From The Valley of Vision. This is a Thanksgiving Day favorite...
O My God,
Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects,
my heart admires, adores, loves thee,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.
That never happens to any of us, does it? Here are 10 Things I had to remind myself today when the job of correcting my children felt especially difficult…
1. You disobey the Lord…and He is the perfect Father.
2. His kindness leads us to repentance.
3. God disciplines those He loves.
4. Your child’s disobedience does not measure your value any more than his obedience showcases your achievement.
5. Your child’s disobedience teaches you dependence on God.
6. And sometimes it’s more than dependence He’s after, it’s complete desperation for Him.
7. Your child is clearly a sinner, and needs to hear the truth of the Gospel, and see it lived out through you.
8. Times of correction serve to remind, or establish within your child, his own sense of need for a Savior.
9. It’s not good behavior you really desire…you want his heart.
10. Your child is a person, not a project.
Roha, an infant, is left sleeping on the sidewalk of a busy street in Mumbai, India.
Sometimes I just post things on this blog so that I know I'll be able to find it when I want to examine something more deeply.
But there's still a much-needed challenge and reminder in this re-writing of the 23rd Psalm:
Michael Horton, in his new book The Gospel-Driven Life:One of the challenges of biblical interpretation is that some sentences–especially in Paul–can have so much information tightly packed into them. Skim the surface of them and you may have a general sense of what he’s saying, but God is in the details!
Here’s one suggestion. Try to put down on paper the various questions that the passage is answering. You might want to start with the standard questions (who, what, when, where, why, how).
Here’s one example: a single sentence from Romans 8:3-4:
By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
How do all these clauses relate to each other. Here are some questions you can ask to find out:
What did God do?
He condemned sin in the flesh.
(Note: this is why Rom. 8:1 — “no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus”–is true. God has to condemn sin; he will either condemn your sin, or he has already condemned your sin in the sacrifice of his Son. Unite with Jesus and condemnation is gone forever.)
How did God condemn sin in the flesh?
By sending his own Son [Jesus].
How did Jesus come?
In the likeness of sinful flesh.
Why (negatively) did Jesus come?
For sin.
Why (positively) did Jesus come?
In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled.
In whom?
In us.
Who are we (negatively)?
Those who do not walk according to the flesh.
Who are we (positively)?
Those who walk according to the Spirit.
“Were I asked to focus the New Testament message in three words, my proposal would be adoption through propitiation, and I do not expect ever to meet a richer or more pregnant summary of the gospel than that.”
—J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: 1993), 214
“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me along and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?
“I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”
If even an atheist can see this, let's risk the awkwardness and be obedient.
I love questions like this, because they help me to think through why we do what we do. And it is good to know that people in the congregation also want to know why we do what we do. After studying the book for four months, I feel much better equipped to answer this question than I did when we started our study.
Mayra Zhumageldina bathes her daughter, Zhannoor, in Semey, Kazakhstan on March 2, 2009. Zhannoor, 16, was born with microcephalia and sixth-degree scoleosis - a twisted spine because of exposure to high levels of radiation. The defect harmed Zhannoor's brain development as if she were in a permanent vegetative state. She cannot think, speak or perform basic functions. Mayra must bathe her every day because she cannot afford diapers. 
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would strongly be tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. 1. In Minnesota the Fetal Homicide Law makes a person guilty of manslaughter or worse if he kills the baby in a mother's womb - unless the mother agrees with the killing. Who is willing to live with the moral implications of making a person's "being wanted" the criterion of its right to life?
2. There is an inconsistency between doing fetal surgery on a baby in the womb to save life, and at a similar stage of development, killing a baby down the hall.
3. A baby can live on its own at 23 or 24 weeks. Yet pro-choice people say it can be killed even at and beyond this age if the mother will be distressed by its live birth more than its abortion. What morally significant factor will prevent them from saying that two babies at 23 weeks - one born and one unborn - may both be killed because of a mother's distress?
4. A baby's living without an umbilical cord (that is, outside the womb) is not the criterion of human personhood and the condition of the right to life. We all know this because our own living on a respirator or dialysis machine would not jeopardize our own personhood. The source of food and oxygen does not determine personhood.
5. The size of a human is irrelevant to human personhood. We know this because we do not make a one-month-old baby outside the womb vulnerable to killing even though it is so much smaller than a five-year-old. Littleness is irrelevant to personhood.
6. Developed reasoning powers are not the criterion of personhood. We know this because a one-month-old baby outside the womb does not have these powers either, yet its life is not in jeopardy because of that.
7. Scientifically we are human beings by virtue of our genetic makeup. The human code in the chromosomes is there from the start. We are utterly different from monkeys or rats or elephants as soon as the chromosomes of egg and sperm meet.
8. At eight weeks, all the organs are present - brain functioning, heart pumping, liver making blood cells, kidney cleaning the fluids, fingerprints formed, etc. Yet almost all abortions happen later than this date.
9. Ultrasound has given a stunning window on the womb that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking a thumb, recoiling from pricking, responding to sound. We can see the amazing pictures in Life Magazine or various books or Web pages.
10. There is a principle of justice that, when two legitimate rights conflict - say the woman's right not to be pregnant, and the baby's right not to be killed - the right that should be limited is the one that would do the most harm.
11. The Word of God says, "Thou shalt not kill." But many abortionists admit they are killing baby humans. Bill Long, who used to do abortions at Midwest Health Center for Women told me over lunch some years ago that he knew he was "killing babies." Those were the abortionist's words. But he said it was a lesser evil; women must have "reproductive freedom."
A question for those who've read Paul Miller's A Praying Life:
Mariano Rivera, future Hall of Fame pitcher of the New York Yankees:
As the New York Times puts it, this was a “messianic show,” with a “mission” to remake the way children envisioned the world.“It’s almost too perfect that the first African-American president of the United States was elected in time for the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street,” the New York Times says. “The world is finally beginning to look the way that PBS show always made it out to be.”
Then Moore draws the comparison with the Church's mission:
What would happen if, whenever our culture saw love or reconciliation or peace, our neighbors said, “This is exactly the way that church always made life out to be?”
It's really worth reading the whole thing. Check it out and let me know what you think.
If the dead aren't raised, then @DaveJMatthews is right: Eat & drink, for tomorrow we die (1Cor15:32). But that's a BIG if; be sure, friend.
MacAidan Gallegos, 5, receives a flag from Brigadier General Sean MacFarlan as Amanda Doyle, MacAidan's mother, watches during the funeral services for Army Sgt. Justin Gallegos at Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson, Ariz. Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009. The Department of Defense says Gallegos was one of eight U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009 during a fight with insurgents in a remote area near the Pakistan border.
I was mildly irritated when I visited espn.com during my lunch break yesterday and saw footage from the Yankees championship parade. Then I came across this little piece by Rick Reilly, who captured my sentiments well:
There were many things I enjoyed about Paul Miller's A Praying Life; one of those things was the connection that Miller made between prayer and the Gospel. Here's one of my favorite quotes:
And it wasn't a joke. You can actually buy these things. Is Chia Jesus around the corner?
Pakistani volunteers rush an injured child to a hospital after an explosion from a car bomb in Peshawar, Pakistan.
The World Series is over, and it was a disappointing week for the Phils. They were only two wins from a repeat championship, but couldn't pull it off. Their reign as World Series champions is over, and though last year's victory was great, there's still a sour taste in the mouth of Phillies' fans after losing this year.
(Before reading this post, it might be helpful to keep this disclaimer in mind)
A guest post by Matt Hartel: