Simply Put

Long ago we wanted to be wise. That’s how the serpent got our parents in the Garden. Ever since, we have prided ourselves on what we know.

The Wise God-Man changes this. Fools become truly wise by simple faith in him. Christian truth does demand deep thinking at times, and many parts of Scripture are difficult to understand. But the psalmist reminds us who does the real orb-pondering:

How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!

Psalm 92:5

At the end of the day, being a Christian means that God’s got us. His thoughts are very deep so ours don’t have to be. We don’t need to figure everything out anymore because the divine mind is brimming with plots and schemes for our good. What a relief! We’re free to serve him in simple faith and obedience right where we are.

The Best Company

Friends make life fun. With a good friend by our side, difficult things become easier. Imagine school without friends! Even good things would lose a good deal of their goodness if we couldn’t share them: things like meals, movies, music, mountains, and even a little mischief. Good friends just make life great.

Thoughts of our friends can comfort us when we feel alone. David cheered himself by thinking of his friends when he was alone in the wilderness, being hunted by the very opposite of friends. Psalm 142 preserves his prayer, which he ends on this note of hope:

The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.

Simply put, there is no blessing like the blessing of good friends who love God. May we all find ourselves surrounded by them.

A Thing in Season

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

What makes something beautiful is not only itself, but its setting. The wise man Solomon ponders this truth in Ecclesiastes 3. Just as a word in season is enhanced with power and effect, so too are all the events of life, each in their time. “For everything there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). The poetic list which follows this verse is worth our study and meditation. Let us adapt to each situation in life and allow ourselves the freedom of the appropriate response. Even as one of our own poets has said,

My actions are one with the seasons.

Old Trees, New Leaves

Psalm 92 is a banger. It’s unique in the Psalter, being the only Psalm dedicated explicitly to the holy day of rest. It’s a good one for reclining upon the Lord’s bosom. Among other nuggets of heavenly wisdom, the psalmist drops this gem about the righteous in verse 14:

They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green…

An old, seasoned Christian is a formidable creature to behold. While our bodies may be weakening, our spiritual vibrancy shines through. Let those of us who are not yet aged take heed to this wisdom and get planted alongside the flourishing trees of God’s people. As one of our own poets has said,

As long as the love and the trust is there, we’re gonna grow, like a plant.

The Reformed Doctrine of the Now

It was said of Michael Jordan that the real secret to his success was that he lived fully in the present moment. Now was all there was for him. Behold, a more Enlightened One than MJ has spoken the wisdom, “Tomorrow will worry about itself.” And the reason it can do so is precisely because God rules all moments at once, even the tomorrow we fear. He’s already there, waiting for us (as it were) with plenty of grace to help. So let’s leave it to him and immerse in today.

Why Is God Doing This to Me?

We think God disciplines us because he is mad at us. When he rebukes us, perhaps taking something away or frustrating a plan, we think he is saying, “You’ve had your fun, now you’re done.” That makes sense to us because that’s how we are. But he is different:

My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

-Proverbs 3:11–12

In reality, our tender Heavenly Father is training us not to go in the ways of sin that will bring much worse upon us. It is his way of getting our attention. So when it happens, let’s learn the lesson well and thank him for it.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

-Psalm 84:11

The Reformed Doctrine of Pleasant Words

Since God rules all things, his word is supreme. As supreme, that word is not only powerful, but utterly delightful. It is pleasant to the human soul (though it is offensive to our sin and terrifying to God’s enemies). But the believer understands the pleasures of God’s word. Our dear brother Solomon had the privilege of enjoying this pleasure as he pondered and penned the very words:

The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

-Ecclesiastes 12:10

If God’s word was not pleasant it would not be God’s word, for he is the source of all pleasure. Let’s steward our taste for God’s word and treasure it always, for truth, and for enjoyment. As the catechism says, our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. For now, we do this mainly through the sweet, sweet delights of Scripture.

Quiz Some

I quiz some with my wisdom.

What a legendary line from Killah Priest. It’s clever and it’s funny. Much like the jolly Wu affiliate himself, wisdom has the effect of making one cheerful. Consider what the wisest of all has to say about the puzzley matter of wisdom:

Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

Ecclesiastes 8:1

What makes the hard furrows in our puzzled brow but our confusion at things? We don’t understand and so we are overwhelmed. But when we understand a thing, we are eased and even cheered. For we are no longer in the dark.

To understand a thing is not to control it. Interpreting anything (an event, a circumstance, a saying, a person, or even ourselves) is simply seeing it and accepting that it is what it is. We can’t orchestrate the waves of providence, and we are fools to stand against them. We can only hang 10 and get pitted. So pitted.

Christeamanity

There’s no I in team. Well, there’s also no team in Christianity (although that one does have an I—this is falling apart rapidly), but hear me out. With a little revocalization…voila! There it is: Christeamanity. A perfectly good neologism.

The Christian life is not a solo sport. Believers are supposed to squad up in local churches. So submit yourself to a local body of believers and step into the fullness of the Christian life. Just do it.

Always Reforming

You may have heard the Latin expression semper reformanda, which means always reforming. It is a principle of the Protestant Reformation that our work of reshaping our churches and our lives is never done.

So what does it mean to reform? It means that we must go back to the Bible again and again to examine the way we do things. Why do we do what we do? Is it because that’s the way we’ve always done it? Is it because that’s what our own minds tell us to do? Or do we do what we do because it’s written in God’s Word?