Rob Bell's New Book

The blogosphere is blowing up with talk about Rob Bell's new book Love Wins, which releases tomorrow. I'm hoping to find the time to read this review of the book from Kevin DeYoung.

Functional Blindness

Another reflection from A Shelter in the Time of Storm, this one on Psalm 27:4, "...to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord...":

I would like to think
that others are blind,
but I am not.
I would like to think
that I have
clarity of vision,
a penetrating insight
that lights my way.
I am good
at recognizing
the sight problems of others.
I am skilled
at pointing out
the gaps in their vision
and the blind spots
that alter how they
see
and the way they
respond.
I would like to
believe
that I have 20/20 vision,
but the evidence points
to the sad fact that
I don't.
I have the stunning ability
to look around
and not see You.
I see my
busy schedule
tasks to complete
problems to solve
people to see
demands to be met
things to repair
pressures to face
temptations to fight
pleasures to consume
things to build
things to tear down
plans to make
difficulties to survive
huge responsibilities
and short days.
I gaze at my life
every day
and again and again I fail
to see You.
It is a scary
reality,
humbling to admit.
Though this world
is filled with
Your glory,
I exist
so much of the time
glory blind.
In Your love
You created a world
that is a sight and sound
display
of Your magnificent
glory.
No matter from what perspective
we're looking,
no matter what vista
we're taking in,
no matter
where we're standing
and which way
we're gazing,
Your glory is visible
and evident.
Yet, again and again
I fail to see
your beauty.
So I seek Your
healing
one more time.
Please place Your
powerful hands
on my broken eyes
and give me sight again.
Please place Your
powerful hands
on my wayward heart
and make it seek again.
Don't let me be
so blinded
with me and mine,
that I fail to see
You.
For it's only
when my eyes
see Your
beauty,
and my heart
is filled with Your
glory
that I'll quit
seeking
identity
meaning
satisfaction
purpose
fulfillment
and life,
where it can't be found.
So I would pray
this simple prayer,
"Please touch me by
Your grace
so that there'll never
be a day
where I haven't
somehow
someway
gazed upon
Your beauty."

Humbled

In Job 38, God finally addresses Job after 35 chapters of Job and his friends' speculations about God. God's address unfolds in a series of questions: Have you...? Can you...? Do you know...? Were you there when...?

I think the response God is seeking is pretty clear: No God, I have not. No, I cannot. No, I do not know. No, I was not there. You are God; I am not.

So grant me the grace, Father, to have a heart that is humbled and at rest before You. Give me joy in embracing the reality that I am not God.

Church Membership & Love

Some time in the near future I'm hoping to listen to this sermon by Jonathan Leeman on the subject of church membership and love.

The Goodness of God

Paul Tripp:

Being confident of the goodness of the Lord shouldn't be confused with an assumption that because God is good, he will give me the things I've set my heart on. In his grace, God is freeing you from the small confines of your little definition of what is good so that you can experience the huge and satisfying good that he has planned for you...Grace invites me to good that I could never have imagined, deserved or earned.

So what's your definition of "the good life"?

The Bible is Precious

Thankful to JT for this wonderful reminder. Let's strive with all God's strength to never become numb to the gift of the Scriptures: