royal pain to deal with. And if you work in the open air, or on the road, it cannot be easy. But snow is still so cool. C.S. Lewis puts it well in That Hideous Strength:
“I don’t think I should ever learn to like rain and snow” [said Jane].
“It’s the other way round,” said Denniston. “Everyone begins as a child by liking Weather. You learn the art of disliking it as you grow up. Haven’t you ever noticed it on a snowy day? The grown-ups are all going about with long faces, but look at the children—and the dogs? They know what snow’s made for.”
After the shoveling is done and the cars are cleared, steal a few moments to cozy up with a hoody and a hot drink and look out the window. Gaze upon the wondrous visage and ponder the delicate loveliness of the snow. Or better yet, bundle up and go for a walk in it. But careful now! A spirit of childlike wonder may come upon you suddenly and lead you to do the unthinkable: to see God’s glory in the snow and thank him for it.
The Little Sprout That Will
This time of year, we think of the little Baby in the manger. “Unto us,” says Isaiah, “a child is born.” But Isaiah said something else about that Little One; he said he’s like a little sprout growing up out of the ground. “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1).
Our father Adam may have been supernaturally created as a full-grown man in the Garden, but the life and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ took on a more natural order. He grew by degrees: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). The apostles erred in expecting his kingdom to appear immediately in its full splendor. “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Boy, were they in for a surprise! Long years of their sufferings would become centuries and even millennia as the church still awaits the fulfillment of these promises. And yet we wait eagerly.
Let us also be patient with our own growth as believers. His kingdom grows like a tree, slowly and imperceptibly, but also surely. Even so, we grow in Christ. God is patient with us; let us be patient with ourselves (and with each other!). As we take in the nourishment of the water of the word, and the bright, shining smile of the gospel-sun, let us rest in the knowledge that our King is working.